So he answered them, "All right, if you won't get me a wife I will look
for one for myself."
So he went and searched till he found a wife, and then there were shouts
and trills as he brought her home and married her.
So they stayed indoors the appointed time of the honeymoon, and when it
was nearly accomplished his wife said to Hapendeki, "Now that the
honeymoon is nearly over I want some nice clothes to show myself in when
the honeymoon is completed and I go out once more."
So the husband went out and sought all the Indians' and Banyans' shops,
and bought all the best clothes he could in the town, and brought home
one man's load of different kinds of clothes. And he said to her, "Here,
my wife, look at the clothes I have brought you."
So she opened the parcel and looked at the things and said, "Do you call
these clothes, my husband? Do you think that I could go out in such
things, my husband?"
So the husband took ship and went to Maskat, and there he bought all the
most beautiful clothes he could find, and dresses of silk and all kinds
of garments, two bales full, and with these he returned home.
[Illustration: Woman sorting clothes]
So he took ship with his two bales of clothes and arrived home again,
and had them carried up to his house.
When he came into the house his wife cooked food for him, and he sat
down and ate, and when he had finished he said to his wife, "Now open
those two bales and see the clothes I have brought you." So she opened
the bales and looked at the clothes and said, "Do you call these
clothes? you must be a fool to have bought things like these. Are these
things fit for your wife to wear? Do you wish me to wear grass and bark
cloth? Do you imagine that I could wear things like these?"
So he said, "My wife, these are the best that I could find, now say,
what sort of clothes are those that you want?"
So she said to him, "My husband, the only clothes fit for me to wear are
clothes made of the skin of Pemba Muhori, the great sea serpent."
Next day he went to his father and mother and told them how he had
bought every kind of expensive clothes for his wife, but that she
refused to wear anything but the skin of Pemba Muhori.
His father and mother said to him, "Did not we tell you that you would
not be able to manage a wife?" and his elder brothers said, "You, the
youngest, must needs marry before us, your elder brothers, and this is
what comes of it."
So Hapendeki said to his mother, "I do not want words or advice, all I
want you to do is to make seven loaves for me, and to make up a parcel
for me containing these seven loaves and seven cigarettes and seven
matches."
So his mother baked seven loaves and made up the parcel, and next day he
took his sword and the parcel and set out. He travelled and travelled
through plains and forests, plains and forests, for one month, till at
the end of the month he came to a big lake. He sat down on the shore and
ate one loaf and lit one cigarette and smoked it and thought, "Pemba
Muhori must be in this lake," so he sang--
"Pemba Muhori, Pemba Muhori, are you in there?
My wife has sent for your skin to wear."
All was silent, so he picked up his load and journeyed on through desert
and hills, desert and hills, till he came to a lake larger still, at the
end of the second month, and he sat down and ate a loaf and smoked a
cigarette and sang--
"Pemba Muhori, Pemba Muhori, are you in there?
My wife has sent for your skin to wear."
All was silent, so he travelled on and on till he came to a third and
bigger lake, and now he had spent three months in the way.
So he sat down on the shore and ate a loaf and smoked a cigarette and
sang again, but all was silent, so he travelled on, and at the end of
each month he came to a bigger lake, and he ate one loaf and smoked one
cigarette.
Till, at the end of the sixth month, he came to an enormous lake, bigger
than any before, and its breadth was the distance of Tabora from the
coast.
And he said, "Pemba Muhori can hardly miss being in here," so he ate a
loaf and lit and smoked a cigarette and then he sang--
"Pemba Muhori, Pemba Muhori, are you in there?
My wife has sent for your skin to wear."
But all was silent, so he picked up his load and went on and on, and now
he had only one loaf and one cigarette and one match left.
At the end of the seventh month he came to a lake as broad as from Ujiji
to Zanzibar, and on its shores was white sand, white like bleached
calico.
So he sat down and thought, "Now I have come to the last of my food.
What am I to do if I miss Pemba Muhori here?"
So he ate his last loaf and tried to light his last cigarette, but the
match went out, so he threw it into the lake saying, "What matter? Now I
have nothing."