The two made a basket as tight and firm as they could. They waxed their hands so they could hold the Head. Then they rowed to the other side of the river and waited; soon they heard the Head coming, with a terrible whizzing and noise. It struck the bank: “Dum! dum!” and called out: “Come and take me over!” When it saw the two old women, it asked: “Why didn’t young people come for me?” “They are afraid of you,” said one of the old women. “They must come. I won’t cross with you; you will throw me into the river.” “No, we won’t. We want to put you in our basket and take you over in the right way, so people in later times won’t make fun of you.” “How can I look out and see what you are doing?” “You can look through the cracks in the basket.” “Will you carry me into your house when you get over?” “Yes, we will take good care of you.” At last the Head said: “I’ll go. Take me up carefully.” When they got the Head into the basket, it screamed and tried to get out, said: “I can’t see. Let me out!” “We are almost over,” said the women. “Keep still; you are all right. Now we are going to get out of the canoe. We are across the river.” They were only in the middle of the river. They took up the basket and dropped it into the water. It went up and down many times, for the Head was trying hard to get out. When the basket got near the bank, people pushed it away with long poles. After a while it got so heavy with water that it sank. Then the old women said: “This world wasn’t made for such things as you are. Hereafter you will only show yourself to scare doctors; you will be their medicine, and tell them what to do.” When the Head was drowned, the sister went back to Kûlta’s house. Kûlta was off on the mountains, roaming around; when he saw his wife coming he was glad, and went to meet her. He said: “My sisters were proud of their scratching sticks. They scratched their arms, scratched till all the skin and flesh was off, then they scratched their legs and bodies, scratched till only bones were left, then they died. I was scared, and ran away.” Kûlta built a big fire and burned up his sister’s bones, and the sacks of dried snake heads and frog heads. When the snakes came to life and tried to get out of the fire Kûlta and his wife pushed them in, but they couldn’t watch all of them; some got away and ran off among the rocks, and that is why there are so many snakes in the world now. When the fire had burned down, and only ashes were left, Kûlta said: “I can’t stay here where my sisters died. I will make a house south of here, by the river.” While the woman was poking in the ashes, a big rattlesnake sprang at her. Kûlta heard the snake rattle. He struck it with a long pole, and it ran away. Then the woman began to vomit up all kinds of terrible stuff, pieces of snake skin and fish skin, and pieces of snake heads. Kûlta said: “This is always the way when women eat snake heads, and such things, but with men it is different.”