"Many questions asked the Woodpecker, and to them Ta-ka replied:
"'No hurt have I, but full is my belly, full of the choicest eating that ever made potlach. Yet much did I leave behind, the feasting of many months did I leave.'
"Then was the belly of Khandatagoot pinched with hunger for this good eating, and of Ta-ka claimed his share.
"On the tongue of the Woodpecker placed Ta-ka a drop, saying: 'No more can I give of what I have eaten, but as you have shared with me, so shall I share with you. The fill of many bellies is there left.'
"'Where is this sweet eating?' asked Khandatagoot, 'Tell me the trail that I too may feast until my wings are heavy.'
"'No trail is there, Brother. The red juice of a dead tree is this eating, a dead tree in the forest. It's name I know not, but hunt, and you shall find it. Go quickly, lest others get there first.'"
"And since then," said Zachook, throwing another handful of leaves on the fire, "since then the Woodpecker spends his days seeking in dead trees the red juice that flows in the veins of live men."
