Tskel was the servant of the old man and his five sons. He stayed at home with the old man and watched for the sons to come. He was on the top of the house looking for them when he saw them coming with Pitoíois. He ran in and said to the old man: “They are coming with a beautiful woman.”
“Where are they?” asked the old man. He was pounding people’s bones.
“You needn’t think that you are going to eat her; she is too beautiful,” said Tskel, and he snatched the old man’s mortar and threw it away.
The old man went out and found the mortar. “Don’t you do that again,” said he. “I can’t do without my cap” (he always called the mortar his cap), and he put it under his arm.
When the brothers came, they told Tskel to watch their father and not let him hurt Pitoíois. The old man didn’t look at the girl while his sons were around, but as soon as they went to hunt he got up and began to move around.
“Why do you get up?” asked Tskel. “You always move around when you have a daughter-in-law; you want to eat her. Sit down!” When he didn’t sit down, Tskel jumped on him and pushed him down. Tskel liked the old man and didn’t want him to do wrong.
When Tskel told the brothers how their father acted, they were frightened. They said: “We had better take the girl back to her brothers. In two days we will start.”
The next day Pitoíois wanted to dig roots. The eldest brother asked his father if he would let her alone if she dug roots for him to eat.
“Yes,” said the old man. They told little Tskel to watch him; then they went off to hunt for deer.
Pitoíois dug a great many roots. As fast as she dug them, the old man pounded them in his mortar and ate them. He ate till midday, then he was satisfied. He praised Pitoíois, called her daughter-in-law, and told her he would never hurt her. [[324]]