Page:Fairytales•Tregear•1891.pdf/150

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144
THE DANCING FISH.

their aspect till they somewhat resembled human beings, they danced up and down and in and out in a wild revel. In the midst of them danced their master Tini, decorated (as the others were also,) with necklaces of pandanus seeds. When the dance was ended Tini and his subjects rushed together into the waves and disappeared.

Koro was entranced with pleasant dreams of the power he had gained by his acquisition of the words of the incantation and its power over the fish of the sea. The next night, his father being still absent, Koro climbed the palm as he had seen his parent do, threw down some nuts and grated fine the kernels. Proceeding to the margin of the tide he strewed the sweet white food upon the waters and began to articulate the potent magic words. The fish obeyed the mandate contained in the sacred utterance and left the sea to once more perform their evolutions about the person of their summoner. To the delight of Koro he perceived among the dancers the form of his father, who advancing said to him, “Now I know why you hid my girdle. Here is your new necklace, dear son.” Putting on his necklace Koro joined the dancers, and many a moonlight night he and Tini spent thereafter, sporting on the shore with the wondrous citizens of the great ocean.