KOTH] THE SPIRITS OF THE BUSH 191 



him alone. And so the brother killed her. On seeing all the trouble that had 

 arisen, and recognizing how he had been the cause of it, the old man offered to go 

 away, but the brother said he would kill him before he would let him go. And so 

 the old man stayed with his wife's parents in the customary way, and continued to 

 live long, happy, and contented. 



130. The Bush Spirit Tricked While Hunting Frogs (A) 



A family received an inxitation to go to a drink-party, and they all accepted except 

 the daughter, who. in spite of her parents' wLshes, refused to go. And so she was left 

 at home, all alone. By and by, late in the afternoon, there came to see her a young- 

 woman friend whom she had not seen for a verj' long time; at least ^he thought it was 

 her old friend Dai-adalla (lit., 'My-Knife'), but in reality her visitor was Yawahu, 

 who had taken on the real friend's shape and appearance, the better to carry out his 

 evil designs.' Being such sui^posedly good friends, the Yawalui addressed the girl 

 as Dai-adalla, and asked what she was doing at home all by herself.^ When the girl 

 had told her that she had refused to go to the drink-party, the Yawahu said: "Oh, 

 very well. I will stay to-night and keep you company," and so she did. In the 

 evening wlien darkness was coming on, a lot of frogs were to be heard croaking, which 

 made the girl ask her friend whether she ate those creatures, and finding that she was 

 really very fond of that dish, they agreed to go straightway and catch some. They 

 went out together into the darkness, each in opposite dire<'tions, and after a time they 

 began to call out, the one asking the other what she had caught. The Yawahu 

 answered, "Plenty, but I am eating them as fast as I can gather them." Now, this 

 peculiar reply — eating the creatures raw — frightened the girl, who thereupon recog- 

 nized for the first lime the real nature of her fictitious friend. .\nd when the Yawahu 

 called out. " Dai-adalla! how many have you got? " the girl re.si)onde<l, "Plenty, but I 

 am putting them into my calabash. ' ' The latter was thinking hard all the time how to 

 escape from her companion to a place of safety; she knew only too well that, notwith- 

 standing the darkness, the Yawahu could tell her whereabouts by the sr)und of her voice. 

 So when Yawahu called out to her once more, the girl shouted back: "Hush! Don't 

 speak, or make such noise. The frogs are getting frightened, and I shall not be able to 

 catch any more!" When silence reigned again, the girl stealthily retraced her steps 

 to the house, crept gently in, and without the slightest .sound turned all the pots 

 upside down. Tliis done, she threw all the frogs away, and climbed up on the roof 

 to await developments. These were not long in coining, nor was the Yawahu, for, 

 waiting a wliile, and receiving no response to liis call, he recognized that he had been 

 tricked and hurried back to the house. Here he groped about in the darkness, and 

 turned up pot after pot, but his prey was nowhere underneath. "Ah! " he exclaimed, 

 loud enough for Ms intended victim to hear, "I would have eaten her at the same 

 time as the frogs if I had thought she was going to get awtiy from me." And so he 

 searched unsuccessfully — there were many many pots — until dawn, when he had to 

 leave. The girl then descended from the roof and waited for her people to return, 

 and on their arrival she told them how the Yawahu had visited her in the disguise 

 of her friend. The father said, "Next time we tell you to come with us, you will 

 obey." 



131. Since Spkits are supposed to have a peculiar fondness for 

 tobacco (Sect. 27), and to be continually inhaling its fumes, the 

 smoke of the fragrant weed is largely used in their invocation (Sect. 



1 The "knife" which gave lise to the girl's name was probably the labba-tooth instrument employed by 

 the old-time .\rawaks. .\mong the other Indians there are records of knives and kindred implements 

 being made from the teeth of the pirai fish, from a piece of bamboo, etc. 



' Intimate friends call one another by the identical name: the same thing occurs among men (Sect. $SS). 



