Papuan Fairy Tales/The Cassowary
THE CASSOWARY.
In the old days there were a man and his wife, and they had one child, a little baby. And the woman was not able to work at the gardens for that she had her child to care for. But the man went each day, and did the work which was to be done. Now, though the food was ripe, yet never brought he home any for his wife to eat. And she said to him, "Why hast thou not brought food that I may cook it? What am I then to eat?" So he bade her wait till the morrow and he would bring her the food she asked of him. And, being hungry, she boiled pebbles and drank the water in which she had boiled them, and poured the stones out at the door in a heap.
On the morrow the woman watched for her husband to return from the gardens and bring her food. But when he came he came empty, and she boiled pebbles once more, and drank the water in which she had boiled them. And now the heap of stones in the doorway was great indeed. Then she said again to her husband, "Wilt thou never bring me food that I may eat?"
"Truly," said the man, "on the morrow thou shalt eat and be filled."
But the woman trusted not his fair words, for he had already lied to her. She therefore prepared to leave him. When the sun was rising high in the sky she took two short sticks which women use for weeding tools, and tied them to her legs at the knees and the ankles. This was in order that she might be strong to travel far. Then she took bundles of coconut leaf bristles and fastened them under her arms, and she put on a rough skirt of banana leaf over her other skirts. Then she made a great hole at the back of the house wherein she sat, whereby to escape, and waited to see if her husband would bring her food or no. And even as she watched for him he came, and in his hand was no food at all. Then said the woman as he drew nigh, "Eat thou of our food, and moreover nurse thou our child, for I go now, and will never more return." So saying, she stooped and passed through the hole which she had made at the back of the house, and set out for the bush. Then was her husband’s heart hot within him for anger that his wife should flout him thus, and he caught up many of the stones she had heaped in the doorway, and cast them at her. But she ran swiftly, and though he threw after her many stones, yet did none reach her. And she was soon hidden from his sight in the bush. There was she changed, and became a cassowary. The bristles under her arms became the quills which are under the wings of the cassowary, and which we use for ornaments in the day of battle. Her rough skirt was turned into feathers, and her legs, to which she had fastened the weeding sticks, were now as strong and to be feared as are the legs of the cassowary, which with one kick to the rear can slay a man. And she remained ever in the bush, and for her sake no woman to this day must eat of the flesh of the cassowary, else will their children have faces on which no man will love to look. And this is bare truth I tell thee and no idle tale.