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Rh But he first of all cut off one finger and said, “I will show it to the king; if he knows, he will kill me; if not, we will divide his property.” But he did not know that one of the king’s wives was standing behind him and heard him. Then he took the finger and went to the king, and the king came out; so he brought out his parcel and said, “If you know, you will kill me; if you don’t, we will divide your property.” So the king said, “I can’t answer you yet; come in five days.” In five days the king asked him, “Shall I kill you if I prove this thing?” so the boy agreed, and the king said it was his father’s finger.

Then the king shut the boy up and said, “To-morrow I sacrifice you to ehi”; so the boy sat down, and then he saw a rat and asked what it was. So the rat said, “Who are you?” and he said, “I am Ilefo who caught you and let you go.” Then followed explanations, and the rat sat down there. The squirrel, bush rat and snake came and did likewise, and they all consulted; and the snake told the bush rat to dig a hole to the place where the king kept his ehi; so the hole was dug, and the snake went there and put his head out. At daybreak the king called his eldest daughter and told her to rub Aluehi (the shrine of ehi), and as she was rubbing it with chalk the snake bit her hand; so the girl fell dead. And a man saw her lying there and told the king, and he sent another daughter; and she was bitten and died; so the king lamented and wanted to die too; but they held him back. Then Ilefo said he could get a leaf that would recall both the girls to life, and a boy heard him talking and went and told the king. The snake gave the medicine to the boy and told him to mix it with the blood of a woman whose nose had been cut off, and that to get the blood they must cut off her head. Then the king went to the prison and offered a share of his property to the boy if he would recall his daughters to life; so he released the boy, and he went out to wash and came back and got ready. So he told the king he wanted the blood