When the crow had finished talking, the mink jumped on to the ice, and went toward the sea. He went on until he came to a village, but he did not stop at that one; he passed it as his cousin had told him to do, and went on again. Then he came to the second village, but he passed that one too, and at last came to the third village. Here he stopped, and the people were happy when he gave them his cousin’s invitation.
Everybody in the village wanted to go to the feast, and the next morning they all started off.
When they passed the first village, where the crow had told the mink not to stop, two people came out and asked if they might go also.
The mink said, “No, we do not want you.” But they came anyway.
Just before dark the mink got home to the crow. What was his surprise to see a fine village, where he had left only a cabin the day before; and a lot of people coming out to meet him and his guests.
The mink saw his crow cousin surrounded by a crowd of people, all dressed up in fine clothes, looking very fine indeed. The crow was so happy to see the mink coming with the people of the sea village that he started up a great shout. They all shouted loudly, and the crow, in his excitement, forgetting that he was a crow, tried to shout with them, but all he could say was “Caw, caw!”
The two people from the first village, who had not been invited, were watching very closely to see what sort of people these were who gave this great feast, and when they heard the crow shouting, “Caw, caw,” they called, “Look out, friends. We see that the chief of this village is a crow!”
Then the crow spoke up and said, “I am not a crow, people. Don’t be afraid. I promise you a good time. We will dance tonight only, then I will send you home.”
Before the dance they had some races. The marten came first, then the wolf, then the lynx. The Arctic hare came fourth, and fifth, the fox. The Arctic hare could have won first prize if he had wanted to, but he kept sitting down every minute. One of the people, a muskrat, had not come back from the race when the dance started, and when he came in all hot and tired the people laughed and made fun of him. That made him so angry that he was in a great temper, but the crow said, “Don’t you mind them; you are all right.” So he felt better about it.