THE ADVENTURES OF HAXIGE. 241 
When they pulled it open, behold, the whole of his brother’s skin had been stripped 
off, and made to stand underneath, as a door-flap. Haxige stood at the door, facing it 
and dancing: ‘ Hé-ke ta-ko, hé-ke hé-ke ta-ko. Hé-ke tA-ko, hé-ke hé-ke ta-ko.” He 
stopped dancing and entered the lodge. He took hold of his brother’s skin at the 
wrist. He was pulling open the door-flap with sudden force. ‘Alas, my dear little 
younger brother!” said he, speaking in a whisper. The servants found him out. 
“Really! friend, what has the old man said?” spoke one, in a whisper, to another. 
“Friend, he said something like ‘Alas, my dear little younger brother!’” ‘ Psha! 
friend, there is really no cause for complaint. The old man has been used to coming 
hither as a doctor for a very long time heretofore.” “Well,” said Haxige, “I said 
that when this time came, it would be enough. Ho! ye servants, bring ye back two 
very large kettles filled with water.” They went for it, and came home, carrying them 
on their backs. Having been fastened over the fire, the kettles stood by the fire, very 
hot and boiling very hard. ‘Make two knives very sharp, and put them down. Put 
two irons in the fire, and make them very hot. When I press these heated irons 
repeatedly against the wounds, they shall live. Ho! Come, get out of my way. Be- 
ware lest you peep in now and then, when you are near by. Beware lest they go and 
leave you. Walk ye all down and to the other side of the four peaks from which I am 
accustomed to come in sight when I come hither,” said he. All the households went. 
Having departed, he was in solitude. The water was continuing to boil very rapidly. 
“Ho! Lie ye exactly side by side. When I thrust a very red-hot iron into your wounds, 
you shallimprove. Beware lest you stir. Lie ye with your sides stretched very stiff,” 
he said. When they lay so, he pushed into the wound on either side with sudden 
force, “Te’ut.” “Lie still.” Having said, “Ah!” both died from the heat. He took 
the knives, and cut the bodies into very narrow, long strips. Having cut up their 
bodies, he was filling the water which was boiling. The cooked meat, too, he was 
putting out in a pile. Those out of sight said, “The old doctor has not been so long 
heretofore. He has been a very great while about it. Grass-snake, what were you 
saying that he was saying?” ‘Yes, I did say it. When he took hold of the door-flap 
as he went to the side of the entrance, he said something like, ‘Alas, my dear little 
younger brother!’” said the Grass-snake. ‘Grass-snake, you shall go thither home- 
ward. See him. Make extra eyes with your nose, and make your head very much 
flattened out, though curved like a dish,” said they. The Grass-snake departed, pass- 
ing under the grass. When he reached there, he peeped in at a crack in the lodge. 
Haxige detected him. “Come! Come! Come!” said Haxige. Having called him, the 
Grass-snake was coming thither again. ‘Make yourself full of food,” said Haxige. 
And Haxige put a narrow strip of meat, about two feet long, into the throat of the 
Grass-snake, where it stuck very tight. ‘Say when you arrive that it is Haxige, and 
that very long ago he cooked the Water-monsters till the meat fell to pieces. Begone 
and tell it.” The Grass-snake went to tell it. “ Haxuya! Haxuya!” he said in a voice 
hardly above a whisper. ‘Really! what says that unseen moving one?” At length 
he had come directly to them, passing altogether within the grass. ‘“ Haxuya! 
Haxuya!” he said. ‘Really! it says ‘Haxige” Take out the piece of fat meat which 
he has put in his mouth. Really! it shall be just so (7. e., as they suspected). Make ye 
an effort.” They went homeward to attack him. When they had come very close to 
their home, Haxige went rushing homeward, carrying his brother on his arm, As he 
VOL. VI——16 
