Chapter 7

(5)Ciŋgibis.At the time of which my story speaks people were camping just as we are here. In the winter time they used birch bark[48]wigwams. All animals could then talk together. Two girls, who were very foolish, talked foolishly and were in no respect like the other girls of their tribe, made their bed out-of-doors, and slept right out under the stars. The very fact that they slept outside during the winter proves how foolish they were.One of these girls asked the other, “With what star would you like to sleep, the white one or the red one?” The other girl answered, “I’d like to sleep with the red star.” “Oh, that’s all right,” said the first one, “I would like to sleep with the white star. He’s the younger; the red is the older.” Then the two girls fell asleep. When they awoke, they found themselves in another world, the star world. There were four of them there, the two girls and the two stars who had become men. The white star was very, very old and was grey-headed, while the younger was red-headed. He was the red star. The girls stayed a long time in this star world, and the one who had chosen the white star was very sorry, for he was so old.There was an old woman up in this world who sat over a hole in the sky, and, whenever she moved, she showed them the hole and said, “That’s where you came from.” They looked down through and saw their people playing down below, and then the girls grew very sorry and very homesick. One evening, near sunset, the old woman moved a little way from the hole.24The younger girl heard the noise of themite′windown below. When it was almost daylight, the old woman sat over the hole again and the noise ofmite′winstopped; it was her spirit that made the noise. She was the guardian of themite′win.One morning the old woman told the girls, “If you want to go down from where you came from, we will let you down, but get to work and gather roots to make a string-made rope, twisted. The two of you make coils of rope as high as your heads when you are sitting. Two coils will be enough.” The girls worked for days until they had accomplished this. They made plenty of rope and tied it to a big basket. They then got into the basket and the people of the star world lowered them down. They descended right into an Eagle’s nest, but the people above[49]thought the girls were on the ground and stopped lowering them. They were obliged to stay in the nest, because they could do nothing to help themselves.Said one, “We’ll have to stay here until some one comes to get us.” Bear passed by. The girls cried out, “Bear, come and get us. You are going to get married sometime. Now is your chance!” Bear thought, “They are not very good-looking women.” He pretended to climb up and then said, “I can’t climb up any further.” And he went away, for the girls didn’t suit him. Next came Lynx. The girls cried out again, “Lynx, come up and get us. You will go after women some day!” Lynx answered, “I can’t, for I have no claws,” and he went away. Then an ugly-looking man, Wolverine, passed and the girls spoke tohim. “Hey, Wolverine, come and get us.” Wolverine started to climb up, for he thought it a very fortunate thing to have these women and was very glad. When he reached them, they placed their hair ribbons in the nest. Then Wolverine agreed to take one girl at a time, so he took the first one down and went back for the next. Then Wolverine went away with his two wives and enjoyed himself greatly, as he was ugly and nobody else would have him. They went far into the woods, and then they sat down and began to talk. “Oh!” cried one of the girls, “I forgot my hair ribbons.” Then Wolverine said, “I will run back for it.” And he started off to get the hair ribbons. Then the girls hid and told the trees, whenever Wolverine should come back and whistle for them, toanswerhim by whistling. Wolverine soon returned and began to whistle for his wives, and the trees all around him whistled in answer. Wolverine, realizing that he had been tricked, gave up the search and departed very angry.The girls continued through the woods until they came to a big marsh, late in the afternoon. There they saw a big birch bark house. Everything around the house was very clean, the poles were scraped clean of their bark and were perfectly white, while there was neither smoke nor ashes to be seen anywhere. The girls looked at this and said, “The person who lives here must be very clean; we have never seen such a clean house.” There was no dry or green wood lying around, but inside the house they saw a fire-place and plenty of hay. One girl said[50]to the other, “We’d better cut a little wood.” So they cut wood and made the fire in case the man came home late. By this time, the ice was beginning to break. Late in the evening they heard someone crying out, “Who spoiled my wigwam? Who made smoke and ashes?” The owner of the wigwam didn’t know who had done this, so he came in and looked at the two girls. He then cut all the wood. This man was Woodpecker (Meme “pileated woodpecker”). Woodpecker made a fire of the hay, which was beaver hay. It gave no smoke to stain the wigwam and burned as well as wood. He brought in two nice beavers which belonged to him, and gave one to the girls, saying, “You can have this.” He then cooked the other one for himself. He showed the girls where to sleep and since the place where they were to sleep was not near him, they knew that he would not marry either of them.Next morning, after breakfast, he said to them, “Go! Don’t stay here. You go that way and you will find a big river. There you’ll find lots of people and maybe you’ll get married.” So the girls went on. They left Woodpecker and he is there yet. They came to the big river and beheld canoes and all kinds of people passing. First they saw White Duck (wa′bəci·p). He was a good looking man, and as he passed them in his canoe, the girls said to him, “Put us in your canoe, you are going to get married sometime.” White Duck answered, “My canoe is too small. Other people are coming; they will marry you.” And he passed on. Next came Fish Duck (azi′k), a good looking man. They cried out, “Put us in your canoe, you are going to get married anyway.” “No, my canoe is too small,” replied Fish Duck. A great many people passed, but all of them said that their canoes were too small, so the girls had to stay where they were. The people were passing to the mouth of the creek where the village of the chief was. At last came Black Duck (ni′nicip). He was also nice looking. “Come over and get us; you will get married sometime,” cried the girls. “No, My canoe is too small. Ciŋgibis is coming soon and he will marry you.” He was going to be the last person to pass. At last Ciŋgibis came along.When they saw him, one of the girls said, “He is a very ugly man, but we will go in his canoe and, when we get to the village,[51]we’ll get rid of him.” So they called out to him, “Come over and get us; you will get married anyway.” Ciŋgibis was very glad to have two wives, so he paddled over and got the two girls. They said, “Your canoe is a very small canoe.” “Oh no,” said Ciŋgibis, “my canoe is a magic canoe. It is enough.” So the girls got into the canoe and they went down the stream. By and by one girl said, “I’m getting hungry.” “Well,” saidCiŋgibis, “not far down is a nice rock and there we will have lunch. You can pull roots for lunch.” So Ciŋgibis and the two girls went ashore and pulled roots and made a string out of them. “That’s enough,” said Ciŋgibis to one of the girls. “Tie the string to my leg and I’ll dive for something to eat. When you see the string jerk, pull me up.” They did this, and he dove into the water. When the girls saw the string jerk, they pulled him up and he brought with him a big beaver. They skinned and cooked the beaver for lunch; then Ciŋgibis and his two wives continued their journey. Soon Ciŋgibis said, “Well, we are not far from the village now. I am going to place my caribou snare.” He meant rabbit when he said caribou. So he placed his snares. He then told the girls, “At the village your sister-in-law will come down to see you. Maŋg (Loon) is the name of the chief of the village. But we won’t camp near them; we’ll camp a little to one side.” They went down the river until they came to the mouth, and at that point they saw the wigwams.All the people yelled when they saw Ciŋgibis, for he was a great man, although he was the ugliest one among them. They cried, “Ee Ciŋgibis! He has two wives.” So they all laughed and the sister of Ciŋgibis came to shake hands with his two wives. Then Ciŋgibis pitched his wigwam. Soon a man who was a second chief came to Ciŋgibis and said, “Chief Maŋg wants to see you. He is going to have a dance tonight.” Ciŋgibis said to his wives, “Stay here and don’t go to the dance. There are too many nice-looking men there.” On account of this the two wives became angry with him. Ciŋgibis put on his best clothes and went to the dance.By and by the wives heard drumming and fine voices singing. So they decided to go and peep in at the dancers if Ciŋgibis should not see them. They did this and peeped in through[52]the bark, and there they saw Loon singing. He was a fine-looking man with a fine voice and fine clothes. Ciŋgibis was beside Loon, looking exceedingly ugly in contrast to him. The wives said, “It is a shame that Loon is so good-looking.” They then went back to camp and put two stumps in the place where they were to sleep, covered them with blankets and ran off.Ciŋgibis came back from the dance and, thinking that he was sleeping with his two wives, he lay down between the two stumps and fell asleep. But his two wives went to sleep with Chief Loon. By and by ants began to bite Ciŋgibis and he scolded his wives, saying, “Don’t do that.” At last he discovered the stumps and threw them out. At daybreak he went to the chief’s wigwam and there, sleeping with the Chief, he saw his two wives. “You are a dead man for this!” said Ciŋgibis.He then went to his grandmother. “What do you want?” asked she. “I want a chisel and a flint.” “What do you want with them, grandchild? Are you going to be in mischief again?” said the grandmother. However, she gave them to him, and Ciŋgibis tied two flints to his feet and placed the chisel in the fire to make it red hot. Then he asked for some eagle feathers (but this was awiske·djak(Canadian Jay) feather). He got them and placed them on his head. When the ice chisel became red hot, the old grandmother said, “Say, Ciŋgibis, don’t do any mischief again,” but Ciŋgibis picked up the chisel and ran away with it to the wigwam of Loon.Loon always slept with his mouth open. When Ciŋgibis reached the wigwam, he found every one in it asleep. He shoved the chisel into Loon’s open mouth, killing him, ran off to his canoe, jumped into it, and paddled away to his snares. He did this so that no one would suspect that he had killed their chief. This is the reason why the Loon always has a black mouth—from where he was burned. Ciŋgibis found a rabbit in his snare. He placed the blood of the rabbit in some hay and tied the hay to his stomach.When he returned to the camp, the people were mourning for Loon. Ciŋgibis came in slowly. The second chief said, “Ciŋgibis will be very sorry when he hears that Chief Loon is dead. He was his great friend. We must tell him before he arrives.” Then the people called to Ciŋgibis, “Ee Ciŋgibis, the[53]chief is dead.” “What!” said Ciŋgibis, “the chief is dead!” Then he drew out his knife and pierced the hay full of rabbit blood. The blood ran out and all the people thought that he had killed himself. Ciŋgibis then dived into the water and the people came out in their canoes to look for him. They saw the rabbit blood upon the water and gave up looking for him. After a few days, they made another chief, Goose (nixka′), since both Loon and Ciŋgibis were dead.Ten days after this had happened, early in the morning the people heard somebody singing near the shore three times, “Who killed our chief? I am the one.” They awoke Chief Goose and he exclaimed, “I was thinking that that Ciŋgibis was in all kinds of mischief. So we must try to kill him.” Accordingly he sent all the men after him in canoes. When Ciŋgibis dived, they could only see his feathers which his grandmother had given him, but they could not catch him. Ciŋgibis said to them, “You are all spirits. Drink all this water and you will get me.” Then the Ducks and Geese drank all the lake dry and chased Ciŋgibis among the rocks, and thought that they would catch him. “No, no,” laughed Ciŋgibis, “I know some more tricks yet.” So he ran about and kicked the rocks with the flints his grandmother had given him, which were fastened to his feet, and water began flowing out and finally covered everything. The people who were pursuing him had to swim for their lives. They all became ducks. This is the origin of all the ducks. When the people left their canoes, they were obliged to swim and so they are swimming yet.