Lone Woman Story

"Very long ago...[a] young man from the north traveled to the south until he came to the [lone] woman's home, where he stopped and in a short time he became her husband. ...Meanwhile the headman's son had set out on journey towards the south, ...he crept into the [same woman's] house and, seizing the woman by the shoulders, began dragging her away. ...he was overtaken by the husband, who caught the woman by her feet. Then followed a struggle, which ended by pulling the woman in two, the thief carrying the upper half of the body away to his home in the northland, while the husband was left with the lower portion of his wife. Each man set to work to replace the missing parts from carved wood. After these were fitted on they became endowed with life, and so two women were made from the halves of one. The woman in the south, however was a poor needlewoman, owing to the clumsiness of her wooden fingers, but was a fine dancer. The woman in the north was an expert in needlework, but her wooden legs made her a very poor dancer... to the present time the same difference is noted between the women of the north and those of the south, thus showing that the tale is true."