Yé could scarcely walk for the weight of his nose; but he had to go and see the Bon-Dié again. The Bon-Dié said to him:—
—"Ah! Yé, my poor Yé, you will live and die a fool!—you are certainly the biggest fool in the whole world!... Still, I must try to do something for you;—I'll help you anyhow to get rid of that nose!... I'll tell you how to do it. To-morrow morning, very early, get up and take a big taya [whip], and beat all the bushes well, and drive all the birds to the Roche de la Caravelle. Then you must tell them that I, the Bon-Dié, want them to take off their bills and feathers, and take a good bath in the sea. While they are bathing, you can choose a nose for yourself out of the heap of bills there."
Poor Yé did just as the Good-God told him; and while the birds were bathing, he picked out a nose for himself from the heap of beaks,—and left his own refinery-pot in its place.
The nose he took was the nose of the coulivicou.[58] And that is why the coulivicou always looks so much ashamed of himself even to this day.
[54]In the patois, "yon rafale yche"—"a whirlwind of children."
[55]In the original:—"Y té ka monté assous tabe-là, épi y té ka fai caca adans toutt plats-à, adans toutt zassiett-là."
[56]A peaklet rising above the verge of the ancient crater now filled with water.
[57]The great field-rat of Martinique is, in Martinique folklore, the symbol of all cunning, and probably merits its reputation.
[58]The coulivicou, or "Colin Vicou," is a Martinique bird with a long meagre body, and an enormous bill. It has a very tristful and taciturn expression.... Maig conm yon coulivicou, "thin as a coulivicou," is a popular comparison for the appearance of anybody much reduced by sickness.