“Is it possible?” responded the little boy; and for some reason or other he began to grow sleepy, and said: “Now, let us go to sleep, mother.”
So he lay down and slept. Just as soon as it was light the next morning he aroused himself, dressed, took his bow and arrows, and, placing them in a corner near the ladder, said: “Oh, mother, give me my breakfast; I want to go and shoot some little birds. I would like to have some roasted birds for dinner.”
She gave him his breakfast as quickly as she could, and he ran down the ladder and went to shooting at the birds, until he happened to see that his mother and others were out of sight; then he skulked into the sagebrush and went as straight as he could for the den of the _Misho_ Lizards. There happened to be two young ones sunning themselves outside, and they said:
“Ah, my fine little fellow, glad to see you this morning. Come in, come in; the old ones will be very much pleased to entertain you. Come in!”
“Thank you,” said the boy. He walked in, but he felt under his coat to see if a huge lump of rock salt he had was still there.
“Sit right down here,” said the old people. The whole den was filled with these _Misho_ Lizards, and they were excessively polite, every one of them.
The boy sat down, and the old _Misho_ said to the young ones: “Hurry up, now; be quick!” And they began to throw their venom at him, and continued until he was all covered with it; but, knowing beforehand, and being the child of the gods, he was prepared and protected, and it did him no harm.
“Thank you, thank you,” said the boy. “I will do the same thing.” Then he pulled out the salt and pushed it down into the fire, where it exploded and entirely used up the whole council of _Misho_ Lizards.
“There!” cried the boy. “Thus would you have done unto me, thus unto you.”
He took two fine ones and cut out their hearts, then started for home. When he arrived there, he climbed the ladder and suspended the two hearts beside that of the Bear and went down into the house, saying, “Well, mother, is dinner ready?”
“There now,” said she, “I know it. I saw you hang those hearts up. You have been down there.”
“Yes,” said he, “they are all gone--every solitary one of them.”