“Why do you come here?” asked the girl. “You can’t fool me. You may turn to anything you like, but I will know you. I have heard you talking about me; I don’t like you. You needn’t be jealous because I go around here. This is my place. Maybe I shall live here as long as you do.”
The young men were ashamed; their spirits went back to their bodies, became Heûwûs again.
That evening, when the girl went home, there was a nice-looking bow lying on the path she always traveled. She said: “I wonder what man is trying to fool me now?”
When she got near the creek, she met a number of the Nkok people. They asked: “Did you see a bow?”
“It is back there on the trail,” said the girl. “What are you doing around here? Why do you bother me? What kind do you think I am? I belong to this earth. I was made when this earth was made. The place around here is mine. I know when anybody is trying to fool me. What could I use you for? Don’t you see that I travel as wind and air travel? I have no use for you. You will no longer be living persons; you will be hunters of fish in lakes and creeks.” Right away the men turned to birds and flew off over the water.
The next morning, when the Heûwûs people heard the girl’s song, the chief said to the young men who had sent their spirits to be fish and bother her: “You have made trouble for us all. You shouldn’t have meddled with that girl. She is powerful; she will be mad now and will do us harm.”
When the girl came along the trail, she saw Wûspahlákls sitting in front of her. He looked sleepy.
She said: “Who are you? No living person looks as ugly as you do. Go away!” [[316]]
Wûspahlákls lay down on the trail; he didn’t listen to her. She went around him on the north side.
When she came to the Heûwûs’ place, she sat down and looked at them. She said: “Why, you nice little Heûwûs, you are as smooth as you can be.”