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In an instant there poured forth such a stream of milk that it ran like a river into the hut. 'Koané! Koané! cried she, 'come and help me to plug up the hole. There will be no milk left for our father and mother. But Koané could not stop it any more than Thakané, and soon the milk was flowing through the hut downhill towards their parents in the fields below.
There, when children die, they are buried in the earth. No one shall take my baby from me. That night, when everyone in the hut was asleep, Thakané rose, and carrying her baby on her back, went down to a place where the river spread itself out into a large lake, with tall willows all round the bank.
So, in spite of her dread of the ogre, she slept till dawn, when her father woke her, and told her roughly that he was ready to continue their journey. Crossing the plain, the girl and her father passed a herd of gazelles feeding. They lifted their heads, wondering who was out so early, and when they caught sight of Thakané, they sang: Why do you give to the ogre Your child, so fair, so fair?
After they had gone, Thakané returned to the village, which Masilo had managed to reach before her. All the rest of the day he sat in a corner weeping, and his mother who came in asked: 'Why are you weeping so bitterly, my son? 'My head aches, he answered; 'it aches very badly. And his mother passed on, and left him alone.
And as Masilo looked, he saw that she was indeed his daughter, and he wept for joy that she was not lying dead in the bottom of the lake. The old woman, however, seemed uneasy, and said to Thakané: 'I feel as if someone was watching us. I will not leave the girl to-day, but will take her back with me'; and sinking beneath the surface, she drew the girl after her.
And if you will fix a day to meet me here I will bring the baby. Then Thakane dried her eyes, and gladly accepted the old woman's offer. When she got home she told her husband she had thrown it in the river, and as he had watched her go in that direction he never thought of doubting what she said.
By this time it was nearly dark, and the father said they could travel no further that night, and must go to sleep where they were. Thakane was thankful indeed when she heard this, for she was very tired, and found the two skins fastened round her almost too heavy to carry.
Then, in her turn, Thakane sang: I gave Koumongoe to Koane, Koumongoe to the keeper of beasts; For without Koumongoe they could not go to the meadows: Without Koumongoe they would starve in the hut; That was why I gave him the Koumongoe of my father. And the elands all cried: 'Wretched man! it is you whom the ogre should eat, and not your beautiful daughter.
After a while Thakané said to him: 'It is getting hot, had you not better drive out the cattle now? But Koané only answered sulkily: 'I told you I am not going to drive them out at all. If I have to do without milk, they shall do without grass. Thakané did not know what to do.
One day, when Koane had slept later than usual, his father and mother went to their work before him, and there was only Thakane to be seen busy making the bread for supper. 'Thakane, he said, 'I am thirsty. Give me a drink from the tree Koumongoe, which has the best milk in the world. 'Oh, Koane, cried his sister, 'you know that we are forbidden to touch that tree.
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