"Alas! I may not take them to thee, my lord," lied the girl. 'Come down, I pray thee, to the water's edge."
Kokorereko thought for a time. Then he considered that this girl was but a traveller. "Here this morning, but gone by night," he said in his heart, and very slowly he walked towards the canoe.
And now, ah, woe! Quickly, as he stooped, was the basket laid upon his head until it covered him completely. Then in the darkness he was placed upon the canoe, and taken swiftly to Kaierara once more. Since that sad day, Kokorereko and his tribe live ever with the sons of men in their dwellings and about their feet.
But at Diriuna, where Kokorereko's followers were, great was the sorrow, and loud was the wailing which arose.
"Airake! our lord! Airake! our master!" cried all the birds. And no more was Diriuna a village. For Binama, the hornbill, fled to a hollow tree, where he remains even to this day. Iviki, the quail, chose the grass for her home. Kivivi, the plover, said, "By the sea shall I dwell," and all the other birds went far away into the jungle, and built their nests. And that is why Diriuna is no longer the Village of Birds, but is called Numa Pupu, or Desolation.
