“Uun!” resented the people, suddenly stricken glum. “This little strange man says, ‘Zuya unhipi! We come to make war!'” “He, listen!” he shouted, rubbing his mischievous palms together, for where there was any trouble brewing, he was always in the midst of it. Still no one guessed what the Fish had mumbled!įrom the bewildered crowd witty old Iktomi came forward. “Wan! what? what?” clamored eager voices of men and women.Īgain the Fish said: “Shu… hi pi!” Everywhere stood young and old with a palm to an ear. With a peculiar omission of syllables, he said: “Shu… hi pi!” Neither of the warriors carried weapons with them, and their unimposing stature misled the curious people. “Ho!” exclaimed the people of this round village of teepees, “Who are these little ones? What do they seek?” Thus the Fish and the Turtle came to a large camp ground. “Come!” he said, “let us go on to make war.” “You see how it is,” said the Fish, lashing his tail impatiently, “these people were not warriors!” He blew his red swollen nose with a loud noise so that his head came off his slender neck, and he was fallen upon the grass. The more he grieved, the louder he cried, till his body shook with great violence.
He would not be comforted, for he loved his cousin dearly. The Dragon Fly went on, weeping for his cousin. As they waded through the mud, the Grasshopper’s legs stuck, and he pulled them off! He crawled upon a log and wept, “You see me, brothers, I cannot go!” They reached a marshy place, and the mire was very deep. The Grasshopper with his cousin, the Dragon Fly, went foremost. Still the remaining warriors would not turn back. He fell through the branches and was nothing! “You see this!” said the four, “this one could not fight.” While they were going through it, the Bladder was heard to sneer and to say, “He! you should rise above these, brothers.” With these words he went upward among the tree-tops and the thorn apple pricked him. Therefore the five went on the more quickly to make war. “Ho!” hooted the others, “he could not fight, this one!” They descended a deep valley, the Fire going foremost until they came to a river. The six went on running to make war more quickly.
“Ho!” cried the others, “he could not fight, this one!” As they were talking excitedly, waving their fists in violent gestures, a wind came and blew the Ashes away. Once seven people went out to make war,-the Ashes, the Fire, the Bladder, the Grasshopper, the Dragon Fly, the Fish, and the Turtle.
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