'Let him throw, too; the chief has given leave to everybody, and he can
but fail as you have done. He shall throw first.' So the poor little boy
stepped forward, and taking out the white stone swung it round his head
so that it whistled four times before he let it go. It flew very near
the copper, nearer than any of the young men's stones had flown, and the
black and the blue almost grazed it. The young men looking on grew
uncomfortable and ceased mocking, and as the poor little boy drew out
the red stone, they held their breath. Swiftly it shot through the air
and struck the copper with a great clang, so that it fell down to the
earth. The old men nodded their heads wisely, but the young men quickly
picked up the copper and carried it into the chief's house, each man
crying out that it was he who had hit the copper and had gained the
chief's daughter. But as they could not _all_ have hit it, the chief
knew that they were a pack of liars and only bade them wait a while, and
he would see. As for the poor little boy, he did not want to marry the
girl or anyone else, so he did not mind what the young men said.
* * * * *
Nothing more was heard that day of the winner of the prize, but at night
a white bear came to the back of the house, and growled loudly.
'Whoever kills that white bear shall marry my daughter,' said the chief,
and not a youth slept all through the village, wondering how best to
kill the white bear, and between them they made so many plans that it
seemed as if the white bear could never escape. In the evening, the poor
little boy went down to the beach again, and sat upon a rock looking out
to sea, till at last he beheld a man approaching him, but it was not the
same man whom he had seen before.
'What are the people talking about in the village?' asked the man, just
as the other had done, and the poor little boy answered:
'Last night a white bear appeared behind the house. Whoever kills it
shall marry the chief's daughter.'
The man nodded his head and thought for a moment; then he said:
'Ask the chief for a bow and arrow: you shall shoot it.' So the poor
little boy got up and left the beach, and returned to the village.
When it grew dark, all the young men met in the house of the chief, and
the poor little boy stole in after them. The chief took from a shelf a
tall quiver containing a quantity of bows and arrows, and he held them
to the fire in order to make them supple. Then he gave a bow and two
arrows to each man, but to the poor little boy, his own nephew, he gave
nothing.
'Give me a bow and arrows also,' said the poor little boy, when he saw
that the chief did not notice him, and the young men broke out into
scoffs and jeers as they had done before; and as before, the old men
answered:
'Give a bow and arrows to the poor little boy.' And the chief listened
and gave them to him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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