“Then the goddess looked up and gave a soft whistle; and down from the beautiful palm trees of Mburoto came fluttering to her feet small, black-breasted birds.
“‘Lift your heads up, O little birds!’ she said, as they all sang to her. Then, as they still whistled and whistled, she stooped down and with her forefinger tenderly brushed the dark down from each breast.
“‘What’s that stuff for?’ growled the old Thangi-Thangi, the god of Hate and Sin.
“‘Why, that is for the hair on their tiny heads.’
“Then the goddess said: ‘Come on! Come on!’ and led the way to the edge of the mighty threshold of Atua (Elysium).
“Then she threw out a long fishing-net, and it fell away down the skies. As she pulled it up very gently, it was full of old sunsets and old broken moons.
“‘What’s that stuff for?’ murmured the gods, as the hills around were lit up with a sad, beautiful light.
“‘Why, that is to make their little hearts with; I would have them love and worship us, these children that we have made, so that when they die, their spirits will come back again to shadowland.’
“Then she led them across the wide halls of Mburoto, till they came to the lagoons that were the shining mirrors of the gods and goddesses.
“‘O gods and goddesses of shadowland, bend forward and gaze into the deep waters so that your eyes will be imaged therein!’