Kyehe's nephew said, 'I will throw stones at them and drive them off! '
Skunk said, 'I will spray my scent at them and tear their eyes out!'
Porcupine said, 'I will run my quills through them if the come near me!'
Only Turtle said nothing. He just sat and looked about him, blinking sleepily, as turtles do.
While they were discussing their courses of action, Eagle and his friends appeared in the sky overhead. Imeadiately everyone forgot his brave resolve and fled towards a tall tree growing nearby, each scrambling over the other in his haste to reach the uppermost branches.
Once more Eagle swooped down on Kyehe's lodge, and hovered over the smoke-hole. The feather was no longer there!
Then animals looked round in suprise, and saw that, in the confusion, Turtle had carried it away! They watched Turtle plodding off through the woods with Eagle's feather clamped firmly in his jaws, and felt very frightened.
'We must try to stop him 'they gasped. 'He will put us all in danger.'
Porcupine climbed down from the tree and ran after Turtle. 'Stop! Stop!' he shouted. 'You must return the feather to the Eagle!' But Turtle kept on walking.
Porcupine was in a great quandary. 'Since he will not give back the feather, I had better hel him, 'he thought and he clambered onto Turtle's back to try to shield him from Eagle's view.
As they traveled along in this way, Porcupine scattered ashes in an attempt to conceal Turtle's tracks. Unfortunately, the asheshad quite the oppostite effect, only serving to make the tracks more conspicuous. Eagle and his friends had no difficulty at all in following Turtle and they soon caught up with him. Porcupine, fearing for his own safety, jumped off and beat a hasy retreat.
Seeing that he was surrounded, Turtle tucked the feather inside his shell, and drew in his head and legs. The birds began to beat him with sticks, but that, of course, had no effect on Turtles shell, so they decided to devise some other means of punnishment.
Gathering some dry leaves, and twigs, the built a fire and threw Turtle into it, but Turtle pretended that it was all a game to him, and laughed and rolled around in the flames as if he were enjoying himself tremendously.
Eagle was beside himself with rage. 'Since fire does not worry you,' he shouted, 'we will throw you in the river instead!'


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