“I should like to hear something nice, to hear music, to hear beautiful sounds.”
After he had taken the flute Tsaroki did not sleep; he played for three days and three nights without stopping; then he stopped and asked,—
“What is this flute? What is it made of? It sounds so sweetly.”
“My grandson, I will tell you; that flute is of wood,—alder wood. That is an alder flute, but the wood is people’s bones. There were people long ago, and that alder wood grew out of their bones. My grandson, would you like to have another young man with you, or do you wish to be alone? I think it would be better for you to have company.”
“My grandfather, I should like to have another man with me; I could talk with him. I could live then more pleasantly.”
“My grandson, to see another young man you must go to the west; you must go in the middle of the night, when it is very dark, so that no one may see you. My grandson, it is better for you to go to-night.”
“Where? Which way do you want me to go, my grandfather?”
“Go west from here, far away; you will start when it is dark; you will get there in the dark. You will go to where the old woman Nomhawena Pokaila lives: she is your grandmother. When you go to her house, ask her about your brother; she will tell you where he is.”
“My grandfather, I don’t believe that I can find her house. I don’t know what kind of house it is.”
“You cannot miss it, my grandson. The night will be very dark; no one will be able to see anything, but you cannot miss the house. It is a little house; no one can see it, but you cannot miss it. You will go there very quickly, though ’tis far from here and the night is dark.”