“That means rain,” said the old woman. “It won’t be long till spring comes.” She took out plenty of roots [[205]]and pounded them for the children. (They were fooling her.)
The next day she sent the little girl to look at Mlaiksi.
The girl said: “Smoke is rising from the top of the mountain, as if someone had made a fire up there.”
The old woman was taking out a few roots, but she poured them back, and said: “There is going to be a great storm.”
The storm came. It put out their fire, and for four days old Lok didn’t move. Five days the children were without anything to eat; then she asked the little boy: “How does it look now?”
“It is raining.”
The old woman said: “If it rains, you can go and dig roots.”
The daughter cried and told her the children were starving. She gave them a few roots. The little boy said to his mother: “Why can’t we dig a hole near the roots and steal some of them?”
“I know what you are talking about,” said the old woman. “I know that it is winter yet.”
One morning she asked: “Is it spring?”