“O war chief,” said the others to Big Turtle. “Awl is coming back, telling his own name. He has killed one.”
Big Turtle said, “Ho! O war chief. You make me thankful. Since it is you, I will blacken my face. The village shall be joyful. Ho! O Pestle, make an attempt. You will lie in the door of the lodge where Awl lay.”
Now Pestle was very handsome. Then he arrived there. He lay where he was commanded to lie. A woman went out and found Pestle. “Oh! I have found a very good pestle for myself. I had no pestle heretofore,” she said.
She took him back to the lodge. She took some corn. She filled the mortar and pounded the corn. She beat it fine. She thrust Pestle beyond, right on her knee. She missed the mark in pushing, sending him with force, and so she struck him on her knee.
“Oh! A very bad pestle,” she said. She threw him outside, sending him homeward suddenly.
“You have been used to saying ‘Pestle.’ He is coming, having stabbed one right at the lodge. He has killed one,” said Pestle, returning. He reached Big Turtle again. “O war chief, I have killed one.”
“You make me thankful,” said Big Turtle. “Ho! warrior Gray Squirrel, make an attempt.”
“O war chief, how can I do anything?” said Gray Squirrel. Now the lodges were placed among the trees.
“You will pass along the trees above the smoke holes of the lodges. If they find you, they will shoot at you. Do your best. Do your best to evade the blows or arrows. If one goes aside, rush on him,” said Big Turtle.
At length a boy found Gray Squirrel. “This moving one is a gray squirrel,” he said. They went in a great uproar. They shot at him. They even hit him with sticks. One boy stood aside. Gray Squirrel attacked him and bit him. They said, “Wonderful! Heretofore the gray squirrel has been very easy to approach, but we have failed. He has bitten us; we have done nothing to him,” they said.