“When the tricky raccoon heard this he hurried back and at once untied the rope from the bushes and refastened it to the post near the water.  When the second brother came along he easily found the water, and filling the kettle he returned to the wigwam where he vigorously accused his brother of lying.  He, poor fellow, could not understand it and was much perplexed.

“The preparation of their dinner went on, and soon it was ready.  There was, however, another one present that the blind men had no suspicion of, and that was the raccoon, who had now noiselessly come into the wigwam and greedily sat watching the preparations.  This dinner consisted of eight pieces of meat which, when cooked, were placed in their rogan, or wooden bowl.  When ready they sat down with this bowl between them and began to eat.  Each took a piece of meat, and they talked of various things while they ate.

“The raccoon now noiselessly took four of the pieces of meat out of the bowl and began eating them.  Soon one of the men reached into the bowl, to get another piece of meat, and finding only two pieces left, he said: 

“’My brother, you must be very hungry, to eat so fast.  I have only had one piece of meat, and there are only two left.’

“‘I have not taken them,’ was the reply, ’but I suspect that you are the greedy one who has eaten them.’

“This made the other brother very angry, and as they thus went on arguing, the raccoon, to make matters worse, and to have, as he told Nanahboozhoo, some more sport with the old blind fellows, hit each of them a smart blow on the face.  The poor old men, each believing that the other had struck him, began to fight; and so they upset the rogan and lost the rest of their dinner and nearly set the wigwam on fire.

“The raccoon then seized the two remaining pieces of meat and the bowl, and, with shouts of laughter, rushed out of the wigwam.  The old men, hearing this, perceived that they had been fooled, and they at once stopped fighting and apologized to each other.

“The raccoon’s rascally trick made Nanahboozhoo very angry.  Indeed he had had a good deal of trouble to keep from letting the raccoon know who he was.  So just as soon as the raccoon had finished he said: 

“’I am Nanahboozhoo.  Those old blind men are my brothers, and I’ll teach you a lesson you will never forget!’

“So he seized the raccoon and killed him, and carried his body back to the tent of the blind men and made out of it a great feast for them, and declared that in future the old raccoons should have to carry as many circles on their tails as pieces of meat that had been stolen out of the rogan of the blind men.”

“Good for Nanahboozhoo!” shouted Sagastao.  “Mr. Raccoon couldn’t play any tricks on him.  Now tell us another story.”

But here Minnehaha interposed.

“I think,” said she, “we had better go home now, for father and mother may begin to think they have lost their little ones.”