The paternal permission having been obtained, she made ready
the necessary provisions--consisting of a vessel of cooked
rice and a clout (or bahág). In this fashion she proceeded to
Kinggáuan's hut and entered it, saying: "Who is the owner of this
hut?" "I," answered Kinggáuan, "but I am ashamed to approach thee,
because thou art a woman and I am naked." To which she replied:
"Never mind! because here I have a clout for thee." But he did
not approach for shame; and so she threw him the clout from afar,
in order that he might cover himself. The surprised man expressed
to her his astonishment, saying: "Why dost thou approach here,
knowing that the appearance of a woman, when men are engaged
in such an occupation, is of evil omen for the hunt?" [56] And
she replied to him: "By no means shall it come to pass as thou
thinkest, but, on the contrary, thou shalt be extremely lucky in
it. For the present let us eat together, and let us sleep this
night in thy hut. To-morrow thou shalt see how lucky we are in
the hunt." The following day, upon going to visit the pits, they
actually found them full. Kinggáuan killed the quarry and spent
the rest of the day in carrying the carcasses to his hut. He
kept alive only two little pigs, a male and a female, which he
delivered to Búgan that she might tie them in the dwelling-place
while he was bringing in the rest of the dead game. On the second
day Búgan asked the solitary one: "Why dost thou dwell in such
evil places?" Kinggáuan answered her: "Because my parents are so
parsimonious in giving me what I need." Then said Búgan to him:
"Let us go to Kiángan," and he consented. Leaving, then, the
dead game in the hut, they carried with them only the two live
"piglets." Kinggáuan carried the male one, and Búgan the female
one--arriving at the above-mentioned place on the nightfall of
the second day.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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