Wi'sakä told two boys to go fishing, and to be sure to bring something home to him at midday otherwise disaster would overtake them. The boys obeyed him, one taking his gun, the other his fishing line. The fisherman baited his line with a big green grasshopper and tried to catch fish from a high bank. In casting his line he threw it behind him, and a big turkey gobbler ran up and swallowed the bait. The boy wrung the turkey's neck, and said, "Well, I have saved my life."

As the other boy came up with his gun, the fisherman said, "There are ducks here." So the boy bent his gun in the fork of a tree and fired. At that moment a fish leaped from the water and was pierced by the ball which circled round, killing all the ducks, and returning penetrated a tree behind the boy. The boy saw something running from the bullet hole in the tree, and discovered that it was honey. Beyond the tree lay a buck that was also struck by the bullet, which had passed through it and killed a large rabbit.

The boys ran back to get Wi'sakä to help them bring in their game. When they were skinning the buck it suddenly sprang up and started to run away. The hunter had a nail in his hand, which he dropped into his gun with some powder and firing, nailed the buck's ear to a tree.

"Where did you boys get all this power?" asked Wi'sakä, "You are even ahead of me."

"Oh! we obtained it from the Great Spirit," answered they.

"But I don't remember making you," said Wi'sakä.

"Are you, then, the Great Spirit?" asked the boys."

"Yes."

"Why are you always getting in trouble then?" they enquired.

"Now, you boys cook the buck's ribs for me, and I will give you some real power," said Wi'sakä, not answering them.

"What power can you possibly give us that we haven't got? Oh well, we will do it for you anyhow."

Now these boys, who were really the famed pawisa'sûk, or enchanted pygmies, cooked the meat as Wi'sakä wanted it, and put in maple sugar to sweeten it. Then they took their weapons and went on, while Wi'sakä carried the food in to his grandmother. He said: "We must catch these boys when they come back, they know many things that even I do not."

 

Even while he was saying this the boys were sitting on the very roof of his lodge listening to the conversation. They sneaked off and returned as though they had come from afar. Although they were forewarned, Wi'sakä managed to get control over them and hold them against their wills. So they decided to stay with him and his grandma and help them hunt. The grandmother, moreover, treated them well.

​

They set out in canoes, Wi'sakä and one boy in one, and the grandmother and the other boy in the second. When they camped, Wi'sakä who was jealous, determined to kill the two boys, so he pretended to go off. After a while he returned dressed as a Pawnee warrior. The boys had killed a turkey and were cooking it. They had skimmed off the grease and set it in a bowl by the lodge door. It reflected everything like a mirror, and presently they saw Wi'sakä peeping at them through the smoke hole of the wigwam.

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The hunter boy took up his bow and said: "Grandma, when I got over there where that turkey was I raised my bow like this. I aimed it at the turkey like this, and I shot it like this." At that last moment he let fly his arrow at Wi'sakä above him who rolled off of the lodge with a crash.

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"Oh! what did you shoot?" asked the old lady. "A spy," was the answer, "I saw him reflected in the turkey grease."

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They all ran out, and there lay Wi'sakä, dead, but, as he was still disguised as a Pawnee warrior, they did not recognize him. When one of the boys ran to get the axe to chop off Wi'sakä's head he jumped up. The grandmother begged the boys to spare him, so they trook him to the creek and washed him off. As he had lost an eye, they shot an arrow into the air and called for the eyes of an owl. When they had done this four times, an owl flew up hooting. They took one of its eyes and stuck it into Wi'sakä's socket instead of the one he lost. At first it was crooked, so they had to do it over and over again before it was right. For this reason, the eyes of Wi'sakä are said to look like those of an  owl.

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The boys now decided to steal a canoe and flee at night. When they were safely embarked, they sang a sarcastic song about Wi'sakä.

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"We have lived with this World-maker

With World-maker we have lived."

​

"There they go," said Wi'sakä to his grandmother.

​

"Yes, they left because you abused them. You have lost the two best hunters in the world."

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Wi'sakä felt very sorry, so he climbed a tree to see them, and heard them singing another song:

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"He who calls himself World-maker tried to scare us, but we will show him who we are. He will never see us again, but we will stay around his wigwam invisible and bring him luck. He will  be taken away from the world some day. We should have procured a wolf's eye for him."

​

Next day, Wi'sakä tracked the boys. He asked the wind where they had gone, and it answered; "Oh! I have heard of them. You will have to go up on yonder hill, where there is a big deep water hole on the summit. They are close to it watching to kill game. I you sit there and wait maybe they will come to you."

