Then a wise chief said: “Iya, the Eater, shall come and swallow the lake!”
So one went running. He brought Iya, the Eater; and Iya drank all day at the lake till his belly was like the earth. Then the Fish and the Turtle dived into the mud; and Iya said: “They are not in me.” Hearing this the people cried greatly.
Iktomi wading in the lake had been swallowed like a gnat in the water. Within the great Iya he was looking skyward. So deep was the water in the Eater's stomach that the surface of the swallowed lake almost touched the sky.
“I will go that way,” said Iktomi, looking at the concave within arm's reach.
He struck his knife upward in the Eater's stomach, and the water falling out drowned those people of the village.
Now when the great water fell into its own bed, the Fish and the Turtle came to the shore. They went home painted victors and loud-voiced singers.