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PAPUAN FAIRY TALES

his den rushed the boar, and fell upon the children, and in a trice he tore their tender flesh and devoured it, strewing the ground with their bones. And so was it that their mother, who, being dead, had delivered them from the rage of their father, was yet unable to save them from the evil beast to whose land they had come.


WHY THE MEN OF GAVI WILL NOT EAT FISH.

I will tell thee now wherefore thou must never offer fish to a man of Gavi, be it never so large and good.

In the old days a man from that village went forth to hunt, and companion had he none save his dog. But though he walked far yet found he nought to kill save one wallaby. And it came to pass that as he walked he came upon a lake whose shores were round, and whose waters teemed with many fish. The name of the lake was Wapogi, and at the bottom lived the magic eel, Abaia. But this the man knew not, and when his dog reached the water and caught a fish in his mouth, the man feared not, but was glad to see so many fish. Yet he caught none himself, but, marking where the lake lay, he returned home. Then he roasted the wallaby and he and his