"Tee-hee-hee yourself," said Goro. "Have a goody." And into the top of her head he dropped the buzzing ball.
"Whatever it was, it had a bad taste and your blood will wash it away," said the yamam'ba but just then the hornets woke up, highly irritated from lack of sleep.
They flew 'round and 'round inside the yamam'ba. A few of them tickled. Most of them stung. And all of them together worked a havoc in the delicate equipment that makes up the yamam'ba interior.
The yamam'ba made a noise like a frying and a noise like a boiling, and a noise like nameless things running through the night with their ears on fire. She tumbled from the tree, into the tub waiting below and bounced about inside it making unpleasant sounds too numerous to mention.
Goro followed, but more slowly. He arrived in time to see the tub skipping and hopping at the edge of the road which at that point was quite narrow. It teetered for a moment and then sailed out in a gracious curve, trailing its uproar behind it. Goro kneeled and peered down. It was very dark. From far below came a soft boompety-boomp. Then a mere whisper of a crash.
Goro got up, shaking his head. He dusted his knees and went away down the road, growing smaller in the cold, lonely night.