“This wood is bad. It smokes so much that I can not see, and soon I shall be blind.” And then she added, as was her custom:
“If you do not work well, you can have only food for dogs and pigs.”
That day, as usual, the boys had in their topil for dinner only boiled camote vines, such as the hogs eat, and a small allowance of rice, just as much as a dog is fed. At night the boys brought some very good wood—wood of the pitch-pine tree. In the morning the mother complained that such wood blackened the house. She gave them pig food in their topil, saying:
“Pig food is good enough for you because you do not work well.”
That night each boy brought in a large bundle of runo. The mother was angry, and scolded, saying:
“This is not good wood; it leaves too many ashes and it dirties the house.”
In the morning she gave them dog food for dinner, and the boys again went away to the mountains. They were now very thin and poor because they had no meat to eat. By and by the older one said:
“You wait here while I climb up this tree and cut off some branches.” So he climbed the tree, and presently called down:
“Here is some wood”—and the bones of an arm dropped to the ground.
“Oh, oh,” exclaimed the younger brother, “it is your arm!”