Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 1 1883.djvu/244

 236 the ground, and Ifàra threw him a rope, which he laid hold of. But when he was nearly up he said, "I've got you, Ifàra, my lass!" Then Ifàra let him fall, and he was impaled on his spear and was killed.

So Ifàra was there upon the rock; and she wept and was sad at heart for her father and mother. Then came a crow, and when Ifàra saw it she sang to it as follows:—

"And you say I eat unripe earth-nuts, and am I going to carry you there? Stay where you are," said the crow.

Then came a hawk, to whom she said:—

"And you say I am the eater of dead rats, and am I going to carry you there?"

After that a "Réo" bird (Leptosomus discolor) came, repeating its cry, "Reo, reo, reo," which, when Ifara saw, she called to thus:—

"Reo, reo, reo," said the bird, "come, let me carry you, my lass, for I feel for the sorrowful." So the bird took her away and placed her on a tree just above the well of her father and mother.

Soon there came a little slave-girl of theirs to draw water; she washed her face, and seeing a reflection in the water, cried out, "My word! to have a pretty face like mine, and yet carry a water-pot on my head!" But it was the reflection of Ifàra's face she saw in the water and took it for her own. So she broke the water-pot in pieces. Then Ifàra called out from the tree, "Father and mother are at expense to buy water-pots, and you break them!" So the slave-girl, whose name was Itrétrikandévo, looked all about her and said, "Wherever was that person speaking?" So she went off home.