There were seven sisters who were
proud of their beauty that they thought no one was good enough to marry them.
They said that they would marry only the man or men who could find out what
their names were. They were beautiful, so everybody tried, but no one
succeeded.
At
last, when everyone had failed, Tortoise said that he would find out the girls
names and win them a shis wives. Everybody laughed at the idea. But tortoise
was clever, and soon made a plan. The girls usually took a certain path when
they went out to the forest to play. Tortoise killed an old, bearded he goat,
pulled out the beard and stuck it to an axe with the juice of a gum tree. He
then hid in a bush by the path, and when the girls were near enough, he pushed
the axe in their path. When the eldest, who came first, saw it, she called out
to the sister next to her, “Ola, I have seen something very strange!”
“What
is it, Oni?”
“Something
never seen by anyone before. An axe which has grown a beard!” said Oni.
When
the second sister came up to see, she called to the third by her name, to tell
her about this wonderful axe. The third in her turn called to the fourth, the
fourth to the fifth, the fifth to the sixth, and the sixth to the seventh,
while Tortoise in the bush listened with both ears wide open. When the sisters
had passed on, Tortoise came out, picked up the axe, and went home to put on
his best clothes.
He
then went to the chief’s house and said he had come to marry his daughters
since he now knew their names. When the sisters, who had refused to marry many
fine men, saw their misshapen suitor, they laughed; but they were nearer tears than
laughter by the time he had finished telling them their names. They told their
father that they did not want anyone as ugly as Tortoise for a husband. The
chief replied that he had brought many fine suitors and they had foolishly said
they would marry only the person who could find out their names, so now they
must stand by their word. Thus the seven proud sisters, all crying now, had to
go with Tortoise to his house.
***
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