“Go ahead,” said the elder brother, and away the younger went. He ran with all his might till he came near to the town, and then he began to limp along and labor up the pathway just as the old woman was wont to do, so that everybody thought that he was the old woman, indeed. And sure enough it all happened just as the Sun-father had said it would. When the dance was over, some of the young men went away and others slept right there. There were so many of them, though, that they almost covered the floor. When they all began to snore, the young man arose, threw off his disguise, and stepped carefully between the sleepers till he reached the niche in the wall. Then he put his mother’s bones, one by one, into his blanket, felt all around to see that he left nothing, and started for the ladder. He reached it all right and took one, two, three steps; but when his foot touched the fourth rung it creaked, and the sleeping dancers awoke and started.
“Somebody is going up the ladder!” they exclaimed to one another. Then the young man ran up as fast as ever he could, but alas! he dropped one of his mother’s eyes out of the blanket. He kept on running until he reached the foot of the hill upon which the town stood; and when he came to the spring down on the plains he stopped to drink, and lo! his mother had come to life!
“Ahwa!” uttered the mother, “I’m tired and I don’t know what is the matter with my eyes, for things don’t look straight.”
Then the young man looked at his mother. She was more beautiful than all the other girls had been, but one of her eyes was shrunken in. “Alas! my mother,” said he, “I have dropped one of your eyes; but never mind, you can comb your hair down over it and no one will ever know the difference.”
As soon as they were rested they started again, and soon came to where the elder brother stood awaiting them. When he looked at his mother, he saw that one of her eyes had been left.
“Didn’t I tell you beforehand to be careful?” said he. “Poor mother; you have lost one of her eyes!”
“Well, it can’t be helped; never mind, she can comb her hair down over the eye that is dry and no one will ever know the difference.”
“That’s so; it can’t be helped. Now let’s go,” said the elder brother, and they all started.
When they arrived at the Waters of the Elks, the younger brother said: “Let’s camp here.”
“No, let’s run home,” returned the elder brother.