Tried to dip with the ladle, and then it sank.
Tried to dip with the mantle, and then it sank.”
With the name as a chorus at the end of each line.
Then she took her child and put it to her breast to suck.
When the child had finished sucking, she gave it back to the nurse, telling her to take it home. She commanded the nurse never to say to any one that she came out of the water, and told her that when people asked where the child got food she must say she gave it berries to eat.
This continued for some days. Every night the nurse took the child to the river, when its mother came out and suckled it. She always looked round to see that no one was present, and always put the same command on the girl.
After a time the father of the child returned from hunting. They told him of Tangalimlibo’s going to the river and not returning. Then the nurse brought the child to him. He inquired what it ate, and was told that berries were given to it.
He said: “That cannot be so; go and get [[62]]some berries, and let me see my child eat them.”
The girl went and brought some berries, but they were not eaten by the child. Then the father of the child beat the girl until she told the truth. She said she went at night to the river, when the mother came out and caressed her child and gave it of her milk.
Then they made a plan that the husband of Tangalimlibo should hide himself in the reeds and try and catch his wife when she came out of the water. He took the skin of an ox and cut it into a long riem, one end of which he fastened round his waist. The other end he gave to the men of that village, telling them to hold it fast and to pull hard when they felt it being drawn from them.