Story 21—
Interlude:
Water Plume and Himmult
After they destroyed everything there, they made camp for a while, and they had a little trouble among themselves. The trouble was this. In the world where these Wooshkam came from, people lived in
different, separated groups just as we do here now. There was one leader for each district, or group. Now, it happened [after the emergence] that the leader of one group was named Schroduk see oo da kum, "Water Plume."[c] He was very good at hunting, a sharpshooter, and so his people knew he had the power to kill.
As the people traveled, these [Water Plume's] people were killing the best game, deer and birds, and they were selfish in their understanding toward others. Then the other people took this power away from them [Water Plume's band or tribe], and they took it away from another tribe, too.
Juan doesn't understand the words, but he knows it's a prayer to the medicine man to get back what he knew before, how to kill. And he knows that these people who had lost that power had become sleepy and lazy. The song asks for the medicine man to give back their former understanding [and power 
].
The name of the leader of the other group was Himmult. When these two chiefs found what had been done to them, they went to a medicine man and told him their troubles in prayers. One of them gave the medicine man a soft feather, and the other gave him a bead. Then Water Plume sang a song.
Then Himmult sang.
The medicine man got the soft feather and bead and held them up in his hand. He held the hand on his
breast, and then he straightened up—he'd been bowing down.[3] Then he sang to Water Plume.
Then he sang to Himmult (song means same thing), and then he restored their understanding. They went away and hunted and killed and were free from then on.