They made her carry it again, but it didn’t change. Then they said: “We know that this boy isn’t yours. If we can find his mother, we will give him back to her.”
Kówe was scared, and she kept the boy out of sight as much as she could. When he began to run about and play, she said to him: “You must never play with any of the children around here. You must play with your sisters.”
He thought Kówe’s girls were his sisters. The girls didn’t like him, for their mother was kind to him and she scolded them. When he cried she whipped them; she said that they abused him. Once, when one of the girls was angry at him, she said: “You are not our brother. Our mother isn’t your mother. What makes you call her mother?”
When the boy told Kówe what his sister said, she whipped the girl and wouldn’t let her play with him again.
One day, when the boy was playing near the river, he found a mud-hole and sat down by it and made balls to throw at birds. That night he said to Kówe: “If I had a bow and arrow, I could shoot birds.” She gave them to him, and the next morning he went to the mud-hole and watched for birds. After a while he saw one with long legs,—a Tsiwididik; he shot at it and hit it in the leg.
“Don’t shoot again!” called out Tsiwididik. “If you will take the arrow out of my leg. I will tell you a story.”
Swaiä took the arrow out, then Tsiwididik said: “You think that Kówe is your mother, but she isn’t; she stole you when you were a little baby. Your father and mother mourned for you and hunted everywhere for you.”
The boy began to cry.
“Don’t cry,” said Tsiwididik. “Grow fast and get strong. You must stay with Kówe till you are a big boy. If you ever see two deer together, you mustn’t kill them or shoot at them. Maybe they are your father and mother. This is all I have to tell you.” [[252]]
Tsiwididik flew away and the boy went home. He could hardly see, his eyes were so swollen from crying.