Along the Rocky Range
The morning after this affair some women appeared on Hurricane Cliff and the wind brought their words to his ears. They were planning to kill him by rolling rocks upon him as he passed. As he drew near he pretended to eat something with such enjoyment that they asked him what it was. He called out, "It is sweet. Come to the edge and I will throw it up to you." With that he tossed something so nearly within their reach that in bending forward to catch it they crowded too near the brink, lost their balance, fell over, and were killed. "You are victims of your own greed. One should never be so anxious as to kill one's self." This was his only comment, and, sounding the war-whoop, he went on.
A day later he came upon two women making water-jugs of willow baskets lined with pitch, and he heard one whisper to the other, "Here comes that bad Ta-Vwots. How shall we destroy him?"
"What were you saying?" asked the hare god.
"We just said, 'Here comes our grandson.'" (A common form of endearment.)
"Is that all? Then let me get into one of these water-jugs while you braid the neck."
He jumped in and lay quite still as they wove the neck, and they laughed to think that it was braided so small that he could never escape, when—puff!—the jug was shattered and there was Ta-Vwots. They did not know anything about his magic breath. They wondered how he got out.
227
