Beaver replied, “As I feared that very thing, I said to you, ‘Throw it to him while standing at a great distance from him.’”
Then Beaver went to visit Ictinike. When he arrived there, Ictinike wished to kill one of his own children, as Beaver had done, and was making him cry by hitting him often. Beaver was unwilling for him to act thus, so he said, “Let him alone! You are hurting him!” Then Beaver went to the stream where he found a young beaver that he took back to the lodge, and they ate it.
On another day, Ictinike said to his wife, “Hand me that tobacco pouch. I must go call on your grandfather, Muskrat.” So he departed. As he was entering Muskrat’s lodge, the host said, “Ho, pass around to one side.” And Ictinike was seated on a pillow.
Muskrat’s wife said, “We have been without food. How can we give your grandfather anything to eat?”
Muskrat said, “Fetch some water.”
The woman brought the water. He told her to put it in the kettle and hang the kettle over the fire. When the water was boiling very fast, the husband upset the kettle, and instead of water, out came wild rice! So Ictinike ate the wild rice.
When Ictinike departed he left his tobacco pouch, as before. Then Muskrat called one of his children, and said, “Take that to him. Do not go near him! Throw it to him when you are a great distance from him, as he is always very talkative.”
So the child took the tobacco pouch to return it to Ictinike. When he was about to throw it to him, he said, “Come closer! Come closer!” When the child took the pouch closer, Ictinike said, “Tell your father he is to visit me.”
When the young Muskrat reached home, he said, “Oh, father, he said that you were to visit him.” Muskrat replied, “As I feared that very thing, I said to you, ‘Throw it to him while standing at a great distance from him.’”
Then Muskrat went to see Ictinike. And Ictinike said to his wife, “Fetch water.” The woman went after water. She filled the kettle and hung it over the fire until it boiled. When Ictinike upset the kettle, only water came out. Ictinike wished to do just as Muskrat had done, but he was unable. Then Muskrat had the kettle refilled, and when the water boiled he upset it, and an abundance of wild rice was there, which he gave to Ictinike. Thereupon Muskrat departed, leaving plenty of wild rice.