​

Wi'sakä made himself into a bear and sat by the water hole. The boys came along presently, and one said to the other, "Brother, did you ever see a bear with an owl's eye?" The other laughed. "It looks like Wi'sakä, hunting for us," he said. They looked closer, and they saw where his own skin protruded from the bear's hide. "Hello, Wi'sakä, what do you want?" They asked.

​

Wi'sakä resumed his own form. "Oh! my grandmother is sick and begs you to come home to her."

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"No," replied the youths, "We are taking care of her from where we are. You  are the sick one." Then they vanished, and Wi'sakä returned home and told his grandmother that he had had no luck. Just then the boys entered the lodge. The old lady fed them and told them that Wi'sakä had lied. She opened 's Wi'sakä's sacred bundle and took out a whistle and a tiny warclub. "Here," said she, "You may want something some day from the Powers underground. This warclub will vanquish or break anything from beneath, it comes from the Thunder."

​

"Thank you," the boys said, and went out. They desired to meet Wi'sakä again, so one of them put his ear to the earth and heard Wi'sakä coming, coughing and saying: "If I ever catch those boys, I will take their eyes out and they will have to give me some of their power."

​

When Wi'sakä came up, the boys had altered the appearance of his little sacred warclub. They had put a spike in the head and madean arrow of wax. They took these out and offered them to Wi'sakä. They told him he could break anything with the warclub and that the arrow would make all his journeys shorter. All he had to do was shoot it and go where it fell and he would be at his destinatio. Wi'sakä was much pleased, and said: "I will reward you. You know the lodge close to where grandmother dwells? Go there and you will find that they have two young girls. I was going to marry them, but they will do what I tell them, so you can have them."

​

The boys thanked Wi'sakä and said they would also give him a feather from the thunder-bird to wear in his hair. Wi'sakä knew that the boys derived their powers from the gods of the underworld who are at war with the Thunderers, and wondered how they could get Thunder power, so he asked them if they were lying, which they denied.

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"No, you are the one who is fooling himself," they answered.

​

"How can I fool myself?" asked Wi'sakä. "I never did that."

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"Well, watch and you will learn some day."

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"I wish you would kiss me, before you go," said Wi'sakä, meditating treachery.

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"Oh! no. Wash your face with the water in which your new arrow has been dipped," they told him, "That will be enough."

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The boys ran home and asked Wi'sakä's grandmother who the girls were that had been given to them.

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"Oh! you had better leave them alone," she answered, "They are Wi'sakä's wives, whom I feed."

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"Why! he said that they were unmarried."

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The boys went over as soon as Wi'sakä was asleep and placed a rotten log on each side of him. They set them afire and covered them over. The logs smoked, so that Wi'sakä stuck his head out and coughed. At last he ordered the women to attend the fire, but they did not answer. Meanwhile the invisible boys blew on the fire and made it worse. At last Wi'sakä was burnt, and sprang up. He saw that he was decieved, and the women laughed at him from across the lodge and told him that they would leave him. Wi'sakä threw out the smouldering logs, snatched up his warclub and struck the lodge, which vanished with all that was in it. Then the boys reappeared. "Where are our women?" they demanded. "We saw you hit and beat both of them."

​

Wi'sakä started to run after them with his club to kill them, but he slipped, fell and struck himself on his head breaking it. The boys escaped, and grandmother came over and saw that Wi'sakä had killed himself with his own club. She also saw that her power was gone from it. She blew her whistle and they returned. "Hau pahisä, pahisä," she exclaimed, "My grandson is dead." Wi'sakä raised his head. "Yes, I am nearly gone," said he.

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The boys laughed and brought his head together again, drawing it into a point. They made Wi'sakä's nose sharp, and his mouth huge. "Now you are better off than ever," they told him. "You can drink out of anything." They ran over and told Wolf, "We have made Wi'sakä like a crane, with a long bill. He is likely to come over here, and, if you hate him, as it is said that you do, now you can get even with him."

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Wi'sakä felt proud of his new appearance. "How nicely they have fixed me," he thought, "Now I will change myself into a crane and go over and visit Wolf."

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He went over to Wolf's lodge and called like a crane, so Wolf invited him to eat. "You look good now, ,Wi'sakä," he said.

​

"Oh! yes I am much improved," answered Wi'sakä. Wolf hated whenever he saw him. As they ate, Wolf began to choke on a bone, so Wi'sakä put his head in Wolf's mouth to pull it out. When he did this, Wolf promptly bit his head off, and went away, leaving Wi'sakä dead on the ground. He met the boys and said "I have finished him with his long face." The boys ran over, but Wi'sakä was gone. Presently a cyclone came up and blew away Wolf's home. It would have killed them all, but the boys held up their arrows and cut the wind.

