LEGENDS FROM TORRES STRAITS.
II.
x.—The Story of Greedy Goba.
(As narrated by Kanai (now Gizu), the Chief of Badu.)
IN former days, on the leeward side of Badu, lay the village of Ergan, and Wakaid was situated to windward, that is to say, on the south-eastern side of the island.
The men of Wakaid told their women to go to Ergan to sell biiu (1) for turtle meat, but Goba volunteered, saying, "Give me. I go to Ergan and sell for you," and they permitted him. Halfway across the island are two hills; arriving between them, he sat down and ate all the biiu; when he had finished he proceeded on his way to Ergan. The inhabitants of this village had just caught a considerable number of turtle, and they gave him a large supply to sell to the Wakaid folk.
Having slept that night at Ergan, Goba set off in the early morning, and when he came to the spot between the two hills he again rested and ate up all the turtle. When he arrived at the camp the Wakaid men asked him where the turtle was, and he replied that they had none at the other village. He slept.
The first thing in the morning the Wakaid men said, "Who will go to Ergan?" Goba said, "I will go again," and they filled up a basket with biiu. Again he rested halfway and ate as much of the biiu as he could. On arriving at Ergan the men there asked him where the biiu was, and Goba told a lie, and said none was sent. As they had been fortunate in their turtle-fishing they gave him a load
