Page:Papuan Fairy Tales.djvu/142

100 Now let us take a piece of yam and roast it and break it upon the head of Ogiti, for the tale is done.



hast asked for a tale, so I will tell thee one of the days when the animals were all "bariawa," and spake and acted even as men do now.

In the times of which I tell thee, it so befell that the Mouse and the Butterfly made a canoe. They hollowed it out with their stone axes, and fastened a great outrigger to it. Then they launched it, and set out for the islands, that they might there seek for food.

But alas! not far had they gone when the canoe came apart, and the two on board were struggling in the water. The fur on the back and sides of the Mouse was sorely bedraggled, and the Butterfly's wings were heavy with water. Yet were they not faint at heart, and after a time they reached the shore. There they bethought them where they might seek food, for what they had brought was now at the bottom of the sea.

"Let us eat sugarcane," said the Mouse.

"Nay," answered the Butterfly sharply. "Bananas are best, and we must search for them." 