Atondido Stories
there in the shadows?" "Oh, my dear niece," said Rabbit, "I have
found you at last. I am your poor old aunt. I thought I had lost
my way. I have come to see you from your home in the far coun-
try. It was a long journey and my poor old legs and back are stiff
and sore, and I am very hungry and tired;" and he moved slowly
towards the woman, hobbling along with his crooked stick. The
giant woman was deceived, and she threw her arms around
Rabbit and kissed him, and she did not feel his whiskers or his
split lip because of the old shawl that was wrapped around his
face. "I have a pain in my jaw from sleeping out of doors," said
Rabbit, "and I must keep my face wrapped up."
"Come in and rest, and you will soon feel better," said the gi-
ant woman.
"You will have to lead me in," said Rabbit, not wishing to
take off the shawl, "for my eyesight is very bad."
So she led Rabbit into the warm cave, which was so dark that
they could scarcely see each other, and she called her husband
and said, "Here is my dear old aunt who has come all the way
from the far country beyond the prairies." And the giant, believ-
ing Rabbit to be his wife's kindred, for he could not see him very
clearly, treated him very kindly. And they showed him the bed
where he was to sleep.
The woman then gave Rabbit a large piece of dried meat to
eat. But Rabbit said, "I cannot eat it, for I am old and I have lost
all my teeth. Give me an axe to cut it up small." So the woman
brought him a sharp axe and he chopped the meat into small
pieces and ate it all up. And he said, "I will keep the axe by me,
for I shall need it at all my meals," and he placed it beside his
bed. The giant said, "We are going away to see some friends, but
we shall be back before midnight." But before they went away
Rabbit said to the woman, "I hope your husband sleeps soundly;
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