But toward the end of this period many factions had arisen among the people. The young people asked, What is the need for these things? Pigeons may be killed at any time of the year. They are fit for food at all seasons of the year. What can pigeons do with these offerings of ornaments and trinkets which they are not able to wear or make any use of? Another faction of the people killed the pigeons wherever and whenever they found them, killing both the young and the old pigeons. Another faction boasted that its members had no faith in what was done, and so they had no desire to engage in pigeon hunting, even refusing to eat any of the pigeon meat when it was offered to them. But it was not long before misfortune began to assail these seditious factions. The members of the faction which had refused to eat any of the pigeon meat died off one by one. Before the visit of the White Pigeon they never died, they seemed to be immortal; but now disease and death abounded among them because they had failed to obey the regulations prescribed by the White Pigeon for their guidance.
These conditions continued for some time, becoming more and more distressful as time elapsed. Then, for the third time, the [[697]]White Pigeon visited the old man, being just 20 years after the second visit. The old man did not know that he was talking to the chief of the pigeons, for he appeared to him in all respects as a man.
The White Pigeon informed the old man that thereafter as long as the world should last men and women would die because they had disobeyed the rules proclaimed by the Pigeon people. And, further, that in the future people must not kill any white pigeon, and that they must observe the rules for the hunting of pigeons, and that this was his last visit to him. And immediately he flew away.
The conditions among the people did not change for the better; the several factions still existed, and there seemed to be no common purpose in the community; some of the factions observed the rules for hunting, some only in part, while still others paid no attention to them, even mocking those who did. Some years passed when a stranger came among this people and finding his way to the lodge of the old man he said to him, “You must accompany me.” Without any question the old man followed him, for he regarded him as a man like himself.
They traveled for a number of days until finally they came to the place in which lived the tribe of the stranger, which was a place situated on the top of very lofty mountains. The stranger’s friends received the old man with every mark of respect and kindness. This people were the Donyonda (i.e., Eagle people), although to the old man they appeared to him as men like himself.
There were among the old man’s people persons without faith in the teachings of the old man which he reported he had learned from the White Pigeon. And there came a day when a man of the Crow tribe of people told one of these disbelievers that the old man, their chief, was at that time living among the Donyonda, or Eagle people, and offered to conduct him to the land of the Donyonda people. The disbeliever accepted the proposal of the Crow man and so they set out together. The Crow man and his companion finally reached the land of the Donyonda people on the top of a very lofty mountain.
The old chief recognized the man from his home, but he would have nothing at all to do with him either by word or act. He even went so far as to say to his adopted friends, “This man has come here for no good purpose; the working of his mind is very different from that of ours.” Consequently, the chief man of the Donyonda people ordered one of their warriors to take this man away and to throw him onto the moon. So on the following day the warrior placed the man on his back and bore him swiftly away; and when he reached the side of the moon he cast the man onto the moon’s side and left him there, and he remains there to this day.
But old Chief Wild Cat lived with the Donyonda people for a number of years. As time passed, however, the mind of the old chief [[698]]became affected and he became morose and despondent, which resulted in his becoming obnoxious to the people of his adoption. Things went from bad to worse, and so finally the Donyonda people held a council, where it was stated that because the old chief could or would not think the things which harmonized with their thoughts they would send him to a tribe of people who agree with no one, not even with their own people, and who were hostile to all other tribes of people. So they chose one of their principal men to take the old chief the next day to the brink of the mountain and to roll him down the mountain.
This was done, and the old chief rolled swiftly down the mountain side. He went down so swiftly that he screeched with fear; but finally he reached the foot of the mountain and the level ground. Upon reaching the foot of the mountain he was transformed into the bodily form of a wolf and also found that he was in a swamp in which the Wolf tribe dwelt. They welcomed him in a most friendly manner. So he lived here among the Wolf people for some time.
But the old man had not lived here long before trouble arose between him and the Wolf people. The lapse of time only emphasized the disagreements and the hostility of the Wolf people against the old man. Finally the Wolf people began to be very angry with the Wild Cat for his provocative acts, and then it was not long before the Wolf tribe fell upon the old man, Wild Cat, and tore him in pieces and devoured him. They left his bones gnawed clean on the ground.