et it and as the animal sprang on him he smote it on the head and
killed it. Then Baijal went back and told his brothers-in-law that
the peacock had pecked their hound to death. They were very angry
with him for not throwing his stick first but he explained that he
thought that such a big dog as theirs would not need any help.

Two or three days later Baijal told his _bonga_ wife to come home with
him, so they set off with a bundle of provisions for the journey. When
they had passed out through the pool Baijal opened the bundle to have
something to eat but found that the bread had turned into cowdung
fuel cakes; and the parched rice into _meral_ leaves; so he threw
them all away. However he would not give up the _bonga_ girl and they
used to meet daily and in the course of time two children were born
to them. Whenever there was a dance in the village the _bonga_ girl
used to come to it. She would leave the two children on Baijal's bed
and spend the whole night dancing with the other women of the village.

The time came when Baijal's parents arranged for his marriage,
for they knew nothing of his _bonga_ wife; and before the marriage
the _bonga_ made him promise that if he had a daughter he would name
the child after her. Even when he was married he did not give up his
_bonga_ wife and used to meet her as before. One night she came with
her children to a dance and after dancing some time said that she was
tired and would go away; Baijal urged her not to go but to come with
her children and live in his house along with his other wife. She
would not agree and he tried to force her and shut the door of the
house; but she and her children rose to the roof in a flash of light
and disappeared over the top of the house wall and passed away from
the village in a flame of fire. At this Baijal was so frightened that
from that time he gave her up and never went near her again.

By and bye his wife bore him a daughter but they did not name the
child after the _bonga_ and the consequence was that it soon pined
away and died. Two or three more were born but they also all died
young because he had not named them after the _bonga_. At last he did
give a daughter the right name and from that time his children lived.

CLVII. Ramai and the Bonga.

Once a _bonga_[3] haunted the house of a certain man and became such
a nuisance that the man had him exorcised and safely pegged down to
the ground; and they fenced in the place where t