“They will kill me if I carry home only a few. The old woman never has enough.”
The boy had his belt full of rabbits; he gave them to the man, and said: “Stay here and cook these; don’t go home till it is dark, don’t go till you are sure the old woman can’t see you. Then feed your brothers and the children. To-morrow I will come and see you.”
“It is a bad place; don’t come,” said the man. “The Yaukûls will kill you. You must stay away and grow up.”
When the boy got home, his grandmother said: “You are late, but you haven’t any rabbits.”
“I met my uncle and gave him my rabbits. I have found out why he cries so. He has to hunt rabbits for the Yaukûl brothers, but if they knew that he ate even one little rabbit they would kill him. To-morrow I am going to see my uncles.”
The grandmother said: “If you go, you will not come back; the Yaukûl people will kill you.”
“I am going,” said the boy. “Get my things ready.”
His grandmother gave him a spear like the spears used by the Yaukûl brothers.
“I don’t want that spear,” said the boy, “it will break.”
She gave him a thick axe, and he said: “That is too heavy.” She gave him a knife, made of wood and covered with pitch, and he said: “That is not strong enough; it will break.”