Rata chopped down two of the best trees he could find, and then went in the evening to his own house and slept. The elves of the forest gathered together the chips cut from the tree, and packed them in carefully so that no one could see that the trees had been wounded; then they set the trees upright again. When Rata came back there were the trees standing as he had first seen them. He rubbed his eyes and stared awhile, then proceeded to chop away at the timber. Hour after hour passed, at last the first tree, with a mighty crash, came down; he went to the other, worked away with untiring arms till the second tree lay by the side of the other. Then he lopped off the branches, but by this time the night was falling, so he went to rest. He returned on the third morning, and found the snake and the heron still keeping up their terrible struggle. He passed on to the trees he had felled, intending to hollow out their trunks for the hulls of the canoes. There they stood sound and whole, not a leaf missing! Then Rata understood what the heron meant when it had cried, “You will not be able to finish your canoes without my help,” so he went to the place of conflict
