should keep away from the rest of them. There is an old woman in particular whom you must avoid. She is as powerful as Big Mouth; but you cannot kill her in the same way as you killed him, for she catches her food, not in her mouth, but in a basket. Whenever she sees anything that she wants to eat she turns her basket towards it, and it drops in dead. If she sees a flock of wild geese among the clouds, no matter how high they fly, she can bring them down."
When the boys heard this, they said nothing in reply to their mother, but set off secretly to compass the death of the witch. They went to the lodge of the latter, and standing near the door, cried, "Grandmother, we have come to see you." "Go away, children, and don't annoy me," she replied. "Grandmother, you are very nice and good, and we like you. Won't you let us in?" continued the boys. "Oh, no," said she, "I don't want to hurt you; but begone, or I will kill you." Despite this threat, they remained, and again spoke to her, saying, "Grandmother, we have heard that you are very strong medicine, and that you have a wonderful basket that can kill anything. We can scarcely believe this. Won't you lend us the basket a little while until we see if we can catch some birds with it?" She refused the basket at first, but, after much coaxing and flattering, she handed it to them. No sooner were they in possession of the basket, than they turned it upon the witch herself, and she dropped into it dead.
After this exploit the mother again praised the boys, but again warned them to beware of the evil genii of the place which she described. One of these was a man with a pair of wonderful mocassins, with which he had only to walk round anything he wanted to kill. Another was a man with a magic knife, with which he could either cut or kill anything that he threw the knife at. These individuals they destroyed in the same manner that they overcame the basket-woman, by coaxing them to lend their magic property, and then slaying the owners with their own weapons. On each occasion the boys retained the charmed articles for their future use.
When all this was done, the old mother called her boys and told them there was but one more dangerous being that they had to guard themselves against. She said, "He lives in the sky where you cannot
