Then the oldest boy thundered loud and lightened, and the other
lightened a little, and Cloud said, "It is true, you are my children!"
And before night Cloud fed them, and then went into his kee and shut
it up and left them outside all night. And it rained and snowed all
night, but they staid outside.
And in the morning Cloud came out, and said: "It is really so, that
you are my children."
And the next night he took them to a pond, where there was ice, and
left them there all night. And the next day, when he came there and
found they had staid in the water all night he said: "It is really
so--you are my children."
So Cloud acknowledged them for his children and took them into his
kee. And after awhile the boys wanted to go back to their mother,
and Cloud said: "You may go, but you must not speak to anybody on
the way. And I will be with you on the journey."
So the boys started, and cloud was over them, in the sky, shadowing
them.
And after a while they saw a man coming, and the younger boy said:
"We must ask him how our mother is."
But the older brother said: "Don't you remember that our father told
us not to speak to anyone?"
The younger said: "Yes, I remember, but it would not be right not
ask how our mother is."
So when the man came the boy asked: "How is everybody at home, and
how is the old woman, our mother?"
And then the cloud above them lightened and thundered, and they were
both turned into century plants.