ROTH] THE SPIEITS OF THE WATER 249 



that Okiniimo had swallowed her daughter, and lliis news upset him much. "I do 

 not want to live without my girl." he cried; "Okojnimo must swallow me also," and 

 so sajang. he jumjjed into the flood. The Sjiirit of the Water, however, did not want 

 to punish hini, aud so would not let him drown, but just made him float le\-el with 

 the surface; he of course could not he ri^k in the same way as the girl. It is the 

 scent of a woman's sickness when in that condition that makes her so attractive to 

 Oko\imio. 



189. The Moon -sick Giri- and the Water Spirit (W) 



There was once a little girl by the ri^•er-side catching fish with a cassava-sifter. 

 She caught one Utile flsh entirely different fn)m anything she had ever seen; it was 

 .90 pretty, with beautiful eyes, and a slim body, covered with red spots. "What a 

 pretty fish you are!" she exclaimed; "I must really keep you all for myself." So 

 she put it alive in water in her calabash and took it home, w'here she dug a little hole 

 near the house. Into this hole she poured water, and there she placed the fish. Then 

 she tended it, and strange to say the water never dried up. The fish gradually grew 

 bigger and bigger, and when it had arrived at a good size, its guardian, who had 

 already entered womanhood, took it down to the water-side just where she used 

 to bathe. There she set it free. As soon as she got into the water, it would approach 

 and nestle quite close to her. The mother often saw it swimming about there, and 

 would often warn her daughter that it was not a real fish, but something else, and when 

 it got very big, she recognized it as the 1 lo-aranni, or the Water Spirit. Then she warned 

 her girl especially to keep out of the stream when she was moon-sick. "Don't go 

 anywhere near the water imtil so many days are passed, " the mother repeated; but 

 her advice was not heeded, and the young woman, although sick, insisted next day 

 on bathing. As soon as she touched the fish, a.s had hitherto been her wont, it Ijecame 

 much excited, and instead of coddling up to her, swam zigzag around her. This was 

 repeated three times: the fish meant to tell her that she must return at once to shore, 

 but she evidently did not understand, because she touched it a fourth time. But 

 on this occasion the Water Spirit swallowed her. The father was sorely grieved 

 at this, and came and asked the Ilo-ardnni why he had treated his daughter in 

 that shameful manner, but the latter defended himself by saying that she had 

 insisted on bathing herself too soon after she had been moon-sick, and that he 

 had already wanted her three times. So saying, the Water Spirit withdrew. 

 ^\'hen he was gone, the father exclaimed, "As Ho-ardnni has eaten my daughter, 

 he must eat me t<Hi: I cannot rest until he does." Heing a piai, he knew 

 where to find the Water Spirit, so collecting his relatives around him, he told them 

 what he proposed doing, and that when they heard him blow his shell they must dig 

 at the verj- spot indicated . With this, he dived into the water, right down below the 

 river bank under an overhanging hill, straight into the underground cavern of the 

 Water Spirit. And there Ilo-ardnni killed him, but before he died, he blew his shell; 

 his friends heard him. and digging quickly, soon unearthed the pair. They killed the 

 Water Spirit, and left his bones to rot. Some fifteen years ago, when I was so high 

 [indicating his size], I saw the bones rotting on Wakapoa Creek, above where the 

 Mission now stands. ^VTiy was the piai killed? Because he ought not to have gone 

 alone; when people start on such expeditions they should always have company. 



190. Like the Bush Sph-its, the denizens of the deep are in large 

 n"ieasure responsible for the disease and sickness existent in the 

 world: the Carib medicine-man still invokes them (Sect. 309). 



