When Kai gave the reeds to Natanatas, the old man made believe he was glad. He said: “You thought it was far; you didn’t want to go, but you found it was easy. Now you must bring me two round stones to straighten the arrows. There is only one place to get them; that is down by the river.”
Kai went to the river. It was deep and ran very fast. Under the water he saw the stones his father-in-law wanted. He didn’t know how to get them. He looked for others, but couldn’t find them; then he sat down and thought about what he was to do. He felt lonesome; he knew Natanatas was trying to kill him.
Then white eagle feathers called out: “Why do you sit there so long? The old man is waiting. Why don’t you think of us?”
He thought of white feathers. Right away the river dried up. Kai took the stones and went home.
Old Natanatas made believe he was glad; he said: “Those are like the stones I used when I was a young man. Now I must have feathers to put on the arrows. In a tree near here there is an eagle’s nest; I saw eggs in the nest. Maybe the little eagles are big enough to have long feathers. You must go and see.”
When Kai got to the tree, he looked up and saw an eagle in the nest. He took off his clothes and began to climb. As he climbed, the tree grew. Kai didn’t look back; he didn’t know that the tree was getting taller and taller. He climbed for a long time. At last he got to the nest. When he looked down and saw how high up he was, he was scared and began to cry.
Soon somebody said right there near him: “Why do you sit here crying? Pull feathers out of the young eagles; then think of us and you will go down the way we do.”
Kai pulled the feathers, then he floated down as feathers do. When he got home, the old man said he was glad, said: [[362]]“There is where I used to get my feathers; those eagles always have a nest in that tree.”
Natanatas had the bow and arrows ready. He gave them to Kai, and said: “Now you must kill a deer, and we shall have sinew to tie the feathers on with. I will show you a place where deer always come.” He went with Kai, showed him deer tracks, and said: “Sit down here. I will go farther and scare deer so they will run this way.”
Old Natanatas had a son under the ground, and he went to get him to help kill Kai. When Kai was alone, he got up and went off; he didn’t stay where the old man told him to.