All that night, the mothers of the seven boys cried bitterly; and begged the chief not to kill their sons, but he told them that the sentence must be carried out, as otherwise the water ju-ju would be angry and kill many people.
The next day, the seven boys were taken down to the beach and killed, and their fathers took their bodies home and buried them. The town then mourned for three days.
The head chief then called the porcupine to him, and told him to go to the water ju-ju and tell him that the seven boys had been killed, but that Chief Eka had refused to allow his son to be killed, and had defied the water ju-ju to do his worst.
So the porcupine set off and dived into the river and reported to the water ju-ju all that had happened. The water ju-ju said the head chief had done quite right to kill the seven boys, as, had he not done so, he would have made the people suffer very much. He also said that he would deal with Chief Eka’s son later on. Then the porcupine returned to the land and reported to the head chief all that the water ju-ju had said.
When Chief Eka heard the threat of the water ju-ju he at once gave orders to all his people that none of them were to go into the river, but, that, if they wanted to wash, they must carry the water to their houses for the purpose.
This was done for two years and nothing happened, but, in the commencement of the third year, Chief Eka’s son, thinking he was quite safe, thought he would like to bathe, so he went down to the river and went into the water as far as his knees; he then washed himself and returned home. As nothing had happened to him the first day, he went down again in the afternoon when the sun was not quite so hot, and jumped into the deep water, but the water ju-ju, who was waiting for him, at once seized him and dragged him out of sight under the water.
The people who were bathing at the time, when they saw the boy disappear at once, guessed that it must be the water ju-ju who had taken him, so they went and told Chief Eka what they had seen. When he heard what had happened, he went to the porcupine and asked him to go to the water ju-ju, and offer him two slaves if he would return his son. The porcupine agreed to go, providing Chief Eka gave him one slave and 500 rods for his trouble. The chief willingly agreed to this, and the slave and rods were brought to the porcupine’s house that very night.
In the morning the porcupine went down to the river, and dived in as he had done before, and swam to the water ju-ju’s house and told him that Chief Eka offered to give him two slaves if he would release his son. But the water ju-ju refused them, and said, “Tell Chief Eka, if he wants to see his son, let him look in the river in two days’ time.” So the porcupine went back and delivered the message to Chief Eka, who was very sorry as he was so fond of his son.
Two days afterwards, Chief Eka went down to the beach, where he saw the dead body of his son floating down the river, so he sent some men out in a canoe and they brought back the dead body and it was buried.
Ever since that time, the people of Inkum believe, when anyone is drowned and his body floats after three days without being eaten by the fish or crocodiles, that the water ju-ju has killed the dead man because he had done some evil thing.