Kówe knew of the council and she said to the girl: “Many men are coming here to get you for a wife. You mustn’t have anything to say to the men from that village over there. They are not the kind of people for you. The Wámanik people and the Wéwenkee and Wisnik people live there. Tcûskai and Tskel and Wŏn and Wus live there, too. You don’t want any of those men. Far away from here there are five brothers; each one is a chief and has great power. If they come, you mustn’t look at them, unless you are willing to marry them.”
That evening all the men in the village went to Kówe’s house. When the first one came, the house was a little grass hut, but right away it began to grow big and nice-looking. As the people came, each man had plenty of room. The largest and most important men came first: Wŏn, Lok, Kaiutois, Blaiwas and Wámanik. The girl made fun of them all; she said to Dásläts: “I don’t like you; you are too proud of your spotted blanket.”
She told Tcûskai his mouth was too sharp! She laughed at Tskel, told him his eyes were jumping out of his head; to Pakol she said: “You are proud of your warm blanket.” She told Lok his hands and feet were too big, and he ate too [[280]]much. To Tcakonŭs she said: “You are proud of your white hair.” When Wámanik came, she said: “You are proud of your spotted blanket and your big mouth.” She told Wisnik that his eyes were small and dim. When she saw Kékina, she laughed, and asked: “How could a woman like your big flat feet and rough skin?”
When the five Wûlkûtska brothers came, they stood outside. The youngest brother said: “Why should we go into this house? There is no woman there that we want.” The eldest brother said: “I will go in and see her; you can stay here.” When he went in, the girl looked up, but right away she looked down again. She looked at four of the brothers in the same way. The youngest brother stayed outside a good while, and when he went in he sat down near the wall, but the girl looked at him; she was glad to see him.
All the people from the village went away; then the five brothers went. The eldest went first, then the second and the third and the fourth; the youngest was the last one to go.
Kówe loosened the girl’s hair, took off her red bark dress, and put on one covered with beads, then told her to follow Wûlkûtska. When the girl overtook the young man, he said: “I don’t travel on the ground or under it. You should have taken some other man. We were visiting Wus; we didn’t go there to get a wife. Our home is a long way off; I don’t think you can go there. We travel on the tops of trees; you will have to look up all the time. You should have taken Kai or Sloä or Wámanik.”
The girl cried, and said: “I followed you because Kówe told me that I belonged to you.”
The girl was beautiful. Her hair touched the ground and it was black and glossy. The young man was sorry for her.
He said: “You can come if you can track us.” Then the brothers sprang up and began to travel from one tree to another. The girl had to hurry; she stumbled often, for she had to look up to see which way the brothers went. When they camped, they waited a long time for her to come up. The girl followed them for ten days; she was only skin and bones. The brothers never hunted and never ate anything. [[281]]
The tenth time they camped, the youngest brother said: “I feel badly. I have a nice wife, and she is starving.” The elder brother said: “You shouldn’t have gone to old Kówe’s. You knew that the girl didn’t live as we do.”