He returned again.
The young man said: “You thought we would die when you hung us in the tree.” [[39]]
He was astonished, and said: “Are you indeed my child?”
Crocodile then gave them (the parents) three baskets of corn, and told them to go and build on the mountains. He (the man) did so and died there on the mountains. [[40]]
THE STORY OF THE BIRD THAT MADE MILK. II.
The following is another version of this story of the Bird that made Milk, as current among the Barolongs, a tribe speaking the Sechuana language, and residing beyond the Orange River. It was written down for me by an educated grandson of the late chief Moroko.
It is said that there was once a great town in a certain place, which had many people living in it. They lived upon grain only. One year there was a great famine. There was in that town a poor man, by name Masilo, and his wife. One day they went to dig in their garden, and they continued digging the whole day long. In the evening, when the digging companies returned home, they returned also. Then there came a bird and stood upon the house which was beside the garden, and began to whistle, and said:
“Masilo’s cultivated ground, mix together.” [[41]]
The ground did as the bird said. After that was done the bird went away.