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54 they laid the fish they could not eat, and had lit fires underneath that they might smoke them. They therefore remained by the fires, while the women took torches of dry grass and sought for fish in the lake.

But it befell that a dark rain-cloud hung over their heads, and great and heavy was the rain which fell. And, moreover, as the rain fell so did the waters of the lake rise until the flood was over all the land, and the people of Gavi were drowned in the place where they fished. Nor did any of their number escape save one only, and she an old woman. And the cause of her life being spared was this.

It so chanced that, being a witch, she had seen that the fish which had been caught were not common fish, but belonged to Abaia, the magic eel. Therefore she ate not, nor would she suffer her two dogs to eat, for she held them tightly in her arms. Nevertheless one struggled with her and snatched a fishbone from the ground, and swallowed it ere she could forbid him. Thus sat the dame under a tree at even, and watched the women as they fished. But when the rain was now heavy and the waters of the lake were rising, she made haste to climb into a tree, ever holding fast her two dogs and also a fire stick which she had picked up from the ground. But though she climbed fast, the waters rose quickly, and when she reached the top they were but just below her. This she knew though it was dark, for she knocked the fire stick against the tree until the sparks fell and went out at once as they touched the flood.