“Sirs, granted that was no fault,—But when she came to us her mother gave her ten admonitions of a hidden meaning, and I dislike them. First: ‘The indoor fire is not to be taken out of doors.’ Now you know it is the friendly custom to send fire to our neighbours.”
“Is it as he says, dear girl?”
“Good sirs, this is the meaning: ‘If you notice any fault in any of your new family, never tell it outside the house. For there is no worse fire than this.’ Was this a fault in me?”
And Migara was ashamed and said:
“Sirs, I grant this. But she was also instructed thus: ‘Outdoor fire must not be brought indoors.’ It is the custom to accept fire if ours should go out, and therefore this was an unseemly instruction.”
And seated in a row and consulting, the householders appointed their eldest to answer.
“Is it as he says, dear girl?”
“No, good sirs. The meaning is—‘If any outside the house speak ill of any within, never repeat it within doors. For there is no fire like the tongue.”
“Well and good, dear girl. And the rest?”
And she repeated.