Soon they came to a swamp, and Kana'ti told them there was something
dangerous there and they must keep away from it. He went on ahead,
but as soon as he was out of sight the Wild Boy said to his brother,
"Come and let us see what is in the swamp." They went in together, and
in the middle of the swamp they found a large panther asleep. The Wild
Boy got out an arrow and shot the panther in the side of the head. The
panther turned his head and the other boy shot him on that side. He
turned his head away again and the two brothers shot together--tust,
tust, tust! But the panther was not hurt by the arrows and paid no more
attention to the boys. They came out of the swamp and soon overtook
Kana'ti, waiting for them. "Did you find it?" asked Kana'ti. "Yes,"
said the boys, "we found it, but it never hurt us. We are men." Kana'ti
was surprised, but said nothing, and they went on again.
After a while he turned to them and said, "Now you must be careful. We
are coming to a tribe called the Anada'dûñtaski ("Roasters," i. e.,
cannibals), and if they get you they will put you into a pot and feast
on you." Then he went on ahead. Soon the boys came to a tree which
had been struck by lightning, and the Wild Boy directed his brother to
gather some of the splinters from the tree and told him what to do with
them. In a little while they came to the settlement of the cannibals,
who, as soon as they saw the boys, came running out, crying, "Good,
here are two nice fat strangers. Now we'll have a grand feast!" They
caught the boys and dragged them into the townhouse, and sent word
to all the people of the settlement to come to the feast. They made
up a great fire, put water into a large pot and set it to boiling,
and then seized the Wild Boy and put him down into it. His brother
was not in the least frightened and made no attempt to escape, but
quietly knelt down and began putting the splinters into the fire,
as if to make it burn better. When the cannibals thought the meat
was about ready they lifted the pot from the fire, and that instant
a blinding light filled the townhouse, and the lightning began to
dart from one side to the other, striking down the cannibals until
not one of them was left alive. Then the lightning went up through
the smoke-hole, and the next moment there were the two boys standing
outside the townhouse as though nothing had happened. They went on and
soon met Kana'ti, who seemed much surprised to see them, and said,
"What! are you here again?" "O, yes, we never give up. We are great
men!" "What did the cannibals do to you?" "We met them and they brought
us to their townhouse, but they never hurt us." Kana'ti said nothing
more, and they went on.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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