"That is not a very serious affair. I will have more rice brought to you."
But when the young girl said that she needed about ten bowls, the good woman was startled. She again wished to remain near her daughter.
"If you stay here, mama, I shall not be able to take anything. Leave me alone, and I shall eat more comfortably."
Everybody indulged her caprice. When the cabin was empty, she shut the door and Ya-nei came out. Hungry as he was, he made the ten bowls vanish like a shooting star, and did not leave a single grain. Elegant watched him with astonishment, and asked him in a low voice:
"Is that still too little?"
"It will suffice," answered the other, drinking a cup of tea.
He hastened back to his hiding-place, while the young girl ate some vegetables. Then she called the slaves, who came running up, wondering whether she had been able to eat all that food. They looked at the empty bowls and at their mistress's slim figure, and murmured as they went away:
"What a terrible illness!"
One of them, in her anxiety, went to the father and showed him the dish, suggesting that he should call a doctor as soon as possible. And he, for his part, forbade them to give her so much another time, fearing that she would burst.
At mid-day he went himself to speak to her.