9. The Fire-Wind

9. THE FIRE-WIND.

One morning a hot wind blew. It blew from the west. The wind there was getting hotter. One man was talking thus: "Why is it that this wind is getting so very hot?" Dry was the world (river). Indeed, (to their) surprise, the fire-wind was seen as it was coming. Some people had stored away seal-paunches. There they put the small children. (People) could not run away on the earth. The whole world was afire, (and also) the mud. It seemed to boil whenever the fire passed by.

One man was thus talking: "How would it be if we should run away there?" Surely, they ran away there. They rubbed themselves with mud. Every one carried (had) small boards. As soon as the fire was coming, they lay down in the mud on their stomachs. They placed the boards in front of them, and the fire went over (the boards). So far apart the fire-wind kept on coming. Five (gusts), one following another, were coming. "We should easily be able to dodge it, because it is coming far apart." Every time (a gust) came, they would place the boards in front.

Thus the story is being told. They know it that way.