Opening, part 21 · page 21 2101And she turned her back on them, and would not even eat the food they had brought.102So they went away, and the young man soon stretched himself out on his mat; but his wife's odd conduct made him anxious, and he lay wake all night, listening.103When all was still the girl made a fire and boiled some water in a pot.104As soon as it was quite hot she shook in the medicine that she had brought from home, and then, taking the buffalo's head, she made incisions with her little knife behind the ear, and close to the temple where the shot had struck him.105Next she applied the horn to the spot and blew with all her force till, at length, the blood began to move.106After that she spread some of the deer fat out of the calabash over the wound, which she held in the steam of the hot water.107Last of all, she sang in a low voice a dirge over the Rover of the Plain.108As she chanted the final words the head moved, and the limbs came back.109The buffalo began to feel alive again and shook his horns, and stood up and stretched himself.110Unluckily it was just at this moment that the husband said to himself:111'I wonder if she is crying still, and what is the matter with her!112Perhaps I had better go and see.'113And he got up and, calling her by name, went out to the shed.114'Go away!115I don't want you!' she cried angrily.116But it was too late.117The buffalo had fallen to the ground, dead, and with the wound in his head as before.118The young man who, unlike most of his tribe, was afraid of his wife, returned to his bed without having seen anything, but wondering very much what she could be doing all this time.119After waiting a few minutes, she began her task over again, and at the end the buffalo stood on his feet as before.120But just as the girl was rejoicing that her work was completed, in came the husband once more to see what his wife was doing; and this time he sat himself down in the hut, and said that he wished to watch whatever was going on.121Then the girl took up the pitcher and all her other things and left the shed, trying for the third time to bring the buffalo back to life.122She was too late; the dawn was already breaking, and the head fell to the ground, dead and corrupt as it was before.123The girl entered the hut, where her husband and his mother were getting ready to go out.124'I want to go down to the lake, and bathe,' said she.125'But you could never walk so far,' answered they. '126You are so tired, as it is, that you can hardly stand!'127However, in spite of their warnings, the girl left the hut in the direction of the lake.128Very soon she came back weeping, and sobbed out:129'I met some one in the village who lives in my country, and he told me that my mother is very, very ill, and if I do not go to her at once she will be dead before I arrive.130I will return as soon as I can, and now farewell.'131And she set forth in the direction of the mountains.132But this story was not true; she knew nothing about her mother, only she wanted an excuse to go home and tell her family that their prophecies had come true, and that the buffalo was dead.133Balancing her basket on her head, she walked along, and directly she had left the village behind her she broke out into the song of the Rover of the Plain, and at last, at the end of the day, she came to the group of huts where her parents lived.134Her friends all ran to meet her, and, weeping, she told them that the buffalo was dead.135This sad news spread like lightning through the country, and the people flocked from far and near to bewail the loss of the beast who had been their pride.1 2← previousOpening, part 20next →Opening, part 22↑ back to The Orange Fairy BookThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/21/page/2/