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On the way to draw water a Ronga girl had the misfortune to break
her water-pot. In great distress she cried out for a rope, and looking
up she saw one hanging from a cloud, like the ropes in the stories of God
leaving the earth. Climbing up she found a ruined village in the sky and
an old woman sitting there asked what she wanted. The girl told her story
and the old woman told her to continue walking, and if an ant crawled up
into her ear she must leave it alone. As she walked an ant did crawl into
her ear. The girl continued walking, and coming to a new village heard
the ant whisper to her to sit down. As she sat at the gate some elders
came out in shining clothes and asked what she was doing there. The girl
said she had come to look for a baby(??). The elders took her to a house,
gave her a basket, and told her to collect some corn from the garden. The
ant whispered that she should pull one cob at a time, and arrange it carefully
in the basket. The elders were pleased with her work, and with the cooking
that she did on the ant's instructions.
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