When Wus came with mice his mother cooked them for him. He ate the bodies and gave her the heads. While she crunched the heads, she ate meat, too.
Wus listened; he thought that his mother was eating something besides mouse heads. Right away he jumped up and asked: “What are you eating?”
“I am eating mouse heads. How could I get anything else to eat?” Again she ate heads and meat.
Wus searched till he found the piece of cooked meat.
“Where did you get this?” asked he.
“Your uncles were here a little while ago, they have plenty of deer meat.”
“Why didn’t they give you more?”
“They are near here now. If you look out, you will see their camp. They couldn’t go far, for they had a heavy load.”
Wus looked out; he saw the fire and heard people talking. “I am going over there!” said he, and he started off on a run. When he thought he was almost there, the fire and the talking [[212]]were farther off. He ran very fast, but couldn’t get to the fire; it was always a little ahead of him. Each time he said: “Now I shall jump right down by it,” but he never got any nearer than he was when he started.
Wus was a fast runner; from a flat, with one jump, he reached the top of a high mountain. When he wanted to run very fast, he called: “Wich! wich!” When he wanted to go slow, he said: “Hach! hach!” In one night he got near the great water. When the sun came up, he was on a high mountain. Looking down, he saw a fire, and men roasting meat and talking, and throwing knives at one another. Wus said: “Now I shall be there!” He called: “Wich! wich!” and made a running leap. He came down where he thought the camp was, but he found only sand; the fire was far off on the water. He turned back, but he was too weak to walk; he lay down on the ground, and began to cry.