“Oh, that’s all right. You will enjoy the joke. It is because your friend here reminds me so much of Kaw that I thought of it. He looks like him, except for his color, and talks like him. You aren’t related to Kaw by any chance?” and Chu-ta-win bent down and looked closely at Kaw as he asked the question, breaking into another long chuckle as he did so.
Kaw was furious. Every feather stood on end with anger and his eyes flashed. He quivered from head to tail, and yet, to the amazement of Cho-gay, he did not answer the eagle but turned instead to him and spoke in an icy tone:
“If your friend insists on telling funny stories when our time is so short, I, at least, do not need to stay and hear him. I will meet you at yonder lake.” He indicated a splash of blue water a short distance in front of them, and he rose into the air with all the dignity he possessed and flew off in the direction of the lake.
“Whee!” said Chu-ta-win. “Such language! Our friend is not very polite,” and he chuckled again. “He certainly reminds me of Kaw!”
“What was the joke?” asked Cho-gay. “I wouldn’t mind hearing it now.”
“Our Red friend did not want to hear it,” mused Chu-ta-win. “Well, here it is, and you will understand why Kaw avoids even the sound of my voice. I was taking a nap one day; it was hot and I had dropped down under a big bunch of sagebrush. I suppose just my head must have been visible and even then I don’t see how he ever came to make such a mistake, but Kaw, coming up, took me for a lady friend of his and proceeded to talk most beautifully, and mostly in verse, something like this:
“Your dainty bill I dearly love,
Its graceful shape is sweet;
But more than all, my Lady Love,
I praise your clawlike feet!