the dog soon came into the lodge , and she set before him the dish of grape - juice . " see , my child , " she said , addressing him , " the pretty drink your mother gives you . " spirit - iron took a long draught , and immediately left the lodge with his eyes wide open ; for it was the drink which teaches one to see the truth of things as they are . he rose up when he got into the open air , stood upon his hind legs , and looked about . " i see how it is , " he said ; and marching off , erect like a man , he sought out his young master . approaching him in great confidence , he bent down and whispered in his ear ( having first looked cautiously around to see that no one was listening ) , " this old woman here in the lodge is no mother of yours . i have found your real mother , and she is worth looking at . when we come back from our day 's sport , i 'll prove it to you . " they went out into the woods , and at the close of the afternoon they brought back a great spoil of meat of all kinds . the young man , as soon as he had laid aside his weapons , said to the old toad - woman , " send some of the best of this meat to the stranger who has arrived lately . " the toad - woman answered , " no ! why should i send to her , the poor widow ! " the young man would not be refused ; and at last the old toad - woman consented to take something and throw it down at the door . she called out , " my son gives you this . " but , being bewitched by mukakee mindemoea , it was so bitter and distasteful , that the young woman immediately cast it out of the lodge after her . in the evening the young man paid the stranger a visit at her lodge of cedar - boughs . she then told him that she was his real mother , and that he had been stolen away from her by the old toad - woman , who was a child - thief and a witch . as the young man appeared to doubt , she added , " feign yourself sick when you go home to her lodge ; and when the toad - woman asks what ails you , say that you wish to see your cradle ; for your cradle was of wampum , and your faithful brother the dog , in striving to save you , tore off these pieces which i show you . " they were real wampum , white and blue , shining and beautiful ; and the young man , placing them in his bosom , set off ; but as he did not seem quite steady in his belief of the strange woman 's story , the dog spirit - iron , taking his arm , kept close by his side , and gave him many words of encouragement as they went along . they entered the lodge together ; and the old toad - woman saw , from something in the dog 's eye , that trouble was coming . " mother , " said the young man , placing his hand to his head , and leaning heavily upon spirit - iron , as if a sudden faintness had come upon him , " why am i so different in looks from the rest of your children ? " " oh , " she answered , " it was a very bright , clear blue sky when you were born ; that is the reason . " he seemed to be so very ill that the toad - woman at length asked what she could do for him . he said nothing could do him good but the sight of his cradle . she ran immediately and brought a cedar cradle ; but he said : " that is not my cradle . " she went and got another of her own children 's cradles , of which there were four ; but he turned his head , and said : " that is not mine ; i am as sick as ever . " when she had shown the four , and they had been all rejected , she at last produced the real cradle . the young man saw that it was of the same stuff as the wampum which he had in his bosom . he could even see the marks of the teeth of spirit - iron left upon the edges , where he had taken hold , striving to hold it back . he had no doubt , now , which was his mother . to get free of the old toad - woman , it was necessary that the young man should kill a fat bear ; and , being directed by spirit - iron , who was very wise in such a matter , he secured the fattest in all that country ; and having stripped a tall pine of all its bark and branches , he perched the carcass in the top , with its head to the east and its tail due west . returning to the lodge , he informed the old toad - woman that the fat bear was ready for her , but that she would have to go very far , even to the end of the earth , to get it . she answered : " it is not so far but that i can get it ; " for of all things in the world , a fat bear was the delight of the old toad - woman . 
the toad - woman showed him his real cradle .
how did the young man know the stranger was telling the truth ?
how did the young man know the stranger was telling the truth ?