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A river goddess took pity on the clans, and began to carry people and goods from village to village. The forest king saw this and was afraid: If the villages united, they might overrun the forest. So he set a trap for the river goddess in a great tree near the river. When she passed by, the tree drew her in and imprisoned her.
The forest king fenced the land side of the tree with deadly plants and impassable groves. To guard the river side, he created an army of walking snags from all over the forest. Carrying boulders, they marched to the river and dove in. They made great walls of boulders and hovered just below the surface, waiting to crush anything that came to rescue the goddess. Finally, the forest king placed a great leopard in the tree, ready to pounce.
Many hunters and warriors tried to rescue the goddess but were blocked by the forest king's fence. Biazoch the woodcarver begged the gods for help. Lebchi the Smith gave him a torch that would never go out, even under water. Biazoch took the torch, dove into the cold river and swam against the current for many miles.
As he approached the tree, the snags reached up to grab him and threw boulders in his path, but he dodged them all. The great leopard hid in the tree, ready to leap, but Biazoch sensed it, confused it with shadows from the torch, and killed it with spear and arrows.
Finally Biazoch reached the tree, a birch standing in a grove. He fought for a long time with its dryad, and each time he struck, he peeled away a piece of the dryad's clothing. At last she fell naked to the ground, defeated, and the river goddess stepped out of the bare birch. Biazoch and the river goddess loved each other at once, and knew that they would found a great clan together.
Biazoch wanted to kill the birch dryad, so that she would never trouble the clans or the goddess again, but a spruce dryad came to plead for her cousin's life. So Biazoch said: "Let you and your cousin serve the clans. Each year you will give thread, and your cousin will give fabric. We will make clothes for our children to keep them dry as they carry people on the river." Biazoch's wife taught him to sew, and he clothed many children who helped the villages trade and share news on the river. Today Biazoch and the Canoe spirits still help river clansmen who are patient, trade fairly, and get along.