“Come!” he said, “let us go on to make war.”
Thus the Fish and the Turtle came to a large camp ground.
“Ho!” exclaimed the people of this round village of teepees, “Who are these little ones? What do they seek?”
Neither of the warriors carried weapons with them, and their unimposing stature misled the curious people.
The Fish was spokesman. With a peculiar omission of syllables, he said: “Shu... hi pi!”
“Wan! what? what?” clamored eager voices of men and women.
Again the Fish said: “Shu... hi pi!” Everywhere stood young and old with a palm to an ear. Still no one guessed what the Fish had mumbled!
From the bewildered crowd witty old Iktomi came forward. “He, listen!” he shouted, rubbing his mischievous palms together, for where there was any trouble brewing, he was always in the midst of it.
“This little strange man says, 'Zuya unhipi! We come to make war!'”
“Uun!” resented the people, suddenly stricken glum. “Let us kill the silly pair! They can do nothing! They do not know the meaning of the phrase. Let us build a fire and boil them both!”