d struck it a
sharp blow with the axe. In an instant there poured forth such a
stream of milk that it ran like a river into the hut.

'Koane! Koane!' cried she, 'come and help me to plug up the hole.
There will be no milk left for our father and mother.' But Koane could
not stop it any more than Thakane, and soon the milk was flowing
through the hut downhill towards their parents in the fields below.

The man saw the white stream a long way off, and guessed what had
happened.

'Wife, wife,' he called loudly to the woman, who was working at a
little distance: 'Do you see Koumongoe running fast down the hill?
That is some mischief of the children's, I am sure. I must go home and
find out what is the matter.' And they both threw down their hoes and
hurried to the side of Koumongoe.

Kneeling on the grass, the man and his wife made a cup of their hands
and drank the milk from it. And no sooner had they done this, than
Koumongoe flowed back again up the hill, and entered the hut.

'Thakane,' said the parents, severely, when they reached home panting
from the heat of the sun, 'what have you been doing? Why did Koumongoe
come to us in the fields instead of staying in the garden?'

'It was Koane's fault,' answered Thakane. 'He would not take the
cattle to feed until he drank some of the milk from Koumongoe. So, as
I did not know what else to do, I gave it to him.'

The father listened to Thakane's words, but made no answer. Instead,
he went outside and brought in two sheepskins, which he stained red
and sent for a blacksmith to forge some iron rings. The rings were
then passed over Thakane's arms and legs and neck, and the skins
fastened on her before and behind. When all was ready, the man sent
for his servants and said:

'I am going to get rid of Thakane.'

'Get rid of your only daughter?' they answered, in surprise. 'But
why?'

'Because she has eaten what she ought not to have eaten. She has
touched the sacred tree which belongs to her mother and me alone.'
And, turning his back, he called to Thakane to follow him, and they
went down the road which led to the dwelling of an ogre.

They were passing along some fields where the corn was ripening, when
a rabbit suddenly sprang out at their feet, and standing on its hind
legs, it sang:

Why do you give to the ogre
Your child, so fair, so fair?

'You had better ask her,' replied the man, 'she is old enough to give
you an answer.'

Then, in her turn, Th