‘you are not so important after all, pau amma,’ he said. ‘now, let me try,’ and he made a magic with his left hand with just the little finger of his left hand and lo and behold, best beloved, pau amma’s hard, blue-green-black shell fell off him as a husk falls off a cocoa-nut, and pau amma was left all soft soft as the little crabs that you sometimes find on the beach, best beloved.