Page:The Melanesians Studies in their Anthropology and Folklore.djvu/411

myself. But she says, No, we three. But the Little Orphan says, No, you two must not; I shall go by myself, because I have no food to feed you with. But she says, Never mind, string our fish together and we three will go. So the three went along and arrived at the Little Orphan's dwelling-place; and he looks and sees a house and a gamal; and he asks her, Whose house is this? and whose gamal is this? And Ro Som says to him, It is the house of us three, and your gamal. So they three enter into the house, and sit down. And Bo Som says to the Little Orphan, Come now, cook the fish for us three to eat. But he says What is there? What are we going to eat the fish with? I told you that you two must not come with me; I have no food. But she says, Cook the fish, we three will eat them with some vegetable food presently. So he makes up a fire for the fish, and puts hot stones inside them and wraps them in leaves, and puts them on the fire, and the three sit down and wait. Then Ro Som says to him, Now then, take down our fish. And he says, What are we to do? What are we going to eat them with, I mean? And she says, Look, there is a heap of cooked food there for us to eat the fish with. So he goes over to the fish, and takes them off the fire, and they three ate. And when they had finished eating he goes out of the house into the village and sees gardens, a banana garden, and a tomago garden, and a yam garden, a wowosa garden, a weswes garden, a sugar-cane garden; and the bananas were beginning to rot, and the tomagos were sprouting afresh, and the yams were sprouting, and the reeds were throwing up flower stalks, and the qeta were beginning to rot. Then he said to his mother, Oh, mother, whose gardens are these here? And Ro Som says, They belong to us three only; and she says to him, To-morrow you will make up fires in the gamal in every oven, and we two will be here in the house, and we three will make mixture of cooked food and scraped cocoa-nut for food for pigs. And says the Little Orphan, Very well, but what are we to feed with it? But she says, Just get to work about it. So they two cooked a quantity of food in the oven inside the