The young nephew stood there silent for some time. Then the man in the canoe said to him: “Come hither.” The youth, replying, “So let it be,” went to the place where lay the canoe, in which stood the strange man. The stranger, addressing the youth, said: “I am thankful that you are well. Is it not true that Okteondon is your uncle? He is my uncle also. I am thankful, too, that you and I, who are brothers, have seen each other at this time. It so happens that you and I resemble each other and are of the same stature. It would be still more convincing if we should put this to proof by trial. As I have been saying, our bows and arrows are alike and are of the same length. Let us test my statement by a trial.” Thereupon the man took his bow and arrows out of the canoe. Held up together, they were found to be of the same kind of wood and of the same shape; their arrows were of the same kind of wood and of the same length.
Then the stranger said, “Come; let us see. We have the same speed, I believe.” He continued: “Let us now string our bows, as I am now stringing mine; let us stand here side by side.” While the two stood side by side again the stranger spoke, saying: “This we do in order that there may be a race between us and our arrows. Let us shoot our arrows, and as soon as we let fly our arrows then you and I must start to run.” Then they let fly their arrows, at the same time starting to run swiftly. They ran evenly, keeping well together. All that could be heard was the sounds made by the passage through the air of small stones picked up by their swiftly moving feet, for they were running at a rapid pace. Looking upward, the youth saw two arrows flying along together. In this trial of their fleetness of foot they caught the arrows before they fell to the ground, each one catching his own.
After this test the strange man said to his young companion, “Now, let us return to the place whence we started.” So they went back to the spot where the canoe lay. Then the strange man repeated what he had been saying again and again: “Have I not been saying that you and I are indeed brothers? We have the same fleetness of foot; we are of the same stature; our bodies are alike in form and condition; our bows are exactly alike; our arrows are also alike. These things indicate that truly you and I are brothers and that Okteondon is your uncle, as he is my uncle. Come, then, let us go hence. We will amuse ourselves. We will go to a distant place where I am in the habit of playing.”
The young man replied unsuspectingly: “So let it be.” Whereupon the strange man said: “Come, come hither, my slaves, you wild geese. Do you come hither at once.” He had hardly ceased speaking when the wild geese alighted beside the canoe and attached themselves [[708]]to it. Then the strange man again got aboard of the canoe and invited his friend, the young man, to accompany him. When the latter had also boarded the canoe his companion said to the wild geese: “Come, now, do you go to the place where the island floats in the water.” At this command the geese began paddling, thus propelling the canoe very swiftly toward the place designated. Then the strange man began to sing: “Now, now, now, it seems true, I have started, indeed.” This song he kept singing as the canoe sped along toward the island of his promised sports.
They finally arrived at the island, and the two men having landed the strange man said to the wild geese: “Come, now, my servants, go now to find something for food for yourselves”; thereupon they flew away. He continued: “Whenever I say to you ‘Come hither’ you must return here at once. But it must be I who shall say this.”
Drawing the canoe up on the shore he said to his young companion: “Now, we will go to the place where I am accustomed to amuse myself,” and they two started. Having arrived at the spot, the young man saw lying there a very large white stone. His companion said: “It is, indeed, here that I have my playground; and now you shall see what I will do.”
Then the stranger undressed, making himself entirely naked. Then raising the great white rock he cast it into the water, which was very deep. Down it went with the sound bubʻ, bubʻ, bubʻ, bubʻ. The strange man next dived into the lake after the rock and remained under water for a long time. The youthful nephew of Okteondon was watching anxiously what his strange companion was doing. Finally, the youth was surprised to see his companion come to the surface of the water bearing the great white rock in his arms. When he had got on dry land he set the rock down, saying to the young man: “Thus now you, too, must do as I have shown you.” The latter replied: “So be it. I will try at once. After removing all his raiment and being naked he took up the great white rock and going to the edge of the lake he cast it far from shore into the depths. Again the rock sank with the sound bubʻ, bubʻ, bubʻ, bubʻ, as in the first instance, and the young man dived after it.
As soon as the young man had plunged into the waters of the lake the strange man, taking up not only his own garments but also all those belonging to his companion, returned to the point where the canoe had been left. Arriving there, he called out: “Come, now, my servants. Come you hither,” and shoving the canoe into the water he boarded it. The wild geese soon alighted alongside of the canoe and attaching themselves to it began to paddle it along. Their master merely said to them, “Go directly back to the place whence we started,” and the geese obeyed him, causing the canoe to move swiftly thither. [[709]]
In a short time thereafter the young nephew of Okteondon rose to the surface of the water bringing with him, as did the stranger, the large white rock, which he cast aside as he came out of the water. He found no one around and he saw that his garments were missing, so he ran to the place where he remembered the canoe had been beached. When he arrived there he found that the canoe, propelled by the swift feet of the wild geese, was far out on the lake. As he reached the shore he overheard the strange man in the canoe say in a loud voice: “To you who feed on flesh and who dwell in the waters of the lake I offer this flesh to eat.” These flesh eaters were highly pleased with the idea that they would soon have more flesh to eat. By flesh the stranger signified the flesh of the young man whom he had entrapped on the island. The name of the strange man was Sʻhagowenotʻha.
Then the youthful nephew of Okteondon started away, going from place to place in a hopeless effort to find some way of escape. When he found that he had been victimized by Sʻhagowenotʻha, he began to cry, and he went about crying and saying to himself, “Now I know that I am about to die.”