The nephew made a soup of fish bones and skins and fed it to his uncle. He continued this treatment for three days, until De‘o´niot had disgorged. By this time he was ravenous and begged for food and new clothing, for his old rags were very foul. The nephew bade him strip and plunge in the water and bathe himself. Then, after giving him some new clothing he fed him on a little corn pudding, gradually increasing the allowance at each meal and each time moving the camp nearer the village.
“You must now learn to cook, uncle,” said the nephew, “then you will forget your unnatural appetite. God made men above all creatures, uncle, and gave them great skill. Men are not made to devour one another, or for beasts to devour, but beasts are food for men. So now, promise never to touch the meat of mankind again.”
“Aye, never more will I eat of human flesh or the raw flesh of any creature but only fruits and roots and cooked meat!”
So the nephew brought him into the village and introduced him as his uncle from afar. And the uncle grew so fond of this nephew’s wife’s cooking that he married a woman to have a cook for himself.
36. A YOUTH’S DOUBLE ABUSES HIS SISTER.
There was a lodge in the forest where very few people ever came, and there dwelt a young man and his sister. The youth was unlike other persons for one half of his head had hair of a reddish cast, while the other side was black.
He used to leave his sister in the lodge and go away on long hunting trips. On one occasion the young woman, his sister, saw, so she thought, her brother coming down the path to the lodge. “I thought you just went away to hunt,” said the sister. “Oh, I thought I would come back,” said he.
Then he sat down on the bed with the sister and embraced her and acted as a lover. The sister reproached him and said that she was very angry. But again he endeavored to fondle her in a familiar way, but again was repulsed. This time he went away.
The next day the brother returned and found his sister very angry. She would scarcely speak to him, though hitherto she had talked a great deal.
“My sister,” said he. “I am at loss to know why you treat me thus. It is not your custom.”