The next morning, the elder daughter said to her: “Mother, back there in the woods a little way there is a basket for you. Send my brother to bring it.”
The boy went and soon came back saying that it was too heavy for him. The whole village went, but all of them together could not carry the basket. Finally the young wife went herself, and she brought it easily in one hand. But when she set it down in the house and began to unpack it, behold! the place was filled and running over with meat of all kinds. There was a great feast and every one was pleased, but unfortunately the girls’ mother ate so much that in the night she became very ill, and by morning she was dead.
This is a story told to discourage greediness.
THE EAGLE CREST
It is well known that there is a certain clan which claims the Eagle for its crest or totem, and this is how it happened.
There was once a very poor man, so poor that he could not even get enough to eat. He was always cruising around in a small canoe, trying to catch a few little fish with which to keep himself alive. One day he caught nothing, and as he had brought no food with him in the boat he became very hungry.
Early in the morning, as he lay on the shore, he heard a voice but could not tell where it came from. The voice said: “I have come after you.” The man looked all around him, but saw only a young Eagle perched upon the branch of a tree. Then the voice said quite plainly: “My grandfather has sent me to get you.” This time the Eagle looked to him like a real person, and he followed it into the woods.
The trail led to a fine large house high up on a cliff, and inside there was plenty of good food. There were also mats to sit upon and all the comforts to be found in good houses. The Eagles treated the poor man well, and since he was wretched and despised among his own people, he wanted to stay with them always. He married one of the Eagle women and became one of them.
Now the mother and brothers of this man were just as poor and contemptible as he had been, and he pitied them, now that he himself was well off. Whenever he saw his brother out fishing, he would leave some fish where the other could find it. The brother was astonished at his luck and could not account for it.