XI. The Cause of the Lunar Eclipse
XI.
The Cause of the Lunar Eclipse. 1
The one who always travels at night has ten wives in the west and ten wives also where he rises. In the distant west he always comes out to the ocean and hunts the deer which live on the water. He calls them by saying "wū wū wū wū" He always kills ten and then ten more. Taking ten on his back he carries them to the place where he goes up into the sky. It is there his house is. Then his pets crowd around him, his lions and his rattlesnakes. He divides the deer among the animals but they are not satisfied with one apiece. They jump on him and eat him besides. They leave only his blood. Then Frog who stands in the body of her husband clubs them off and they desist. He goes down in the west, nothing but blood. There his wives brush together the blood and he recovers. He always goes back to the place of rising and there they make him well again.
His pets do not do that way with him every time. Sometimes they get enough and then they quit. When they are not satisfied with the food given them, then they eat him.