48 Children of Yayoute

dared not call any name. One of them whispered, cEvery-
body in this land believes in the saying, "goats always look
in the farmer's eyes to find out whether or not they are
welcome to eat a few yam vines in the farmer's garden";
but Malice just closes his eyes and walks in.,
 The king suspected there was some whispering going on.
He didn't know what it was all about; so he began to inspect
everything. One morning he went to the spring and found
the water cloudy, and there were wet footprints around. So
he placed an armed guard there to catch the insolent one.
 Very late in the night, when all was still, Malice came
along and saw the guard. Since he had made up his mind
not to go back home with his vessel empty, he thought quick-
ly and said, KDon't tell me you are a guard, no, standing
there and letting the man show his heels with the king's
water?D
 -Where is he?- asked the guard, excited.
 He's just turned around the mapou tree with his cala-
 bash filled with water,. Malice said, pointing in the direc-
 tion the supposed man had gone.
 The guard ran away to catch the water thief, while
 Malice went to the spring, washed himself clean, and came
 out with fresh water.
 In the morning the guard was jailed to be tied to the
 tail of a wild mule, and torn to pieces at sundown the next
 day, if no one caught the thief.
 Bouqui, who was sorry for the guard, tried to find a way
 to help. -No one but Malice can play such a trick. Who
 does he think he is, the archbishop of Port-au-Prince? I'll
 show him that he is not.>