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And another day I spent in the settlement, not particularly threatened, but not reassured either. Filled with worries, I tried to ask the tribesmen about my position, but nobody was willing to say much. I tried to ask the shaman himself, but he did not answer. Liide once again assured me that everything would be explained to me later, and I began to regret becoming acquainted with him in the first place.
At night I once again was brought to the ravine, and I once again listened to a story by the shaman. This is how it went.
***
Sometime after Onjiide exposed the atrocity his tribe had been indulging in, Treacherous Raven was flying over the Dry Mountains deep in the south. Niqh was hiding there at the time, and seeing the Raven he called him up.
“Bring me food,” Niqh told the Raven, “and in exchange, I will do what you ask of me.”
“Hey, little curly one,” the Raven answered, “I have heard the story of your endeavor with Khiriifia. You won’t fool me that easily!”
But Niqh pleaded again,
“Bring me food, and I will do what you want. I will do it immediately so that you believe me.”
And the Raven answered,
“How about you do what I want first, and then I bring you food?”
“But I cannot do much without the food!”
“How much do you want then?”
Niqh asked the Raven to bring him a human's dog, and for that, the Raven agreed.
He flew to the tribe of Yunjiide and Onjiide, and said to them,
“Hey, naked useless hunters, would you like to know the whereabouts of the Nasty Serpent Niqh?”
The Humans wanted that indeed.
“Then give me two of your beloved dogs,” he said, “so that I can feed them to him and thus distract him, while you will be crawling up to him with your weapons.”
“How are we to trust you though?” Onjiide asked.
“You may choose to trust me, you may choose not to. My way is to offer, and yours is to choose.”
The men of the tribe discussed the matter between themselves in a holy language. They thought the Raven didn't understand that language, but the Raven did, and so he heard and understood everything. The men decided to catch two wild dogs and give them to the Raven, pretending they were their own. So they settled and told the Raven they agreed, and the Raven pretended he did not know what they had been saying earlier.
The men went out and caught two wild dogs, and put them into a net. They brought it to the Raven and he asked surprisingly,
“Why are your dogs so fierce and angry?”
The men said that was exactly the reason why they were giving them away, and the Raven pretended to believe them. So, they went out to where the Raven showed them where Niqh was; he flew ahead with the net, and the band of men with spears and javelins followed him.
They arrived at the place, and the Raven opened the net; he ate one of the dogs himself and dropped another one to Niqh. Niqh was ready to eat it, but the wild dog itself caught him instead and carried him away. The band of men sprinted after them, but could not chase them.
“You deceived us!” they shouted at the Raven when they returned, but the Raven said,
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“Speak for yourself! I asked you to bring your dogs, and you brought the wild ones! Who is the deceiver here? Whose fault is this, that things went wrong?”
The men acknowledged their mistake. Meanwhile, the Raven told them that he knew where Niqh would be, and he knew how to still get him, but the men would have to bring a bigger game now.
“Bring me two aurochs, and don’t cheat on me now!” he said to the men.
The men went out into the savanna to hunt for the two aurochs, and the Raven flew to the rock, under which Niqh was hidden. The dog had already been overcome and killed, and Niqh was healing his wounds.
“You treacherous bird!” he hissed at the Raven. “You brought this wild creature, and you led those hunters to me!”
“I brought you a dog,” the Raven answered. “The humans gave it to me, hence it was ‘theirs’, the rest is none of my concern, and I am not aware how they found the way to you. Now, how about you now fetch me two seals from the Maragorian Sea?”
“How am I to fetch anything? I am still hungry!”
“You fetch me two seals, and I will bring you a whole auroch!”
The serpent crawled away to fetch the seals for the Raven, and the Raven flew off to meet the hunters. The hunters brought two aurochs, and the Raven took them and flew off to the place where he knew Niqh would be, the men following him. He arrived at the place, and the serpent was there with two seals from the Maragorian Sea. He ate one of the aurochs and threw another one to the Serpent, and then said,
“Beware, the people seem to have found your tracks again!”
“Oh, but what am I to do now?”
“Well, you fetch me two sturgeons from the Maragor Sea, and I may help you avoid them.”
“You want too much, bird. I already brought you two seals from the sea!:
“Those seals were for the dog, and now you bring me two sturgeons, and I will deal with the hunters!”
“No, bird. We will do it like this: you bring me an elephant, and then I will give two sturgeons, and then I will deal with the pesky naked hunters myself!”
So they settled, and the Raven flew to the band of hunters who were approaching from afar, the seal in his beak. He approached them and threw the seal to them and said,
“A long way you’ve made, but an even longer one you have yet to do. Here’s for your meal, restore your strength.”
The people were hungry and tired indeed, so they accepted the present from the Raven. The bird, meanwhile, said to them.
“I know where the serpent hides, but we will need even more game to distract him. Once you’ve eaten – bring me two elephants, which I will throw at him, so that he will be busy while you crawl up to him with your weapons.”
And so, the hunters had a meal and went into the savanna. They returned with two elephants, and the Serpent returned with two sturgeons, and both parties faced each other unexpectedly. Both parties saw what each of them was carrying, and both grew suspicious.
“Well, you treacherous bird!” the serpent hissed in spite.
“Well, you unscrupulous scavenger!” the people cried.
The bird, meanwhile, ate one of the elephants and threw the other one to the serpent. Then he ate one of the sturgeons and threw the second one to the hunters.
“I don’t know why you all say these bad words,” he said, satisfied. “I always fulfill my agreements.”
“That was not our agreement!” the hunters pleaded. “You said you would distract him!”
“And so I did! Look, he’s eating the elephant,” the Raven said, and it was true, because the Serpent indeed ate the elephant and grew into a monstrous beast, and was now towering over the hunters.
“And you said, you didn’t know how they found me!”
“But I truly did not know the ways by which they approached you!”
“Well, I will show you the way your head flies in the air without the rest of your body, after I deal with these hunters!”
And with that, the serpent charged at the hunters, and the hunters fought back, and a huge battle unfolded. The Raven, meanwhile, ate the sturgeon which nobody seemed to care about and flew away, saying,
“I do my deals well, and you do you!”
The Treacherous Scavenger flew away, and the fight between the serpent and the hunters went on. But the hunters knew that they were outpowered, so soon ran away, and they had to run fast and long to escape the mighty serpent. They had run for four days, and they outran the beast because they were smaller and prompter and because the beast was getting weaker without food. The Serpent had to go into hiding once again and plot another way of getting food.
As for the Raven – let it be a tale of caution that nobody ever ought to deal with the heinous bird, for he always acts only for his own gain. Even Onjiide could not outplay him, and he was one of the smartest people, and even Niqh could not unravel his deceiving, and he is a deceiver himself.
***
The story was over, and just like before, we went back to the settlement. Of all the nights that I had had prior, this one was the worst, as I did not and could not sleep. I was exceedingly worried as to what exactly was the arrangement here that I was part of, and what role in it was prepared for me.