They will drop the wood and spill the water . ' ` Then will you have any of the other children ? There are enough to spare , ' asked the mother again . But the bride said quickly : ' I will have none of them ! You must give me our buffalo , the Rover of the Plain ; he alone shall serve me . ' ` What folly you talk ! ' cried the parents . ` Give you our buffalo , the Rover of the Plain ? Why , you know that our life depends on him . Here he is well fed and lies on soft grass ; but how can you tell what will befall him in another country ? The food may be bad , he will die of hunger ; and , if he dies we die also . ' ` No , no , ' said the bride ; ' I can look after him as well as you . Get him ready , for the sun is sinking and it is time we set forth . ' So she went away and put together a small pot filled with healing herms , a horn that she used in tending sick people , a little knife , and a calabash containing deer fat ; and , hiding these about her , she took leave of her father and mother and started across the mountains by the side of her husband . But the young man did not see the buffalo that followed them , which had left his home to be the servant of his wife . No one ever knew how the news spread to the kraal that the young man was coming back , bringing a wife with him ; but , somehow or other , when the two entered the village , every man and woman was standing in the road uttering shouts of welcome . ` Ah , you are not dead after all , ' cried they ; ` and have found a wife to your liking , though you would have none of our girls . Well , well , you have chosen your own path ; and if ill comes of it beware lest you grumble . ' Next day the husband took his wife to the fields and showed her which were his , and which belonged to his mother . The girl listened carefully to all he told her , and walked with him back to the hut ; but close to the door she stopped , and said : ' I have dropped my necklace of beads in the field , and I must go and look for it . '
But in truth she had done nothing XXXXX the sort , and it was only an excuse to go and seek the buffalo .
about across as if in of on that though with