424 Foniaiidcr Collection of Hazvaiiaii Folk-lore. 



to kill you for this." Lepe replied: "If you should kill me you will not have anybody 

 to play with." 



[Some time after this] Lepe again conspired against the ghosts and upon 

 meeting them said: "You fellows cover up your eyes while I go and hide something." 

 The ghosts assented to this, and Lepe proceeded to the sand, and after excreting on the 

 sand he covered it up making a small hill of sand; then he led ten arms from the hill, 

 after which he called to the ghosts, saying: "It is hidden." The ghosts then all came 

 and Lepe said to them: "The game is this: here are ten different arms leading to that 

 hill ; each of you take an arm and dig with all your might towards that hill ; whoever gets 

 there first, wins." The ghosts began digging and when they reached the hill their 

 hands were all besmeared with the filth. This made the ghosts more angry with Lepe 

 and they all spoke of killing him. Again Lepe told them that if they were to put him 

 to death they would be without a playmate. 



After this the ghosts conspired amongst themselves as to how to kill Lepe.- 

 After some time they decided that they would kill a pig and give a feast, as a means of 

 tempting Lepe to come to their house, where they would kill him. As soon as this was 

 decided on, they immediately proceeded to carry out their plans. 



While they were preparing the pig for the unui, Lepe saw them in their prepa- 

 rations and knew that a feast was about to be given; he therefore began to evolve a 

 plan whereby he would be able to eat some of the pork. After hitting on a plan he 

 went to work to carry it out and so procured some charcoal and began to blacken one 

 side of his body from top to bottom, leaving one side. When this was completed he 

 went up to the house where the ghosts made their home. As he was drawing near 

 the house, one of the ghosts said: "Say, that fellow looks like Lepe, only this fellow 

 is black on one side." Another ghost said: "That fellow is not Lepe for he is black on 

 one side, Lepe is different." When Lepe arrived, the ghosts asked him: "Are you the 

 only one who has come?" Lepe replied: "No, there are ten of us black fellows. I am 

 the tenth, and the other nine fellows have not come yet, but they are coming later on, 

 however; they will be here directly." 



After the pig was cooked, they all sat down to eat, Lepe included. After the 

 meal, Lepe got up and went away, and when he was at some distance from the house, 

 he called out: "I have fooled you. Lepe has eaten of your pig. I am Lepe." One of 

 the ghosts then said to the others : "We have been deceived by Lepe. Here it turns out 

 that this black man is Lepe after all." The ghosts then began chasing Lepe with the 

 idea of killing him because they were very angry. While they were chasing, Lepe ran 

 to his house and began calling" out in a loud voice: "Say, you people who are sleeping, 

 you must wake up for here are some people coming who wish to kill us." With this 

 he reached and took hold of the end of a cord and pulled on it. To this cord several 

 rattlers were fastened and when he gave a pull the rattlers made cjuite an uproar. When 

 the ghosts heard this queer noise they all ran away calling out to themselves: "Say, we 

 will be killed. Here, Lepe's house is full of people all the time and we did not know it. 

 What a narrow escape we have had. Let us get away from him." And they kept on 

 running. 



