"Do not forbid to eat, like a fòdy", probably meaning that the bird eats so much rice that there is little left for the owner. The same voracious habit is referred to again in the saying: "It is not right to act like a fòdy when the rice is ripe: tasting before the owner." Again, presuming to be equal to one's betters is reproved in another proverb, which says: "A rice-bird (Tsikirìty) going together with a fòdy: it is not the leader, but only a follower." This Tsikirìty is a bird of the same family as the fòdy, but of a different genus and much smaller. Other species of Weaver are known as "Forest Fòdy", and "Crafty Fòdy", from the ingenious way in which their retort-shaped nests are suspended over streams at the extremity of a branch, so as to protect the young from serpents and other enemies.
Before leaving the weaver-birds, I will just give a specimen of children's games, in which the cardinal-bird plays a prominent part, quoting from a paper of my friend and brother missionary, the Rev, J. Richardson.
"The native songs," he says, "are sung to a kind of chant, one or two voices leading in the song, and the others joining in as a chorus at the end of each stanza. The children join hands, and the first two take up the strain, saying:
'We bid you come, we bid you.'
Then they are answered by the whole body:
'We'll not go there, we'll not go.'
The leaders again sing out:
'And why [not come], and why [not]?'
The whole body then reply again:
'It's neither rice nor yam.'
The leaders cry out, and lift up their arms with hands joined, as in a country dance:
'It's the cardinal-bird's house.'
To which the whole troop of children cry out as they pass under:
'It's a red house.'
