Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 1 1883.djvu/348

340 basket, and set it down on the ground, and it struggled violently, because it was a living creature. So the people were all confounded and filled with fear, and every one danced a long time. Then they each paid a little money as an offering, and the two men, it is said, collected on that day money to the amount of ten thousand pieces. So they put back the serpent into the basket again. And then they said to the people, " hould any of you be ill, come here to us, and bring money to the value of a halfpenny and twopence, and a red cock, as an offering. Besides which, if you forget the god, you will die young."

And so, it is said, numbers of people worshipped that manioc-root, and the two men became very rich. And after that also many of the people fetched [what they supposed to be] pieces of the idol, but it was only pieces of wood which Ikòtofétsy and Imàhakà gave them.

In former times, it is said, people had no houses to live in, but dwelt in holes in the rocks. And Rafòtsibé considered and plaited a thick mat and made a flat-roofed hut. Then came Rangàhy crying outside the house, and called out, "O Rafòtsibé, just let me live here and let us both together seek a living." But Rafòtsibé, they say, did not consent, but said, "It is I who have a house to live in, and unless I am to have two-thirds of the property I will not consent." So Rangàhy agreed to it. But some time afterwards Rafòtsibé's house became torn, for it was only mat, so Rangàhy made a mud hut, and then he divorced Rafòtsibé. So it was her turn to entreat, and she said, "I beseech you, Rangàhy, for I will not forsake you." But he would not agree except on condition that he should have two-thirds of the property; so Rafòtsibé consented.

And that, they say, is why the man has two-thirds of the property, and the wife the third part of it.