To show their appreciation of this gesture, and to ward off retaliation, the Saisiat tribesmen held a sacrificial ceremony after the harvest, and the custom has been passed down from generation to generation, as a symbol of the ethic of honoring the dead.
矮人離開後，賽夏族人為了感謝矮人傳授給他們技藝，和避免矮靈的報復，遂在每次收穫祭之後舉行矮靈祭。這個古老的傳說，有不少不合理之處，但根據民俗學家的研究，台灣的確曾經出現過矮人。另一方面，矮靈祭整個祭典的程序和祭歌歌詞，也在在表現愧疚和敬畏之意。