As soon as he reached his house, he made a fine staff, tied the charms to it and planted it firmly in the ground before the door. Then he went in, and rolling himself up in a big bear skin, fell asleep.
He woke up in the morning feeling well rested, and more like himself than at any time since his wife’s disappearance. It was late and the sun had already risen. He hurried out anxiously to look at his stick. It was bent directly toward the North, so he pulled it up and started on his journey, with the staff moving along before him.
For two days and two nights he traveled without rest, having a hard time to keep up with that stick, which hopped along in front of him. Then, being tired, he stuck the staff into the ground and went to sleep.
When he woke, the stick was again pointing North. This time it leaned over more than before.
For three days and nights he traveled, then he slept, and in the morning his faithful staff was bending way over, still toward the North.
“Now my wife cannot be very far away,” he thought.
That night he slept again, and when he awoke, the staff had leaned so far over that the tip almost touched the ground; so he felt sure he must be near his journey’s end.
About noon, when the sun hung very round and very red, low down in the sky, he came to a huge snow house, the biggest house he had ever seen. Right by the house stood four posts close together, and on these posts was hung the skin of an enormous bird.
Hiding himself among some willow bushes, he watched to see what would happen.
Pretty soon a very tall man came out of the house and went to the posts. Climbing up on them, he took the skin, put it on, and flew away over the sea.
When the bird man was out of sight, our friend took his faithful staff and went into the house. There he found his wife, who was very happy to see him.
“I knew you would come and find me,” she said. “That terrible big bird carried me away in his claws; that is why you could not find my footprints in the snow.”
Her husband wanted her to come home with him at once, but she told him that it would be better if she could first see the bird man, who would come back soon again. Her plan was to send the bird man on some far distant fight, so that they might get away during his absence. She gave her husband some food, and he went back to his hiding-place to wait for the bird man to come and go.