nging game,' said Pivi.

'Well, I am sorry for you,' said the woman; 'will you come with me,
and do what I tell you?'

'I will!' said Pivi, for the woman was very kind and pretty. She took
Pivi into a shed where she kept her fruit, laid him on a bed of mats,
and made him as comfortable as she could, and attended to his broken
leg without cutting off the flesh round the bone, as these people
usually do.

'You will be still, won't you, Pivi?' she said. 'If you hear a little
noise you will pretend to be dead. It is the Black Ant who will come
and creep from your feet up to your head. Say nothing, and keep quiet,
won't you, Pivi?'

'Certainly, kind lady,' said Pivi, 'I will lie as still as can be.'

'Next will come the big Red Ant--you know him?'

'Yes, I know him, with his feet like a grasshopper's.'

'He will walk over your body up to your head. Then you must shake all
your body. Do you understand, Pivi?'

'Yes, dear lady, I shall do just as you say.'

'Very good,' said the woman, going out and shutting the door.

Pivi lay still under his coverings, then a tiny noise was heard, and
the Black Ant began to march over Pivi, who lay quite still. Then came
the big Red Ant skipping along his body, and then Pivi shook himself
all over. He jumped up quite well again, he ran to the river, he
looked into the water and saw that he was changed from a bird into a
fine young man!

'Oh, lady,' he cried, 'look at me now! I am changed into a man, and so
handsome!'

'Will you obey me again?' said the woman.

'Always; whatever you command I will do it,' said Pivi, politely.

'Then climb up that cocoa-nut tree, with your legs only, not using
your hands,' said the woman.

Now the natives can run up cocoa-nut trees like squirrels, some using
only one hand; the girls can do that. But few can climb without using
their hands at all.

'At the top of the tree you will find two cocoa-nuts. You must not
throw them down, but carry them in your hands; and you must descend
as you went up, using your legs only.'

'I shall try, at least,' said Pivi. And up he went, but it was very
difficult, and down he came.

'Here are your cocoa-nuts,' he said, presenting them to the woman.

'Now, Pivi, put them in the shed where you lay, and when the sun sets
to cool himself in the sea and rise again not so hot in the dawn you
must go and take the nuts.'

All day Pivi played about in the river, as the natives do, throwing
fruit and silvery sh