736 A P P E N D IX V
this way, and every net he made was better. And his wife
was pleased and gave him sons, and by and by the man saw
that he did not want all the sticks of a bush to make his net
on, only some of them ; and so he took these home and put
them up in his house, and made his nets there, and after a
time his wife said : “ Why do you make the stuff for me with
that bush rope ? Why do you not make it with something
finer? ” And he went into the bush and took offerings to the
spider and said : “ Oh, my lord, teach me more things ! 1 And
he sat and watched the spider, but the spider only went on
making stuff out of his belly. And the man said : “ Oh, my
lord, you pass me. I cannot do this thing.” And as he went
home he thought and saw that there are trees, and there are
bush ropes, thick bush rope and thin bush rope, and then
there is grass which was thinner still, and he took the grass,
and tried to make a net with it, and did this thing and made
more nets and every net he made was better. And his wife
was pleased and said “ This is good cloth.” And the man
lived to be very old and was a great chief and a great hunter.
For it is good for a man to be a great hunter, and it is good
for a man to please women. This is the origin of the cloth
loom. ^ ,
It was in the old time, and men have got now thread on
spools from the white man, for the white man is a great spider ;
but this is how the black man learnt to make cloth.