alila was christened soon after he was born. dear me, what a time that was! the festival lasted several days. there was a host of friends and acquaintances around the little home, making merry and admiring the baby.
alila himself was as clean and sweet as any child in the world could be. his mother had bathed him in the water of the river which flowed down the mountainside near them, while the leaves of the papaw-tree took the place of soap.
the young mother herself was only fifteen years old. she was dressed in her brightest skirt and fairly shone with the abundance of cheap jewelry she wore. her hair was combed[22] straight back from her forehead. she wore nothing on her feet excepting her queer slippers, of which she seemed very proud. she had herself embroidered them to look like a pair worn by the rich lady whose husband owned the plantation. they were perfectly flat and had only uppers enough to encase two or three toes.
what queer, uncomfortable things to wear on one's feet! alila will never own such things because he is a boy, and he should be glad of it.
his grandmother and aunt had a fine feast prepared for the visitors. there was a good supply of roasted buffalo and wild boar's meat. there was a salad made from the young green tops of the bamboo; steamed rice and stewed iguana; papaws, which tasted like melons; tamarind sauce and guavas and bananas. and, of course, there was an abundance of betel, cocoa wine and tuba.
[23]
but strangest of all the dishes at the tagal's feast was one prepared from a kind of beetle. the guests relished it greatly and alila's father was praised very much for surprising them with this dainty.
but the feast was only a small part of the entertainment. a band came from the village to furnish music. every instrument on which they played was made of bamboo. then there was dancing and singing under the palm-trees by old and young, and when evening came there were displays of fireworks.
as alila's father was quite poor, how could he afford such splendour? the fact is, it cost him nothing! it was a free show given by mother nature. her little children, the fireflies, gathered in great numbers and danced in circles around the trees. any one ought to be satisfied with fireworks like those.
alila's eyes watched the people eat with their fingers and looked at the lights dancing[24] about; he listened to the odd, sweet music for a little while; and then those black eyes closed tightly and he lay fast asleep in his young mother's arms. of course, he doesn't remember anything about it now, but his grandmother has told him the story so many times it almost seems as though his own mind had kept the pictures for him.
