the stranger-man (and he was a tewara) thought, ‘this is a very, very, very wonderful child. the shark’s tooth on my necklace is a magic shark’s tooth, and i was always told that if anybody touched it without my leave they would immediately swell up or burst, but this child doesn’t swell up or burst, and that important chief, man-who-attends-strictly-to-his-business, who has not yet taken any notice of me at all, doesn’t seem to be afraid that she will swell up or burst. i had better be more polite.’