"Oh, cruel people, who will not believe innocence when it speaks, you must
believe me now! I am the wife of the West Wind--of Gamma-gata, the beautiful,
the bearer of fine weather, who also brings back the wings that fly till the
winter is over. Is it well, do you think, to be at war with the West Wind?

"Ah, foolish ones, I go now, for Gamma-gata calls me, and I am no longer
afraid: I go to travel in many lands, whither he carries me, and it will be
long before I return here. Many dark days are coming to you, when you shall
not feel the west wind, the bearer of fine weather, blowing over you from land
to sea; nor shall you see the blossoms open white over the hills, nor feel the
earth grow warm as the summer comes in, because the bringer of fair weather is
angry with you for the foolishness which you have done. But when at last the
west wind returns to you, remember that Katipah, the poor and unprofitable
one, is Gamma-gata's wife, and that she has remembered, and has prayed for
you."

And so saying, Katipah threw open her arms and let go the cord of the kite
which held her safe. "Oh, Gamma-gata," she cried, "I do not see your eyes, but
I am not afraid!" And at that, even while she seemed upon the point of falling
to destruction, there flashed into sight a fair youth with dark hair and
garments full of a storm of flying petals, who, catching up Katipah and her
child in his arms, laughed scorn upon those below, and roaring over the roofs
of the town, vanished away seawards.

When a chief magistrate and his people, after flagrant wrong-doing, become
thoroughly cowed and frightened, they are apt also to be cruel. Poor Bimsha!