At about the same time the Boy Man began to question his Elder Brother, and to ask him:
"Brother, why have all these people weapons, such as spears upon their heads and daggers in their mouths, while I am unarmed and naked?"
Then He-who-was-first-Created replied sadly:
"My younger brother, the time is now come to give you weapons and I am sorry for it. Now at last there is war in the hearts of the animals and of man; but they are many and you are only one, therefore I shall help you!"
Then he gave him a strong bow and arrows with flint heads, also a spear with head of stone, and showed him how to use them.
Afterward he tossed a pebble into the air, and it came down as a wall of rock, enclosing their dwelling. He tossed up another and another, until they were defended by high cliffs on every side. Upon the flat tops of the cliffs he spread out the new weapons, whose stone heads were destined to be scattered far and wide when the battle should be over, to be sought out and preserved by men as relics of the beginning of warfare.
The first battle was announced by a single Buffalo-bull, running at top speed over the prairie. This messenger assigned to each his part in the attack. The Beaver was ordered to dam the streams, and the Badger to dig trenches under the defences of the Boy Man, so that they might flood his dwelling.
The Rabbits, Squirrels and other feeble folk were to gather food for the warriors, of whom the principal ones were the Bear, Wolf, Wildcat and Bison. The Swallow served as messenger to the birds, and the swift Trout carried the news to the finny tribes, for all were to join in this war.
With the gray dawn came the Wolf's long howl, the first war-whoop, breaking the silence and peace of the world.
When the sun rose, dancing for an instant upon the sharp edge of the sky, one after another all of the animals joined in the great war-cry, with bellowings and screechings of the larger beasts, the barking of Wolves, the hissing of Snakes, and the shrill cries of the feathered ones, of whom the Crane and the Loon were loudest.