Sugar-cane knots forty-four were your bones,
Of clay was formed your body;
Rootlets of the areca-palm were your arteries,
Liquid sugar made your blood,
A rotten mat your skin,
And a mid-rib of the thatch-palm your tail,
Prickles of the pandanus made your dorsal ridge,
And pointed bĕrĕmbang suckers your teeth.[297]
If you splash with your tail it shall break in two,
If you strike downwards with your snout it shall break in two,