Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 1 1883.djvu/284

276 house he spoke to Rafara his wife, and said, "O mother! I have got some lamb's flesh here, but I did not see Indésoka; but here is the rice and the fowl's leg, and here also is your lamb's flesh." But no sooner had Rafara looked at it than she was astonished, and said, "O dear, this is my child!" Then Itrìmobé asked her, "What is that you say?" Then Rafara recovered herself and said, "No, not at all, for I was speaking of your mutton." So Itrìmobé sent her, saying, "Hang up the mutton." Then Rafara spoke softly, "My child's flesh, and he says, 'Hang it up. So Itrìmobé said again, "What's that you are muttering about?" Rafara replied, "Yes, for I'll hang it up" (but she was afraid about his eating it, for Itrìmobé was brutal). Then she cooked it. And when Indésoka's flesh was cooked, Itrìmobé sent Rafara, telling her, "Do you go and invite those south and those north, invite those east and those west." Then Ifàra murmured, and muttered again, saying, "I am dead; my child!" So Itrìmobé said again, "What is that you keep on muttering to yourself?" Then said Rafara, "Not at all was I saying anything; for I say, 'Come along and invite the folks. Then Ifàra called out:

So the people bidden all came and ate; but no one ate the bones.

And when the people had eaten, Rafara collected her child's bones and dried them in the sun; and when they were dry she pounded them and put them in a clean vessel. Then she placed them in seven baskets one within the other, and after a little they joined together and the head appeared; then they gradually increased and the body came together, and after a little while more the hands and feet were formed; and at last the body was completely restored, and there was no difference in its appearance from the first. So when