One evening Mary was sitting on the porch of her mission house talking to
the children. Suddenly they heard a loud noise. They heard the beating of
drums. Then they heard men singing loudly.
"What's that?" asked Mary. She took the twin boys that were with her and
rushed down to the road to see what was going on. Here she found a crowd
of people. They were all dressed up. Some wore three-cornered hats with
long feathers hanging down. Some had crowns. Some wore masks with animal
heads and horns. Some put on uniforms with gold and silver lace. Some just
covered their bodies with beadwork and tablecloths trimmed with gold and
silver.
When Mary came, the shouting stopped. The king came forward to meet her.
"Ma," said the king, "we have had a palaver. We have made new laws. The
old laws were not God's laws. Now all twins and their mothers can live in
town. If anyone kills twin babies or hurts the mothers, he shall be hung."
"God will bless you for making those wise laws," said Mary.
The mothers of the twins who lived at the mission and other mothers, too,
gathered around Mary. They laughed and shouted. They clapped their hands,
and with tears running down their cheeks, cried: "Thank you! Thank you!"
They made so much noise that Mary asked the chief to stop them.
"Ma, how can I stop these women's mouths?" asked the chief.
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