(6)Beaver Gives a Feast.All the animals, once upon a time, were camped together—the Beaver, the Otter, the Muskrat, and the others. Their chief was Beaver. Every once in a while he would give a big feast, build a big wigwam, and invite all the men and women to come in and eat with him. He would tell them, “Well, I want to give a feast.” Then they would come in, sit around the inside of his big wigwam and pass the food around from one to the other. He would provide lots of grease in birch-bark dishes. Now, one time, when he gave one of his feasts, Beaver cut his grease[54]supply into cakes which he served around to his guests. Every time he passed a cake to a guest, pepedit. Indeed, every time he moved, pepedit, or when he would go and cut a new block of grease.25Now every time the Beaver broke wind, the Otter laughed. He did not seem to know that this would offend the Beaver, because he was a little foolish. The other guests told the Otter, “You mustn’t laugh when Beaver does that; he is our chief.” Despite this, every time they went to a feast,castore pedente, the Otter laughed at him.So one time the Beaver sent a man to invite all the people to another feast. He sent the messages all through the camp. Now the people told the Otter this time, “You must not come; you never keep your mouth shut; you always laugh. If you only knew enough to keep still like the rest of us, it would be all right, but you had better stay home.” “Oh well, all right,” said the Otter, “I’ll stay back.” All went to the feast except the Otter. But he asked the others, “You will have to bring my share to me, since I can’t come. Tell the chief to send me my share.” The others agreed and went to attend the feast; but they asked him, “How big a piece of grease do you want?” The Otter replied, “Bring me a piece the size of my forearm.”(The otter has a very small forearm.) When the guests arrived at the feast, the Beaver chief saw that the Otter was not with them. Said he, “Where, indeed, is Otter? I like him because he is so funny.” They informed him that the Otter had not come, but that he wanted the chief to send him a piece of grease as large as his forearm. The Beaver cut a piece that size and sent it to the Otter; that is all the Otter got. He did not get very much because he had such a short forearm. That is the end of my story.(7)Tcaka·bįs.Tcaka·bįs lived with his grandmother. One time he made a long journey and was away for quite a while. He came to where there were some giant women who were scraping frozen beaver skins, “kąc, kąc.” He returned home and told his grandmother, “I heard the giant women scraping beaver hides.”[55]“Don’t go near them,” said his grandmother. And she repeated this warning often to Tcaka·bįs.However, one day he returned to where he had heard the giant women, and when he reached the lake, there they were, chasing beaver on the ice. When he came up, they knew him and cried out, “Ee, come on, come on, Tcaka·bįs!” So he went over to them and they said, “There is a beaver here and you must pull him up.” Tcaka·bįs was small and they thought the beaver would pull him through the hole into the ice. But he caught hold of the beaver’s tail and pulled him through all right. Then they asked him to stay with them, but he went away after he had stolen the big beaver tail, six feet long, and went back to his grandmother. When he got home, he showed her the tail, and she asked, “Did you steal it?” “No, no,” answered he. Then he made a door for their wigwam out of the tail.Soon the giant woman came to where he lived and called. “Tcaka·bįs, you are a dead man!” They came for the purpose of eating Tcaka·bįs and his grandmother. Then the grandmother said, “I told you not to go there. Now they say you are a dead man.” But Tcaka·bįs said, “Don’t be afraid, grandmother. I will take care of you.” Then he took his witch stone26and threw it up inside the wigwam, and the whole wigwam turned to stone except a little hole in the top for the smoke to come through. The stone was so thick that they were unable to hear the giant women pounding on the outside. Then the giant women went away and Tcaka·bįs lay inside of the wigwam in safety. But he felt a little sick, because he had eaten too much beaver fat.Some time after this, Tcaka·bįs went back again to the giant women and found them pounding up and boiling moose bones to make soup. As he came up, one of the giant women seized him and threw him into the pot. There he stayed for a long time, boiling and circling round and round in the pot, but still he was alive. At last, when the giant women needed grease, they dipped up Tcaka·bįs with a wooden spoon and threw him outside. Then Tcaka·bįs went back to his grandmother. He was very thin, because he had been boiled so long, nothing but skin and bones. That’s the end; he was a small fellow.[56](8)Aniwɔ·ye,27the Giant Skunk, and the Origin of Skunks.Aniwɔ·ye was the monster Skunk. He used to travel all over this world, trying to find the Ojibwa. He hunted them to kill them. He often took the form of a man. Whenever he would encounter people, he would approach them et pepedit towards their camp with his back to them, killing the peoplemalo ejus odore. In those days there was no other sickness. That was the only sickness which people had to kill them.Once upon a time in a camp where there were lots of people, hunters of a big band, they beheld the tracks of Aniwɔ·ye near one of their trails. It was winter time. When they saw these tracks, they turned back from their object because they were afraid Aniwɔ·ye would see their own tracks and follow them to camp and kill all their people. On this account they started off in every direction in order to lead Aniwɔ·ye away from the camp and so save their own people and possibly themselves. Said they, “We will go to Big Fisher lake, where the Big Fisher lives.” So they started off. But there was one old woman who could hardly see. She could not travel with them, so they had to leave her, as nobody could carry her.Soon Aniwɔ·ye found their trails and followed them, and soon he came to the wigwam in which the people had left the old woman. He looked in the door and saw her sitting near the fire. “Where are all your people?” he asked her. “They have gone away,” she answered. “They saw Aniwɔ·ye’s track and departed. But I am too old. I can’t see, I can’t walk; so they left me here.” This poor old woman thought it was a young man who spoke to her; she did not know, indeed, that it was Aniwɔ·ye himself. Then Aniwɔ·ye spoke, “If you can’t walk, I can cure you, so that you will be as well and strong as you ever were.” So he turned his back to her et pepedit. He blew the wigwam and the old woman all to pieces.Then Aniwɔ·ye followed on the trail of the people. When he had tracked them to Big Fisher lake, he could see right across the lake, because there was no island in the way, and there, on the other side, he saw where Big Fisher lived. The people had arrived here after a hard trip and begged Big Fisher for[57]protection from Aniwɔ·ye. So fast had they travelled that some of the old people, unable to keep up with the younger ones, had died of their efforts to hurry. Those who had reached Big Fisher’s camp kept watching for Aniwɔ·ye to appear across the lake on their tracks. At last they saw him emerge on the lake and come towards them. All the way along this pursuit, when he had found the people who had died on the march, he pulled at them to see if they were dead. Now, when Aniwɔ·ye appeared Big Fisher said to the people, “We will go to meet him. You men go ahead and I will hide behind you. So we will approach him until we get almost within his range. Do not let him see me,sed cum anum suum nobis verteret, spread apart and let me pass you to the front. While his back is turned to us, we will fix him.” They did as they were told, and the band started forward to meet Aniwɔ·ye, who also approached them slowly.When they were near enoughut odore ejus attingerentur, Aniwɔ·ye turned slowly. When his back was toward them,et cum pediturus esset, they opened ranks and Big Fisher ran forthet prius anum Aniwɔ·yei cepit quam hie pedere posset. He pinchedanum ejus dure. “Ayu!” exclaimed Aniwɔ·ye. “Ayu, ayu! Let go of me!Non iterum pedam!” But Big Fisher held on and would not let go. They struggled for some time, but Big Fisher held fast, and at last Aniwɔ·ye died because he could not discharge. He died and they were all exceedingly glad, rejoicing that he was done for. So they cut him up into small bits and scattered the bits all about. Immediately these turned into little skunks which ran off into the bush. That was the end of Aniwɔ·ye, the Monster Skunk, but there are plenty of small skunks now.(9)The Man Who Transformed a Doll into a Woman and Followed Her into the World Above.There was once a man. He was hunting. He had his own wigwam, where he lived with an old man and an old woman who called him grandchild. He did not even know his father and mother. He had never seen young people, so when he became about twenty years old, he began to think that he ought to get himself a wife. So he started out and travelled all over,[58]but could not find one. At last, one day, he took a piece of wood and tried to carve for himself a big doll. He worked hard and after a while he made it so nearly perfect that it could speak a little. It was a female, but it did not seem to be complete quite yet.Said the doll to him, “Put me in your wigwam, cover me up, and do not look at me for three days. Be sure not to look, because if you do, I won’t be here.”