Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 1 1883.djvu/291

 Rh answer—'What me see,' said she, 'me see one old woman without him head.' Now this reply was doubly offensive; it was nide, because it reminded the old lady of what might certainly be considered as a personal defect, and it was dangerous, as, if such a circumstance were to come to the ears of the buckras, it might bring her into trouble, women being seldom known to walk and talk without their heads, indeed, if ever, except by the assistance of Obeah. 'Bad child,' cried the old woman, 'bad child! and bad will come to you!' Matters were no better managed near the cocoa-tree, and even when she reached the mahogany, although she saw that the old woman had not only got her head on, but had a Ted docker besides, she could not prevail on herself to say more than a short 'How day?' without calling her 'grannie.' However she received the permission to eat rice at the cottage, coupled with the injunction of giving a share to the black puss, an injunction, however, which she totally disregarded, although she scrupled not to assure her hostess that she had suffered puss to eat till she could eat no more. The old lady in the red petticoat seemed to swallow the lie very glibly, and despatched the girl to the fowl-house for three eggs, as she had before done her cousin; but having been cautioned against taking the talking eggs she conceived that these must needs be the most valuable; and, therefore, made a point of selecting those three which seemed to be the greatest gossips of the whole poultry yard. Then, lest their chattering should betray her disobedience, she thought it best not to return into the hut, and, accordingly, set forward on her return home; but she had not yet reached the mahogany-tree when curiosity induced her to break one of the eggs. To her infinite disappointment it proved to be empty, and she soon found cause to wish that the second had been empty too, for, on dashing it against the ground, out came an enormous yellow snake, which flew at her with dreadful hissings. Away ran the girl; a fallen bamboo lay in her path, she stumbled over, and fell. In her fall the third egg was broken, and the old woman without the head immediately popping out of it told her that if she had treated her as civilly, and had adhered as closely to the truth, as her cousin had done, she would have obtained the same good fortune; but that as she had shown her nothing but rudeness, and told her nothing but lies, she must be contented to carry nothing home but the empty egg-shells. The old woman then jumped upon the yellow snake, galloped away with