Inside were the brown leaves and roots of medicine; beneath them was the senseless bade wrapped in dead moss.
"Ugly stuff," said the king, taking snuff.

"Now see, Mopo, what a good aim I have! This for thy medicine!" And he lifted his assegai to throw it through the bundle.

But as he threw, my snake put it into the king's heart to sneeze, and thus it came to pass that the assegai only pierced the outer leaves of the medicine, and did not touch the child.
"May the heavens bless the king!" I said, according to custom.
"Thanks to thee, Mopo, it is a good omen," he answered.

"And now, begone! Take my advice: kill thy children, as I kill mine, lest they live to worry thee.

The whelps of lions are best drowned." I did up the bundle fast--fast, though my hands trembled.