an to
descend the mountain side with terrible rapidity. Wesakchak clung
desperately to the icy block, and felt himself going with it and the
loose pieces of rock and the small trees which it uprooted on its way.
As they came down, the speed became greater, until at last they were
bounding over huge stones and across chasms, and with one terrible leap
Wesakchak flew through the air and alighted on the ground at the foot
of the mountain. Behind them their pathway down the mountain side was
marked by a deep ravine cut in the rocky sides of the hill. And around
Wesakchak lay ice and stones and uprooted trees.

He lay perfectly still, for he was rendered insensible with the
terrible force with which he had fallen. After several hours he opened
his eyes, but was too weak to move. He could hear the voices of two
wolves near him. One was saying, "He is dead. Let us go and eat him,
for I am very hungry." Then the other wolf answered, "No, he is not
dead, and I think he is Wesakchak, for look, see his suit made of the
feathers of birds. It is only Wesakchak who has a suit like that."

Wesakchak heard all this, but he could not move or speak.

As he lay there with his eyes open, he noticed two eagles circling high
in the air above him. This aroused him, and he called to the wolves in
a faint voice, "My brothers, come near to me." The wolves seemed
surprised, but they came slowly to his side.

"You were arguing a moment ago as to whether I was dead," said
Wesakchak to them. "Now you can see I am not dead, but I wish you to
pretend to be eating me, for I want those eagles to come down, and if
they think I am dead, they will come so that they can make a meal off
me, too."

The wolves did as he asked them and pretended to be eating him. When
the eagles saw this, they hovered lower for a moment or two, then
darted down. Wesakchak was lying with his two arms stretched out at
full length, and now the eagles began to peck at the palms of his
hands. At once he grabbed them by the feathers on their heads.

"Now I have you," he said. "You shall be punished for playing such a
trick as this on me."

The eagles pulled desperately to try and get away, and Wesakchak clung
just as desperately to their heads. At last, with one mighty jerk,
they pulled their heads free, but Wesakchak still held the feathers in
his hands and their heads were bald.

"This shall be your punishment, then," said Wesakchak, very sternly.
"From t