“Be careful, Yappa. You will step on the nest,” said Shecol.
The children stopped short and began to peep about in the long grass. Soon they saw a little hollow with eleven eggs in it. Shecol had brought a basket with him, and they put the eggs into that and then carried them back carefully to the house.
That evening the Indians all gathered at Oshda’s house. Putsha brought out a basket filled with eggs. Putsha took one and said, “Watch me, Shecol and Yappa, so that you can do it, too.”
She made a hole in each end of the egg; then she put her mouth to one hole and blew all the inside part of the egg out into a dish.
While Putsha was blowing the egg, Colla ran up to the Robles’ house. Soon she came back carrying a large bowl of perfumed water in her hands. Putsha put the eggshell into the bowl, and the perfumed water ran into the shell through the holes in the ends. When it was partly full, Putsha lifted the egg out and dropped some melted wax on each of the holes in the ends. In a few minutes the wax hardened, and Yappa held in her hand what seemed to be an egg. But it was really an eggshell half filled with perfumed water.
“Won’t the people smell sweet when they get these eggs broken on their heads!” said Yappa.
Putsha, Colla, and the children worked hard that evening before they had all the eggs blown and filled.
The next night Putsha brought out another basket of eggs, but instead of perfumed water to fill them with, Donna Maria sent a basket of gold and silver paper, cut into tiny bits. The paper was a brittle, crackly kind that glistened in the light. Some of these eggs they colored red, some blue, some red and yellow, and some were spotted.
After the eggs were ready, the cooking began, and for two or three days the Indian women were busy at that. The Robles had invited all their friends from San José, and from all the country around. They knew that their guests would be very hungry after riding so far.
