First Koree, unmindful of the counsel of the skies, moved forward, and, fearing neither Gods nor Monkeys, sought to begin the battle.
He stood in the plain between the two armies, like an oak in an open field between two forests. Breathing defiance to the Lali, he called out:
“Who dares to meet me of all your hosts, and ward off death from his brow when I discharge this dart, the swift avenger of my wrong?”
Him seeing, and not fearing, the great Tree-climber of the mountains ran to meet, he who had often pulled the tails of cats, and grinned at larger beasts. Stopping often, and then starting again, like a great river that now rushes with violence, and then stops and whirls in an eddy, (showing commotion in its stop as in its onward course), he, seeming irresolute, plunged at last at Koree, having eluded his missiles, and seized him with hands and teeth. Hair and blood flew from Koree, who in turn sent a blow to Tree-climber’s ribs, which loosed his ribs and no less his fingers and teeth from Koree’s flesh; and the great warriors, bleeding and aching, flew apart. They stood, frowning like two mountain peaks about to fall with a crash upon each other, but were stayed in their rage by a return of Fear, the destroyer of battles. Both having enough, and being uncertain what it would be to get more, went back, one to the west like the sun, and the other to the east like a shadow; and there was a lull in the storm.
KOREE’S CHALLENGE.
Then Kimpoo, the skunk-scented, rising among the Lali, went forth, breathing war from his extended nostrils, and, scratching first his thigh and then his ribs, said in defiant tones: