"What do you want?" she said, and turned her face away from him.
"Tell me," said Maidwa, "what time the swan passed. I am following it; come out, and point the way."
"Do you think you can overtake it?" she said.
"Yes," he answered.
"Naubesah—fool!" retorted the chief's pretty daughter.
She went out, however, and pointed in the direction he should go. The young man paced slowly along till the sun arose, when he commenced traveling at his accustomed speed. He passed the day in running, and although he could not see the Red Swan anywhere on the horizon, he thought that he discerned a faint red light far over in the west.
When night came, he was pleased to find himself near another village. When still at a distance he heard the watchman crying out, "We are visited," and soon the men of the village stood out to see the stranger.
He was again told to enter the lodge of the chief, and his reception was in every respect the same as on the previous night; except that this young woman was more beautiful than the first, and that she entertained him very kindly. Although urged to stay with them, the mind of Maidwa was fixed on the object of his journey.
Before daybreak he asked the young woman at what time the Red Swan passed, and to point out the way. She marked against the sky with her finger the course it had taken, and told him that it had passed yesterday when the sun was between midday and its falling-place.
Maidwa again set out rather slowly, but when the sun had risen, he tried his speed by shooting an arrow ahead and running after it; it fell behind him, and he knew that he had lost nothing of his quickness of foot.