He decided to manufacture the form of a
man, who would wear this pumpkin head, and to stand it in a place where old
Mombi would meet it face to face.
"And then," said Tip to himself, with a laugh, "she'll squeal louder than
the brown pig does when I pull her tail, and shiver with fright worse than I
did last year when I had the ague!"
He had plenty of time to accomplish this task, for Mombi had gone to a
village -- to buy groceries, she said -- and it was a journey of at least
two days.
So he took his axe to the forest, and selected some stout, straight
saplings, which he cut down and trimmed of all their twigs and leaves. From
these he would make the arms, and legs, and feet of his man. For the body he
stripped a sheet of thick
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bark from around a big tree, and with much labor fashioned it into a
cylinder of about the right size, pinning the edges together with wooden
pegs. Then, whistling happily as he worked, he carefully jointed the limbs
and fastened them to the body with pegs whittled into shape with his knife.
By the time this feat had been accomplished it began to grow dark, and Tip
remembered he must milk the cow and feed the pigs. So he picked up his
wooden man and carried it back to the house with him.
During the evening, by the light of the fire in the kitchen, Tip carefully
rounded all the edges of the joints and smoothed the rough places in a neat
and workmanlike manner.
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