anting. All the animals were rejoiced to see the Tortoise coming
with a basket, for they all wanted to chew betel. The monkeys ran up,
chattering, and tried to snatch the betel-nuts; but the Tortoise held
them back, saying, "Wait a minute! By and by I will give you some."

Then the monkeys sat around, waiting, while the Tortoise prepared the
betel-nut. He cut the nuts and the pungaman into many small pieces,
and the buyo-leaf too, and gave them to the monkeys and the other
animals. Everybody began to chew; and the Tortoise went away to
a distance about the length of one field (sebad kinamat), where he
could get out of sight, under shelter of some trees. Then he called to
the monkeys, "All of you are eating monkey, just like your own body:
you are chewing up one of your own family."

At that, all the monkeys were angry, and ran screaming to catch the
Tortoise. But the Tortoise had hid under the felled trunk of an old
palma brava tree. As each monkey passed close by the trunk where the
Tortoise lay concealed, the Tortoise said, "Drag your membrum! here's
a felled tree" (Supa tapo! basio' [141]).

Thus every monkey passed by clear of the trunk, until the last one
came by; and he was both blind and deaf. When he followed the rest,
he could not hear the Tortoise call out, "Supa tapo! basio';" and
his membrum struck against the fallen trunk. He stopped, and became
aware of the Tortoise underneath. Then he screamed to the rest;
and all the monkeys came running back, and surrounded the Tortoise,
threatening him.

"What do you want?" inquired the Tortoise.

"You shall die," cried the monkeys. "Tell us what will kill you. We
will chop you to pieces with the axe."

"Oh, no! that won't hurt me in the least," replied the Tortoise. "You
can see the marks on my shell, where my father used to cut my body:
but that didn't kill me."

"We will put you in the fire, then, and burn you to death," chorussed
the monkeys. "Will that do?"

"Fire does not hurt me," returned the Tortoise. "Look at my body! See
how brown it is where my father used to stick me into the fire."

"What, then, is best to kill you?" urged the monkeys.

"The way to kill me," replied the Tortoise, "is to take the punch
used for brass, bulit, [142] and run [143] it into my rectum. Then
throw me into the big pond, and drown me."

Then the monkeys did as they were told, and threw him into the
pond. But the Tortoise began to swim about in the water.

Exultantly