Upon this he rudely pushed her backward until she fell down, and her mouth and eyes were filled with dust. Of course she was forced to let go the tide lines, so that the tide ran quickly out, and the beach was covered with fine fat clams and other shellfish. Raven did not come back to the hut until he had eaten as many as he possibly could.
“My eyes are blinded with dust,” mourned the old woman. “Will you not give me back my sight?”
“I will, if you will promise to slacken the tide lines twice a day,” he replied.
So she said that she would, and from that time to this the tides have run in and out twice each day.
HOW THE FIRE WAS BROUGHT
After a time, Raven saw that the people were discontented without fire, for they could neither cook their food nor warm themselves when it was cold. He remembered that they had fire at home in his father’s village, so he flew westward once more until he came to the wigwams of the animal people. But however hard he begged, they would not give him what he had come for.
Raven made a new plan. He went a little way off and sent the Sea Gull to the camp with this message:
“A handsome young chief will come to feast and dance in the dwelling of your chief. See that all is ready.”
He knew that the people would prepare for their guest, so he caught a Deer and tied a bundle of pitch-pine to its tail, for at that time the deer had a long tail like that of the fox. He borrowed the canoe of the Great Shark, and with the Deer came in it to the village.
As he expected, the house of his father the chief was full of people, and there was a big fire made and much feasting and merriment. All the creatures were dancing and singing, and the very birds clapped their wings for joy.