o lash the timbers
together, out of bark, fibre of palm, and tough grass; and the girls,
big and little, hoed up the ground and planted the cassava shrubs and
cuttings from the banana and the plantain, and sowed the corn; and the
women kneaded the bread and cooked the greens, and roasted green bananas
for food for the workmen. And all the Bandimba people were made to
slave hard every day in order that a spoiled boy might have the moon for
his toy.

In a few days the first scaffolding stood up as high as the tallest
trees, in a few weeks the structure had grown until it was many
arrow-flights in height, in two months it was so lofty that the top
could not be seen with the naked eye. The fame of the wonderful wooden
tower that the Bandimba were building was carried far and wide; and the
friendly nations round about sent messengers to see and report to them
what mad thing the Bandimba were about, for rumour had spread so many
contrary stories among people that strangers did not know what to
believe. Some said it was true that all the Bandimba had become mad;
but some of those who came to see with their own eyes, laughed, while
others began to feel anxious. All, however, admired the bigness, and
wondered at the height of the tower.

In the sixth month the top of the highest scaffold was so high that on
the clearest day people could not see half-way up; and it was said to be
so tall that the chief engineer could tell the day he would be able to
touch the moon.

The work went on, and at last the engineer passed the word down that in
a few days more it would be finished. Everybody believed him, and the
nations round about sent more people to be present to witness the
completion of the great tower, and to observe what would happen. In all
the land, and the countries adjoining it, there was found only one wise
man who foresaw, if the moon was shifted out of its place what damage
would happen, and that probably all those foolish people in the vicinity
of the tower would be destroyed. Fearing some terrible calamity, he
proposed to depart from among the Bandimba before it should be too late.
He then placed his family in a canoe, and, after storing it with
sufficient provisions, he embarked, and in the night he floated down the
river Aruwimi and into the big river, and continued his journey night
and day as fast as the current would take him--far, far below any lands
known to the Bandimba. A week later, after the flight o