“All right,” said he; and placed his doll in his wigwam. To remove himself from the temptation of breaking her rule he went away by himself and stayed the first night. The next afternoon he came back and began wondering to himself. “If I sleep here,” thought he, “I might, indeed, be tempted to look.” The more he pondered, the more he weakened. At last, he decided to take a little look. He peeped inside the wigwam and saw a very nice-looking young girl seated there. Then, gaining control of himself, he hurried away and camped again that night alone. The third day he came back again to look at his wife. When he came near the camp, he went to the water-hole.28There he saw a woman’s track going away from the water-hole. Thought he to himself, “Alas! my wife has gone.” He walked up to the wigwam, looked in, and found that the woman had actually gone.29He now decided to follow her. He went to the woods, cut a piece of cedar, and made himself a bow and a lot of arrows. The next day he started—this was two days after the woman had left. Then he walked very fast, starting early in the morning. Soon he came to a small lake lying still and frozen. When he reached the edge of the ice, he shot an arrow across, then he sped so fast that he reached the other side of the lake before the arrow got there. Before noon-time he came to where a camp was located, and going up to it, beheld an old woman cooking there. “Oh, my grandchild,” said she, “don’t stand there looking in the door. Come in and eat.” So he went in. Then he asked her whether she had seen a woman pass there. She answered, “Yesterday, about noon.” And the old woman gave him a mess of corn and said, “My dear grandchild, it is very hard[59]where you are going. Many people have tried to go where your road leads; but they have never gotten there, for many creatures are seeking their lives. But I will help you.” Then she gave him a leg-bone of a lynx. “When you are in trouble, you may need this,” she told him. Then he started on, following the tracks of his woman. Every time he came to a lake, he shot an arrow across and sped before it as he had done at first. He was fast indeed.Soon he came to another wigwam and peeped into this as he had done into the first. An old woman who was cooking inside spoke to him, as had the first, and invited him to come in and eat. Then he asked her when she had seen the woman pass by. “A little after noon time,” she replied. Now, by this, he knew that he had not gained very much. As before, he ate a little snack of corn and the old woman said to him, “Where you are going will be a very hard trip for you. Many people try it, but never succeed. They die.” And she, too, gave him a lynx bone and told him, as the other had done, that it would help him in time of need on his journey; and he started on again, doing the same at every lake, until it began to grow late in the day. He had been going so fast that he felt very tired.By and by he came to another camp and peeped in, as before, asked the same question, and was received in the same way. After he had eaten here, the old woman gave him a squirrel’s tail to help him overcome the dangers which she warned him against. Said she, “From now on you won’t see any more camps. Walk very fast now. Soon you will see a big tree with a square trunk, which will reach very far up into the sky. Now you won’t see any trail, but look carefully around. That is where your wife climbed up. There are, indeed, steps cut into the trunk, but you will not be able to see them. To you it will look smooth.”So he proceeded on his way and soon came to the place she had spoken about. There was the big tree, but no tracks were in sight. Around the base he saw lots of bones, bones of people who had tried to climb but had fallen down and died. He was bewildered. Then suddenly he recollected the bones the old women had given him. Taking one in each hand, like a pick, he began climbing up the great tree. At last he ascended so[60]high that the bones began to wear away. When they were so short that he could hardly use them, he looked down. He had gone so high that he could neither see the world beneath nor the end of the tree in the sky above. Now his bones were too short to help him, but he had his bow on his back. He could hardly hold on any longer, so he cried and yelled for help, but nobody could hear him. Soon he heard a spirit nearby which murmured to him, “Close your eyes and look through the tree. You will see steps to climb on.” Then he did as the voice said and perceived steps. He placed his feet in them and started running up. But now he made another mistake, he did not keep his eyes closed. When he looked, lo! he found himself back to where he had begun to climb the steps, holding on with his worn-out bones. Then he bethought himself of the squirrel’s tail, and at the same moment found himself transformed into a squirrel. He found that he could run up the great tree by tapping his tail on the trunk at each step. At last he came to a hole in the sky, in the middle of which the great tree protruded. A wide space, however, surrounded the tree, separating it from the edge of the sky. It would be necessary for him to jump across from the trunk to this edge. He made a great effort and sprang for the edge, but he just managed to catch on at the line of his waist; his upper parts, which reached above the edge, at once became human; his lower parts, extending below the edge, remained in the form of the squirrel.Then he beheld his wife coming across the surface of this upper world toward him. Said she, “You should not have come here, because, after all your trouble, you will die anyway.” She took hold of him and made shift to raise him. Then she pulled him out after teasing him a little while. “Now,” she said to him, “we always play ball up here. There are men here whom you will meet. They are your brothers-in-law. They will want you to play ball. If they beat you in the game, they will kill you; but if you beat them, you will survive.”Then she led him away to a village, where they saw a lot of great White Bears. This was the great White Bear’s home and his family. Now the old Bear arranged a contest for the stranger. Said he, “You take this ball and go around the edge of this world, running. One of these Bears will race with you,[61]to see who gets back here first.” So they started. The Bear took the ball in his mouth and, as soon as he started running, the man jumped upon his back and shook his ears, which made the Bear drop the ball. Then he threw the ball ahead. In this way, repeating the trick, they went around the world, and the man succeeded in getting back first. When he reached the starting point, the Bears said, “You seem to be a pretty good man; but there are still more tricks for you to perform. If you win, you can stay.”And they all went out together and came to a big rock. One of the White Bears tried to move this rock, and with a great effort he succeeded in moving it a little. “Now, you try,” said they, “and if you can’t move it, you are a dead man.” Then the man took his bow and arrow and shot it at the rock. The rock immediately broke into fragments. “Indeed, you are a great man, our brother-in-law, and can stay here and hunt and live with us,” said the old White Bear. Then the old Bear told him, after a while, that he had better go and hunt, or he would grow lonesome in his new life. By this time they had grown to like him very much.One afternoon, late, he started off to hunt. Everything that he met seemed strange to him in this new world. Soon he came to a lake with a little ice on it, and when he walked out he beheld tracks of some animal. Soon he came to a place where a big wooden mallet lay on the ice. He thought to himself that somebody had lost this mallet. Then he took it by the handle and hammered on the ice. Immediately the hammer fell through. Up from the hole in the ice a red otter emerged. He killed the red otter. Then he went on with the hammer to another place. There he tried again, and this time got a blue otter. He tried again at another place and got a black otter, which was like the otters of this world. So, taking his load of otters, he went home to display what he thought was a pretty good hunt. He carried his game in a bag of leather. When he got to his wigwam, he shoved his bag in the entrance ahead of him, so that his wife could open it and see what he had brought.30Thought she to herself, when she saw the game-bag,[62]“I wonder if he will show himself to be a good hunter.” She saw some blood on the bag. Opening it, she beheld the otters, Now the man had made a mistake, for these were tame otters and belonged to the Bears. She went out crying to her people, “This man has killed our otters!” When the old White Bear heard about the news, he said to his family, “We should have told this man about our otters, because he didn’t know. On this account it is all right.” He said no more, because he was afraid of the magic possessed by his new son-in-law.(10)Ayas·e and the Origin of Bats.The Ayas·e family was a large family. They lived in a camp. Very often they used to go picking berries, for their country was a rocky country where berries abounded. Very often some of the berry-pickers would get lost and never be found again. It was thought that some creature made a prey of them and ate them.One time one of the Ayas·e men was travelling. On his way he came across a kind of cabin of rock, from the top of which smoke was rising and in front of which a number of human skulls hung in the opening. Now this Ayas·e managed to enter. By being very careful and not touching the skulls, he gained the inside of the rock house without making any noise. These skulls were put there to rattle when anybody tried to pass. When Ayas·e got inside, he beheld two old blind women. As soon as they became aware of his presence, one of them said, “We had better begin to cook something and we will find out if Ayas·e is passing here.” Now these old women had some grease in a bark dish and one of them put some of the grease in a cooking pail. When she did this, Ayas·e pulled it out with his hand and ate it. Then she took the spoon to taste her grease, but found it gone. So she put another lump in the dish. Ayas·e took this, and when she started to dip it up, it, too, was gone. This happened three or four times. At last the old woman said, “Ayas·e must have passed; somebody told us that Ayas·e was going to pass. He must have passed now.” Then she took a stick which she used to poke the fire with and began feeling all around, poking in the corners of the[63]wigwam to find if Ayas·e were there. Every time she came near poking him, he moved to another part of the wigwam, so she could not reach him. Pretty soon she touched him with the poker and then he took off his coat of fisher-skin which he was wearing and threw in into the door-way. The old women jumped up and when they felt the fur coat they thought it was Ayas·e trying to escape through the door. Now these old women had a sharp pointed bone at each elbow. With this pointed bone they began stabbing the fur coat in their haste to kill Ayas·e, and pretty soon in their blind fury they fell to stabbing each other, each one thinking she was stabbing Ayas·e. They killed each other. One of the old women said before she died, “I believe you hit me by mistake.” It was too late; they both died.Now Ayas·e in the wigwam sat down and looked at them a long time. Then he dragged them outside and looked at them a long time. All around the wigwam he saw the men’s and women’s bones, the bones of the victims of these two old blind women. Then he knew that all of his lost people had been killed by the old women and eaten. They were cannibals in the shape of monster bats, large enough to kill and eat people. Then Ayas·e took their bodies and cut them up into small pieces. These he threw into the air and they sailed off, transformed into small bats as we see them to-day. I did not see any more.(11)Origin of the Constellation Fisher (Ursa Major).31The Fisher (mustela pennanti) was living somewhere in this world. Nobody knows where. Now in those times they had no summer. It was winter, winter all the time. They knew that summer existed somewhere, but it never came to them, although they wanted it very much.Now, once upon a time a man captured some little birds which are calledni·bənis·e“summer (guardian) birds.” He tied them in bundles and kept them with him all the time. That was the reason why it was continually winter, for so long as he held these birds, they could not bring summer to the[64]North Country. The people pondered very much how to go about freeing these birds from the creature who kept them. At last somebody discovered where this creature lived, and they decided that some one would go and try to free the Summer-birds. Now the Fresh-water Herring lived in the same wigwam with the man who kept the Summer-birds.The Fisher at last decided to go and free the birds, so that summer would come. He travelled a long while and reached the wigwam where the captor and the Herring lived. When he went in, he found the Herring alone. He captured the Herring and put some pitch on his mouth, so that he could not cry out. Then Fisher took the bundles of birds and tried to break the bindings, so that he could free them. Using his teeth at last he tore open the bundles and the Summer-birds flew free into the air. Then the pitch broke from the Herring’s mouth and he cried out, “Fisher breaks the bundle! The Summer-birds! Fisher breaks the bundles with his teeth! The Summer-birds!” Two or three times he cried out, until their captor heard him. Then he came up running, but when he arrived, the Fisher and the Summer-birds were already far away.The Fisher ran very fast to save himself. His pursuer had a bow and arrow with which he was going to kill him, but the Fisher sprang into the sky and climbed way up, with the hunter following behind him, still trying to shoot him with his bow and arrow. All he succeeded in shooting, however, was his tail, which is broken where it was wounded.32Although they chased him continually, they never got him.