ne day the wife said to her
husband, 'I am pining to have the liver of a nyamatsane for my dinner.
If you love me as much as you say you do, you will go out and hunt for
a nyamatsane, and will kill it and get its liver. If not, I shall know
that your love is not worth having.'

'Bake some bread,' was all her husband answered, 'then take the crust
and put it in this little bag.'

The wife did as she was told, and when she had finished she said to her
husband, 'The bag is all ready and quite full.'

'Very well,' said he, 'and now good-bye; I am going after the
nyamatsane.'

But the nyamatsane was not so easy to find as the woman had hoped. The
husband walked on and on and on without ever seeing one, and every now
and then he felt so hungry that he was obliged to eat one of the
crusts of bread out of his bag. At last, when he was ready to drop from
fatigue, he found himself on the edge of a great marsh, which bordered
on one side the country of the nyamatsanes. But there were no more
nyamatsanes here than anywhere else. They had all gone on a hunting
expedition, as their larder was empty, and the only person left at
home was their grandmother, who was so feeble she never went out of
the house. Our friend looked on this as a great piece of luck, and made
haste to kill her before the others returned, and to take out her liver,
after which he dressed himself in her skin as well as he could. He had
scarcely done this when he heard the noise of the nyamatsanes coming
back to their grandmother, for they were very fond of her, and never
stayed away from her longer than they could help. They rushed clattering
into the hut, exclaiming, 'We smell human flesh! Some man is here,' and
began to look about for him; but they only saw their old grandmother,
who answered, in a trembling voice, 'No, my children, no! What should
any man be doing here?' The nyamatsanes paid no attention to her, and
began to open all the cupboards, and peep under all the beds, crying
out all the while, 'A man is here! a man is here!' but they could find
nobody, and at length, tired out with their long day's hunting, they
curled themselves up and fell asleep.

Next morning they woke up quite refreshed, and made ready to start
on another expedition; but as they did not feel happy about their
grandmother they said to her, 'Grandmother, won't you come to-day and
feed with us?' And they led their grandmother outside, and all of them
began hungrily to eat pebbl