“When will there be a new moon?”
“In two nights. Return to your village, but come here again on the morning of the second day.”
On the morning appointed, Rata returned and found the Man sitting in the same place.
“Do you know any spot where I can conceal myself from the enemy with whom I am about to fight?” he inquired.
The Man replied, “Come with me and I will show you the two fountains of clear water.”
“This spot that we stand on,” said the Man, when they arrived at the place, “is the place where Matuku rises up from the earth, and yonder fountain is the one on which he combs and washes his dishevelled hair; but this fountain is the one he uses to reflect his face in while he dresses it. You can not kill him while he is at the fountain he uses to reflect his face in, because your shadow would also be reflected in it and he would see it; but at the fountain in which he washes his hair you may smite and slay him.”
“Will he make his appearance this evening?”
“Yes.”
They had not waited long when the moon became visible and the Man told Rata to hide himself near the brink of the fountain in which Matuku would wash his hair. Then he shouted aloud, “Ho, ho, the new moon is visible—a moon two days old.”
Matuku heard him and, seizing his two-handed wooden sword, rose from the earth. He laid his sword on the ground at the edge of the fountain where he dressed his hair, and kneeling down on both sides of it he loosened the strings which bound up his long locks, shook them out, and plunged his head into the clear cool water. Rata crept out from where he lay hid, and rapidly moved up and stood behind him. As Matuku raised his head above the water Rata with one hand seized him by the hair, while with the other he smote and slew him.