Now, when the Duck heard his cry, lo! it was so like to her own that
she came closer by than any, answering loudly. And when they were thus
come near to each other, much related appeared they, strange as that
may seem. Forasmuch as he was of all times the listener and speaker,
and therein wisest of all men, so was she of all regions the traveler
and searcher, knowing all ways, whether above or below the waters,
whether in the north, the west, the south, or the east, and therein was
the most knowing of all creatures. Thus the wisdom (_yúyananak‘ya_) of
the one comprehended (_aíyuhetok‘ya_) the knowledge (_ánikwanak‘ya_)
of the other, and K‘yäk´lu in the midst of his lamentations besought
counsel and guidance, crying--
Ha-na-ha! ha-na-ha! a-hah-hua!
O, grandmother! Where am I straying
So far from my country and people?
All speeches I know, of my sitting
In councils of men and the beings,
Since first in the depths they had being!
But of far ways, alas! I am kenless!
Ha-na-ha! ha-na-ha! a-hah-hua!
The mountains are white, and the valleys;
All plains are like others in whiteness;
And even the light of our father
The Sun, as he rises and passes,
Makes all ways more hidden of whiteness!
For in brightness my eyes see but darkness--
And in darkness all ways are bewildered!
Ha-na-ha! ha-na-ha! a-hah-hua!
In the winds, lo! I hear the directions;
But the winds speak the ways of all regions,
Of the north and the west and the southward,
Of the east and of upward and downward,
They tell not the way to the Middle!
They tell not the way to my people!
Ha-na-ha! ha-na-ha! a-hah-hua!
"Hold, my child, my father," said the Duck. "Think no longer sad
thoughts. Though thou be blind, yet thou _hearest_ all as I _see_ all.
Give me, therefore, tinkling shells from thy girdle and place them
on my neck and in my beak. Thus may I guide thee with my seeing if so
be thou by thy hearing grasp and hold firmly my trail. For look, now!
Thy country and the way thither well I know, for I go that way each
year leading the wild goose and the crane, who flee thither as winter
follows."
And so the K‘yäk´lu placed his talking shells on the neck of the Duck,
and in her beak placed the singing shells, which ever in his speakings
and listenings K‘yäk´lu had been wont to wear at his girdle; and albeit
painfully and lamely, yet he did follow the sound she made with these
shells, perching lightly on his searching outstretched hand, and did
all too slowly follow her swift flight from place to place wherein she,
anon, going forth would await him and urge him, ducking her head that
the shells might call loudly, and dipping her beak that they might
summon his ears as the hand summons the eyes. By and by they came to
the country of thick rains and mists on the borders of the Snow World,
and passed from water to water, until at last, lo! wider waters lay in
their way. In vain the Duck called and jingled her shells from over the
midst of them, K‘yäk´lu could not follow. All maimed was he; nor could
he swim or fly as could the Duck.