WEST AFRICAN FOLKLORE. 781 



walking along the beach toward the village of Aboanu, thinking 

 about his dead wife, he met a strange young woman. 



The young woman, who was very handsome, asked him why 

 he walked alone and appeared so sad. He replied : " My wife is 

 dead, and I am living alone. I feel lonely by myself, and there is 

 no one to cook my meals." 



The young woman said she felt sorry for him, and the two 

 walked on, conversing together. She spoke kindly, and the man 

 liked her appearance; so before long he asked her to take the 

 place of the deceased, and come home and live with him. She 

 agreed to the proposal, and, returning with the man to his house 

 the same night, became his wife. 



They lived together very happily for a time, but when three 

 months had passed the wife grew restless and uneasy. Her hus- 

 band asked her what was troubling her, but she put him off with 

 excuses, until at last one day, when he had again asked her what 

 was the matter, she said that she was uneasy in mind because 

 she must leave him to go and visit her family. 



The husband said, " That need not trouble you, for I will go 

 with you " ; but to this she would not consent, saying that alone 

 she had come to him and alone she must go away. 



Then the husband declared that he would go with her, and, as 

 she still continued to refuse, he asked her to tell him her reason. 

 For a long time she would not tell him, but at last he pressed her 

 so much that she said, " I will not allow you to go with me, be- 

 cause you would laugh at me when we returned." 



This answer much puzzled the husband. He asked, "Why 

 should I laugh at you ? " but she would not say why until he 

 had sworn a great oath that he would never allude to what she 

 was about to tell him. She then said : " You think I am a 

 woman, but I am a fish. My family are fishes, and my home 

 lies in the sea. If you still wish to accompany me, count the 

 breakers as they fall upon the shore, and dive with me under the 

 third one." 



As the third breaker dashed upon the beach she threw herself 

 under it, and, her husband following her, they both passed under 

 the water, and arrived at the spot where her family dwelt. There 

 the wife was joyfully received by her relations ; she told her tale 

 and introduced her companion as her husband. 



The fish family made the man very welcome, and a house was 

 put in order for him, outside which he was strictly enjoined not 

 to venture ; but they did not give him any reason for this. 



The man complied with the request for some days, and then, 

 one night, being tired of staying in the house, and seeing some 

 young fishes at play, he went out to look at them more closely. 

 He had scarcely left the house when all his wife's family came 



