told them that, if they agreed, he would issue
proclamations throughout the whole kingdom and the neighboring cities,
towns, and villages. While this meeting with his council was going
on, the king stood up to powder his face. He took his powder-case
out of his pocket; but when he opened it, there inside he found, to
his surprise, a tuma. [43] He could not imagine how this tiny insect
had got into his box to eat the powder. Feeling very much ashamed,
he did not powder his face: he merely closed the box. The meeting
was adjourned without being finished; for when the king stood up,
the counsellors rose from their seats and silently left the room.

The king retired to his room, and opened his powder-case to look at
the tuma again. He was thoroughly astonished to find that what had
been but a tiny insect a moment before now filled the whole box. He
was indeed perplexed; so he consulted God. Then it came to his mind
to take the tuma from the box and place it in the cellar of the palace.

After three days the king found that a miracle had happened. The
cellar was filled with the tuma. He was not a little surprised. He
said to himself, "What a wonderful animal it is! In three days it has
grown to such an enormous size! If I let it live, I fear that it will
destroy the whole kingdom."

Then he heard a voice saying, "You need not fear, for the tuma
you nourish shall not produce bad fruit. But if you let it live,
it will have a long life, and will fill all of Marsella with its
huge body. Listen to me, and obey what I tell you! Let the tuma be
killed. Burn all its flesh, but save its skin. Use the skin for the
covers of a drum. When you have done all these things, write to all
your neighboring kingdoms and bet with them. Let them guess the kind
of skin out of which the heads of the drum are made. If you will but
obey me, and take care not to let any one know what I have told you,
you will become very rich." Then the voice ceased.

The king comprehended well all that the voice had told him: so he
called his Negro servant, and led him secretly into his room. The king
then said softly, "Let no one know of the secret that I am to disclose
to you, and you shall profit by it. I have a tuma which accidentally
got into my powder-case. One day I put the insect into the cellar,
where it has grown to an enormous size. Now, my command to you is
to kill the tuma, burn all its flesh, and clean its skin. Then have
the skin made into a drum.