tried again and again, but each time they made to draw it to them it floated further away. Then one ran to his father and said, "Come and see what we have found. It floats upon the sea, and runs away when we go near."
The man went with his son to see what the strange thing might be, and waded far after the raft, which drew back as it had done before, for the man had no marks of mourning upon him. Then the man swam after it until he was tired, but even so he laid not hands on the raft. And he came back once more to the shore, and the raft followed in his wake and floated near the shore.
Now it chanced that a man came down to the beach who was a mourner. His beard had grown thick and long, and he wore wicker armlets upon his arms. To him the children cried, "See the strange thing upon the water!" And the man who had tried to lay hold on the raft told the mourner his tale, and prayed him to try in his turn. This did the mourner, and as he went towards the raft it came nearer the shore, nodding upon the waves as it drew nigh. Then the mourner stretched forth his hand and held it, and the others gathered round to see what freight it bore. And they took the bristles up to the village to ask if any knew what they were.
Now this was the land where those who had fled from the boar aforetime had chosen to dwell, and it came to pass that many looking upon the bristles
