He tried to obey but could not find any clean water, so he returned to face the derision of his brothers.  Eventually, Lela, armed with a machete, accompanied Ali back and saw for himself the eel swimming about.  Without hesitation he hacked the creature into small pieces.  The two brothers then scooped water (which had become clean) into the pitcher and carried the eel back to camp.

Ali’s elder brothers made him cook the meat while they went off to enjoy a stroll.  In their absence, the cooking meat began speaking to the youngest brother:

"Cook, cook, cook,
When the sun sets, Ali,
We both shall be eels.
We both shall occupy
The same body.”

Alarmed, the man ran to tell his brothers, but by the time they returned to their camp the speech had stopped.  Again, they called him a liar and resumed their walk.  The eel repeated his prediction twice, and each time his brothers doubted Ali’s report.

Ali cooked and served the food.  As his social superiors, the elder brothers ate the tastiest portions of the food, whereas Ali had to make do with what remained.  Thus it happened that the meat the elder brothers ate had been properly cooked but that which Ali ate was only half-cooked.  Later, all the brothers walked over to the stream to wash and have fun.  But when it was time to go, Ali was unable to leave the water.  His body had transformed into that of an eel.  His head remained normal, however, allowing Ali to address his brothers:

“Well, look at me now! Today I told you what I had seen, but you called me a liar.  What do you think of this?  But don’t feel sorry for me.  I am going to teach you to perform ritual sacrifices to me from now on, as well as to my fellow spirits.  Get a pig and bring it here with some rice.  Roast the pig and cook the rice.”

After his elder brothers had prepared the meal, Ali ordered: “Put your shares on a plate.  Put my share on a banana leaf.  On a wide stone covered with a palm leaf, place the rice and the meat.”