Presently the Queen gave a command to one of her warriors and instantly several men, who were sitting on the ground in front of the Queen, began to beat on drums. The drums were made out of a piece of hollow reed. The ends were covered with snake skin and they made a very pretty, mellow sound. Another man beat on a piece of wood which had been fixed to a split reed, while three or four women beat paddles together in time with the music.

Instantly a number of voices broke into a loud song from behind a house near by and presently the dancers came hopping and prancing into the cleared spot before the Queen. First came a warrior with a long spear and when he danced directly in front of the Queen he broke the spear in two over his knee. Next came a man with a queer seed pod over his head and in one hand he carried a whip with which he struck the warrior every now and then. In the other hand he carried a dried seed pod which rattled loudly in time with the song. The next dancer wore a frog’s head and hopped in time with the music, much after the fashion of a frog. Several girls followed the frog man, carrying plates of smoked frog ham and rice cakes.

“The first man in the dance,” explained the Poet to the General, “is the Spirit of War. He broke the spear to show you that the war was over and the next man rattled the seed pod and struck him with the whip to scare him away, which means that the wild men are through with war and wish to get rid of the War Spirit. The frog man represents the frog meat which the wild men eat, and his funny dance means that good times are coming, for you see the pretty girls follow with plates of rice cakes and meat.”

The dancers performed for several minutes and then the man with the whip and rattle chased the Spirit of War over the hill out of sight, which meant that the Spirit of War was gone for good.

After the dance a great fire was built and when a heap of hot ashes had burned, the wild men wrapped several frog hams in sassafras leaves and put them into the hot bed of ashes to roast. When the hams were cooked they were cut into slices and served to the Teenie Weenies and the wild men. Wonderfully delicious rice cakes were also served and the Teenie Weenies ate until they were quite filled. The greedy Dunce ate so much he became quite ill and had to be carried back to the Teenie Weenie camp, where the Doctor was kept busy most of the night putting heated buttons on his aching tummy, until the pain was gone.

Chapter Twenty-Six HOME

The Teenie 

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