The boys then descended into the canyon and gathered a quantity of wood for their arrow shafts. When their mother saw the wood she cried, “You naughty boys! where have you been?” They replied, “We have killed the cougar.” The mother refused to believe them, but Ma´asewe declared they spoke the truth. She then embraced her children with pride and joy.
Two days the boys were busy making shafts, to which they attached their arrows. Then Ma´asewe desired plumes for the shafts. “Mother,” said he, “do you know where we can find eagle plumes?” “Yes, I know where they are to be found. Away on the brink of a canyon in the west there are many plumes, but there is a very bad man there.” Ma´asewe said, “Well, I do not care to go there. We will look elsewhere for plumes.” But he had scarcely left the house when he urged U´yuuyewĕ to accompany him to the brink of the canyon. “No,” said U´yuuyewĕ, “I do not care to go there. Besides the bad man mother spoke of, there are many other bears;” but Ma´asewe finally persuaded U´yuuyewĕ to accompany him.
After a time Ma´asewe cried: “See, there is the house; younger brother, you remain a little way back of me, and when the bear passes by you aim your arrow at him.” Ma´asewe approached the house, and when the bear discovered the boy he started after him. Just as the bear was passing U´yuuyewĕ he shot him through the heart. Ma´asewe drew his knife down the breast of the bear, and took out his heart, cutting it into pieces, preserving the bits. “Now,” said Ma´asewe, “let us hasten and secure the plumes.”
They found many beautiful feathers. Then, returning to the bear, they flayed him, preserving the lower skin of the legs with the claws, separate from the remainder of the skin. They filled the body with grass and tied a rope around the neck and body, and Ma´asewe led the way, holding one end of the rope, he drawing the bear and U´yuuyewĕ holding the other end of the rope to steady the animal. As they approached their home they cried, “Mother, mother, see!” Their mother, hearing the cry, called, “What is it my children?” as she advanced to meet them, but when she discovered the bear she returned quickly to the house, exclaiming: “Let the bear go; do not bring him here; why do you bring the bad bear here?” The boys, following their mother, said, “Mother, the bear is dead.”
The boys remained at home two days completing their arrows. Then Ma´asewe said to his mother, “Mother, we wish to hunt for deer. Our arrows are good and we must have meat.” “That is good, my children, but listen. Away to the south lives an eagle in a high rock. She has two children. The father also lives there, and these parents are very large, and they eat all the little ones they find.” Ma´asewe replied, “We will not go there.” But he was no sooner out of his mother’s sight than he declared they must go to the home of the eagle. After they had proceeded a little way they saw a deer, and Ma´asewe drew his bow and shot him through the heart. They cut the deer down the breast, drew the intestines, and, after cleansing them from blood, the boys wrapped them around their necks, arms, and breast, over their right shoulders, and around their waists. “Now,” said Ma´asewe, “we can approach the house of the eagle.” When the boys drew near the eagles flew to the earth. One eagle, catching Ma´asewe and flying far above the house, dropped him on a sharp stone ledge in front of his house. The stone was sharp, like the blade of a knife, and it broke the intestines of the deer, which protected him from the rock, and the blood fell like rain. Ma´asewe lay still and the eagle thought he was dead. The mate then descended and caught Û´yuuyewĕ and, flying above her house, dropped him also upon the rock. He, too, lay perfectly still, and the eagles thought he was dead. “Now,” said the eagles, “our children will be happy and contented, for they have abundance of meat.” In a little while these birds started off on a long journey.
The young ones, having been informed by their parents that they were well provided with food, which would be found in front of their door when hungry, went out for the meat. Ma´asewe and Û´yuuyewĕ astonished them by speaking to them. They asked, “When will your mother return?” The children replied, “Our mother will return in the forenoon.” “When your mother returns will she come to this house?” “No,” replied the young eagles, “she will go to the one above and come here later.” “When will your father arrive?” “He will come a little later.” “Will he come here?” they asked. “No; he will go to the house above.” Ma´asewe then destroyed the young eagles. After killing them he dropped them to the earth below. Upon the return of the mother she stood upon the rock above, and Ma´asewe aimed his arrow at her and shot her through the heart, and she fell to the earth dead; and later, when the father returned, he met with the same fate.
Now, the boys had destroyed the bad eagles of the world. Then Ma´asewe said, “Younger brother, how will we get down from here? The road to the earth is very long,” and, looking up, he said, “The road to the rock above is also very long.” Presently Ma´asewe saw a little Ké-ow-uch, or ground squirrel (Tamias striatus), and he called to him, saying, “My little brother, we can not get down from here. If you will help us we will pay you; we will give you beautiful eagle plumes.”
The squirrel planted a piñon nut directly below the boys, and in a short time—almost immediately—for the squirrel knew much of medicine, a tall tree was the result. “Now,” said the squirrel, “you have a good road. This is all right; see?” And the little animal ran up the tree and then down again, when the boys followed him.
Upon their return home their mother inquired, “Where have you been?” and when they told her they had visited the house of the eagle she said, “You have been very foolish.” At first she disbelieved their statement that they had destroyed the eagles; but they finally convinced her and she embraced her boys with pride. The grandmother was also highly pleased.
The boys remained at home only two days, Ma´asewe being impatient to be gone, and he said to his brother, “Let us go travel again.” The home of the boys was near the center of the earth, Ko´chinako remaining here for a time after their birth. When the mother found they were going to travel and hunt again, she begged of them not to go far, for there were still bad people about, and Ma´asewe promised that they would keep near their home. They had gone but a short distance when they saw a woman (a sko´yo) approaching, carrying a large pack which was secured to her back by strings passing around her arms near the shoulder. Ma´asewe whispered to his brother: “See! there comes a sko´yo.” The boys stood side by side, when she approached and said, “What are you children doing here?” Ma´asewe replied, “We are just looking about; nothing more.” The sko´yo passing her hands over the boys said, “What pretty boys! What pretty children! Come with me to my house.” “All right, we will go,” Ma´asewe being the spokesman. “Get into the pack on my back and I will carry you.” When the boys were tucked away the sko´yo started for her home.