he
had heard all that his mother had promised the ogre; and he laughed to
himself as he planned how to outwit her.

The next morning she shaved his head on both sides, and hung the white
beads round his neck, and said to him: 'I am going to the fields to
work, but you must stay at home. Be sure you do not go outside, or some
wild beast may eat you.'

'Very well,' answered he.

As soon as his mother was out of sight, the baby took out some magic
bones, and placed them in a row before him. 'You are my father,' he told
one bone, 'and you are my mother. You are the biggest,' he said to
the third, 'so you shall be the ogre who wants to eat me; and you,' to
another, 'are very little, therefore you shall be me. Now, then, tell me
what I am to do.'

'Collect all the babies in the village the same size as yourself,'
answered the bones; 'shave the sides of their heads, and hang white
beads round their necks, and tell them that when anybody calls
"Motikatika," they are to answer to it. And be quick for you have no
time to lose.'

Motikatika went out directly, and brought back quite a crowd of babies,
and shaved their heads and hung white beads round their little black
necks, and just as he had finished, the ground began to shake, and the
huge ogre came striding along, crying: 'Motikatika! Motikatika!'

'Here we are! here we are!' answered the babies, all running to meet
him.

'It is Motikatika I want,' said the ogre.

'We are all Motikatika,' they replied. And the ogre sat down in
bewilderment, for he dared not eat the children of people who had done
him no wrong, or a heavy punishment would befall him. The children
waited for a little, wondering, and then they went away.

The ogre remained where he was, till the evening, when the woman
returned from the fields.

'I have not seen Motikatika,' said he.

'But why did you not call him by his name, as I told you?' she asked.

'I did, but all the babies in the village seemed to be named
Motikatika,' answered the ogre; 'you cannot think the number who came
running to me.'

The woman did not know what to make of it, so, to keep him in a good
temper, she entered the hut and prepared a bowl of maize, which she
brought him.

'I do not want maize, I want the baby,' grumbled he 'and I will have
him.'

'Have patience,' answered she; 'I will call him, and you can eat him at
once.' And she went into the hut and cried, 'Motikatika!'

'I am coming, mother,' replied he; but