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Pivi went, and deep in the clear water they saw a monstrous shell-fish, like an oyster, as big as a rock, with the shell wide open. 'We shall catch it, and dry it, and kipper it, said Pivi, 'and give a dinner to all our friends! 'I shall dive for it, and break it off the rock, said Kabo, 'and then you must help me to drag it up into the canoe.
He waved his hand, and five and twenty of his friends came trooping down the hill. They cut up Kabo into little pieces. Pivi turned round, and there was the good woman of the river. 'Pivi, she said, 'how did you get out of the living tomb into which Kabo sent you? 'I had my spear with me, said Pivi.
So they went to a banyan tree, and stripped the bark to make strings for their slings, and next they repaired to the river bank to find stones. Kabo stood on the bank of the river, and Pivi went into the water. The game was for Kabo to sling at Pivi, and for Pivi to dodge the stones, if he could.
And she blew in at one end, and blew little Pivi out at the other, like a pea from a pea-shooter. 'Oh! cried the woman, 'what a state you are in! What have you been doing? 'It was Kabo who broke my leg at the slinging game, said Pivi. 'Well, I am sorry for you, said the woman; 'will you come with me, and do what I tell you? 'I will! said Pivi, for the woman was very kind and pretty.
'Well, well! said Kabo, 'but I want to be handsome too, and to have pretty young wives. 'But how can we manage that? asked Pivi. 'Oh, we shall do all the same things over again play at slinging, and, this time, you shall break my leg, Pivi! 'With all the pleasure in life, said Pivi, who was always ready to oblige.
It is the Black Ant who will come and creep from your feet up to your head. Say nothing, and keep quiet, won't you, Pivi? 'Certainly, kind lady, said Pivi, 'I will lie as still as can be. 'Next will come the big Red Ant you know him? 'Yes, I know him, with his feet like a grasshopper's. 'He will walk over your body up to your head. Then you must shake all your body. Do you understand, Pivi?
When birds were men, and men were birds, Pivi and Kabo lived in an island far away, called New Claledonia. Pivi was a cheery little bird that chirps at sunset; Kabo was an ugly black fowl that croaks in the darkness. One day Pivi and Kabo thought that they would make slings, and practice slinging, as the people of the island still do.
'What is that? People chattering in the hut! Perhaps they have taken my cocoa-nuts, said Pivi to himself. In he went, and there he found two pretty, laughing, teasing girls. He hunted for his cocoanuts, but none were there. Down he ran to the river. 'Oh, lady, my nuts have been stolen! he cried. 'Come with me, Pivi, and there will be nuts for you, said the woman.
You must not throw them down, but carry them in your hands; and you must descend as you went up, using your legs only. 'I shall try, at least, said Pivi. And up he went, but it was very difficult, and down he came. 'Here are your cocoa-nuts, he said, presenting them to the woman.
There the shell-fish lay and gaped, but Kabo, though he dived in, kept well out of the way of the beast. Up he came, puffing and blowing: 'Oh, Pivi, he cried, 'I cannot move it. Jump in and try yourself! Pivi dived, with his spear, and the shell-fish opened its shell wider yet, and sucked, and Pivi disappeared into its mouth, and the shell shut up with a snap!
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