people ate of it, and he told them not of what he had seen.
But on the morrow he said to the people of Gavi, "If ye will come with me I will show you where are many fish." Then were the people glad, and they made ready to go with him. They took taro, bananas, plantains, and sugarcane for their journey food, and they bade the little children stay quietly in the village till they should come back with fish for them. Then they went forth, the man who had seen the lake leading the way.
When they were at the lake they laid down their food and bags in which were betel nut and lime gourds. Then women took their qadi, or hand nets, and began to fish. They caught many fish and prawns and eels, and as they caught them they laid them in heaps on the shore. And one woman, being more skilful than her fellows, laid hold on Abaia, the magic eel, but was not able to continue her hold, for Abaia, being very slippery, slid from out her hands. And now came the evening, when all rested. Yet had the eels not rested. All the small and young ones which were not caught, at the word of Abaia, carried the tidings of their foes to all the rivers, and led the Water Spirits to Wapogi as the night fell, that they might bring punishment upon the heads of the fishers.
Now it came to pass that the people of Gavi had eaten, and were now ready to fish once more. The men had made little wooden platforms, on which
