human
She is worth a price, Neegah complained to the gathering by the council-fire, when the six white men were asleep.
gpt
She is worth a price, for we have more men than women, and the men be bidding high. The hunter Ounenk offered me a kayak, new-made, and a gun which he got in trade from the Hungry Folk. This was I offered, and behold, now she is gone and I have nothing!
human
I, too, did bid for Mesahchie,
gpt
Thou, too, Neegah affirmed.
human
And there were others. Why is there such a restlessness upon the Sunlanders? he demanded petulantly.
gpt
Why do they not stay at home? The Snow People do not wander to the lands of the Sunlanders.
human
Better were it to ask why they come,
gpt
Ay! Why they come!
human
Men do not dig in the ground for nothing, he began.
gpt
And I have it in mind of the Whale People, who are likewise Sunlanders, and who lost their ship in the ice. You all remember the Whale People, who came to us in their broken boats, and who went away into the south with dogs and sleds when the frost arrived and snow covered the land. And you remember, while they waited for the frost, that one man of them dug in the ground, and then two men and three, and then all men of them, with great excitement and much disturbance. What they dug out of the ground we do not know, for they drove us away so we could not see. But afterward, when they were gone, we looked and found nothing. Yet there be much ground and they did not dig it all.
human
Ay, Aab-Waak! Ay!
gpt
Wherefore I have it in mind, he concluded,
human
But how can it be that Bill-Man speaks our tongue? demanded a little weazened old hunter,--
gpt
Bill-Man, upon whom never before our eyes have rested?
human
Bill-Man has been other times in the Snow Lands, Aab-Waak answered,
gpt
Their sugar is very good, Neegah commented,
human
They have great wealth, Ounenk added.
gpt
Yesterday I was to their ship, and beheld most cunning tools of iron, and knives, and guns, and flour, and sugar, and strange foods without end.
human
It is so, brothers! Tyee stood up and exulted inwardly at the respect and silence his people accorded him.
gpt
They be very rich, these Sunlanders. Also, they be fools. For behold! They come among us boldly, blindly, and without thought for all of their great wealth. Even now they snore, and we are many and unafraid.
human
Mayhap they, too, are unafraid, being great fighters,
gpt
Nay, it would not seem so. They live to the south, under the path of the sun, and are soft as their dogs are soft. You remember the dog of the Whale People? Our dogs ate him the second day, for he was soft and could not fight. The sun is warm and life easy in the Sun Lands, and the men are as women, and the women as children.
human
It is said they are good to their women, who do little work,
gpt
Thou wouldst follow the feet of Mesahchie, eh? he cried angrily. Then he turned swiftly to the tribesmen.
human
Look you, brothers, this is the way of the Sunlanders! They have eyes for our women, and take them one by one. As Mesahchie has gone, cheating Neegah of her price, so will Likeeta go, so will they all go, and we be cheated. I have talked with a hunter from the Bear People, and I know. There be Hungry Folk among us; let them speak if my words be true.