Once when she was working in her garden, and crying as usual, two doves came and perched near her. One of them said to the other: “Dove, ask the woman why she is crying.” So the dove questioned her.
She replied: “It is because I have no children, and my husband does not love me. His [[149]]other wife’s children are crows, which come and eat my corn, and she laughs at me.”
The dove said: “Go home and get two earthen jars, and bring them here.”
Numbakatali went and got them. Then the doves scratched her knees till the blood flowed, and put the blood in the jars. The woman gave the doves some corn to eat, after which she took the jars home to her hut, and set them carefully down in a corner. Every day the two doves came to be fed, and always told the woman to look at what was in the jars.
At last, when she looked one day, she saw two children, one a boy, the other a girl, and both very handsome. She was very much delighted at the sight, but she did not tell any one.
When the children grew a little she made a snug place for them in the hut, where they were to sit all day, because she did not wish them to be seen. Always before she went to her work she charged them not to go out, and as her husband never came to see her, no one knew of the existence of these children except herself and a servant girl.
But one day, when they were big, she went [[150]]out, and after she was away some time, the boy said to his sister: “Come, let us help our mother by bringing water from the river.”
So they went for water; but they had not reached the river when they met a company of young men with a chief’s son, who was looking for a pretty girl to be his wife. The young chief was called Broad Breast, because his chest was very wide, and it was also made of a glittering metal that shone in the sun. These men asked for water to drink. The boy gave them all some water, but the young chief would only take it from the girl. He was very much smitten with her beauty, and watched her when she left, so as to find out where she lived.
As soon as the young chief saw the hut that the girl went to, he returned home with his party and asked his father for cattle with which to marry her. The chief, who was very rich, gave his son many fine cattle, with which the young man went to the girl’s mother’s husband, and said: “I want to marry your daughter.”
So the girl who was very black was told to come, but the young chief said: “That is not [[151]]the one I want; the one I saw was lighter in colour and much prettier.”