Now there is also a Rat up in the Moon who always bites the old Fisherman's line as fast as it is made,and the Eldest Magician said to him,'Ho!Rat of the Moon,are you playing with the Sea?'
And the Rat said,'I am too busy biting through the line that this old Fisherman is spinning.I do not play with the Sea.'And he went on biting the line.
Then the little girl-daughter put up her little soft brown arms with the beautiful white shell bracelets and said,'O Eldest Magician!when my father here talked to you at the Very Beginning,and I leaned upon his shoulder while the beasts were being taught their plays,one beast went away naughtily into the Sea before you had taught him his play.
And the Eldest Magician said,'How wise are little children who see and are silent!What was the beast like?'
And the little girl-daughter said,'He was round and he was flat;and his eyes grew upon stalks;and he walked sideways like this ;and he was covered with strong armour upon his back.'
And the Eldest Magician said,'How wise are little children who speak truth!Now I know where Pau Amma went.Give me the paddle!'
So he took the paddle;but there was no need to paddle,for the water flowed steadily past all the islands till they came to the place called Pusat Tasek--the Heart of the Sea--where the great hollow is that leads down to the heart of the world,and in that hollow grows the Wonderful Tree,Pauh Janggi,that bears the magic twin nuts.Then the Eldest Magician slid his arm up to the shoulder through the deep warm water,and under the roots of the Wonderful Tree he touched the broad back of Pau Amma the Crab.And Pau Amma settled down at the touch,and all the Sea rose up as water rises in a basin when you put your hand into it.
'Ah!'said the Eldest Magician.'Now I know who has been playing with the Sea;'and he called out,'What are you doing,Pau Amma?'
And Pau Amma,deep down below,answered,'Once a day and once a night I go out to look for my food.Once a day and once a night Ireturn.Leave me alone.'
Then the Eldest Magician said,'Listen,Pau Amma.When you go out from your cave the waters of the Sea pour down into Pusat Tasek,and all the beaches of all the islands are left bare,and the little fish die,and Raja Moyang Kaban,the King of the Elephants,his legs are made muddy.When you come back and sit in Pusat Tasek,the waters of the Sea rise,and half the little islands are drowned,and the Man's house is flooded,and Raja Abdullah,the King of the Crocodiles,his mouth is filled with the salt water.
Then Pau Amma,deep down below,laughed and said,'I did not know I was so important.Henceforward I will go out seven times a day,and the waters shall never be still.'
And the Eldest Magician said,'I cannot make you play the play you were meant to play,Pau Amma,because you escaped me at the Very Beginning;but if you are not afraid,come up and we will talk about it.'
'I am not afraid,'said Pau Amma,and he rose to the top of the sea in the moonlight.There was nobody in the world so big as Pau Amma--for he was the King Crab of all Crabs.Not a common Crab,but a King Crab.One side of his great shell touched the beach at Sarawak;the other touched the beach at Pahang;and he was taller than the smoke of three volcanoes!As he rose up through the branches of the Wonderful Tree he tore off one of the great twin fruits--the magic double kernelled nuts that make people young,--and the little girl-daughter saw it bobbing alongside the canoe,and pulled it in and began to pick out the soft eyes of it with her little golden scissors.
'Now,'said the Magician,'make a Magic,Pau Amma,to show that you are really important.'
Pau Amma rolled his eyes and waved his legs,but he could only stir up the Sea,because,though he was a King Crab,he was nothing more than a Crab,and the Eldest Magician laughed.
'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.
'Indeed,you are very important,'said the Eldest Magician.
'Shall I ask the Man here to cut you with kris?Shall I send for Raja Moyang Kaban,the King of the Elephants,to pierce you with his tusks,or shall I call Raja Abdullah,the King of the Crocodiles,to bite you?'
And Pau Amma said,'I am ashamed!Give me back my hard shell and let me go back to Pusat Tasek,and I will only stir out once a day and once a night to get my food.'
And the Eldest Magician said,'No,Pau Amma,I will not give you back your shell,for you will grow bigger and prouder and stronger,and perhaps you will forget your promise,and you will play with the Sea once more.
Then Pau Amma said,'What shall I do?I am so big that I can only hide in Pusat Tasek,and if I go anywhere else,all soft as I am now,the sharks and the dogfish will eat me.And if I go to Pusat Tasek,all soft as I am now,though I may be safe,I can never stir out to get my food,and so I shall die.'Then he waved his legs and lamented.
'Listen,Pau Amma,'said the Eldest Magician.'I cannot make you play the play you were meant to play,because you escaped me at the Very Beginning;but if you choose,I can make every stone and every hole and every bunch of weed in all the seas a safe Pusat Tasek for you and your children for always.'
Then Pau Amma said,'That is good,but I do not choose yet.Look!
there is that Man who talked to you at the Very Beginning.If he had not taken up your attention I should not have grown tired of waiting and run away,and all this would never have happened.
What will he do for me?'
And the Man said,'If you choose,I will make a Magic,so that both the deep water and the dry ground will be a home for you and your children--so that you shall be able to hide both on the land and in the sea.'
