Then began the great battle between the thunderbirds and the evil water monsters. It lasted many years, during which the earth trembled and the waters burst forth in mighty torrents, while the night was like day because of the flashes of lightning. The Wakinyan have no bodies as we imagine them-no limbs or hands or feet-but they have enormous claws. They have no mouths, but they have big, sharp teeth. They have no eyes, but lightning bolts somehow shoot out of the eyes which are not there. This is hard to explain to a wasichu.

The Wakinyan used their claws, their teeth, their lightning to fight the water monsters. The Wakinyan Tanka grappled with the Great Unktehi and the little thunder children were pitted against the smaller water monsters. The battle was not only long but desperate, for the Unktehi had spikes at the tip of their powerful tails that could gouge out fearful wounds as they roared and thrashed.

At last the Wakinyan Tanka called to the little thunderbirds: "My children, the Unktehi are winning. This close body-to-body fighting favors them!"

American Indian Myths and Legends, p. 220-221