(12)The Young Loon.Once in the autumn of the year, when the birds were ready to fly to the south for the winter, a young Loon was unable to fly far enough to go with the rest of the birds. So he said to his mother, “I cannot go back south with you, as I am not strong enough. But I will stay here all winter in this place, and in the spring, when you come back, I will meet you here at this very spot. When you come back and find me here, it will be on a misty morning.” So they all flew away to the south, and[65]the young Loon was left behind for the winter. The mother was very sad because she had to leave him and because he was not strong enough to go with them.In the spring time, when the ice is breaking up in the lake, and it becomes misty, the Indians say, “The Loon is coming back from her winter sojourn in the South.”(13)The Giant Pike.At that time there were two people living who got married and had some daughters and sons. These grew up and married. One of the sons married and had children, two sons. The grandfather of these died. Then the father and mother died, and left the children with only their grandmother to look after them. At this time they were big enough to shoot bows and arrows and to go in a canoe with their grandmother to set the night lines33for fish. They lived only by fishing, because the grandmother was too old to do anything else.So these two boys used to play around, shooting bows and arrows for fun, just as the Ojibwa boys do now. They used to play near a lake. Then their grandmother would say to them, “Don’t swim in that lake. There is a big pike in there and he might swallow you.” The older boy believed his grandmother, but the younger did not. So one day, while they were playing, the younger boy by mistake shot his arrow out in the lake. He could see it floating on the surface, so he took off his clothes to swim to it. But his brother said, “You know what grandmother told you. The big pike might swallow you.” But the boy started to swim nevertheless, saying, “Koga′miko” (“swallowed in the water”) with each stroke that his arms took. When he called this out, the big pike came and swallowed him.Figure 1. Night set-line.Figure 1.Night set-line.His brother began crying and ran back to his grandmother in the wigwam, saying, “My little brother iskoga′miko, ‘swallowed in the water’.” Then his grandmother began crying and the two were crying together. Soon after this they again[66]set their night lines. When they looked toward the lake, three days later, they saw the float sticks together and the boy said, “We have a fish.” But the grandmother cried and would not look toward the lake where her grandson had died. But soon she went along in the canoe, crying, and pulled in the line. At the end was a very large fish, and they could see that his stomach was full of something. He was so large that they could scarcely pull him into the canoe. However, they managed to get him in and then they paddled to the shore and dragged the fish to a place where they could conveniently clean it. They cut his belly, which was distended, and out jumped the younger brother. “I’m scalded with the intestines! (Nin­babe′nəs,)”34he cried. “I’m scalded. I’ve been here three[67]days.” He was already beginning to be digested. The grandmother was very glad to get her grandson back again. That is the end.(14)Lynx and His Two Wives.There was a time when Lynx had two wives, the one a Rabbit and the other a Marten. The three lived in a wigwam. At this time Lynx drove beaver during the winter time.35Rabbit was a very good hunter. But Lynx this winter had very poor luck and they became very hungry. Lynx beat his wives because they couldn’t find the beaver. He said to them, “If you don’t get some beaver for me, I’ll eat both of you.” At this they became very much frightened. So Rabbit went to a beaver place, and putting a stick in the hole, she felt a beaver in it. Then Rabbit went home and told Marten, and they both were glad to get a beaver and save their lives. Then they both went back to the hole. While Rabbit was pulling the beaver out of the hole and had hold of his hind quarters, Lynx came along and tickled Rabbit, so that she let go and the beaver escaped. Lynx was bent on mischief. He said, “If you don’t get some beaver, I’ll kill you tonight.”Rabbit and Marten went home and burrowed a tunnel in the snow, inside the wigwam. Then they both went into a hole to hide and closed the hole behind them. When Lynx reached home, he was unable to find his wives, but he knew they were somewhere near. So he began to pull uptestes suos in seand then he began dancing.36He said to himself, “When they hear this funny thing, they will laugh.” Pretty soon Marten laughed, and Lynx, digging her out of the hole, killed and ate her. Soon he grew hungry and tried the same trick. But Rabbit was very much afraid and would not laugh. Lynx kept on doing this for some time and finally gave it up. He sat near the fire and cut his belly open, taking out some of his intestines which he roasted and ate. At last, when he had eaten all his intestines, he came to his heart. When he pulled at this, “Huk, huk”! it made a noise. At last he jerked and pulled[68]at it so hard that he died. This is the end. But all the grandchildren of Lynx have testicles as they are to-day.

(5)Ciŋgibis.At the time of which my story speaks people were camping just as we are here. In the winter time they used birch bark[48]wigwams. All animals could then talk together. Two girls, who were very foolish, talked foolishly and were in no respect like the other girls of their tribe, made their bed out-of-doors, and slept right out under the stars. The very fact that they slept outside during the winter proves how foolish they were.One of these girls asked the other, “With what star would you like to sleep, the white one or the red one?” The other girl answered, “I’d like to sleep with the red star.” “Oh, that’s all right,” said the first one, “I would like to sleep with the white star. He’s the younger; the red is the older.” Then the two girls fell asleep. When they awoke, they found themselves in another world, the star world. There were four of them there, the two girls and the two stars who had become men. The white star was very, very old and was grey-headed, while the younger was red-headed. He was the red star. The girls stayed a long time in this star world, and the one who had chosen the white star was very sorry, for he was so old.There was an old woman up in this world who sat over a hole in the sky, and, whenever she moved, she showed them the hole and said, “That’s where you came from.” They looked down through and saw their people playing down below, and then the girls grew very sorry and very homesick. One evening, near sunset, the old woman moved a little way from the hole.24The younger girl heard the noise of themite′windown below. When it was almost daylight, the old woman sat over the hole again and the noise ofmite′winstopped; it was her spirit that made the noise. She was the guardian of themite′win.One morning the old woman told the girls, “If you want to go down from where you came from, we will let you down, but get to work and gather roots to make a string-made rope, twisted. The two of you make coils of rope as high as your heads when you are sitting. Two coils will be enough.” The girls worked for days until they had accomplished this. They made plenty of rope and tied it to a big basket. They then got into the basket and the people of the star world lowered them down. They descended right into an Eagle’s nest, but the people above[49]thought the girls were on the ground and stopped lowering them. They were obliged to stay in the nest, because they could do nothing to help themselves.Said one, “We’ll have to stay here until some one comes to get us.” Bear passed by. The girls cried out, “Bear, come and get us. You are going to get married sometime. Now is your chance!” Bear thought, “They are not very good-looking women.” He pretended to climb up and then said, “I can’t climb up any further.” And he went away, for the girls didn’t suit him. Next came Lynx. The girls cried out again, “Lynx, come up and get us. You will go after women some day!” Lynx answered, “I can’t, for I have no claws,” and he went away. Then an ugly-looking man, Wolverine, passed and the girls spoke tohim. “Hey, Wolverine, come and get us.” Wolverine started to climb up, for he thought it a very fortunate thing to have these women and was very glad. When he reached them, they placed their hair ribbons in the nest. Then Wolverine agreed to take one girl at a time, so he took the first one down and went back for the next. Then Wolverine went away with his two wives and enjoyed himself greatly, as he was ugly and nobody else would have him. They went far into the woods, and then they sat down and began to talk. “Oh!” cried one of the girls, “I forgot my hair ribbons.” Then Wolverine said, “I will run back for it.” And he started off to get the hair ribbons. Then the girls hid and told the trees, whenever Wolverine should come back and whistle for them, toanswerhim by whistling. Wolverine soon returned and began to whistle for his wives, and the trees all around him whistled in answer. Wolverine, realizing that he had been tricked, gave up the search and departed very angry.The girls continued through the woods until they came to a big marsh, late in the afternoon. There they saw a big birch bark house. Everything around the house was very clean, the poles were scraped clean of their bark and were perfectly white, while there was neither smoke nor ashes to be seen anywhere. The girls looked at this and said, “The person who lives here must be very clean; we have never seen such a clean house.” There was no dry or green wood lying around, but inside the house they saw a fire-place and plenty of hay. One girl said[50]to the other, “We’d better cut a little wood.” So they cut wood and made the fire in case the man came home late. By this time, the ice was beginning to break. Late in the evening they heard someone crying out, “Who spoiled my wigwam? Who made smoke and ashes?” The owner of the wigwam didn’t know who had done this, so he came in and looked at the two girls. He then cut all the wood. This man was Woodpecker (Meme “pileated woodpecker”). Woodpecker made a fire of the hay, which was beaver hay. It gave no smoke to stain the wigwam and burned as well as wood. He brought in two nice beavers which belonged to him, and gave one to the girls, saying, “You can have this.” He then cooked the other one for himself. He showed the girls where to sleep and since the place where they were to sleep was not near him, they knew that he would not marry either of them.Next morning, after breakfast, he said to them, “Go! Don’t stay here. You go that way and you will find a big river. There you’ll find lots of people and maybe you’ll get married.” So the girls went on. They left Woodpecker and he is there yet. They came to the big river and beheld canoes and all kinds of people passing. First they saw White Duck (wa′bəci·p). He was a good looking man, and as he passed them in his canoe, the girls said to him, “Put us in your canoe, you are going to get married sometime.” White Duck answered, “My canoe is too small. Other people are coming; they will marry you.” And he passed on. Next came Fish Duck (azi′k), a good looking man. They cried out, “Put us in your canoe, you are going to get married anyway.” “No, my canoe is too small,” replied Fish Duck. A great many people passed, but all of them said that their canoes were too small, so the girls had to stay where they were. The people were passing to the mouth of the creek where the village of the chief was. At last came Black Duck (ni′nicip). He was also nice looking. “Come over and get us; you will get married sometime,” cried the girls. “No, My