s,
I am fetching water in a pot full of holes,
How far away have my brothers gone to trade."

After she had cried a long time, a number of frogs came up out of
the water and asked her what was the matter, and she told them that
she must fill the pot with water, and was not allowed to stop the
holes with clay or lac. Then they told her not to cry, and said, that
they would sit on the holes and then the water would not run out;
they did this and the girl dried her eyes and filled the pot with
water and took it home. Her sisters-in-law were much disappointed at
her success, but the next day they told her to go to the jungle and
bring back a bundle of leaves, but she was to use no rope for tying
them up. So she went to the jungle and collected the leaves and then
sat down and cried and sang:--

"I am to fetch leaves without a rope
I am to fetch leaves without a rope
How far have my brothers gone to trade?"

and as she cried a _buka sobo_ snake came out and asked why she was
crying, and when she told it, it said that it would coil itself round
the leaves in place of a rope. So it stretched itself out straight
and she piled the leaves on the top of it and the snake coiled itself
tightly round them and so she was able to carry the bundle home on her
head. Her sisters-in-law ran to see how she managed it, but she put
the bundle down gently and the snake slipped away unperceived. Still
they resolved to try again; so the next day they sent her to fetch
a bundle of fire wood, but told her that she was to use no rope to
tie it with. So she went to the jungle and collected the sticks and
then sat down and cried:--

"I am to bring wood without tying it,
I am to bring wood without tying it,
How far have my brothers gone to trade?"

and as she cried a python came out and asked what was the matter,
and when it heard, it told her not to cry and said that it would act
as a rope to bind up the sticks; so it stretched itself out and she
laid the sticks on it and then it coiled itself round them and she
carried the bundle home.

As the sisters-in-law had been baffled thus, they resolved on another
plan and proposed that they should all go and gather sticks in the
jungle; and on the way they came to a _machunda_ tree in full flower
and they wanted to pick some of the flowers. The wicked sisters-in-law
at first began to climb the tree, but they pretended that they could
not and kept slipping