d, and fast, and then he will give us children." So
the jackal said, "Very good." That day the kite ate nothing, nor that
night; but the jackal at night brought a dead animal, and was sitting
eating it quietly under the tree. By-and-by the kite heard her
crunching the bones, instead of fasting. "What have you got there,"
said the kite, "that you are making such a noise?" "Nothing," said the
jackal; "it is only my own bones that rattle inside my body whenever I
move." The kite went to sleep again, and took no more notice of the
jackal. Next morning the kite ate some food in the name of God. That
night again the jackal brought a dead animal. The kite called out,
"What are you crunching there? Why are you making that noise? I am
sure you have something to eat." The jackal said, "Oh, no! It is only
my own bones rattling in my body." So the kite went to sleep again.

Some time after, the kite had seven little boys--real little boys--but
the jackal had none, because she had not fasted. A year after that the
kite went and worshipped God, asking Him to take care of her children.
One day--it was their great day--the kite set out seven plates. On one
she put cocoa-nuts, on another cucumbers, on a third rice, on a
fourth plantains, and so on. Then she gave a plate to each of her
seven sons, and told them to take the plates to their aunt the jackal.
So they took the seven plates, and carried them to their aunt, crying
out, "Aunty, aunty, look here! Mamma has sent you these things." The
jackal took the plates, and cut off the heads of the seven boys, and
their hands, and their feet, and their noses, and their ears, and took
out their eyes. Then she laid their heads in one plate, and their eyes
in another, and their noses in a third, and their ears in a fourth,
and their hands in a fifth, and their feet in a sixth, and their
trunks in the seventh, and then she covered all the plates over. Then
she took the plates to the kite, and called out, "Here! I have brought
you something in return. You sent me a present, and I bring you a
present." Now the poor kite thought the jackal had killed all her
seven children, so she cried out, "Oh, it's too dark now to see what
you have brought. Put the plates down in my tree." The jackal put the
plates down and went home. Then God made the boys alive again, and
they came running to their mother, quite well. And instead of the
heads and eyes, and noses and ears, and hands and feet, and trunks,
there w