canoe is too small. Ciŋgibis is coming soon and he will marry you.” He was going to be the last person to pass. At last Ciŋgibis came along.When they saw him, one of the girls said, “He is a very ugly man, but we will go in his canoe and, when we get to the village,[51]we’ll get rid of him.” So they called out to him, “Come over and get us; you will get married anyway.” Ciŋgibis was very glad to have two wives, so he paddled over and got the two girls. They said, “Your canoe is a very small canoe.” “Oh no,” said Ciŋgibis, “my canoe is a magic canoe. It is enough.” So the girls got into the canoe and they went down the stream. By and by one girl said, “I’m getting hungry.” “Well,” saidCiŋgibis, “not far down is a nice rock and there we will have lunch. You can pull roots for lunch.” So Ciŋgibis and the two girls went ashore and pulled roots and made a string out of them. “That’s enough,” said Ciŋgibis to one of the girls. “Tie the string to my leg and I’ll dive for something to eat. When you see the string jerk, pull me up.” They did this, and he dove into the water. When the girls saw the string jerk, they pulled him up and he brought with him a big beaver. They skinned and cooked the beaver for lunch; then Ciŋgibis and his two wives continued their journey. Soon Ciŋgibis said, “Well, we are not far from the village now. I am going to place my caribou snare.” He meant rabbit when he said caribou. So he placed his snares. He then told the girls, “At the village your sister-in-law will come down to see you. Maŋg (Loon) is the name of the chief of the village. But we won’t camp near them; we’ll camp a little to one side.” They went down the river until they came to the mouth, and at that point they saw the wigwams.All the people yelled when they saw Ciŋgibis, for he was a great man, although he was the ugliest one among them. They cried, “Ee Ciŋgibis! He has two wives.” So they all laughed and the sister of Ciŋgibis came to shake hands with his two wives. Then Ciŋgibis pitched his wigwam. Soon a man who was a second chief came to Ciŋgibis and said, “Chief Maŋg wants to see you. He is going to have a dance tonight.” Ciŋgibis said to his wives, “Stay here and don’t go to the dance. There are too many nice-looking men there.” On account of this the two wives became angry with him. Ciŋgibis put on his best clothes and went to the dance.By and by the wives heard drumming and fine voices singing. So they decided to go and peep in at the dancers if Ciŋgibis should not see them. They did this and peeped in through[52]the bark, and there they saw Loon singing. He was a fine-looking man with a fine voice and fine clothes. Ciŋgibis was beside Loon, looking exceedingly ugly in contrast to him. The wives said, “It is a shame that Loon is so good-looking.” They then went back to camp and put two stumps in the place where they were to sleep, covered them with blankets and ran off.Ciŋgibis came back from the dance and, thinking that he was sleeping with his two wives, he lay down between the two stumps and fell asleep. But his two wives went to sleep with Chief Loon. By and by ants began to bite Ciŋgibis and he scolded his wives, saying, “Don’t do that.” At last he discovered the stumps and threw them out. At daybreak he went to the chief’s wigwam and there, sleeping with the Chief, he saw his two wives. “You are a dead man for this!” said Ciŋgibis.He then went to his grandmother. “What do you want?” asked she. “I want a chisel and a flint.” “What do you want with them, grandchild? Are you going to be in mischief again?” said the grandmother. However, she gave them to him, and Ciŋgibis tied two flints to his feet and placed the chisel in the fire to make it red hot. Then he asked for some eagle feathers (but this was awiske·djak(Canadian Jay) feather). He got them and placed them on his head. When the ice chisel became red hot, the old grandmother said, “Say, Ciŋgibis, don’t do any mischief again,” but Ciŋgibis picked up the chisel and ran away with it to the wigwam of Loon.Loon always slept with his mouth open. When Ciŋgibis reached the wigwam, he found every one in it asleep. He shoved the chisel into Loon’s open mouth, killing him, ran off to his canoe, jumped into it, and paddled away to his snares. He did this so that no one would suspect that he had killed their chief. This is the reason why the Loon always has a black mouth—from where he was burned. Ciŋgibis found a rabbit in his snare. He placed the blood of the rabbit in some hay and tied the hay to his stomach.When he returned to the camp, the people were mourning for Loon. Ciŋgibis came in slowly. The second chief said, “Ciŋgibis will be very sorry when he hears that Chief Loon is dead. He was his great friend. We must tell him before he arrives.” Then the people called to Ciŋgibis, “Ee Ciŋgibis, the[53]chief is dead.” “What!” said Ciŋgibis, “the chief is dead!” Then he drew out his knife and pierced the hay full of rabbit blood. The blood ran out and all the people thought that he had killed himself. Ciŋgibis then dived into the water and the people came out in their canoes to look for him. They saw the rabbit blood upon the water and gave up looking for him. After a few days, they made another chief, Goose (nixka′), since both Loon and Ciŋgibis were dead.Ten days after this had happened, early in the morning the people heard somebody singing near the shore three times, “Who killed our chief? I am the one.” They awoke Chief Goose and he exclaimed, “I was thinking that that Ciŋgibis was in all kinds of mischief. So we must try to kill him.” Accordingly he sent all the men after him in canoes. When Ciŋgibis dived, they could only see his feathers which his grandmother had given him, but they could not catch him. Ciŋgibis said to them, “You are all spirits. Drink all this water and you will get me.” Then the Ducks and Geese drank all the lake dry and chased Ciŋgibis among the rocks, and thought that they would catch him. “No, no,” laughed Ciŋgibis, “I know some more tricks yet.” So he ran about and kicked the rocks with the flints his grandmother had given him, which were fastened to his feet, and water began flowing out and finally covered everything. The people who were pursuing him had to swim for their lives. They all became ducks. This is the origin of all the ducks. When the people left their canoes, they were obliged to swim and so they are swimming yet.(6)Beaver Gives a Feast.All the animals, once upon a time, were camped together—the Beaver, the Otter, the Muskrat, and the others. Their chief was Beaver. Every once in a while he would give a big feast, build a big wigwam, and invite all the men and women to come in and eat with him. He would tell them, “Well, I want to give a feast.” Then they would come in, sit around the inside of his big wigwam and pass the food around from one to the other. He would provide lots of grease in birch-bark dishes. Now, one time, when he gave one of his feasts, Beaver cut his grease[54]supply into cakes which he served around to his guests. Every time he passed a cake to a guest, pepedit. Indeed, every time he moved, pepedit, or when he would go and cut a new block of grease.25Now every time the Beaver broke wind, the Otter laughed. He did not seem to know that this would offend the Beaver, because he was a little foolish. The other guests told the Otter, “You mustn’t laugh when Beaver does that; he is our chief.” Despite this, every time they went to a feast,castore pedente, the Otter laughed at him.So one time the Beaver sent a man to invite all the people to another feast. He sent the messages all through the camp. Now the people told the Otter this time, “You must not come; you never keep your mouth shut; you always laugh. If you only knew enough to keep still like the rest of us, it would be all right, but you had better stay home.” “Oh well, all right,” said the Otter, “I’ll stay back.” All went to the feast except the Otter. But he asked the others, “You will have to bring my share to me, since I can’t come. Tell the chief to send me my share.” The others agreed and went to attend the feast; but they asked him, “How big a piece of grease do you want?” The Otter replied, “Bring me a piece the size of my forearm.”(The otter has a very small forearm.) When the guests arrived at the feast, the Beaver chief saw that the Otter was not with them. Said he, “Where, indeed, is Otter? I like him because he is so funny.” They informed him that the Otter had not come, but that he wanted the chief to send him a piece of grease as large as his forearm. The Beaver cut a piece that size and sent it to the Otter; that is all the Otter got. He did not get very much because he had such a short forearm. That is the end of my story.(7)Tcaka·bįs.Tcaka·bįs lived with his grandmother. One time he made a long journey and was away for quite a while. He came to where there were some giant women who were scraping frozen beaver skins, “kąc, kąc.” He returned home and told his grandmother, “I heard the giant women scraping beaver hides.”[55]“Don’t go near them,” said his grandmother. And she repeated this warning often to Tcaka·bįs.However, one day he returned to where he had heard the giant women, and when he reached the lake, there they were, chasing beaver on the ice. When he came up, they knew him and cried out, “Ee, come on, come on, Tcaka·bįs!” So he went over to them and they said, “There is a beaver here and you must pull him up.” Tcaka·bįs was small and they thought the beaver would pull him through the hole into the ice. But he caught hold of the beaver’s tail and pulled him through all right. Then they asked him to stay with them, but he went away after he had stolen the big beaver tail, six feet long, and went back to his grandmother. When he got home, he showed her the tail, and she asked, “Did you steal it?” “No, no,” answered he. Then he made a door for their wigwam out of the tail.Soon the giant woman came to where he lived and called. “Tcaka·bįs, you are a dead man!” They came for the purpose of eating Tcaka·bįs and his grandmother. Then the grandmother said, “I told you not to go there. Now they say you are a dead man.” But Tcaka·bįs said, “Don’t be afraid, grandmother. I will take care of you.” Then he took his witch stone26and threw it up inside the wigwam, and the whole wigwam turned to stone except a little hole in the top for the smoke to come through. The stone was so thick that they were unable to hear the giant women pounding on the outside. Then the giant women went away and Tcaka·bįs lay inside of the wigwam in safety. But he felt a little sick, because he had eaten too much beaver fat.Some time after this, Tcaka·bįs went back again to the giant women and found them pounding up and boiling moose bones to make soup. As he came up, one of the giant women seized him and threw him into the pot. There he stayed for a long time, boiling and circling round and round in the pot, but still he was alive. At last, when the giant women needed grease, they dipped up Tcaka·bįs with a wooden spoon and threw him outside. Then Tcaka·bįs went back to his grandmother. He was very thin, because he had been boiled so long, nothing but skin and bones. That’s the end; he was a small fellow.