The Mouse-deer replied: "The sky is going to fall down, and everyone will be crushed unless he hides in some hole. Jump in, if you want to save your life." The Deer sprang in, and the Mouse-deer made him stand on the back of the Pig; then he himself got on the back of the Deer and jumped out of the pit, leaving the other two to their fate. The Deer and the Pig were very angry at being tricked in this way by such a small animal as the Mouse-deer. They scratched the side of the pit with their feet until it sloped, and enabled them to scramble out; then they followed the trail of the Mouse-deer, and soon overtook him. The Mouse-deer saw them coming, and climbed up a tree from the bough of which a large beehive was hanging. "Come down," said the Pig and Deer angrily. "You have deceived us, and we mean to kill you." "Deceived you?" said the Mouse-deer in pretended surprise. "When did I deceive you, or do anything to deserve death?" "Didn't you tell us that the sky was going to fall, and that if we did not hide ourselves in a pit we should be killed?" "Oh, yes," was the reply. "What I said was perfectly true, only I persuaded the King to postpone the disaster." "You need not try to put us off with any more lies. You must come down, for we mean to have your blood." "I cannot," said the Mouse-deer, "because the King has asked me to watch his gong," pointing to the bees' nest. "Is that the King's gong?" said the Deer. "I should like to strike it to hear what it sounds like." "So you may," said the Mouse-deer, "only let me get down, and go to some distance before you do so, as the sound would deafen me." So the Mouse-deer sprang down and ran away. The Deer took a long stick and struck the bees' nest, and the bees flew out angrily and stung him to death. The Pig, seeing what had happened, pursued the Mouse-deer, determined to avenge the death of his friend. He found his enemy taking refuge on a tree round the trunk of which a large python was curled. "Come down," said the Pig, "and I will kill you." "I cannot come down to-day. I am set here to watch the King's girdle. Look at it," he said, pointing to the Python. "Is it not pretty? I have never seen such a handsome waist-belt before." "It is beautiful," said the Pig. "How I should like to wear it for one day!" "So you may," said the Mouse-deer, "but be careful and do not spoil it." So the foolish Pig entangled himself in the folds of the Python, who soon crushed him to death and ate him for his dinner, and the clever Mouse-deer escaped, having outwitted his enemies. CHAPTER XII OMENS AND DREAMS The Dyak is conscious of his ignorance of the laws which govern the world in which he lives. He feels his weakness and the need of some guidance from unseen powers. He has no knowledge of God and the revelation He has made in the Bible, and so he has devised for himself a system of omens.