Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 1 1883.djvu/214

206 replied, "In the very road by which you came we buried her." So Andrianòro commanded his people to be gathered together at his wife's grave. Then they brought a quantity of red lambas [cloths] to remove the corpse, and numbers of oxen to be killed as votive offerings, and dug open the grave; and when it was uncovered, and the cloths undone in which she was wrapped, lo and behold, Andrianòro's wife was alive again, and her face was exceedingly fair and fresh, [lit. "green"] and tender as the young shoots of the banana. Then Andrianòro swooned when he saw his wife alive again; but they blew upon him, and he recovered from his fear. Then he bade all the people return to their homes. And Andrianòro was exceedingly glad, and killed many oxen, those indeed all but sacrificed for his wife, so that the people might eat. Then he said to his father and mother and eldest sister, "Go, depart you three, for I will not suffer you to remain here; and the populace also dislike you because you killed their loved one, and sought to destroy me too, therefore I cast you forth now; and if you will not depart I shall bid the people kill you, for they dislike you and I hate you." So the three departed and wandered in an unknown country.

And after a little while again Andrianòro's wife said to him, "I will go now to father and mother in the sky, for it was thee I waited for in the grave; for had I gone when your parents killed me, they could not have killed me by any means; but on account of your love for me and my love for you also I waited for you, although I endured so much here. So now let me go to visit father and mother in the sky." But Andrianòro said, "I beseech you, my lady," [lit. "I humble myself, feet and hands"] "do not go away." But his wife said again, "Let me go, my lord, for my father and mother grieve for me; for the day is thundering, and that is a sign of their grief." Then said Andrianòro, "Suffer me then to go along with you, if you will not stay." But his wife replied again, "Remain here, my lord; for father is obstinate, and when he speaks the thunder-bolt darts forth. And not only so, but the sky is no dwelling-place for you, for you are of human-kind here on the earth; and also, there are spacious fields and giant trees, and if you cannot till the fields and fell the trees, father will kill you, for he will in no case suffer you to live; but if, on the other hand, you are able to accomplish it, he will give me to you afresh for your wife. Besides, that is not all, for there are also a thousand spades buried in a great lake, and if you