“Yes, it’s I, right enough; Ndengi let me come down and see you all for a while.”
“Did he?” responded the serpent.
Kasawayo felt a bit worried as she looked sideways down at the serpent. Then, feeling it would be best to be quite pleasant, she said as she gave a coquettish glance:
“I am pleased to see you again, but what I really wish to see is a handsome Fijian youth who will love me and return with me to the halls of Mbau.”
“You do, do you?” thought the serpent-god as it looked up at Kasawayo, a crafty, envious gleam in its big green eyes.
Kasawayo, who now had a woman’s instincts, trembled slightly as she noticed that look. Then she said:
“I know you’ll help me to find a handsome, passionate mortal, won’t you?”
The serpent-god swelled to double his size, and, looking up at Kasawayo, thought to himself:
“Why, I like the look of you myself, and I can be a passionate lover if I like.”
Being a wary serpent-god, he took care that Kasawayo should have no inkling of his thoughts. Then he unrolled his spotted body so that he might reveal his vivid colours to the best advantage. Having shown his beauty, he said: