The Brown Fairy Book, part 15 · page 21 2101Crossing the plain, the girl and her father passed a herd of gazelles feeding.102They lifted their heads, wondering who was out so early, and when they caught sight of Thakane, they sang:103Why do you give to the ogre Your child, so fair, so fair?104“You had better ask her, replied the man, “she is old enough to answer for herself.”105Then, in her turn, Thakane sang:106I gave Koumongoé to Koane, Koumongoé to the keeper of beasts; For without Koumongoé they could not go to the meadows: Without Koumongoé they would starve in the hut; That was why I gave him the Koumongoé of my father.107And the gazelles all cried: “Wretched man! it is you whom the ogre should eat, and not your beautiful daughter.”108At last they arrived at the village where the ogre lived, and they went straight to his hut.109He was nowhere to be seen, but in his place was his son Masilo, who was not an ogre at all, but a very polite young man.110He ordered his servants to bring a pile of skins for Thakane to sit on, but told her father he must sit on the ground.111Then, catching sight of the girl’s face, which she had kept down, he was struck by its beauty, and put the same question that the rabbit, and the elands, and the gazelles had done.112Thakane answered him as before, and he instantly commanded that she should be taken to the hut of his mother, and placed under her care, while the man should be led to his father.113Directly the ogre saw him he bade the servant throw him into the great pot which always stood ready on the fire, and in five minutes he was done to a turn.114After that the servant returned to Masilo and related all that had happened.115Now Masilo had fallen in loved with Thakane the moment he saw her.116At first he did not know what to make of this strange feeling, for all his life he had hated women, and had refused several brides whom his parents had chosen for him.117However, they were so anxious that he should marry, that they willingly accepted Thakane as their daughter-in-law, though she did bring any marriage portion with her.118After some time a baby was born to her, and Thakane thought it was the most beautiful baby that ever was seen.119But when her mother-in-law saw it was a girl, she wrung her hands and wept, saying:120“O miserable mother!121Miserable child!122Alas for you! why were you not a boy!”123Thakane, in great surprise, asked the meaning of her distress; and the old woman told her that it was the custom in that country that all the girls who were born should be given to the ogre to eat.1 2← previousThe Brown Fairy Book, part 14next →The Brown Fairy Book, part 16↑ back to The Brown Fairy BookThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/15/page/2/