of a woman whose nose had been cut off; so they brought the woman who had told the king about him and cut off her head; and the boy made medicine and smeared it on the girls’ faces and put it in their mouths and noses; and first one girl sneezed and awoke and then the other. So the king said he would not kill the boy; and he gave him two hundred cows and two hundred goats and two hundred slaves and women and fowls, and made him head chief.
xxiv.
There was a boy without a name, who called himself Ilefo, and the king sent for him and asked his name, and the boy said he knew everything in the world; so the king told him to come again in five days. Then the king called a meeting and put questions to the boy and the boy agreed to perform a task. So the king told him to go to the sky and call the things that live there. When the boy asked their names the king said he knew all, so there was no need to say.
So the boy started and found the birds holding a meeting, and some said, “Kill him,” and some said, “Catch him,” and some said, “Drive him away”; so he explained what he was doing and asked them for help. And the birds were sorry for him and promised their aid; so each pulled out a feather, put it on the boy and turned him into a bird; then they told him to fly to the king’s veranda and perch there, for some one would tell the king and you will hear what he says. So the boy did so.
Then he perched on a post in the king’s house and a boy told the king; so the king came out and said he had never seen the like. So he rang a bell and the town came and the king asked, “Who can tell me the name of this bird”? but no one knew. Then the king said he was sorry he had sent Ilefo to get the sun and moon, for he might know.
So Ilefo flew back and gave the birds their feathers again. Then he went to the sky and called the sun and moon,