[56](8)Aniwɔ·ye,27the Giant Skunk, and the Origin of Skunks.Aniwɔ·ye was the monster Skunk. He used to travel all over this world, trying to find the Ojibwa. He hunted them to kill them. He often took the form of a man. Whenever he would encounter people, he would approach them et pepedit towards their camp with his back to them, killing the peoplemalo ejus odore. In those days there was no other sickness. That was the only sickness which people had to kill them.Once upon a time in a camp where there were lots of people, hunters of a big band, they beheld the tracks of Aniwɔ·ye near one of their trails. It was winter time. When they saw these tracks, they turned back from their object because they were afraid Aniwɔ·ye would see their own tracks and follow them to camp and kill all their people. On this account they started off in every direction in order to lead Aniwɔ·ye away from the camp and so save their own people and possibly themselves. Said they, “We will go to Big Fisher lake, where the Big Fisher lives.” So they started off. But there was one old woman who could hardly see. She could not travel with them, so they had to leave her, as nobody could carry her.Soon Aniwɔ·ye found their trails and followed them, and soon he came to the wigwam in which the people had left the old woman. He looked in the door and saw her sitting near the fire. “Where are all your people?” he asked her. “They have gone away,” she answered. “They saw Aniwɔ·ye’s track and departed. But I am too old. I can’t see, I can’t walk; so they left me here.” This poor old woman thought it was a young man who spoke to her; she did not know, indeed, that it was Aniwɔ·ye himself. Then Aniwɔ·ye spoke, “If you can’t walk, I can cure you, so that you will be as well and strong as you ever were.” So he turned his back to her et pepedit. He blew the wigwam and the old woman all to pieces.Then Aniwɔ·ye followed on the trail of the people. When he had tracked them to Big Fisher lake, he could see right across the lake, because there was no island in the way, and there, on the other side, he saw where Big Fisher lived. The people had arrived here after a hard trip and begged Big Fisher for[57]protection from Aniwɔ·ye. So fast had they travelled that some of the old people, unable to keep up with the younger ones, had died of their efforts to hurry. Those who had reached Big Fisher’s camp kept watching for Aniwɔ·ye to appear across the lake on their tracks. At last they saw him emerge on the lake and come towards them. All the way along this pursuit, when he had found the people who had died on the march, he pulled at them to see if they were dead. Now, when Aniwɔ·ye appeared Big Fisher said to the people, “We will go to meet him. You men go ahead and I will hide behind you. So we will approach him until we get almost within his range. Do not let him see me,sed cum anum suum nobis verteret, spread apart and let me pass you to the front. While his back is turned to us, we will fix him.” They did as they were told, and the band started forward to meet Aniwɔ·ye, who also approached them slowly.When they were near enoughut odore ejus attingerentur, Aniwɔ·ye turned slowly. When his back was toward them,et cum pediturus esset, they opened ranks and Big Fisher ran forthet prius anum Aniwɔ·yei cepit quam hie pedere posset. He pinchedanum ejus dure. “Ayu!” exclaimed Aniwɔ·ye. “Ayu, ayu! Let go of me!Non iterum pedam!” But Big Fisher held on and would not let go. They struggled for some time, but Big Fisher held fast, and at last Aniwɔ·ye died because he could not discharge. He died and they were all exceedingly glad, rejoicing that he was done for. So they cut him up into small bits and scattered the bits all about. Immediately these turned into little skunks which ran off into the bush. That was the end of Aniwɔ·ye, the Monster Skunk, but there are plenty of small skunks now.(9)The Man Who Transformed a Doll into a Woman and Followed Her into the World Above.There was once a man. He was hunting. He had his own wigwam, where he lived with an old man and an old woman who called him grandchild. He did not even know his father and mother. He had never seen young people, so when he became about twenty years old, he began to think that he ought to get himself a wife. So he started out and travelled all over,[58]but could not find one. At last, one day, he took a piece of wood and tried to carve for himself a big doll. He worked hard and after a while he made it so nearly perfect that it could speak a little. It was a female, but it did not seem to be complete quite yet.Said the doll to him, “Put me in your wigwam, cover me up, and do not look at me for three days. Be sure not to look, because if you do, I won’t be here.”“All right,” said he; and placed his doll in his wigwam. To remove himself from the temptation of breaking her rule he went away by himself and stayed the first night. The next afternoon he came back and began wondering to himself. “If I sleep here,” thought he, “I might, indeed, be tempted to look.” The more he pondered, the more he weakened. At last, he decided to take a little look. He peeped inside the wigwam and saw a very nice-looking young girl seated there. Then, gaining control of himself, he hurried away and camped again that night alone. The third day he came back again to look at his wife. When he came near the camp, he went to the water-hole.28There he saw a woman’s track going away from the water-hole. Thought he to himself, “Alas! my wife has gone.” He walked up to the wigwam, looked in, and found that the woman had actually gone.29He now decided to follow her. He went to the woods, cut a piece of cedar, and made himself a bow and a lot of arrows. The next day he started—this was two days after the woman had left. Then he walked very fast, starting early in the morning. Soon he came to a small lake lying still and frozen. When he reached the edge of the ice, he shot an arrow across, then he sped so fast that he reached the other side of the lake before the arrow got there. Before noon-time he came to where a camp was located, and going up to it, beheld an old woman cooking there. “Oh, my grandchild,” said she, “don’t stand there looking in the door. Come in and eat.” So he went in. Then he asked her whether she had seen a woman pass there. She answered, “Yesterday, about noon.” And the old woman gave him a mess of corn and said, “My dear grandchild, it is very hard[59]where you are going. Many people have tried to go where your road leads; but they have never gotten there, for many creatures are seeking their lives. But I will help you.” Then she gave him a leg-bone of a lynx. “When you are in trouble, you may need this,” she told him. Then he started on, following the tracks of his woman. Every time he came to a lake, he shot an arrow across and sped before it as he had done at first. He was fast indeed.Soon he came to another wigwam and peeped into this as he had done into the first. An old woman who was cooking inside spoke to him, as had the first, and invited him to come in and eat. Then he asked her when she had seen the woman pass by. “A little after noon time,” she replied. Now, by this, he knew that he had not gained very much. As before, he ate a little snack of corn and the old woman said to him, “Where you are going will be a very hard trip for you. Many people try it, but never succeed. They die.” And she, too, gave him a lynx bone and told him, as the other had done, that it would help him in time of need on his journey; and he started on again, doing the same at every lake, until it began to grow late in the day. He had been going so fast that he felt very tired.By and by he came to another camp and peeped in, as before, asked the same question, and was received in the same way. After he had eaten here, the old woman gave him a squirrel’s tail to help him overcome the dangers which she warned him against. Said she, “From now on you won’t see any more camps. Walk very fast now. Soon you will see a big tree with a square trunk, which will reach very far up into the sky. Now you won’t see any trail, but look carefully around. That is where your wife climbed up. There are, indeed, steps cut into the trunk, but you will not be able to see them. To you it will look smooth.”So he proceeded on his way and soon came to the place she had spoken about. There was the big tree, but no tracks were in sight. Around the base he saw lots of bones, bones of people who had tried to climb but had fallen down and died. He was bewildered. Then suddenly he recollected the bones the old women had given him. Taking one in each hand, like a pick, he began climbing up the great tree. At last he ascended so[60]high that the bones began to wear away. When they were so short that he could hardly use them, he looked down. He had gone so high that he could neither see the world beneath nor the end of the tree in the sky above. Now his bones were too short to help him, but he had his bow on his back. He could hardly hold on any longer, so he cried and yelled for help, but nobody could hear him. Soon he heard a spirit nearby which murmured to him, “Close your eyes and look through the tree. You will see steps to climb on.” Then he did as the voice said and perceived steps. He placed his feet in them and started running up. But now he made another mistake, he did not keep his eyes closed. When he looked, lo! he found himself back to where he had begun to climb the steps, holding on with his worn-out bones. Then he bethought himself of the squirrel’s tail, and at the same moment found himself transformed into a squirrel. He found that he could run up the great tree by tapping his tail on the trunk at each step. At last he came to a hole in the sky, in the middle of which the great tree protruded. A wide space, however, surrounded the tree, separating it from the edge of the sky. It would be necessary for him to jump across from the trunk to this edge. He made a great effort and sprang for the edge, but he just managed to catch on at the line of his waist; his upper parts, which reached above the edge, at once became human; his lower parts, extending below the edge, remained in the form of the squirrel.Then he beheld his wife coming across the surface of this upper world toward him. Said she, “You should not have come here, because, after all your trouble, you will die anyway.” She took hold of him and made shift to raise him. Then she pulled him out after teasing him a little while. “Now,” she said to him, “we always play ball up here. There are men here whom you will meet. They are your brothers-in-law. They will want you to play ball. If they beat you in the game, they will kill you; but if you beat them, you will survive.”Then she led him away to a village, where they saw a lot of great White Bears. This was the great White Bear’s home and his family. Now the old Bear arranged a contest for the stranger. Said he, “You take this ball and go around the edge of this world, running. One of these Bears will race with you,[61]to see who gets back here first.” So they started. The Bear took the ball in his mouth and, as soon as he started running, the man jumped upon his back and shook his ears, which made the Bear drop the ball. Then he threw the ball ahead. In this way, repeating the trick, they went around the world, and the man succeeded in getting back first. When he reached the starting point, the Bears said, “You seem to be a pretty good man; but there are still more tricks for you to perform. If you win, you can stay.”And they all went out together and came to a big rock. One of the White Bears tried to move this rock, and with a great effort he succeeded in moving it a little. “Now, you try,” said they, “and if you can’t move it, you are a dead man.” Then the man took his bow and arrow and shot it at the rock. The rock immediately broke into fragments. “Indeed, you are a great man, our brother-in-law, and can stay here and hunt and live with us,” said the old White Bear. Then the old Bear told him, after a while, that he had better go and hunt, or he would grow lonesome in his new life. By this time they had grown to like him very much.One afternoon, late, he started off to hunt. Everything that he met seemed strange to him in this new world. Soon he came to a lake with a little ice on it, and when he walked out he beheld tracks of some animal. Soon he came to a place where a big wooden mallet lay on the ice. He thought to himself that somebody had lost this mallet. Then he took it by the handle and hammered on the ice. Immediately the hammer fell through. Up from the hole in the ice a red otter emerged. He killed the red otter. Then he went on with the hammer to another place. There he tried again, and this time got a blue otter. He tried again at another place and got a black otter, which was like the otters of this world. So, taking his load of otters, he went home to display what he thought was a pretty good hunt. He carried his game in a bag of leather. When he got to his wigwam, he shoved his bag in the entrance ahead of him, so that his wife could open it and see what he had brought.30Thought she to herself, when she saw the game-bag,[62]“I wonder if he will show himself to be a good hunter.” She saw some blood on the bag. Opening it, she beheld the otters, Now the man had made a mistake, for these were tame otters and belonged to the Bears. She went out crying to her people, “This man has killed our otters!” When the old White Bear heard about the news, he said to his family, “We should have told this man about our otters, because he didn’t know. On this account it is all right.” He said no more, because he was afraid of the magic possessed by his new son-in-law.