er arms and the elder little fellow trotting by her
side, she went out to search for her husband. Soon enough she found him,
not far off, stiff and cold beside his half-cut bundle of firewood. A
snake had bitten him on the ankle, and he was dead.

So Ma Pa Da was alone in the great forest, but a girl still, with two
little children to care for.

But she was brave, despite her trouble, and she determined to go on and
gain some village. She took her baby in her arms and the little one by
the hand, and started on her journey.

And for a time all went well, till at last she came to a stream. It was
not very deep, but it was too deep for the little boy to wade, for it
came up to his neck, and his mother was not strong enough to carry both
at once. So, after considering for a time, she told the elder boy to
wait. She would cross and put the baby on the far side, and return for
him.

'Be good,' she said; 'be good, and stay here quietly till I come back;'
and the boy promised.

The stream was deeper and swifter than she thought; but she went with
great care and gained the far side, and put the baby under a tree a
little distance from the bank, to lie there while she went for the other
boy. Then, after a few minutes' rest, she went back.

She had got to the centre of the stream, and her little boy had come
down to the margin to be ready for her, when she heard a rush and a cry
from the side she had just left; and, looking round, she saw with terror
a great eagle sweep down upon the baby, and carry it off in its claws.
She turned round and waved her arms and cried out to the eagle, 'He!
he!' hoping it would be frightened and drop the baby. But it cared
nothing for her cries or threats, and swept on with long curves over the
forest trees, away out of sight.

Then the mother turned to gain the bank once more, and suddenly she
missed her son who had been waiting for her. He had seen his mother wave
her arms; he had heard her shout, and he thought she was calling him to
come to her. So the brave little man walked down into the water, and the
black current carried him off his feet at once. He was gone, drowned in
the deep water below the ford, tossing on the waves towards the sea.

No one can write of the despair of the girl when she threw herself under
a tree in the forest. The song says it was very terrible.

At last she said to herself, 'I will get up now and return to my father
in Thawatti; he is all I have left. Though