‘Yes, you promised you would go to war and bring back some prisoners, and you have not done it.’
‘I did go, and made many prisoners,’ retorted the turtle angrily, drawing out his knife. ‘Look here, if she won’t be my wife, she sha’n’t be yours. I will cut her in two; and you shall have one half, and I the other.’
‘But half a woman is no use to me,’ answered the man. ‘If you want her so much you had better take her.’ And the turtle, followed by his relations, carried her off to his own hut.
Now the woman saw she would gain nothing by being sulky, so she pretended to be very glad to have got rid of her husband; but all the while she was trying to invent a [!-- illustration - THE TURTLE OUTWITTED --] [!-- blank page --] plan to deliver herself from the turtle. At length she remembered that one of her friends had a large iron pot, and when the turtle had gone to his room to put away his fringes, she ran over to her neighbour’s and brought it back. Then she filled it with water and hung it over the fire to boil. It was just beginning to bubble and hiss when the turtle entered.
‘What are you doing there?’ asked he, for he was always afraid of things that he did not understand.
‘Just warming some water,’ she answered. ‘Do you know how to swim?’
‘Yes, of course I do. What a question! But what does it matter to you?’ said the turtle, more suspicious than ever.
‘Oh, I only thought that after your long journey you might like to wash. The roads are so muddy, after the winter’s rains. I could rub your shell for you till it was bright and shining again.’