"'Who is our father?'" they inquired of their mother one day.
But she ignored the question, and although they kept bothering her it was a long time before she would give them any information at all, and that was very little. However, she did tell them that they were more than ordinary children and finer than other boys, but then there are lots of mothers who say such things to their own little ones.
"As they were now big enough, she brought out of hiding a couple of bows, and quivers full of arrows, and some magic rabbit sticks, and gave them to the boys.
"'These were left for you by your father,' said the mother, ere he went away, and he gave commands that they were to be given to you as soon as you were able to use them.'
"The children were, of course, anxious to try their bows and arrows and these magic sticks. So very soon after they had received them they resolved to go off on a hunting expedition.
"The mother, who was anxious about them, warned them of the various monsters in human shape, great windegoos and cannibals, that were ever lying in wait to catch and roast and eat little boys. She also told them of the animals that were so enormously large that they could catch them up and swallow them as easily as a turkey does a grasshopper.
"Thus she tried to put them on their guard against the terrible foes that had devoured so many of their people. The boys, however, were not much frightened, and they eagerly set off on their journey.
"They were especially warned by their anxious mother not to go to the east, as there was a narrow lake there to which many of these evil creatures came for water, especially a great monster wolf that had devoured many people. Yet they immediately started off in that direction, for, like some other boys, they did not obey even their mother. It was noon before they reached the lake. At first, as they examined it, everything seemed very quiet and still.