Page:In Desert and Wilderness (Sienkiewicz, tr. Drezmal).djvu/363

Rh cows shall have good fodder and shall give thick and fat milk. Do you want to have plenty of food and milk—oh, men?"

"He! We do, we do!"

"And the 'Good Mzimu' will tell the Great Spirit to send to you the wind, which will blow away from your village that sickness which changes the body into a honey-comb. Do you want him to blow it away—oh, men?"

"He! Let him blow it away!"

"And the Great Spirit at the prayer of the 'Good Mzimu' will protect you from attacks and slavery and from depredations in your fields and from the lion and from the panther and from the snake and from the locust—"

"Let her do that."

"So, listen yet and look who sits before the hut between the ears of the terrible elephant. Lo, there sits bwana kubwa, the great and mighty white master, whom the elephant fears!"

"He!"

"Who has thunder-bolts in his hand and kills with it bad men—"

"He!"

"Who kills lions—"

"He!"

"Who lets loose fiery snakes—"

"He!"

"Who crushes rocks—"

"He!"

"Who, however, will do you no harm, if you will honor the 'Good Mzimu.'"

"Yancig! Yancig!"

"And if you will bring to him an abundance of dry flour from bananas, eggs of chickens, fresh milk, and honey."