kill the strangers were drowned. Then the chief thought of another way of getting rid of the men. He invited them to a game of hoops.[1] He placed all his people in a row, he himself standing at the head. The strangers stood opposite, headed by the raccoon. Then the chief rolled the hoop, hoping that it would kill the strangers. It was made of lightning. The raccoon succeeded in stopping it with his pole.
Then the raccoon rolled back the lightning hoop, and it killed all the chief's people and the chief himself; only a little girl and a boy who had been left at home escaped. They grew up, and from them sprang all the water animals.
The six men launched their canoe, and continued their travels. After a while they saw a house. They landed, and went to see who lived in it. They found no one there, and were about to continue their travels, when one of the men remembered having seen a large supply of fish in the house. They returned and sat down near the fire. All of a sudden a basket filled with fish fell down from the loft. The chief said, "Put it back; maybe the people will return very soon, and they certainly would pursue us if they should find that we had stolen their fish." Then they put them back. After a while another basketful of fish fell down close to their feet. The chief said, "Let us eat of the fish, for we are hungry." After they had eaten, the men intended to carry baskets of fish down to their canoe. The chief took one basket and said, "I will take these fish; they are very good." At once he felt his hair pulled by invisible hands, and he was thrown down and his basket taken from him. He thought his people had done so, but on looking back he saw them still seated near the fire. Then he thought he had stumbled and fallen, the basket being very heavy. He took it up again, but as soon as he had turned towards the door he was thrown down once more and thoroughly beaten. His people had now finished eating. Each of them took a basket and turned towards the door. There they were thrown down at once and beaten by invisible hands. The baskets were taken away from them. Then they knew that the house was the abode of the shadows.
Then they left and travelled on for a long time. Their supply of provisions began to give out. They came to a country where the people had no mouths. They offered them a little of the fish they had left, but saw that the people merely smelled it and then threw it away. The chief of the travellers was surprised to see the mouthless people. He touched their faces in order to investigate if they had teeth, and when he found that they had teeth under the skin he
- ↑ The game of hoops is played between two parties, each man holding a spear, with which he tries to stop the hoop rolled by the opposite party.
