Page:The Melanesians Studies in their Anthropology and Folklore.djvu/406

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384
Stories.
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man, and he turned his head again and again to look behind him to see who it was, but there was no man. And he drew again, and heard again the voice inciting him; and he looked again, for he still thought it was a man. And the third time he drew his bow, and heard the voice, and loosed the string and hit the sauma. And he ran down and caught the fish by the tail, and threw his arms round it; but the fish struggled, throwing itself about, and carried him off into a dry cave, which was, they say, the dwelling of Ro Som (Money). And Ganviviris cried aloud, but the sauma turned into a woman, and said, Don't cry, it is I who have had pity on you. I have seen you every day, and now I am going to do you a service. You shall go back; and when you go home you are to tell your uncle to bid his wives plait bags for you. and let them be ten, and make a chamber for yourself parted off from the house, and hang up all the bags in the open; and don't eat anything to-day. So Ganviviris dived out of the cave, and went back into the village, and said to his uncle, Tata, tell those three to plait me ten bags. And his uncle said to him, What have you got belonging to you to stow in them? You are a penniless fellow, and one who never plants or gathers. But he says, E! just let me have them plaited. So his uncle said to his wives, You are to plait bags for Ganviviris. And they three cried, E-o-o! who is to listen to him, an avlava, a fellow who does nothing at all? But his uncle said, Plait them just to try what his nonsense means; then we shall see what sort of property he has got to stow in them. So the three women plaited the bags. And in the night Ro Som came to Ganviviris and said, Make haste to hang up your bags. And next day he hung up the bags; and in the night as he was lying down to sleep he heard the rafters creak again because of the money which was filling the bags; and he got up and felt one after another those ten bags, every one quite full. And Ro Som said to him, Tell your uncle to give you his third wife. So he spoke out to him about it, and his uncle let him have one. And he said again, Tata, let us break up fire-wood for the day after to-morrow.