​

Then Wi'sakä thought that the boys were against him. Just then they heard Wi'sakä's grandmother whistle, so they ran to her. "I am going to give you a present because you cannot get along with Wi'sakä", she told them. She handed them some thongs and strings, and a rock, and said: "You don't really need these, but I will give them to you. This is a leather and stone warclub. Through it up in the air, but not at your enemies. It will fall on their heads and kill them." She gave one to each of the boys.

​

The boys went out hunting again, and they saw someone under an overhanging rock. They peeped in and could only see his feet. They watched, and finally saw that it was really Wi'sakä, changing himself into a little boy with a bow and arrow. "Now I will go and look for those boys," said he.

​

The boys ran over a hill and returned and met him, but remained invisible. One of Wi'sakä's moccasions became untied, and as he fastened it one of the boys jabbed him in the buttocks with a sharp stick. Wi'sakä sprang up and shouted, "Oh! a snake has bitten me!" The boys threw down one of the thongs that grandma had given them, and it became a snake.

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Wi'sakä went on. "I wish I could get some fish," said he. The boys appeared before him on the creek bank fishing with a thong. "Oh! where have you been?" he asked, "Grandmother wants you." The boys said, "What is the matter with your face?" To this Wi'sakä replied, "Oh! Wolf bit me. I tried to save him from choking, and this is what he did."

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"How would you like to be a helldiver, and catch lots of fish?" the boys asked Wi'sakä.

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"I would be very happy then", said Wi'sakä.

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Thereupon the boys gave Wi'sakä the power to see a great fish under the surface. Said one of the boys, "I will throw this stone down on the fish and it will shine there, so that you can see it more plainly." The boy did as he said, and  Wi'sakä dived after the stone, but the fish swallowed Wi'sakä and the rock both. It swam on across the ocean and then vomited  Wi'sakä up on the opposite shore.

​

The boys went to the grandmother of Wi'sakä and said: "Wi'sakä went across the ocean and took our magic stone with him."

​

"That is too bad," said the old woman, "but Wi'sakä will find his way back by means of that stone."

​

Meanwhile Wi'sakä dreamed that if he threw the stone across the water that he could follow it. He went to the bank and eased himself four times, once in each quarter of the compass. Then he stood in the middle and threw the stone. At first nothing happened, and the little birds of the water refused to help him, but at length Helldiver came along and told Wi'sakä to take one of his feathers, stick it in his ear, and dive. "No," said Wi'sakä, "I am afraid of that fish that swalklowed me."

​

"Well then, take my wings."

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Wi'sakä accepted these, put them on, and became a pelican. He flew across the ocean to the place where the stone lay, and got there just in time to prevent a raccoon from seizing and making off with it. He snatched up the stone and swam out in the deep water with it, and the raccoon spoke to him saying: "I saw two boys searching for you."

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Wi'sakä came ashore and reassumed his own form. "What did you say, my little brother?" he asked the raccoon.

​

"They said if I should find that rock and bring it to them they would take me across the ocean where there are a lot of fish."

​

Wi'sakä would not give up the stone, but went up a hill where he concealed the stone in one of his moccasins, and went to sleep. Raccoon tracked him down, cut open the moccasin, and ran to Wi'sakä grandmother with the stone. The old woman wanted to know where he got it and the raccoon told her that Wi'sakä had given it to him.

​

"Oh! he has been stealing from those boys again," was her comment and she rewwarded the raccoon by tying four shells, one on each leg, at the same time telliong him that no trap would hold him as long as he wore them. But the twin boys were too clever for her, they set a deadfall which did not catch the raccoon by one of his legs, but fell on his back and broke it. Wi'sakä tracked the coon to the trap and demanded of him where the rock was. "Take me out and I will tell you," said the unfortunate animal. He restored the coon and asked, "Where is my stone? That was the biggest medicine I ever had."

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The raccoon led him to his grandmother's. "Grandmother, if this man lies I will kill him. Did he give you my stone?" asked Wi'sakä.

​

"Yes, he did. But it belongs to the two boys."

​

"Oh! no, grandmother, they gave it to me."

​

"Then I will return it to you to save this raccoon."

Just then the invisible twins slipped up to Wi'sakä and blew in his face, and he became fat like a ball and peglegged. They had magically blown the stone into Wi'sakä's belly, and he could not move.

​

"Now we will go away forever," they said.

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The old woman tried in vain to get the stone out. She blew on her whistle, but the boys refused to have pity on her and stayed away. Finally, Wi'sakä began to pass toads and frogs, and the old woman took a bone and bladder and gave him medicine until the rock came away. Then Wi'sakä sprang up and set out to chse the boys, intending to kill them, but as he ran after them, he fell over a precipice into the water, and was never seen again.