Yé did not know what to do; but his wife said she did. If she was only a man, she would soon get rid of that Devil. "Yé," she insisted, "go and see the Bon-Dié [the Good-God], and ask him what to do. I would go myself if I could; but women are not strong enough to climb the great morne."
So Yé started off very, very early one morning, before the peep of day, and began to climb the Montagne Pelée. He climbed and walked, and walked and climbed, until he got at last to the top of the Morne de la Croix.[56]
Then he knocked at the sky as loud as he could till the Good-God put his head out of a cloud and asked him what he wanted:—
—"Eh bien!—ça ou ni, Yé fa ou lè?"
When Yé had recounted his troubles, the Good-God said:—
—"Pauv ma pauv! I knew it all before you came, Yé. I can tell you what to do; but I am afraid it will be no use—you will never be able to do it! Your gluttony is going to be the ruin of you, poor Yé! Still, you can try. Now listen well to what I am going to tell you. First of all, you must not eat anything before you get home. Then when your wife has the children's dinner ready, and you see the Devil getting up, you must cry out:—'Tam ni pou tam ni bé!' Then the Devil will drop down dead. Don't forget not to eat anything—ou tanne?"...
Yé promised to remember all he was told, and not to eat anything on his way down;—then he said good-bye to the Bon-Dié (bien conm y faut), and started. All the way he kept repeating the words the Good-God had told him: "Tam ni pou tam ni bé!"—"tam ni pou tam ni bé!"—over and over again.
—But before reaching home he had to cross a little stream; and on both banks he saw wild guava-bushes growing, with plenty of sour guavas upon them;—for it was not yet time for guavas to be ripe. Poor Yé was hungry! He did all he could to resist the temptation, but it proved too much for him. He broke all his promises to the Bon-Dié: he ate and ate and ate till there were no more guavas left,—and then he began to eat zicaques and green plums, and all sorts of nasty sour things, till he could not eat any more.
—By the time he got to the cabin his teeth were so on edge that he could scarcely speak distinctly enough to tell his wife to get the supper ready.
And so while everybody was happy, thinking that they were going to be freed from their trouble, Yé was really in no condition to do anything. The moment the supper was ready, the Devil got up from his corner as usual, and approached the table. Then Yé tried to speak; but his teeth were so on edge that instead of saying,—"Tam ni pou tam ni bé," he could only stammer out:—-"Anni toqué Diabe-là cagnan."