Don't bother grown-ups,' said Tegumai, so busy with his spear-mending
that he did not turn round.

'I aren't, said Taffy. 'I only want him to do what I want him to do, and
he won't understand.'

'Then don't bother me, said Tegumai, and he went on pulling and
straining at the deer-sinews with his mouth full of loose ends. The
Stranger-man--a genuine Tewara he was--sat down on the grass, and Taffy
showed him what her Daddy was doing. The Stranger-man thought, this is a
very wonderful child. She stamps her foot at me and she makes faces. She
must be the daughter of that noble Chief who is so great that he won't
take any notice of me.' So he smiled more politely than ever.

'Now,' said Taffy, 'I want you to go to my Mummy, because your legs are
longer than mine, and you won't fall into the beaver-swamp, and ask for
Daddy's other spear--the one with the black handle that hangs over our
fireplace.'

The Stranger-man (and he was a Tewara) thought, 'This is a very, very
wonderful child. She waves her arms and she shouts at me, but I don't
understand a word of what she says. But if I don't do what she wants, I
greatly fear that that haughty Chief, Man-who-turns-his-back-on-callers,
will be angry.' He got up and twisted a big flat piece of bark off a
birch-tree and gave it to Taffy. He did this, Best Beloved, to show that
his heart was as white as the birch-bark and that he meant no harm; but
Taffy didn't quite understand.

'Oh!' said she. 'Now I see! You want my Mummy's living-address? Of
course I can't write, but I can draw pictures if I've anything sharp to
scratch with. Please lend me the shark's tooth off your necklace.'

The Stranger-man (and he was a Tewara) didn't say anything, So Taffy
put up her little hand and pulled at the beautiful bead and seed and
shark-tooth necklace round his neck.

The Stranger-man (and he was a Tewara) thought, 'This is a very, very,
very wonderful child. The shark's tooth on my necklace is a magic
shark's tooth, and I was always told that if anybody touched it without
my leave they would immediately swell up or burst, but this
child doesn't swell up or burst, and that important Chief,
Man-who-attends-strictly-to-his-business, who has not yet taken any
notice of me at all, doesn't seem to be afraid that she will swell up or
burst. I had better be more polite.'

So he gave Taffy the shark's tooth, and she lay down flat on her tummy
with her legs in the air, like some people on the drawi