NELSON] THE LONE WOMAN 479 



bu-gu&quot; tin -olf. Nun-filth -clia-mi fan -gut uhh -kokh-kna -ni kii-tokh -lu-kt 

 prize it&quot; Hies he. Standing up those scattered about gathering up 



im -i-na chau -flc tf-gu -mi-a -ka u-tukh -tok u-tukh -gni-nun -t-ga -nt fg -i- 



that knife keeping goes back he back when he is going his 



jag -a ka-hla -tm-fai -ok kho -ka ii-pun -i-tin-in -ok chis-kog -i-ni ai-a -puii - 

 throat contracts it the back curves it on his knees his hands 



hV-iTc ki-i -ma pi-u -ju-i -ghi-tok uil-u -hlu-ukh -tok ki-i -ma pa-lokh -tok 

 rest suddenly can not walk he old man becomes he suddenly on his face 



lies he 



pu-M -tn-M-g H-tok tau-a -m tu-ko -lu-nt. 

 stirs not he and then is dead. 



THE LONE WOMAN 



(From St Michael) 



Very long ago there were many men living in the northland, but 

 there was no woman among them. Far away in the southland a single 

 woman was known to live. At last one of the young men in the north 

 started and traveled to the south until he came to the woman s house, 

 where he stopped and in a short time became her husband. One day 

 he sat in the house thinking of his home and said, &quot;Ah, I have a wife, 

 while the son of the headman in the north has none.&quot; And he was 

 much pleased in thinking of his good fortune. 



Meanwhile the headman s sou also had set out to journey toward the 

 south, and while the husband was talking thus to himself the son 

 stood in the entrance passage to the house listening to him. He waited 

 there in the passage until the people inside were asleep, when he crept 

 into the house and, seizing the woman by the shoulders, began drag 

 ging her away. 



Just as he reached the doorway he was overtaken by the husband, 

 who caught the woman by her feet. Then followed a struggle, which 

 ended by pulling the woman in two, the thief carrying the upper half 

 of the body away to his home in the northland, while the husband 

 was left with the lower portion of his wife. Each man set to work to 

 replace the missing parts from carved wood. After these were fitted 

 on they became endowed with life, and so two women were made from 

 the halves of one. 



The woman in the south, however, was a poor needlewoman, owing 

 to the clumsiness of her wooden fingers, but was a fine dancer. The 

 woman in the north was very expert in needlework, but her wooden 

 legs made her a very poor dancer. Each of these women gave to her 

 daughters these characteristics, so that to the present time the same 

 difference is noted between the women of the north and those of the 

 south, thus showing that the tale is true. 1 



1 This tale refers to notable facts ill regard to the accomplishments of the women in the districts 

 north and south of St Michael. 