(10)Ayas·e and the Origin of Bats.The Ayas·e family was a large family. They lived in a camp. Very often they used to go picking berries, for their country was a rocky country where berries abounded. Very often some of the berry-pickers would get lost and never be found again. It was thought that some creature made a prey of them and ate them.One time one of the Ayas·e men was travelling. On his way he came across a kind of cabin of rock, from the top of which smoke was rising and in front of which a number of human skulls hung in the opening. Now this Ayas·e managed to enter. By being very careful and not touching the skulls, he gained the inside of the rock house without making any noise. These skulls were put there to rattle when anybody tried to pass. When Ayas·e got inside, he beheld two old blind women. As soon as they became aware of his presence, one of them said, “We had better begin to cook something and we will find out if Ayas·e is passing here.” Now these old women had some grease in a bark dish and one of them put some of the grease in a cooking pail. When she did this, Ayas·e pulled it out with his hand and ate it. Then she took the spoon to taste her grease, but found it gone. So she put another lump in the dish. Ayas·e took this, and when she started to dip it up, it, too, was gone. This happened three or four times. At last the old woman said, “Ayas·e must have passed; somebody told us that Ayas·e was going to pass. He must have passed now.” Then she took a stick which she used to poke the fire with and began feeling all around, poking in the corners of the[63]wigwam to find if Ayas·e were there. Every time she came near poking him, he moved to another part of the wigwam, so she could not reach him. Pretty soon she touched him with the poker and then he took off his coat of fisher-skin which he was wearing and threw in into the door-way. The old women jumped up and when they felt the fur coat they thought it was Ayas·e trying to escape through the door. Now these old women had a sharp pointed bone at each elbow. With this pointed bone they began stabbing the fur coat in their haste to kill Ayas·e, and pretty soon in their blind fury they fell to stabbing each other, each one thinking she was stabbing Ayas·e. They killed each other. One of the old women said before she died, “I believe you hit me by mistake.” It was too late; they both died.Now Ayas·e in the wigwam sat down and looked at them a long time. Then he dragged them outside and looked at them a long time. All around the wigwam he saw the men’s and women’s bones, the bones of the victims of these two old blind women. Then he knew that all of his lost people had been killed by the old women and eaten. They were cannibals in the shape of monster bats, large enough to kill and eat people. Then Ayas·e took their bodies and cut them up into small pieces. These he threw into the air and they sailed off, transformed into small bats as we see them to-day. I did not see any more.(11)Origin of the Constellation Fisher (Ursa Major).31The Fisher (mustela pennanti) was living somewhere in this world. Nobody knows where. Now in those times they had no summer. It was winter, winter all the time. They knew that summer existed somewhere, but it never came to them, although they wanted it very much.Now, once upon a time a man captured some little birds which are calledni·bənis·e“summer (guardian) birds.” He tied them in bundles and kept them with him all the time. That was the reason why it was continually winter, for so long as he held these birds, they could not bring summer to the[64]North Country. The people pondered very much how to go about freeing these birds from the creature who kept them. At last somebody discovered where this creature lived, and they decided that some one would go and try to free the Summer-birds. Now the Fresh-water Herring lived in the same wigwam with the man who kept the Summer-birds.The Fisher at last decided to go and free the birds, so that summer would come. He travelled a long while and reached the wigwam where the captor and the Herring lived. When he went in, he found the Herring alone. He captured the Herring and put some pitch on his mouth, so that he could not cry out. Then Fisher took the bundles of birds and tried to break the bindings, so that he could free them. Using his teeth at last he tore open the bundles and the Summer-birds flew free into the air. Then the pitch broke from the Herring’s mouth and he cried out, “Fisher breaks the bundle! The Summer-birds! Fisher breaks the bundles with his teeth! The Summer-birds!” Two or three times he cried out, until their captor heard him. Then he came up running, but when he arrived, the Fisher and the Summer-birds were already far away.The Fisher ran very fast to save himself. His pursuer had a bow and arrow with which he was going to kill him, but the Fisher sprang into the sky and climbed way up, with the hunter following behind him, still trying to shoot him with his bow and arrow. All he succeeded in shooting, however, was his tail, which is broken where it was wounded.32Although they chased him continually, they never got him.(12)The Young Loon.Once in the autumn of the year, when the birds were ready to fly to the south for the winter, a young Loon was unable to fly far enough to go with the rest of the birds. So he said to his mother, “I cannot go back south with you, as I am not strong enough. But I will stay here all winter in this place, and in the spring, when you come back, I will meet you here at this very spot. When you come back and find me here, it will be on a misty morning.” So they all flew away to the south, and[65]the young Loon was left behind for the winter. The mother was very sad because she had to leave him and because he was not strong enough to go with them.In the spring time, when the ice is breaking up in the lake, and it becomes misty, the Indians say, “The Loon is coming back from her winter sojourn in the South.”(13)The Giant Pike.At that time there were two people living who got married and had some daughters and sons. These grew up and married. One of the sons married and had children, two sons. The grandfather of these died. Then the father and mother died, and left the children with only their grandmother to look after them. At this time they were big enough to shoot bows and arrows and to go in a canoe with their grandmother to set the night lines33for fish. They lived only by fishing, because the grandmother was too old to do anything else.So these two boys used to play around, shooting bows and arrows for fun, just as the Ojibwa boys do now. They used to play near a lake. Then their grandmother would say to them, “Don’t swim in that lake. There is a big pike in there and he might swallow you.” The older boy believed his grandmother, but the younger did not. So one day, while they were playing, the younger boy by mistake shot his arrow out in the lake. He could see it floating on the surface, so he took off his clothes to swim to it. But his brother said, “You know what grandmother told you. The big pike might swallow you.” But the boy started to swim nevertheless, saying, “Koga′miko” (“swallowed in the water”) with each stroke that his arms took. When he called this out, the big pike came and swallowed him.Figure 1. Night set-line.Figure 1.Night set-line.His brother began crying and ran back to his grandmother in the wigwam, saying, “My little brother iskoga′miko, ‘swallowed in the water’.” Then his grandmother began crying and the two were crying together. Soon after this they again[66]set their night lines. When they looked toward the lake, three days later, they saw the float sticks together and the boy said, “We have a fish.” But the grandmother cried and would not look toward the lake where her grandson had died. But soon she went along in the canoe, crying, and pulled in the line. At the end was a very large fish, and they could see that his stomach was full of something. He was so large that they could scarcely pull him into the canoe. However, they managed to get him in and then they paddled to the shore and dragged the fish to a place where they could conveniently clean it. They cut his belly, which was distended, and out jumped the younger brother. “I’m scalded with the intestines! (Nin­babe′nəs,)”34he cried. “I’m scalded. I’ve been here three[67]days.” He was already beginning to be digested. The grandmother was very glad to get her grandson back again. That is the end.(14)Lynx and His Two Wives.There was a time when Lynx had two wives, the one a Rabbit and the other a Marten. The three lived in a wigwam. At this time Lynx drove beaver during the winter time.35Rabbit was a very good hunter. But Lynx this winter had very poor luck and they became very hungry. Lynx beat his wives because they couldn’t find the beaver. He said to them, “If you don’t get some beaver for me, I’ll eat both of you.” At this they became very much frightened. So Rabbit went to a beaver place, and putting a stick in the hole, she felt a beaver in it. Then Rabbit went home and told Marten, and they both were glad to get a beaver and save their lives. Then they both went back to the hole. While Rabbit was pulling the beaver out of the hole and had hold of his hind quarters, Lynx came along and tickled Rabbit, so that she let go and the beaver escaped. Lynx was bent on mischief. He said, “If you don’t get some beaver, I’ll kill you tonight.”Rabbit and Marten went home and burrowed a tunnel in the snow, inside the wigwam. Then they both went into a hole to hide and closed the hole behind them. When Lynx reached home, he was unable to find his wives, but he knew they were somewhere near. So he began to pull uptestes suos in seand then he began dancing.36He said to himself, “When they hear this funny thing, they will laugh.” Pretty soon Marten laughed, and Lynx, digging her out of the hole, killed and ate her. Soon he grew hungry and tried the same trick. But Rabbit was very much afraid and would not laugh. Lynx kept on doing this for some time and finally gave it up. He sat near the fire and cut his belly open, taking out some of his intestines which he roasted and ate. At last, when he had eaten all his intestines, he came to his heart. When he pulled at this, “Huk, huk”! it made a noise. At last he jerked and pulled[68]at it so hard that he died. This is the end. But all the grandchildren of Lynx have testicles as they are to-day.

