8. How Malice Was Consumed on the Pyre


 Cric ?
 Crac !

 .URING one of those terrible droughts there was only
one place where there was a spring. It was in the king's
back yard. The king was so mean that he allowed only his
family to enjoy the water. Anyone who dared even speak
of that spring was beheaded. So no one dared to ask the
king for a drink, even thought they were dying of thirst.
 When it comes to that spring,, the people whispered
around, (the king doesn't spread any butter on cassava
bread with his machete,, meaning that he doesn't fool
around.
 But Malice said to himself, (I, a child of yayoute, let
nothing stand before me. I'd be addled in the head, like the
king, if he thinks I'm going ten miles to wash my feet and
for a calabash of drinking water when there is plenty of
water just a few minutes walk away.,
 Sure enough, every night Malice went to the king's
spring, washed his face, feet, and hands; filled his calabash
with fresh water and came out. When the people saw him
looking so clean, while everyone else was so dirty, they
began to gossip around; but fearing for Malice's head they