And she replied, “I am the only daughter of Gumbi.”
“And who is Gumbi?”
“He is the king of this country,” she replied.
“Well, but I am Gumbi myself, and how canst thou be my daughter?” he asked.
“I am the child of thy wife, Miami, and after I was born she hid me that I might not be cast into the river. I have been living with grandmamma, who nursed me, and by the number of banana-stalks in her garden thou mayest tell the number of the seasons that have passed since my birth. One day she told me the time had come, and she sent me to seek my father; and I embarked in the canoe with four servants, and the river bore me to this land.”
“Well,” said Gumbi, “when I return home I shall question Miami, and I shall soon discover the truth of thy story; but meantime, what must I do for thee?”
“My grandmamma said that thou must sacrifice a goat to the meeting of the daughter with the father,” she replied.
Then the king requested her to step on the shore, and when he saw the flash of her yellow feet, and the gleams of her body, which were like shining bright gum, and gazed on the clear, smooth features, and looked into the wondrous black eyes, Gumbi’s heart melted and he was filled with pride that such a surpassingly beautiful creature should be his own daughter.
But she refused to set her feet on the shore until another goat had been sacrificed, for her grandmother had said ill-luck would befall her if these ceremonies were neglected.
Therefore the king commanded that two goats should be slain, one for the meeting with his daughter, and one to drive away ill-luck from before her in the land where she would first rest her feet.