In the meanwhile the young man, who was on the alert, saw his opportunity, and arising from his place of concealment in the sand, he went to the shore of the lake. Pushing the canoe into the water, he called loudly, “Do you come hither, my servants, you wild geese.” The geese with the sound dauñʻʹ all came to the side of the canoe and at once attached themselves to it. Then the young man, boarding the canoe, said to the wild geese, his servants: “Let us go back to the place whence we started, and you start at this time.” Obeying his command, the wild geese at once began to paddle and the canoe moved swiftly in the water, the paddling of the wild geese sounding sŭʻ, sŭʻ, sŭʻ, sŭʻ.
When Sʻhagowenotʻha reached the shore and found the canoe moving away with the young man in it, as its master, he called out to him: “Oh, my brother! Turn back hither. I had come back here after you, be it known to you.” To this appeal the young man paid no attention, for he had been thoroughly informed of the character of his enemy by his uncle. So he kept on his way. He tauntingly said, for the benefit of his enemy, to the monsters of the deep: “I devote food to all of you who live on meat—to you who live in the depths of the lake.” Hearing this, these watery monsters rejoiced and were happy, for they desired meat, on which they fed. In their glee they uttered the sounds, Hĭst, hĭst, hĭst, hĭst, hai, hai, hai. Then Sʻhagowenotʻha again called to the young man: “Oh, my brother! have mercy on me; take pity on me and turn back. Is it not possible for you to agree to turn back and come to me? I am indeed not Sʻhagowenotʻha; I am only a servant to him. He, of course, is at his home.”
The young man, however, did not answer this appeal of his great enemy, but said to the wild geese which were propelling his canoe: “Go directly to the place whence you started.” The young man and his geese arrived at the landing place, at their home, just as day was dawning. After landing, he said to the wild geese: “My servants, you may now go to seek for your food.” Thereupon they flew away with the sound dauñʻʹ. He had already said to the geese: “Hurry back as soon as I recall you.” Drawing the canoe ashore, he departed. Climbing the steep bank and going aside a short distance, he came to a lodge, which he entered. Within he found a very young woman. As he entered the lodge, without his garments, the woman arose, and going forward, embraced him, saying: “You are indeed in a wretched situation here. I am your younger sister, for verily your uncle is one who is called Okteondon.” The young man answered her: “He is, indeed, my uncle, as you say.” She continued: [[713]]“He is, too, my uncle, this Okteondon is; for this reason you and I are brother and sister. Very long ago he stole me from our lodge. Now dress yourself again; your garments hang yonder where he hung them when he brought them back.” So the young man dressed himself again in his own garments. Then his sister said: “Here are your bow and your arrows.” The young man took them, for they indeed belonged to him.
Thereupon the young woman said to her brother: “You and I must now return home. I will lay down bark in strips, and on these you must step to conceal your tracks until you reach the canoe; for you and I shall surely die if my husband should meet us before we reach the canoe. They carried out faithfully this precautionary device for concealing the brother’s footprints. When they reached the shore the brother pushed the canoe into the water and then called out to the wild geese: “Come hither, my servants.” When they arrived he continued: “You must go directly to the place where my racing ground is.” Having said this, the brother and sister boarded the canoe, and the wild geese began to propel it rapidly through the water, making the sounds sŭʻ, sŭʻ, sŭʻ, sŭʻ as they propelled it. Then the young man began to sing his song of triumph: “Now, now, now, I am certain that I am on my way homeward.” Turning to the wild geese he said: “Have courage[463]; be brave and do your duty, my servants.”
After going some distance it seemed to the two that the canoe kept the same position, although the wild geese were paddling with great vigor, making the sounds sŭʻ, sŭʻ, sŭʻ, sŭʻ. Turning her head, the young woman saw a fishhook attached to the end of the canoe, and she saw also that her husband, who sat on the opposite shore, was steadily pulling on the line, causing the canoe to move backward toward him. Taking up a stone hatchet from the bottom of the canoe she struck the hook a blow which broke it. At this the canoe again shot forward very swiftly, and they went a long distance, while the young man kept saying: “Have courage, my servants. Exert yourselves to the best of your power.”
But in a very short time thereafter they again noticed that the canoe was seemingly going backward, although the wild geese were still paddling with all their might. Turning her head and looking back across the lake the sister saw her husband lying prone on the shore, rapidly drinking up the water of the lake, and the canoe was now moving swiftly toward him. His mouth was enormous and his belly was likewise of incredible capacity. His whole body had swollen to huge proportions, owing to the floods of water he was drinking. The canoe and its occupants were fast being drawn into his open mouth, although the geese were paddling with all their might. [[714]]
When they drew quite near to the point where Sʻhagowenotʻha was lying the young man, stringing his bow, made ready to shoot at the great, swollen body lying on the shore, which was indeed stupendous in size. When within bowshot the young man, taking good aim, sent an arrow with great force into the body, which caused it to give out a loud sound, b-uʼʻ! as the waters burst forth through the wound. The outrush of the waters sent the canoe flying back toward the shore whither it was bound. Then the young man vehemently urged the wild geese to exert themselves in paddling the canoe onward, and finally he arrived with his sister at the place whither they were bound—at the racing place of Sʻhagowenotʻha.
When they arrived there he said: “Now, you wild geese shall be free henceforth. Sʻhagowenotʻha has made you his slaves and servants—an act which was indeed, as you know, a great wrong. Now you are again free and independent. It was not the intention of Sʻhoñgwadiĕñnuʼkdăʼon, our Creator, that anyone should be a slave or a servant.[464] As is well known, it was his intention that every one and everything among the animals and the birds and the fowl should be in all things independent and free. He did not will that anyone should hold any being in bondage, even among the animal kingdom. Now you must depart hence and go your ways. It shall continue to be your custom in advancing across the earth to go to and fro in the form of a wedge. Thus you shall be seen by those who shall be born hereafter howsoever long the earth may continue its existence. This is all. So now depart, and when you go you must follow one another.” Thereupon the wild geese started away in freedom.
Then, turning to his sister, the brother said: “Now, let us depart hence.” Started on their way, they went along slowly as they two traveled homeward. When night overtook them they would encamp; and in the morning after breaking their fast they would resume the journey. They camped for five nights before they reached their home. They were unmolested on their journey by the sorcerers, who commonly infested the way on such occasions.
When they had reached their home the young man said to his sister: “Oh, my sister! I do not know you, because, perhaps, I was so small when you went away. We have now arrived at our home. I know now that Okteondon is your and my uncle. When I started away from this place I followed the tracks of our uncle until they led me to the lake. I verily believe that he was killed by the man with the great mouth. Now you and I must love and respect one another, as we are brother and sister. I shall greatly respect you, and you yourself must greatly respect me. Now I, myself, will go to hunt, and you shall keep the camp.” The brother proved himself a great hunter, and they had an abundance of meat for food in their camp.