Swaiä traveled on till he came to the edge of a village, then he turned himself into an old man, and his shells and beads into dirty old trinkets, and sat down by the trail.
Ndukis’ daughter saw the old man and right away she knew he was young. She took him home and pounded seeds for him. Her sisters were angry at her for bringing such a dirty old man into the house.
He made a pillow of his pack and lay down. He looked [[253]]old and wretched. The Ndukis people were nice-looking, and each one of them had a duckskin blanket.
As soon as it was dark in Ndukis’ house, the old man became young and bright and beautiful, and his bundle began to shine. The house was full of light from Swaiä and his bundle.
When the people heard that the old man had changed, that he was young and fine-looking, they came to see him. They asked him to run a race with them. Blaiwas, Tcûskai, Tskel, Lok, Wekwek, Tokwa, Wámanik, Tcíkas, Kāhkaas, Tusasás, were at the race; everybody was there.
When Swaiä began to run, he made himself old. As the runners passed him, they laughed, and called out: “We can beat you easily! We can beat you easily!” They ran around a hill. The first time around the old man was behind. Then he became a young, fine-looking man and won the race each time. He beat Tskel, a great runner, and Lok (whose name was Kĭc—to look far off), for Swaiä could run faster than eyes could look.
Swaiä liked the Ndukis people. He stayed with them always. [[254]]