When the water began to boil, the spirits of the men whose hearts were in the basket began to talk in the brush outside the house; then they went into the house and talked to the women. When the women didn’t answer, they pushed them and scolded. But the women didn’t look up, didn’t speak. After a while, there was a great noise, laughing and talking, then each man took his place by the fire. The old woman said to them: “You should keep still; you have made me feel lonesome. You have been dead; I put ashes on my head and mourned for you.” The eldest Wus said: “Why did you feel lonesome? You knew our brother had power, that nobody could kill him and that he could save us.” They were glad when they saw their sister. She said: “Those men treated me badly; they wouldn’t give me anything to eat, and they threw me back and forth across the fire.” “I am glad they didn’t make you eat our hearts,” said the eldest brother. “Those people sometimes make their captives eat the hearts of their own brothers and kin.” LOK AND KÉKINA CHARACTERS Lok Bear Kékina Lizard Wus Fox Five Lok brothers and their sister lived in a house on a mountain near Klamath Lake; not far away lived old woman Wus with her two nephews, the Kékina brothers. They were orphans; the Lok brothers had killed their father and their mother. In summer Wus had had the children gather roots and store them in a tree for winter. When winter came the younger boy went three times each day to the top of the tree to eat a few of the roots. As he went, he called out: “Spring is coming! Spring is coming!” Lok’s sister had a big pile of roots hidden under the ground. She never gave any to Wus; she was always watching around to see what Wus taught the boys. Wus didn’t teach them anything. She didn’t dare to; but the elder boy knew how to make poison arrows. One morning when little Kékina ran out to the tree, he cried: “Spring is coming! Spring is coming!” and brought down a few roots for his brother. The Lok woman heard him, and asked: “Why do you tell such a lie? Spring isn’t coming. It is winter. When you see smoke on the mountains, then spring will come.” To the elder brother Lok said: “You are good for nothing; you sit all day making arrows, but you can’t kill anything.” Old woman Wus cried, but the boy told her and his little brother not to answer Lok; if they did, Lok would tell her brothers, and they might come and kill them. Once when the little boy was outside, Lok said to him: “Little boy, I feel mean toward you; you tell lies about spring coming.” That evening Lok watched him and was mad when he called out: “Spring is coming! Spring is coming!” for every time he called, it hurried spring along, and she liked winter. She went to the tree where the roots were hidden, spat on her hands, took hold of the top of the tree, pulled it down, rolled the roots in a ball, and swallowed them.