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THE MAN WHO COULD NOT BE KILLED.


In the old days, a great chief named Tauribolena lived in the mountains with his two wives, Rekubole, an old woman, and Kauavira, who was still young. It came to pass that one day he told them that they were to go with him to the sea shore, and he set out bearing his child, and the two women walked behind, carrying heavy bags of food, which were slung from their heads.

Tauribolena nursed the child so badly that it cried, and he needs must give it to his wives that they might stop its wailing. The women hated their husband for that he was cruel to the child, therefore they lay hid with it in the grass, and hoped that Tauribolena would not find them. But in a little he missed them, and turned back, singing as he walked,—

"Kaipokina kivi!
Tautauvaona kivi!"

("Footsteps of the barren woman!
Footsteps of the nursing woman!")

Then he found them, and forced them to go with him to the shore. When night came Rekubole and Kauavira went secretly to their brothers, who lived in that village, and told them of the cruelty of