Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 27, 1916.djvu/170

142 said, "No, you are a liar, you ate it," and he ate up the half which remained.

Next day they worked again in the garden. By and bye the Man cooked the food and the Hare said, "I want to go down to the river to drink. When I come back we shall eat together." He went down to the river and as before he got out of his skin and went back to the garden singing, "Psu, psu!" etc.

The Man ran away again and the Hare ate half the food as he had done the day before and went back and put his skin on again. By and bye he came up from the river and said, "Again you have eaten half the food!" The Man said, "No, it was an evil red beast who came and ate it and I was afraid and ran away." The Hare said, "You are a liar; you ate it yourself." The Man said, "No."

Next day the Man cooked the food as before and the Hare said, "I want to go down to the river first; shall I give you a bow and arrow to shoot that beast if it comes?" The Man said, "Yes, that is good." So the Hare gave him a bow and arrow; but he had cut a notch in the arrow and in the bow-string. When he came back without his skin the Man shot at him; but the bow and arrow broke and the Man ran away again. The Hare came back, and the Man told him that the bow and arrow had broken and that the beast had eaten the food again; but the Hare said "No." Next day the Hare gave the Man another bow and arrow and the Man took it; but when the Hare had gone down to the river the Man put it away and took his own. When the Hare came back without its skin the Man shot him in the eye and the Hare ran away. Then he put on his skin and came back again. He said, "To-day you have not eaten the food! Did you kill the beast? where is he?" The Man said, "No, I did not kill him; but I shot him in the eye and he ran away." The Hare said, "Don't look at my eye; I hurt it with a bit of wood!" The Man