Then they removed the gum from their eyes, and hunted after the girls; but the latter reached home in safety, and told their parents what had happened.
Then all lamented greatly, but they remained quietly at home, and did not search for the other girls. [[122]]
42. THE UNREASONABLE CHILD TO WHOM THE DOG GAVE ITS DESERTS;
OR, A RECEIPT FOR PUTTING ANY ONE TO SLEEP.
(The original, in the o Tyi-hereró or Dámara language, is in Sir G. Grey’s Library, J. Rath’s Manuscript, pp. 39, 43.)
There was a little girl who had an eïngi (pronounced a-inghi, some kind of fruit). She said to her Mother, “Mother, why is it that you do not say, ‘My first-born, give me the eïngi?’ Do I refuse it?”
Her Mother said, “My first-born, give me the eïngi.” She gave it to her and went away, and her Mother ate the eïngi.
When the child came back, she said, “Mother, give me my eïngi?” but her Mother answered, “I have eaten the eïngi!”
The child said, “Mother, how is it that you have eaten my eïngi, which I plucked from our tree?” The Mother then (to appease her) gave her a needle.