Louis Becke

“ See how I trust my wife Nalia. Is she not even now in the house of another white man?”
“True. But, then, he is old and feeble, and thou young and strong. None but a fool desires to eat a dried flying-fish when a fresh one may be had.”
“O wise man with the shaven crown,” said Challis, with mocking good nature, “thou are full of wisdom of the ways of women. And if I were old and withered, would Nalia then be false to me in a house of another and younger white man?” ”

“ A curious feeling of satisfaction possessed the man, and next day Letia, the “show” girl of the village, visiting Challis’s store to buy a tin of salmon, saw Nalia the Lucky One seated on a mat beneath the seaward side of the trader’s house, surrounded by a billowy pile of yellow silk, diligently sewing.
“Ho, dear friend of my heart! Is that silken dress for thee? For the love of God, let me but touch it. Four dollars a fathom it be priced at. Thy husband is indeed the king of generosity. Art thou to become a mother?”
“Away, silly fool, and do thy buying and pester me not.” ”

“ Challis drank, then threw him the husk and resumed his work. Presently the boy, tearing off a strip of the husk with his white teeth, said, “Tialli, how is it that there be no drinking-nuts in thy house?”
“Because, O turtle-head, my wife is away; and there are no men in the village to-day; and because the women of this motu [1] have no thought that the papalagi [2] may be parched with thirst, and so come not near me with a cocoanut.” ”