So the hearth goddess went to look for him, dressing herself properly, and arming herself with a metal fan.  She entered the house of the water goddess and found her husband there.  She pulled down the hearth pothook and shook it violently, challenging the water goddess to a duel of magic powers.  The husband was to be the prize of the contest.

She took out her metal fan, decorated on both sides with pictures of burning fire and scorching rays of sunlight.  The goddess of the waters drew out her metal fan as well, with its pictures of frozen clouds and summer rainstorms.  The goddess of the waters pointed her metal fan at the fire goddess and a terrible winter storm instantly engulfed her.  The fire goddess pointed her metal fan toward the source of the storm and deadly heat came streaming down from the pictures of the scorching sunlight.

The water goddess seemed on the verge of death, but with great effort she pointed toward the fire goddess the part of her metal fan that pictured the summer rainstorms.  The fire goddess then pointed the columns of fire on the metal fan at her opponent, and began to move the fan up and down.  With each motion, more and more sparks rained down on the water goddess, and her house began to burn.  The walls and the floor began to burn, then even the robes of the water goddess caught on fire.  That brought the water goddess to her knees and she began to apologize, admitting that stealing the husband was wrong.

The fire goddess reflected on the apology and on what the water goddess had done and decided that it was in the nature of things and in accord with the mission of the gods that she should not take further revenge upon the water goddess.  She returned home, still very angry.  The husband eventually also came home bearing many treasures and asking for forgiveness.  We do not learn if she forgave him, only that he remained at home thereafter.

Tales of animal gods

The following short tale is told by the eagle god and demonstrates the animistic nature of the Ainu world as well as something of the relative status of the members of that world.  The crow and the rat are considered lower creatures by the Ainu and are usually despised, while the killer whale and the bear, in particular, are noble creatures and very powerful kamui.

The eagle kamui had lice and was much troubled by them.  He heard voices and saw two Ainu women looking for firewood.  The eagle called to them and asked them to pick off his lice, but the women were afraid of him and ran.