102 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



I was a young boy, or else they would not have done such a 

 thing." The king said : " Thou must not say so. I am here for 

 all people, for the townfolk and for strangers also, to protect 

 them and be a father to them." Kwaku Tse answered : " How 

 canst thou say thou art a father to the stranger ? Did not we 

 come and ask thee for meat, and didst not thou tell us that thou 

 hadst only meat for thine own household ? " Spider said : " In 

 this world in which we live it is not everybody that likes every- 

 body, so it behooves every man to keep a little medicine * to guide 

 him. If the cows died of sickness then our medicine is spoiled, 

 but if the cows were killed no great harm was done." The king 

 said that the cows had died, and then Spider sang : 



'' My namesake, Kwaku, we are wearied, we are wearied. 

 We are wearied without cause." 



The king asked what this song might mean, and Spider said that 

 the little medicine which they possessed was a medicine which for- 

 bade them even to pass by dead animals, and now the flesh of ani- 

 mals that had died had been thrown upon them. He said : " Had 

 these two slaves killed one of us, instead of throwing the paunches 

 upon us, it would have been better, because the one who lived 

 would have mourned for the other, and that is something. As 

 we are standing before thee now, O king, if war came upon thee 

 we are thy men. And if war did come upon thee now, we should 

 be the first to die in battle on account of what thy slaves have 

 done." He said, " No son can be older than his father." Then 

 the king asked what this proverb might mean, and Spider and 

 Kwaku Tse showed each a medicine that was upon their loins, 

 and said : " This medicine, when we were born it was not upon us. 

 After we were born we made it, and if thou wilt help us we will 

 make fresh medicine again, and let this matter rest, for thy sake." 

 The king said, " Whatever it is ye want, say it," and they an- 

 swered, " That which we want, perchance thou thyself will want 

 it also." The king said, " As ye are strangers, ask for what ye 

 wish, and, even though I want it, ye shall have it." Then they 

 said that they wanted the two heads and the two hearts of the very 

 cows whose paunches had spoiled their medicine, and hair from 

 two of the king's own wives. The king answered that he would 

 give them the cows' heads and the two hearts, but as for his 

 wives' hair, that was too much to ask. Spider said, " If the cows 

 were not thine own it would be different, but as the cows were 

 thine own we must ask for the hair." Then the king said he 

 would give them the hair according to their wish, but only a 

 little ; and Spider and Kwaku Tse said that a little would suffice. 



* I. e., an amulet or charm. 



