When the Head was drowned, the sister went back to Kûlta’s house. Kûlta was off on the mountains, roaming around; when he saw his wife coming he was glad, and went to meet her. He said: “My sisters were proud of their scratching sticks. They scratched their arms, scratched till all the skin and flesh was off, then they scratched their legs and bodies, scratched till only bones were left, then they died. I was scared, and ran away.”
Kûlta built a big fire and burned up his sister’s bones, and the sacks of dried snake heads and frog heads. When the snakes came to life and tried to get out of the fire Kûlta and his wife pushed them in, but they couldn’t watch all of them; some got away and ran off among the rocks, and that is why there are so many snakes in the world now.
When the fire had burned down, and only ashes were left, Kûlta said: “I can’t stay here where my sisters died. I will make a house south of here, by the river.”
While the woman was poking in the ashes, a big rattlesnake sprang at her. Kûlta heard the snake rattle. He struck it with a long pole, and it ran away. Then the woman began to vomit up all kinds of terrible stuff, pieces of snake skin and fish skin, and pieces of snake heads. Kûlta said: “This is always the way when women eat snake heads, and such things, but with men it is different.”
When the woman was through vomiting, she found the snake and killed it. She said: “Hereafter, you will have no power. You will want to bite people, but you will tell them where you are; you can’t help it. They will kill you with stones but will never eat your head; they will say you are dirty.”
Every day the woman heard little Ilyúyu crying on the mountain. She felt so sorry that Kûlta said: “I will find him and bring him home.” When he got near the place where his brother-in-law’s sack grew heavy and he put it down to throw away some of the beads, he saw Ilyúyu sitting by the trail, but when the little fellow saw Kûlta he ran off, crying like a [[338]]person. Kûlta saw him at the place where his brother-in-law had thrown away his quiver. He called: “Come here, Ilyúyu! Don’t be afraid! Come and go home with me.” But Ilyúyu ran away. Kûlta followed him all day but couldn’t catch him. When he went home, he said to his wife: “To-morrow you must go for Ilyúyu. Maybe he will come when you call him.”
The next morning Kûlta heated stones and his wife sweated. Then she listened. She heard Ilyúyu’s cry and followed the sound, calling all the time: “Ilyúyu, Ilyúyu!” He would stop and wait for her to come up near him, but when she put out her hands to catch him he ran away. She followed him a good many days. When she camped he would come and lie down near her, but when she moved he would go away. She followed him till she was only skin and bones, then she said to him: “I am going home now. If you want to be wild you can. You will kill deer, and people will say, ‘Ilyúyu, Kûlta’s brother-in-law, did that.’ ”
Ilyúyu ran off to the mountains and Kûlta’s wife never heard his cry again. [[339]]