Note 11 — FOLK-TALES AND SONGS

But when they asked Apfuho to pull them in, instead of doing so he let them fall into the water and drown. Then Apfuho put on their ornaments and took their mithan and went up to the village. And the villagers were astonished and said, “Where have you come from with those ornaments and that mithan, Apfuho?” And he said to them, “In the middle of the pond there are many ornaments and many mithan too. I only brought away these. If you too want to get some you should go and dive into the pond.” Then all the villagers said to him in chorus, “Take me, Apfuho; take me, Apfuho.” So a few days later Apfuho led the villagers in a body down to the water. There he picked them up one by one and threw them in. Of the men who sank quietly he said, “The ornaments and mithan he gets won’t be very good.” But when people struggled hard, with the water pouring from their mouth and nose, he said, “The ornaments and mithan he gets will be splendid.” So he let all the people of the village whom he had thrown into the water drown.11