Page:Papuan Fairy Tales.djvu/116

78 When the girl looked on the comely Kokorereko she loved him, and she tried to hold him that he might not leave her. But he picked up a burning brand from the fire, and turned to go.

"Ah, tell me then," she cried, as he turned to go, "tell me, at least, where thou livest."

"Journey till the cape is rounded," he answered as he spread his wings, "and where the voice of drum and conch shell is heard in my village."

Alas! he had gone, and the girl shed many tears. But after a little her father and mother returned home, and she persuaded them by much weeping, to take her in their canoe to look for Kokorereko. They started soon. The little platform on the outrigger was laden with food for the journey. There were coconuts also to tempt Kokorereko, and a basket of plaited leaves in which to place him if he were caught.

They paddled, and paddled, and they rounded the cape. Then the girl cried, "Hark! do you not hear the voice of the drum?" They had reached the village of Lamogara, but that was not the home of Kokorereko.

"Nay," answered her father, "it is but a child idly playing. There is no dancing here."

So they laid hold of their paddles once more, and again the canoe cut through the clear water. And now it was night.

"The bird lied to thee, child," said the mother fretfully.

"Ah! but can you not hear it?" cried the girl