Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 1, 1890.djvu/70

64 went to look at the turtle; the two big boys now sprang up and ran away into the bush. The Dorgai took the turtle-shell turtle, but left the edible ones behind.

Arrived at Karapar the turtle bit the neck of the Dorgai, and she exclaimed, “What’s the matter with you—what do you play with me for? I’m not a girl!” She threw the turtle down and left the boys in the basket whilst she made an earth oven (amai) (5); when this was completed she threw in the turtle without cutting it first; then she took it out, and the turtle was dead. She cut the turtle and drank its blood, then removed the liver and ate the viscera raw; lastly, she put the rest of the turtle at the bottom of the oven, and all the boys above it. She sat down till the feast was cooked; when she opened the oven all the bones of the boys were sticking up through the meat. She said, “I will eat all the boys first and the turtle last.” So she devoured the boys and the turtle, leaving nothing but the bones. Feeling thirsty, she said, “By golly, I want drink of water now, my skin belong to me heavy.” She drank, and feeling queer, exclaimed, “By golly, what name I kaikai now?” (i.e., what have I eaten?) She had eaten the gall-bladder (gerka) of the turtle! Then she ate two kinds of plants which are used to kill fish in the water.

The canoes now returned to Matu, for the men had caught no turtle, and wondering at their bad luck, and fearing some ill had befallen the boys, had determined to go back to the island. On landing, the men noticed the Dorgai’s footsteps in the sand, and exclaimed, “Hulloa! who’s been here and taken a turtle?” Then they shouted to the boys, and the two big ones emerged from the bush. “Where are all the small boys?” asked the men. “Dorgai has killed them all.” “Yes?” “Yes.’, “Where he stop?” “He stop at Karapar.” The men took some red paint and put it in the middle of the group, all standing round; the two best men, Manilbau and Salsalkazi, jumped forward and caught hold of the paint, saying, “All you fellow no come with us, we two only go” (6). They each provided themselves with a