“Well, if you are determined after what I have told you, I cannot say further but take you.” Leading her into the lodge he continued, “My uncle will call from his room for someone to bring him my bow or axe with which to slay some animal. Do not answer him but keep very silent and do not venture from the lodge to satisfy his wants. Obey my instructions for I am going on a hunting journey.”
Empty handed and hungry De‘o´niot returned from his hunting excursion. Going into his apartment he flung himself upon the floor to rest, then starting up, he called, “Hurry, bring me my hatchet, Oh quick, I need it immediately to kill this beast!”
Forgetting all that her husband had told her the bride picked up a hatchet and a bow and ran around the lodge to the opposite door.
When the nephew returned he found his wife missing. The only trace of her was her skirt that lay on the floor.
“Ho!” he exclaimed, “De‘o´niot has feasted on my woman and thrown her skirt to me as a reminder.” Then calling to his uncle he asked, “Oh uncle, how did you discover my woman?”
“Because I knew that it was not your breathing but a breath much faster that I heard over the partition,” was the reply.
The next day another woman came with a proposal of marriage. At first refusing her, and then accepting her on the condition that she would quietly remain in his room and heed not the entreaties of De‘o´niot, he married her, but when he returned from his hunting, she, like the first, had formed the repast of his uncle, who as before flung her dress over the partition. In like manner another wife came and was eaten.
Finally a married woman came weeping through the woods and begged De‘o´niot to protect her.
“Protect you!” the man-eater roared, “O ho! I would be more apt to eat you. That is my business,—eating people!”
“Oh protect me!” pleaded the woman, “for my husband is a ferocious giant and is now pursuing me!”