WHITE DUCK 113 



what tlie fun was, and they too in their turn cried: 

 "No room, no room here, old woman; go a little 

 further on." And she went on, only to be sent further 

 still, until she had j^^onc all tiic way round the lake and 

 was back at the spot where she had started where she 

 was received with a shout of laughter and the cry of 

 "No room here, old woman." 



'IMicn in a rage she Hung the rod down, and, cursing 

 the people for making a fool of her, she fled from their 

 laughter; and, arrived back at that very opening through 

 which she had climbed into heaven, she cast herself 

 down on the upper branches of the great tree and began 

 her long descent to earth again. She alone of all the 

 dead who had reached that country turned her back 

 on it and returned to this world, to our everlasting 

 sorrow. Arrived at the earth, and mad with rage and 

 the desire of revenge, she turned herself in a huge water- 

 rat, a creature found by that river, a rat as big as a 

 retriever dog, with four great teeth, hard and sharp 

 as steel chisels, two in the upper and Irwo in the lower 

 jaw. Making herself a den at the roots of the mighty 

 tree, she began gnawing the wood, working day and 

 night for many, many days, and for months and years; 

 and if ever slie grew tired of her huge task she thought 

 of the indignity she had suffered and of the mocking 

 laughter of the people by the lake, and was roused to 

 fresh fury and continued exertions. In this way the 

 great roots and lower part of the trunk were riddled 

 through and through and hollowed out. Nor was it 

 known to any one what the malignant old woman was 



