Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 16, 1905.djvu/447

 Bavili Notes. 389

And Xidiela goes to them and returns twice; but the third time he runs away, taking the matchet with him. And the old woman with the sores cries out from her hammock to Mamboma : " You now see that I was right."

They all waited, and then exclaimed, " She is right."

They set upon Xidiela's master and thrashed him (and they did not kill the prince). They then knocked their fetish, crying out to Xidiela's master : " You brought the boy here. If you come back here you will die."

And Xidiela gathered up all the clothes and bracelets and leg-rings, and took them to his home. He made a fire outside his shimbec and waited for his master, but he did not sleep. The Zindoxi or Bantu a ndongo searched for their clothes, and thrashed the master again when they could not be found, and then they departed to their towns, dispersing in different directions.

And next day Xidiela remarked to all about him : " How is it that so many are wearing clean clothes to-day .? "

And the master called Xidiela aside, and whispered to him that the Zindoxi had thrashed him.

" Who dared to thrash you } " shouted Xidiela.

"Don't shout," cried the master.

" Why ? " shouted Xidiela.

"If you are a witch, why do you act like this and get me thrashed .'' "

" I went simply to humbug you," replied Xidiela.

And each ndoxi brought fifty longs (300 yards) of cloth, or sheep, or presents, to get their clothes from Xidiela and to bribe him to say nothing about the affair. Thus he became very rich, and went back to his town and built a nice shimbec, and looked down upon his poorer relations.

Some time afterwards he went back to see his master