e turtle,' whispered the husband hurriedly; 'what is to
be done now?'

'Leave that to me; I will manage him,' replied the wife, and at that
moment the turtle came in, and seized her by the wrist. 'Come with
me,' he said sternly.

'You broke your promise,' answered she. 'You said you would be back
soon, and it is more than a year since you went! How was I to know
that you were alive?'

At her words the husband took courage, and spoke hastily:

'Yes, you promised you would go to war and bring back some prisoners,
and you have not done it.'

'I _did_ go, and made many prisoners,' retorted the turtle angrily,
drawing out his knife. 'Look here, if she won't be _my_ wife, she
sha'n't be _yours_. I will cut her in two; and you shall have one
half, and I the other.'

'But half a woman is no use to me,' answered the man. 'If you want her
so much you had better take her.' And the turtle, followed by his
relations, carried her off to his own hut.

[Illustration: THE TURTLE OUTWITTED]

Now the woman saw she would gain nothing by being sulky, so she
pretended to be very glad to have got rid of her husband; but all the
while she was trying to invent a plan to deliver herself from the
turtle. At length she remembered that one of her friends had a large
iron pot, and when the turtle had gone to his room to put away his
fringes, she ran over to her neighbour's and brought it back. Then she
filled it with water and hung it over the fire to boil. It was just
beginning to bubble and hiss when the turtle entered.

'What are you doing there?' asked he, for he was always afraid of
things that he did not understand.

'Just warming some water,' she answered. 'Do you know how to swim?'

'Yes, of course I do. What a question! But what does it matter to
you?' said the turtle, more suspicious than ever.

'Oh, I only thought that after your long journey you might like to
wash. The roads are so muddy, after the winter's rains. I could rub
your shell for you till it was bright and shining again.'

'Well, I _am_ rather muddy. If one is fighting, you know, one cannot
stop to pick one's way. I should certainly be more comfortable if my
back was washed.'

The woman did not wait for him to change his mind. She caught him up
by his shell and popped him straight into the pot, where he sank to
the bottom, and died instantly.

The other turtles, who were standing at the door, saw their leader
disappear, and felt it was their duty as soldi