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In the corner of the room was a pile of cushions, and these Kisa arranged as a bed. Ingibjorg, who by this time was nearly fainting from all she had gone through, drank greedily some milk, and then sank back on the cushions while Kisa fetched some dried herbs from a cupboard, soaked them in warm water and tied them on the bleeding legs.
'Yes, it is quite true what Kisa said, answered the queen; 'I should have liked to see her again. Perhaps, some day, she will return, and then you must bring her to me. Next morning it was very hot, and the princess declared that she must go and play in the forest, where it was always cool, under the big shady trees.
'We will talk about that by-and-by, said the cat, as she made her best bow, and turned her horse's head. The princess was very unhappy when Kisa left her without even bidding her farewell. She would neither eat nor drink, nor take any notice of all the beautiful dresses her parents bought for her. 'She will die, unless we can make her laugh, one whispered to the other.
And the cat came in, holding up the two neat little feet in their silver slippers. 'In two minutes they shall be as tight as ever they were! said Kisa. And taking some strings of the magic grass which the giant had carelessly heaped on them, she bound the feet on to the legs above. 'Of course you won't be able to walk for some time; you must not expect that, she continued.
But before Kisa could answer, Ingibjorg's attendants arrived breathless on the scene, and were so horrified at the sight of a strange cat, that Kisa plunged into the bushes and went back to the forest. The princess was very much vexed with her ladies-in-waiting for frightening away her old playfellow, and told the queen who came to her room every evening to bid her good-night.
The dance begins late in the afternoon and lasts less than one hour, but while it is in progress the action is intense. The snakes are carried in a bag or jar from the Kiva to the Kisa, built of cotton-wood boughs on one side of the plaza, where the snakes are banded out to the dancers.
The pain vanished at once, and Ingibjörg looked up and smiled at Kisa. 'You will go to sleep now, said the cat, 'and you will not mind if I leave you for a little while. I will lock the door, and no one can hurt you. But before she had finished the princess was asleep. Then Kisa got into the cart, which was standing at the door, and catching up the reins, drove straight to the giant's cave.
'The first day that I can spare I shall just go back and kill her, he said; 'it would never do for people in the forest to know that a mere girl can defy me! And he and his wife were so busy calling Ingibjorg all sorts of names for her bad behaviour, that they never noticed Kisa stealing into a dark corner, and upsetting a whole bag of salt into the great pot before the fire.
And so it has been; and if you look at the eyes of an asp you will see that they are all burnt; and though thousands and thousands of years have gone by since the fox was going about playing tricks upon everybody he met, the asp still bears the traces of the day when the sly creature cooked the salmon. Kisa the Cat
Several hours later these snakes are used in the public Snake Dance, and until that time they are herded on the floor of the kiva by a delegated pair of snake priests assisted by several boys of the Snake Clan, novices, whose fearless handling of the snakes is remarkable. Close in front of the Kisa is a small hole made in the ground, covered by a board.
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