This old woman lived alone till Sedit in his wanderings came to her and worked, brought wood, and dug red earth for her.
“I got a headache,” said he, “and had to lie down all day nearly.”
“I am sorry,” said the old woman; and she gave him food, but he did not want any. Next day Sedit went for red earth. He did not eat much that morning. He had not slept all the night. He was thinking of that song on the mountain.
That day the sisters went to the mountain top, looked westward. Soon Sedit came to the same place and worked, put two or three handfuls in his basket, heard singing, heard it plainly, stopped, strained his eyes to see who was singing, saw no one. Again he dug, again they sang; again he stopped work, again they ceased singing; again he worked, again they sang. Sedit thinks now how to follow the singers, tries to whistle their music—cannot catch it—looks around, sees no one. “Well, I must sing,” says he. He sings, and this time he catches the music.
The sisters sang now in response to him. They moved on, as he thought, and he followed. But they were not moving, they stayed in one place. They simply made their singing seem farther each time.
Sedit followed till they stopped at last, would not sing any longer. He could not tell what to do. “It is better for me to go back to my basket,” said he at last. He went back, put his basket on the bank east of the pit, and said: “Now, my basket, I will leave you a while, I am going away. I place you east of the pit. Rootstick, I place you east of the basket. If Satok Pokaila asks where I am, you will move east, basket, and you will fall east, rootstick. She will know which way I went.”
He went eastward, went a short distance, forgot the song, stopped, thought what to do. The song then came back to him. The sisters began to sing again. Sedit followed their song.
Satok Pokaila waited for red earth, waited till midday, then thought, “I’ll go and see if Sedit has a headache.” She found the basket partly filled with red earth, and the stick standing east of it. She looked in the pit where Sedit had dug, and thought, “He must be here somewhere.” She searched, but could not find him.
“Where is Sedit?” asked she of the basket. “Where did he go?—Where is Sedit?” asked she of the rootstick.
The basket moved eastward till it reached the stick, the stick fell toward the east. Old Satok knew now what had happened. She took the basket and digging-stick home with her, put them up safely.