“I am not afraid of those men,” said Wus. “I am stronger than they are; I can kill them.” She couldn’t make him go away.
When the men came, each had a deer on his back. “Cook some deer meat,” they said to the woman. “We are hungry.” They didn’t see Wus.
She said: “A man is holding me; I can’t get up.”
“You are fooling us; nobody is holding you. Hurry up and cook for us.”
When the woman didn’t move Gowwá got mad and went toward her to jerk her up; then he saw Wus holding her down.
The fire had gone out, and it was dark in the house. Gowwá punched the fire and said to Wâhŭtus: “There is somebody over there with a nice skin on. We’ll kill him and make a [[146]]blanket.” They caught Wus and pulled his skin off, then they threw him out.
The next morning, when Gowwá’s mother went for water, she saw Wus and she felt sorry for him; she went to a swamp, and got cattails and wrapped them around him. Right away the cattails turned to nice fur. Wus was cured; he went home.
That day, while the two men were off hunting, Lok came and stole their wife. She was afraid of him and had to go. There were five Lok brothers, living in a house under the rocks.
When Gowwá and Wâhŭtus came home and found their wife gone, their old mother-in-law said: “Lok, a big, nice-looking man, came and carried her off.”
The next morning Gowwá and Wâhŭtus started for Lok’s house. As they went along they practiced killing each other to see how they were going to kill Lok. Gowwá killed Wâhŭtus and went on a little way alone. Wâhŭtus came to life and overtook Gowwá. Then Wâhŭtus killed Gowwá and went on. Gowwá came to life and caught up with Wâhŭtus. So they kept on till they got to Lok’s house.