KOTH] INTRUSIVE BELIEFS AND TALES 375 



than he drew the sides of the quake together, and sewed them up. Tiger was now 

 prisoner. Fixing a long \nne-rope to the basket, Konehu threw it over the topmost 

 branch of the mora tree, pulled on its free end, left his victim dangling in mid-air, 

 and made tracks. Tiger was now in a bad way. for the more she roared the more did 

 all the other animals get frightened and run away. At last, one of the most inquisitive, 

 a little monkey, wanting to know what all the noise was about, climbed down the vine- 

 rope and opened the basket. No sooner had he done so, than out jumped Tiger and 

 both fell to the ground, where the monkey's only reward was to be eaten. Yes, 

 Tiger was vexed much and determined upon following and killing Konehu. She 

 wandered on and on, and at last met him upon the banks of a river. Directly he 

 saw her coming he commenced looking down into the water ven,' hard, as if he was 

 examining something very carefully. "Hullo!" growled Tiger. "What are you 

 looking at? I am come to eat you." "Nonsense, woman," says Konehu, "Look, 

 look down there. Don't you see that beautiful yellow stone [gold]? If you could 

 only fetch it you would be a rich woman. You would have a new husband, and get 

 new cubs.'" Now what he was pointing at in the water was only the reflection of 

 the sun overhead. Tiger, however, being both silly and greedy, dived in, and quickly 

 came up to the surface to breathe. "Oh! " he tells her. "you must go down deeper." 

 So she jiunps in again, and stays under much longer. When she again appears on the 

 surface, Konehu reiterates "You haven't gone deep enough." And so the game goes 

 on, she being fooled ever>' time about not having stayed below long enough. She 

 makes a last effort to dive under a ven,' long time, when Konehu takes the opportunity 

 of making good his escape. Tiger now sees that she has been tricked. She is vexed 

 much and is more than ever determined to follow and kill Konehu, who by this time 

 knows what to expect. So he travels far, far until he comes to a high hill on the top 

 of which he balances a big rock, and at the bottom of which he digs a deep pit. By 

 and by. Tiger comes along, and seeing Konehu on top of the hill, looks up at him 

 and says: "Hullo! AVHiat are you doing up there? I am come to eat you." But 

 Konehu puts his arms around the rock, and says it is a large piece of meat, which he 

 will throw down to her if she lies quietly in the pit. And the silly, greedy Tiger 

 believes him again, does just what he tells her, and waits for the meat to come. Soon, 

 bumpty, btimpty, down the hill comes the big rock, (aster and faster it speeds, until 

 falling on Tiger, it kills and buries her.' 



357. Konehu was a lazy man, and would not labor for his li\-ing. He was hungry. 

 One fine morning he sat at the foot of a high overhanging cliff, waiting for some one 

 to come along. By and by he saw a company of men api)roaching. They had been 

 out huntitig. and were bringing along a quantity of game. Koneh\i then picked up 

 a long wooden pole, and placing it against the side of the cliff after the manner of a 

 brace, began pressing it into position just as the huntsmen came up. In reply to 

 their inqiiiry as to why he was pressing so hard upon the pole, Konehu said: "Can't 

 you see that the mountain is falling over, and that if I don't brace it up, it will come 

 down and destroy all of us? Look up and see it mo\'ing! Come, take my place, and 

 let me have a little rest. I have been 8h(n'ing at it all the morning." The huntsmen 

 accordingly gazed up the wall f>f the precipice, and seeing the clouds moving over 

 tlie top of it, indeed thinight that the cliff was about to fall. So dropping their quarry 

 on the groimd, they all together started pressing on the timber, and continued pressing, 

 and pres.sed harder, until by the time the sun was about to sink, they were so exhausted 

 that they could press no longer. They satisfied their conscience by saying that 

 whetlier tlie cliff ovemhetmed them or not, it would not bo their fault. They there- 



1 The exploit of the yellow stone in the water has been met with only in the Pomeroon Warrau version 

 of the story. 



> From Cayenne comes a variation of the story of the Tiger in a pit, covered over with a stone (Cou, i, 

 272-3). 



