Page:Life in Java Volume 1.djvu/268

250 mind's eye. Before retiring to rest, however, for the night, he securely bound her with cords. In the middle of the night he was awoke by a voice, which, in a whisper, told him what he was to do with her. lie accordingly arose, and unbinding the wretched woman, told her to follow him. After some hours walk they reached the black forest, where, although they heard many voices, they saw no one. By some unseen hands the stepmother was carried into the forest, and placed between two rocks, immediately over a pit full of all kinds of horrors; and there she is believed to remain to this day, groaning from hunger and thirst, as well as from the weight of the rock which is above her. Her miseries are said to be increased tenfold by thousands of little imps, which make a target of her head, for their daily exercise in archery. No well-inclined person dare venture near this locality night or day, and the sufferings of Ma Qualoan often prove a