hummingbird. He was very swift, and therefore they won all the girls, whom they married. But they stayed nowhere more than one night. They always promised to return at an early day, but they did not intend to keep their word.
One day they met a man who asked them where they were going. They told him that they were playing ball in all the villages, and that they married the girls of the villages; they added that they deserted them after one night. The man went on to the next village in order to warn the people, who manned a boat and came across the river, intending to attack the brothers. But the latter caused the canoe to capsize in mid-river.
They travelled on and reached another village. Again they played at ball and won. But the people did not wish to surrender their girls to them. They invited them to a feast which was spread in a large house. They hired the bat, who, as soon as the brothers and their sister had entered, closed up all the chinks. Then the people transformed the house into a rock. The girl observed the transformation. She looked up and saw a little_hole in the roof. She assumed the shape of the crane and flew away, leaving her brothers.
She returned towards her native village, and passed all the places where her brothers had played ball. There she found their children, and the nearer she approached her native country the older she found the children to be. She addressed them, singing, "Anaxaguā′xogua anē′a!" Finally she reached the house of her parents. Her mother was making a garment, which she was painting. The girl told her what had happened, but the old woman did not seem to pay any attention. At last, when she had finished the garment, she said to her daughter, "If I had accompanied you, that would not have happened. You did not know how to take care of your brothers." She put on the new garment, and they started in search of the lost brothers. The old woman was singing while they were walking along. When they reached the villages where the brothers had tarried on their outward journey, they found that their children were grown up. The girl was furious on account of the loss of her brothers, and upturned all the houses in these villages, but her mother asked her to desist. She said, "Wait until we reach the house in which your brothers are held captive." They travelled on, and the old woman saw all her grandchildren. Finally they reached the rock in which the brothers were imprisoned. Then the old woman upturned it by the power of her magic. Thus the young men were set free. The broken rock may still be seen at the mouth of the river.
