And then the King’s crier said: “I will pay you by telling you the answers to the riddles that the King will propose. He will ask you to join in the [[89]]game, and if you join and are not able to answer the riddles, he will have you slain. But if you are able to answer them, he will have to give you whatever possession of his you ask for. This is the first riddle that he will ask:
“ ‘Put it all around from top to bottom,
Leave, and leave a place with nothing around.’
The answer is a house, for the thatch goes around from top to bottom, with a place not thatched for the doorway. And this is the second riddle that he will ask:
“ ‘The men that stand up,
The men that lie down,
The men that are folded.’
The answer to that, too, is a house, for the timbers stand up, the beams lie down, the thatch is folded. If you have an answer for these two riddles, you may join in the game, and the King cannot have you slain.”
The fourth day after this Paka went with the rest of the people to the King’s house. The King saw him, and he called out, “Let the stranger be seated here.” Paka went and sat near him. And then after a while the King said, “Will the stranger join in the game?”
“I will,” Paka said, “but you must tell me the conditions of the game.” “These are the conditions,” [[90]]said the King. “I have two riddles to give out: if you enter the game and cannot answer them correctly, you will be slain; if you can answer them correctly, you are free to leave my land and to take with you any possession of mine that you choose.” “I will enter the game,” said Paka.