The man did not want to sit on him, but what could he do? Sit he must. Then the eagle flew with him quite as high as the big clouds, and shook him off, and down he fell headlong till he was about two fathoms from the ground, when the bird again flew beneath him and held him up. Again the eagle asked him:
"How dost thou feel?"
And the man replied:
"I feel just as if all my bones were already broken to bits!"
"That is just how I felt when thou didst take aim at me the second time," replied the eagle. "But now sit on my back once more."
The man did so, and the eagle flew with him as high as the small fleecy clouds, and then he shook him off, and down he fell headlong; but when he was but a hand's breadth from the earth, the eagle again flew beneath him and held him up, and said to him:
"How dost thou feel now?"
And he replied:
"I feel as if I no longer belonged to this world!"
"That is just how I felt when thou didst aim at me the third time," replied the eagle. "But now," continued the bird, "thou art guilty no more. We are quits. I owe thee naught, and thou owest naught to me; so sit on my back again, and I'll take thee to my master."