A hunter had been all day looking for deer in the mountains without
success until he was completely tired out and sat down on a log to
rest and wonder what he should do, when a buzzard--a bird which
always has magic powers--came flying overhead and spoke to him,
asking him what was his trouble. When the hunter had told his story
the buzzard said there were plenty of deer on the ridges beyond if
only the hunter were high up in the air where he could see them,
and proposed that they exchange forms for a while, when the buzzard
would go home to the hunter's wife while the hunter would go to look
for deer. The hunter agreed, and the buzzard became a man and went
home to the hunter's wife, who received him as her husband, while the
hunter became a buzzard and flew off over the mountain to locate the
deer. After staying some time with the woman, who thought always it
was her real husband, the buzzard excused himself, saying he must go
again to look for game or they would have nothing to eat. He came to
the place where he had first met the hunter, and found him already
there, still in buzzard form, awaiting him. He asked the hunter what
success he had had, and the hunter replied that he had found several
deer over the ridge, as the buzzard had said. Then the buzzard restored
the hunter to human shape, and became himself a buzzard again and flew
away. The hunter went where he had seen the deer and killed several,
and from that time he never returned empty-handed from the woods.