fed and lies on soft grass; but how can you tell what will
befall him in another country? The food may be bad, he will die of
hunger; and, if he dies we die also.'

'No, no,' said the bride; 'I can look after him as well as you. Get him
ready, for the sun is sinking and it is time we set forth.'

So she went away and put together a small pot filled with healing herms,
a horn that she used in tending sick people, a little knife, and a
calabash containing deer fat; and, hiding these about her, she took
leave of her father and mother and started across the mountains by the
side of her husband.

But the young man did not see the buffalo that followed them, which had
left his home to be the servant of his wife.

No one ever knew how the news spread to the kraal that the young man was
coming back, bringing a wife with him; but, somehow or other, when the
two entered the village, every man and woman was standing in the road
uttering shouts of welcome.

'Ah, you are not dead after all,' cried they; 'and have found a wife to
your liking, though you would have none of our girls. Well, well,
you have chosen your own path; and if ill comes of it beware lest you
grumble.'

Next day the husband took his wife to the fields and showed her which
were his, and which belonged to his mother. The girl listened carefully
to all he told her, and walked with him back to the hut; but close to
the door she stopped, and said:

'I have dropped my necklace of beads in the field, and I must go and
look for it.' But in truth she had done nothing of the sort, and it was
only an excuse to go and seek the buffalo.

The beast was crouching under a tree when she came up, and snorted with
pleasure at the sight of her.

'You can roam about this field, and this, and this,' she said, 'for they
belong to my husband; and that is his wood, where you may hide yourself.
But the other fields are his mother's, so beware lest you touch them.'

'I will beware,' answered the buffalo; and, patting his head, the girl
left him.

Oh, how much better a servant he was than any of the little girls the
bride had refused to bring with her! If she wanted water, she had only
to cross the patch of maize behind the hut and seek out the place where
the buffalo lay hidden, and put down her pail beside him. Then she would
sit at her ease while he went to the lake and brought the bucket back
brimming over. If she wanted wood, he would break the branches off the
trees and