“They must come. I won’t cross with you; you will throw me into the river.”
“No, we won’t. We want to put you in our basket and take you over in the right way, so people in later times won’t make fun of you.”
“How can I look out and see what you are doing?”
“You can look through the cracks in the basket.”
“Will you carry me into your house when you get over?”
“Yes, we will take good care of you.”
At last the Head said: “I’ll go. Take me up carefully.” When they got the Head into the basket, it screamed and tried to get out, said: “I can’t see. Let me out!”
“We are almost over,” said the women. “Keep still; you are all right. Now we are going to get out of the canoe. We are across the river.”
They were only in the middle of the river. They took up the basket and dropped it into the water. It went up and down many times, for the Head was trying hard to get out. When the basket got near the bank, people pushed it away with long poles. After a while it got so heavy with water that it sank.
Then the old women said: “This world wasn’t made for such things as you are. Hereafter you will only show yourself [[337]]to scare doctors; you will be their medicine, and tell them what to do.”