Then placing on a pack-cradle for carrying wounded persons the woman who was ill, they started for their homes, where they arrived safe. This is the end of the story of Hayanowe.
109. Oñgweʻ Hañgesʹʻhäʼ and Gajihsondis (Skin-of-Man and Spike-Hitter[406])
In former times an uncle and his nephew dwelt together in a lodge. The name of the old man was Oñgwe Hañgesha and that of his nephew Gajihsondis.
It was the custom of the uncle when he left to be absent some time to fasten his nephew securely in the lodge. He was also in the habit of giving to his nephew the foot of a bear, with these instructions: “You must remain in here quietly, and you must continue to shoot at the bear’s foot. Whenever you hit the foot you shall say aloud, ‘Gajihsondis,’ but if it so happen that you do not hit the foot, you shall not say that name. So you must keep at this business during the entire day, but whenever you become hungry you must eat food which you know is here ready for you to eat. Just as soon as you have finished your meal, then you must again begin to shoot at the bear’s foot; you must not stop in this task, but must continue to shoot at the bear’s foot without ceasing.”
So the little nephew did as his uncle had instructed him to do, and whenever he was fortunate enough to hit the bear’s foot he would exclaim loudly, “Wagajihsondis!”
At last the nephew began to wonder what his uncle ate, for he had never seen him eating anything. So Gajihsondis finally decided [[502]]to watch the old man and to continue doing so during the approaching night, as the young boy had concluded that his uncle ate his meals at night. The boy mused to himself, saying, “Tonight I will watch my uncle during the whole time.”
So in the evening, when Gajihsondis lay down for the night, he wrapped himself up in an old piece of skin; he lay on one side of the fire and his uncle on the other. There was a rent in the skin covering of Gajihsondis, probably a hole which he had made in it for the occasion, and through this he peered as he watched his uncle. This hole in the skin was very, very small. The boy did not sleep, but kept a watch on his uncle to learn on what the latter fed to sustain life, for they two had never taken a meal together.
At midnight, possibly a little past that time, the small boy, who was on the watch, was surprised to see his uncle blow with great force on the fire in the fireplace.[407] At once sparks shot up from the fire, some of which fell on the boy as he lay there. But the little hero kept quite still, although his uncle, in order to see whether the boy was awake, said, “Gwēʹʻ, my nephew, you will burn; look out!” But still the boy kept still. Then, after the lapse of a long time, the uncle arose and while watching the seemingly sleeping boy, drew from beneath his couch a bark case, such as was in use in the early times. He took therefrom a small kettle and from the kettle something which the watching boy did not recognize. The old man hung the kettle over the fire, and then he again blew on the fire and the flames began to burn briskly; and he kept on blowing the fire until it had become hot enough to cook a meal. He had placed water in the kettle when he set it over the fire—just the right amount for his purpose. Then the old man began to scrape some object and permitted the scrapings to fall into the kettle. The old man was acting just as one would have acted while making chestnut mush. All the time he was being watched by his nephew, who was called “Gajihsondis.”
When the mush was cooked the old man removed the kettle from the fire and set it aside, and then he took out what he had cooked in a bark dish and began to eat. When he had finished his meal, he blew on the kettle and it began at once to grow small in size; then, blowing on it a second time, the kettle became as small as it was at first, which was very, very small. When it had returned to its normal size the old man wrapped it up in something which the watching nephew did not recognize, but before doing so he placed in the kettle the something out of which he had made the mush which he had just eaten. Then he again drew out the bark case from beneath his couch and replaced therein the kettle and its contents. Having done this, he pushed the case back into its hiding place. Thereupon the old man lay down again. His nephew had observed him carefully [[503]]in all that he had done—this for the first time since they two had lived together, and while the boy was growing up.