“THE THREE EELS.”
Once upon a time there was a fisherman who on three successive days made out to catch only an eel a day. When he found only one eel in his net on the third day he cried out angrily:
“What’s the use of fishing when one gets nothing more than one eel day after day?”
Immediately the tongue of one of the eels was loosed, and he said, “Wretched man, you little know what a precious catch you have had! You have fished up great good luck for yourself. Only now do as I advise you: Kill one of us three and divide him into four parts; give one piece to your wife to eat, the second to the mother-dog, the third to the mare, and bury the fourth in the ground just above your house. Soon your wife will bring twins into the world, the dog two pups, the mare two full-blooded stallions, and above your house will spring up two golden swords.”
The fisherman followed the Eel’s advice, and indeed in the course of time everything happened as the Eel had predicted—his wife bore twins, the dog two pups, the mare two full-blooded stallions, and above his house two golden swords sprang up.
When the sons grew large and had passed a certain number of years, one of them said to his father, “Father, I perceive that you are a poor man and cannot keep us any longer; so let me take a horse, a dog, and a sword, and go forth into the world. I am young and need experience; and where my head may rest, there also will my food be found.”
When he had thus spoken he turned to his brother with the words, “Brother, God keep you! I go to seek my fortune. Do you stay at home, work, make, and save, and honor our father. Take this vial of water and give good heed to it, for if the water in it becomes dark it will be a sure sign that I have perished.”
Thus he spoke and went to seek his fortune.
In the course of his wanderings he came to a great city, where the King’s daughter saw him as he was taking a walk about the town. She at once fell desperately in love with him, and begged her father to invite him to the house. This he did. When the youth entered the King’s apartments, and the maiden saw the sword, the dog, and the horse near by, she found everything on and about him so fine that it seemed to her nothing in the whole world could be finer. She fell more madly in love with him than ever, and said to her father, “Father, I want to marry that youth!”
The King was very well pleased, the young man had nothing against it, so the bargain was concluded and the marriage celebrated according to form and custom.
One evening, as the youth stood at the window with his wife, he noticed in the distance a large mountain which was all a light blaze. He asked his wife what was the cause of this, and she answered, “Oh, sir, do not ask me! That is a magic mountain that spits lightnings by day and at night stands wreathed in flames, and whoever goes there to see what is the matter is instantly struck dumb and remains enchanted on the spot.”
He paid no heed to her words, but mounted his horse, girded on his sword, called his dog, and rode to the mountain. When he reached it he met an old woman perched on a rock, holding in one hand a staff and in the other a little weed. As soon as he saw her he asked her why the mountain had these peculiarities, and she told him to ride along and he would soon find out.
He did so, and the old woman conducted him to a court hedged in with the bones of heroes, and around in the court were countless men standing stark and stiff, all enchanted. He had hardly stepped into this court when he, too, as also his horse and his dog, grew rigid and changed to stone on the spot where they stood.
At the same moment the water in the brother’s bottle at home grew dark, and the brother announced to the father and mother that his brother, their son, was dead and that he must go abroad and seek him.
So he travelled from place to place and from city to city, until luck took him to that very town and to the King’s palace. At sight of him the King rushed to his daughter with the good news, “Your husband has returned!”
She ran down to meet him, and thought he was her husband, for the two brothers were as much alike as the two halves of a cut apple. She thought it was the same horse, the same dog, and the same sword; and father and daughter rushed joyfully to meet him. They kissed and caressed him, the King thinking that it was his son-in-law, the daughter thinking that it was her husband.
The youth was at first quite bewildered by these signs of affection, but it occurred to him that they were for his brother, and so he feigned to be her husband and the King’s son-in-law.
When night came they retired, but he laid his drawn sword in the bed between them. The woman wondered at this, but he said he could not sleep, and arose and went to the window. At sight of the magic mountain he said, “Tell me, my dear little wife, why is that mountain in flames?”
“For Heaven’s sake,” answered she, “did I not tell you that other evening of the peculiarities of that mountain?”
“What do you mean?” he asked her again, and she answered, “Every one who goes there is enchanted and turned to stone. I was in great fear during your absence that you had gone there.”
When he heard this he guessed the trouble, and in his anxiety he could hardly wait for daybreak. As soon as it was light he mounted his horse, girded on his sword, called to his dog, and rode to the mountain. When he saw the old woman he drew his sword from the scabbard, spurred on his horse, and set the dog upon her without saying a word. The old woman fell back in a fury and called out to him not to cut her down. He answered, “Then give me back my brother!” Hereupon the old woman led his brother out and restored to him speech and soul.
When the brothers had greeted each other, and asked after each other’s health, they turned back homeward. But on the way the one who had been enchanted said, “O brother, come! Let us turn back and deliver those men from perdition—those who are enchanted as I was.”
No sooner said than done. They turn around, seize the old woman, snatch from her the little weed, and begin to strike the enchanted men with it, until by degrees all of them begin to speak and move. When all those enchanted ones had been called back into life they killed the old witch. The twin brothers went back to the King’s palace and all the others to their houses.
I have heard a lie, I have told a lie, and God give you joy!
“Why do you say that, grandmother?” asked the little boy.
“That is the way it ends,” said the grandmother.
CHAPTER XXII
THE KOROWAI
There were great doings in the little boy’s house. Grandmother was standing at the long table beating up the dough of the korowai for the eldest sister’s wedding, for grandmother was greatly skilled in the making of wedding-cakes. No part of the wedding-feast is so important as the korowai, and the little boy watched with great interest as she mixed together the flour and eggs and lard, the molasses and fruit, the saffron and the savory seeds that go to make korowai. He was surprised and somewhat disappointed when, instead of putting it into the oven to bake, she spread a cloth over the great bowl and set it on a chair by the stove. He was impatient to have it baked, it smelled so nice already!
“Aren’t you going to bake it, grandmother?” he asked.
“Not just yet,” she answered. “It must rise first.”
She went away to her room, giving strict injunctions to be called as soon as the dough was risen enough.
The little boy did not follow her. Other things were being done in his mother’s room: vegetables and apples were being pared, pork roasted, sausages stuffed—it was very exciting. Some of the neighbor-women had come to help, and the little boy was under everybody’s feet at once.
“Run away, little boy,” said the mother; “go ask grandmother to tell you a story.”
Grandmother was quite ready. She was not spinning, she was only resting, for she had long been on her feet over the korowai. So everything was favorable for the story of