aw them there, and ran up to the house and
said: "Siu has come back, and with him is a beautiful woman, who seems
to be his wife."

Some of the older people checked the children, saying: "It cannot be
Siu; he has been dead for a long time. Don't mention his name, for if
his mother hears you talk of him, it will make her very unhappy."

But the children persisted in saying that it was indeed Siu that they
had seen. Just then Siu and his wife appeared and walked up into the
house.

Siu said to his wife: "The door before which I hang up my sword is the
door of my room. Walk straight in. You will find my mother there, and
she will gladly welcome you as her daughter-in-law."

When they came into the house, all the inmates rushed out to meet them,
and to congratulate Siu on his safe return. They asked him many
questions: Where had he been living all this time? How he came to be
married? And what was the name of his wife's country? But Siu answered
little, as he remembered the promise he had made to his wife, that he
would not speak of what he had seen in her house.

When Siu hung up his sword, his wife pushed open the door and walked in.
Siu's mother was very pleased to see her son, whom she had mourned as
dead, alive and well, and when told of his marriage, she welcomed his
wife with joy.

In process of time Siu's wife bore him a son, whom they named
Seragunting. He was a fine child, and as befitted the grandson of
Singalang Burong, he grew big and strong in a miraculously short time,
and when he was three years old, he was taller and stronger than others
four times his age.

One day as Seragunting was playing with the other boys, a man brought
some birds which he had caught in a trap. As he walked through the
house, he passed Siu who was sitting in the open verandah. Siu,
forgetting the promise he had made to his wife, asked to see the birds,
and he took one in his hands and stroked it. His wife was sitting near,
and she saw him hold the bird, and was very vexed that he had broken his
promise to her.

She said to herself: "My husband has broken his word to me. He has done
the thing he promised me he would never do. I cannot stay in this house
any longer. I must return to the house of my father, Singalang Burong."

She took the water-vessels in her hands, and went out as if to fetch
water. But when she came to the well, she placed the water-gourds on the
ground, and disappeared into the jungle.

In the meantime,