But as all these
things were over and done with, and as Mameena was very kind to me,
giving me gifts and sparing me tasks, and as I saw that Saduko my lord
loved her much, it never came into my head to say anything of the matter
of the powder that I saw her sprinkle on the mat.
"After she had run away with the Prince who is dead, however, I did tell
the lady Nandie. Moreover, the lady Nandie, in my presence, searched in
the straw of the doorway of the hut and found there, wrapped in soft
hide, certain medicines such as the Nyangas sell, wherewith those who
consult them can bewitch their enemies, or cause those whom they desire
to love them or to hate their wives or husbands. That is all I know of
the story, O King."
"Do my ears hear a true tale, Nandie?" asked Panda. "Or is this woman a
liar like others?"
"I think not, my Father; see, here is the muti [medicine] which Nahana
and I found hid in the doorway of the hut that I have kept unopened till
this day."
And she laid on the ground a little leather bag, very neatly sewn with
sinews, and fastened round its neck with a fibre string.
Panda directed one of the councillors to open the bag, which the man did
unwillingly enough, since evidently he feared its evil influence,
pouring out its contents on to the back of a hide shield, which was then
carried round so that we might all look at them. These, so far as I
could see, consisted of some withered roots, a small piece of human
thigh bone, such as might have come from the skeleton of an infant, that
had a little stopper of wood in its orifice, and what I took to be the
fang of a snake.
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