At the edge of the Great Water the youth prepared to cross, while his companion seated himself on the shore, closed his eyes, and recited a spell. In a moment the young man found himself on the opposite shore. Here he found a lodge inhabited by two aged Thunder-men, who were apparently given to eating human beings. The young stranger made the discovery that his hat rendered him invisible, and he was able to move unseen among the creatures. Taking off his hat for a moment, he took the pipe from the lips of a Thunder-man and pressed it against the latter's hand. "Oh," cried the Thunder-man, "I am burnt!" But the youth had clapped on his hat and disappeared. "It is not well," said the Thunder-man gravely. "A stranger has been here and we have let him escape. {291} When our brother returns he will not believe us if we tell him the man has vanished." Shortly after this another Thunder-man entered with the body of a man he had killed. When the brothers told him their story he was quite sceptical. "If I had been here," said he, "I would not have let him escape." As he spoke the youth snatched his pipe from him and pressed it against the back of his hand. "Oh," said the Thunder-man, "I am burnt!" "It was not I," said one brother. "It was not I," said the other. "It was I," said the youth, pulling off his hat and appearing among them. "What were you talking about among yourselves? Here I am. Do as you said." But the Thunder-men were afraid. "We were not speaking," they said, and the youth put on his hat and vanished. "What will our brother say," cried the three in dismay, "when he hears that a man has been here and we have not killed him? Our brother will surely hate us." In a few minutes another Thunder-man came into the lodge, carrying the body of a child. He was very angry when he heard that they had let a man escape. The youth repeated his trick on the new-comer--appeared for a moment, then vanished again. The fifth and last of the brothers was also deceived in the same manner. Seeing that the monsters were now thoroughly frightened, the young man took off his magic hat and talked with them. The Finding of the Snake-Wife "You do wrong," said he, "to eat men like this. You should eat buffaloes, not men. I am going away. {292} When I come back I will visit you, and if you are eating buffaloes you shall remain, but if you are eating men I shall send you away." The Thunder-men promised they would eat only buffaloes in future, and the young man went on his way to seek for the Snake-woman. When at last he came to the village where she dwelt he found she had married a man of another tribe, and in a great rage he swung the sword the magician had given him and slew her, and her husband, and the whole village, after which he returned the way he had come. When he reached the lodge of the Thunder-men he saw that they had not kept their promise to eat only buffaloes.