“Well, it shall come to pass as ye wish it, and the girl must die if she come not forth at the bidding of the Óinahe!”
“Aha!” ejaculated they both. “Thanks!”
“Yea, it shall be as ye wish. Make our days for us—name the times for preparation, and we shall be with ye to lead the Óinahe. The first time our dance will come forth, and the second time our dance will come forth, and the third time our dance will come forth, but the fourth time our dance comes forth, it will happen as ye wish it. It will certainly be finished as ye wish it.”
“Well! Thanks; we go!” (good-by).
“Go ye,” said the gods to their children; and they went.
The Eagle was very unhappy with all this. He knew it all, for he understood everything that was said. Next morning he hung his head at the window with great sadness; so the girl, after she had eaten her morning meal, took some dainty bits to the window and said: “Why are you so unhappy? See, I have brought you some food. Eat!”
“I will not eat; I cannot eat,” replied the Eagle.
“Why not?” asked she. “I will not harm you; I am happy; I love you just as much as ever.”
“Alas, alas! my mother,” said the Eagle. “It is not with thoughts of myself that I am unhappy, but your father’s two war-priests are anxious that their children shall be made happy, and their children, the people of our town under the mountain, are longing to see you. They have said to one another that you never come forth; they have never seen you. Therefore they have ordered the Óinahe, that you may be tempted out. They went up to the home of Áhaiyúta and his younger brother, where they live with their grandmother, on the top of Thunder Mountain, and the two gods have said to them: ‘It shall come to pass as ye wish it.’ Therefore they will dance, and on the fourth day of their dancing it shall come to pass as they wish it. Indeed, it shall happen, my poor mother, that you shall be no more. Alas! I can do nothing; you can do nothing; why should I tarry longer with you? You must loosen my bonds and let me free.”
“As you like,” said the girl. “I suppose it must be as you say.” Then she loosened the Eagle’s bonds, and, straight as the pathway of an arrow, away he flew upward into the sky—even toward the zenith where the Sun rested at noon-time, and whither he soon arrived himself.