The Deer said, “Should you bring for our elder sister the sand which is at the bottom of the ocean, if she slept upon it she would be well.”
Afterwards, when the King was going to the bottom of the sea to take the sand, he was soaked with the water, and died.
After this, when the Deer and the Deer’s elder sister, taking all the King’s things, and cooking a bundle of rice, were on their way again, they met with a man. The man asked the Deer, “Where, Deer, are ye going?”
The Deer said, “We are going to seek a man for our elder sister.”
The man said, “If so, give thy elder sister to me.”
The Deer said “Hā,” and the Deer and the Deer’s elder sister went to the man’s house.
When they had been there a long time, a longing came to the woman, and she lay down. The man asked, “What, Deer, is thy elder sister’s illness?”
The Deer said, “Our elder sister has a longing.”
The man asked, “What can she eat for it?”
The Deer said, “Our elder sister must eat Nikini. Should she not eat it, it will not only be very difficult for her [to recover]; her life will be lost.” Now the sort called “Nikini” is not in any place whatever in the world. That ignorant man, not knowing of its non-existence, on account of the love that he bore for his wife went away on a search for Nikini.