A little bird followed after her master, saying, “Your wife is dead”. When he returned from his bark cloth he found the water everywhere. The man then took his small sticks, and said, “Piti, piti, ukosolya mbinji”. As for the water it was not seen where it had gone. The people then came out, and the man said, “What did I tell you then? I said that the girl could not pound. What you won’t hear, you hear when your head is boiling in a pot.”[76] 54. THE GUINEA FOWL.[77] As the guinea-fowl flew, it found bamboos springing up, and it called the partridge and the dove, and all the birds and said, “This is springing up, come together and look at it, it will destroy people. Come let us peck it while it grows.” The partridge refused and said, “I will look out for myself”. The guinea fowl said, “I have warned you now”. So they left the bamboos growing. When they were grown then came men and found the foot-prints of guinea fowl and said, “Come let us set traps,” and they said, “Go and cut bamboos,” so they cut bamboos and set traps. As the guinea fowl passed, it found the partridge caught, and said, “Ah! I warned you saying, ‘Come let us peck that which was springing up’. When you objected it sprung up, and now people have taken it and made a trap, and you are caught.” The partridge said, “It was for you they set it, and you have escaped”. The partridge continued, “Release me, peck the cord, peck it with your beak, when it is broken let us flee and escape.” As the guinea fowl pecked, the partridge was pecked in the eye and died. Then came a man. The guinea fowl flew away. He said, “A guinea fowl was here and has fled”. He took off his belt and set for the guinea-fowls. Then he went off to return to the village, and he took the partridge. He found the river swollen.[78] As he crossed, the water took away his clothes. When he came to the village they said, “Where did you put your calico”. He said, “It was taken away by the water”. They said, “You did not make it firm with your belt”. He replied, “I left my belt to snare guinea fowl.” They plucked the partridge and cooked it. While his wife was cooking it, she went out to the stream for water. The man took a plate and took off a leg and went to a chamber saying, “I will eat it in the chamber”. But the woman came and washed the ladle and took a plate, and took off one leg, and went to the chamber. The man then went away before he had eaten, and said, “She will see me, I must hide my plate”. The woman said (aside), “I must hide my plate, lest he see it”. She said to him, “Let me pass, let me pass to the door”. The man said, “Where are you going?” She said, “Let me pass,” and the plates met—thwack! and were broken. She said, “What did you carry?” He said, “What did you carry?”[79] She said, “Eating a relish alone! I was tasting it.” He said, “And I was tasting it too!”