Then they laid them down to sleep; but before their slumber came they
heard a doleful, bitter voice chanting aloud and shouting, and it was
_Chamach keg wech_, or the Neckbone, bewailing the scorn that had
been put upon him, and reviling them with all manner of curses. Then
the elder said, "There, truly, I said it. I knew you would be our death
if you did not mind me:" it being in all cases an esteemed solace for
every woman and most men to say, "I told you so!" But the younger,
being well-nigh frightened to a corpse, in a soft whisper implored the
elder to let her hide herself in her roll of hair, [Footnote: That is,
the elder should retain the human form, and the younger become a
weasel.] which the Voice, mocking her, repeated; adding thereto all the
reviling and railing that Mitche-hant, the devil, himself ever yet
invented, and abusing her so for her past life, and exhorting her so
for all the sins, slips, and slaps therein (of which there were many),
that even the impenitent little Weasel repented and wept bitterly.
Howbeit no further harm came to them beyond this, so that the next
morning they went their way in peace; and I warrant you Master Neckbone
got no kicks that day from them, departing. [Footnote: This incident of
the Neckbone is very much like the common nursery tale of Teeny Tiny,
in which an old woman takes home a human bone and puts it in the
cupboard.
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