When they reached home that evening, they again found seven dishes of rice placed ready for them.  And that day the youngest brother and the youngest but one ate; and the day after there was the rice again, and the three youngest ate it.  Then the eldest brother said:  “To-morrow I will stay behind and watch, and see who it is who brings the rice; we have no servant, if I can catch the person who is so kind to us, I will engage him as a cook for us, and we need have no more of this mystery.  Do you bring back my share of the game you shoot.”

So the next morning the eldest brother stayed behind and hid himself and watched.  But he could not see the bonga, though she brought the rice as usual; and when he told his brothers this, it was decided that the second brother should stay behind the next day, and see if he had better luck; and that day they all ate the rice, except the eldest brother, who said that he would never eat it, until he knew who brought it; so the next day the second brother watched but he also could not see the bonga.

One by one all the brothers watched in vain, until only the youngest one was left.  Then they said to the youngest brother:  “Now it is your turn and if our friend does not show himself to you, we will eat no more of his rice.”  So the next day the other brothers went off to hunt and the youngest stayed at home; he did not trouble to hide himself, but sat in the house making a bow.  At noon he saw the bonga girl coming with the rice on her head, but he took no notice and pretended to be looking down at something.  Then the bonga came into the courtyard and put down the rice and looked about and said:  “I saw something like a man here, where has he got to?” and she looked into the house and still the youngest brother kept silent; then she spoke to him and asked whether he was ill, that he had not gone hunting.  He answered her that he was not ill, but had been left to watch for the person who brought them rice every day.  Thereupon the bonga went outside and brought in the rice and putting it down, said:  “It is I who do it.  Come, wash your hands and I will give you your dinner,” but he said:  “First tell me what all this means,” and she said:  “It means that I want to live with you.”  He objected.  “How can I marry you when my brothers are not married?” She answered that if he married her, they would soon find wives for his brothers.  Then she urged him to eat, but he said that if he ate one plateful, his brothers would question him, so the bonga girl went and brought an extra dish and he ate that.  And as they talked together, he soon fell deeply in love with her, and promised to consult his brothers about her living with them; but he saw a difficulty which would arise if she married him, for his elder brothers would not care even to ask her for water, and thus she would be really of very little use in the house; so with some hesitation he proposed that she should marry the eldest brother and then they could all talk freely to her; but the girl would not agree to this and said that there would be no harm at all in their talking to her, provided that they did not touch her, and she would not mind giving his elder brothers water.