(5)Ciŋgibis.At the time of which my story speaks people were camping just as we are here. In the winter time they used birch bark[48]wigwams. All animals could then talk together. Two girls, who were very foolish, talked foolishly and were in no respect like the other girls of their tribe, made their bed out-of-doors, and slept right out under the stars. The very fact that they slept outside during the winter proves how foolish they were.One of these girls asked the other, “With what star would you like to sleep, the white one or the red one?” The other girl answered, “I’d like to sleep with the red star.” “Oh, that’s all right,” said the first one, “I would like to sleep with the white star. He’s the younger; the red is the older.” Then the two girls fell asleep. When they awoke, they found themselves in another world, the star world. There were four of them there, the two girls and the two stars who had become men. The white star was very, very old and was grey-headed, while the younger was red-headed. He was the red star. The girls stayed a long time in this star world, and the one who had chosen the white star was very sorry, for he was so old.There was an old woman up in this world who sat over a hole in the sky, and, whenever she moved, she showed them the hole and said, “That’s where you came from.” They looked down through and saw their people playing down below, and then the girls grew very sorry and very homesick. One evening, near sunset, the old woman moved a little way from the hole.24The younger girl heard the noise of themite′windown below. When it was almost daylight, the old woman sat over the hole again and the noise ofmite′winstopped; it was her spirit that made the noise. She was the guardian of themite′win.One morning the old woman told the girls, “If you want to go down from where you came from, we will let you down, but get to work and gather roots to make a string-made rope, twisted. The two of you make coils of rope as high as your heads when you are sitting. Two coils will be enough.” The girls worked for days until they had accomplished this. They made plenty of rope and tied it to a big basket. They then got into the basket and the people of the star world lowered them down. They descended right into an Eagle’s nest, but the people above[49]thought the girls were on the ground and stopped lowering them. They were obliged to stay in the nest, because they could do nothing to help themselves.Said one, “We’ll have to stay here until some one comes to get us.” Bear passed by. The girls cried out, “Bear, come and get us. You are going to get married sometime. Now is your chance!” Bear thought, “They are not very good-looking women.” He pretended to climb up and then said, “I can’t climb up any further.” And he went away, for the girls didn’t suit him. Next came Lynx. The girls cried out again, “Lynx, come up and get us. You will go after women some day!” Lynx answered, “I can’t, for I have no claws,” and he went away. Then an ugly-looking man, Wolverine, passed and the girls spoke tohim. “Hey, Wolverine, come and get us.” Wolverine started to climb up, for he thought it a very fortunate thing to have these women and was very glad. When he reached them, they placed their hair ribbons in the nest. Then Wolverine agreed to take one girl at a time, so he took the first one down and went back for the next. Then Wolverine went away with his two wives and enjoyed himself greatly, as he was ugly and nobody else would have him. They went far into the woods, and then they sat down and began to talk. “Oh!” cried one of the girls, “I forgot my hair ribbons.” Then Wolverine said, “I will run back for it.” And he started off to get the hair ribbons. Then the girls hid and told the trees, whenever Wolverine should come back and whistle for them, toanswerhim by whistling. Wolverine soon returned and began to whistle for his wives, and the trees all around him whistled in answer. Wolverine, realizing that he had been tricked, gave up the search and departed very angry.The girls continued through the woods until they came to a big marsh, late in the afternoon. There they saw a big birch bark house. Everything around the house was very clean, the poles were scraped clean of their bark and were perfectly white, while there was neither smoke nor ashes to be seen anywhere. The girls looked at this and said, “The person who lives here must be very clean; we have never seen such a clean house.” There was no dry or green wood lying around, but inside the house they saw a fire-place and plenty of hay. One girl said[50]to the other, “We’d better cut a little wood.” So they cut wood and made the fire in case the man came home late. By this time, the ice was beginning to break. Late in the evening they heard someone crying out, “Who spoiled my wigwam? Who made smoke and ashes?” The owner of the wigwam didn’t know who had done this, so he came in and looked at the two girls. He then cut all the wood. This man was Woodpecker (Meme “pileated woodpecker”). Woodpecker made a fire of the hay, which was beaver hay. It gave no smoke to stain the wigwam and burned as well as wood. He brought in two nice beavers which belonged to him, and gave one to the girls, saying, “You can have this.” He then cooked the other one for himself. He showed the girls where to sleep and since the place where they were to sleep was not near him, they knew that he would not marry either of them.Next morning, after breakfast, he said to them, “Go! Don’t stay here. You go that way and you will find a big river. There you’ll find lots of people and maybe you’ll get married.” So the girls went on. They left Woodpecker and he is there yet. They came to the big river and beheld canoes and all kinds of people passing. First they saw White Duck (wa′bəci·p). He was a good looking man, and as he passed them in his canoe, the girls said to him, “Put us in your canoe, you are going to get married sometime.” White Duck answered, “My canoe is too small. Other people are coming; they will marry you.” And he passed on. Next came Fish Duck (azi′k), a good looking man. They cried out, “Put us in your canoe, you are going to get married anyway.” “No, my canoe is too small,” replied Fish Duck. A great many people passed, but all of them said that their canoes were too small, so the girls had to stay where they were. The people were passing to the mouth of the creek where the village of the chief was. At last came Black Duck (ni′nicip). He was also nice looking. “Come over and get us; you will get married sometime,” cried the girls. “No, My canoe is too small. Ciŋgibis is coming soon and he will marry you.” He was going to be the last person to pass. At last Ciŋgibis came along.When they saw him, one of the girls said, “He is a very ugly man, but we will go in his canoe and, when we get to the village,[51]we’ll get rid of him.” So they called out to him, “Come over and get us; you will get married anyway.” Ciŋgibis was very glad to have two wives, so he paddled over and got the two girls. They said, “Your canoe is a very small canoe.” “Oh no,” said Ciŋgibis, “my canoe is a magic canoe. It is enough.” So the girls got into the canoe and they went down the stream. By and by one girl said, “I’m getting hungry.” “Well,” saidCiŋgibis, “not far down is a nice rock and there we will have lunch. You can pull roots for lunch.” So Ciŋgibis and the two girls went ashore and pulled roots and made a string out of them. “That’s enough,” said Ciŋgibis to one of the girls. “Tie the string to my leg and I’ll dive for something to eat. When you see the string jerk, pull me up.” They did this, and he dove into the water. When the girls saw the string jerk, they pulled him up and he brought with him a big beaver. They skinned and cooked the beaver for lunch; then Ciŋgibis and his two wives continued their journey. Soon Ciŋgibis said, “Well, we are not far from the village now. I am going to place my caribou snare.” He meant rabbit when he said caribou. So he placed his snares. He then told the girls, “At the village your sister-in-law will come down to see you. Maŋg (Loon) is the name of the chief of the village. But we won’t camp near them; we’ll camp a little to one side.” They went down the river until they came to the mouth, and at that point they saw the wigwams.All the people yelled when they saw Ciŋgibis, for he was a great man, although he was the ugliest one among them. They cried, “Ee Ciŋgibis! He has two wives.” So they all laughed and the sister of Ciŋgibis came to shake hands with his two wives. Then Ciŋgibis pitched his wigwam. Soon a man who was a second chief came to Ciŋgibis and said, “Chief Maŋg wants to see you. He is going to have a dance tonight.” Ciŋgibis said to his wives, “Stay here and don’t go to the dance. There are too many nice-looking men there.” On account of this the two wives became angry with him. Ciŋgibis put on his best clothes and went to the dance.By and by the wives heard drumming and fine voices singing. So they decided to go and peep in at the dancers if Ciŋgibis should not see them. They did this and peeped in through[52]the bark, and there they saw Loon singing. He was a fine-looking man with a fine voice and fine clothes. Ciŋgibis was beside Loon, looking exceedingly ugly in contrast to him. The wives said, “It is a shame that Loon is so good-looking.” They then went back to camp and put two stumps in the place where they were to sleep, covered them with blankets and ran off.Ciŋgibis came back from the dance and, thinking that he was sleeping with his two wives, he lay down between the two stumps and fell asleep. But his two wives went to sleep with Chief Loon. By and by ants began to bite Ciŋgibis and he scolded his wives, saying, “Don’t do that.” At last he discovered the stumps and threw them out. At daybreak he went to the chief’s wigwam and there, sleeping with the Chief, he saw his two wives. “You are a dead man for this!” said Ciŋgibis.He then went to his grandmother. “What do you want?” asked she. “I want a chisel and a flint.” “What do you want with them, grandchild? Are you going to be in mischief again?” said the grandmother. However, she gave them to him, and Ciŋgibis tied two flints to his feet and placed the chisel in the fire to make it red hot. Then he asked for some eagle feathers (but this was awiske·djak(Canadian Jay) feather). He got them and placed them on his head. When the ice chisel became red hot, the old grandmother said, “Say, Ciŋgibis, don’t do any mischief again,” but Ciŋgibis picked up the chisel and ran away with it to the wigwam of Loon.Loon always slept with his mouth open. When Ciŋgibis reached the wigwam, he found every one in it asleep. He shoved the chisel into Loon’s open mouth, killing him, ran off to his canoe, jumped into it, and paddled away to his snares. He did this so that no one would suspect that he had killed their chief. This is the reason why the Loon always has a black mouth—from where he was burned. Ciŋgibis found a rabbit in his snare. He placed the blood of the rabbit in some hay and tied the hay to his stomach.When he returned to the camp, the people were mourning for Loon. Ciŋgibis came in slowly. The second chief said, “Ciŋgibis will be very sorry when he hears that Chief Loon is dead. He was his great friend. We must tell him before he arrives.” Then the people called to Ciŋgibis, “Ee Ciŋgibis, the[53]chief is dead.” “What!” said Ciŋgibis, “the chief is dead!” Then he drew out his knife and pierced the hay full of rabbit blood. The blood ran out and all the people thought that he had killed himself. Ciŋgibis then dived into the water and the people came out in their canoes to look for him. They saw the rabbit blood upon the water and gave up looking for him. After a few days, they made another chief, Goose (nixka′), since both Loon and Ciŋgibis were dead.Ten days after this had happened, early in the morning the people heard somebody singing near the shore three times, “Who killed our chief? I am the one.” They awoke Chief Goose and he exclaimed, “I was thinking that that Ciŋgibis was in all kinds of mischief. So we must try to kill him.” Accordingly he sent all the men after him in canoes. When Ciŋgibis dived, they could only see his feathers which his grandmother had given him, but they could not catch him. Ciŋgibis said to them, “You are all spirits. Drink all this water and you will get me.” Then the Ducks and Geese drank all the lake dry and chased Ciŋgibis among the rocks, and thought that they would catch him. “No, no,” laughed Ciŋgibis, “I know some more tricks yet.” So he ran about and kicked the rocks with the flints his grandmother had given him, which were fastened to his feet, and water began flowing out and finally covered everything. The people who were pursuing him had to swim for their lives. They all became ducks. This is the origin of all the ducks. When the people left their canoes, they were obliged to swim and so they are swimming yet.(6)Beaver Gives a Feast.All the animals, once upon a time, were camped together—the Beaver, the Otter, the Muskrat, and the others. Their chief was Beaver. Every once in a while he would give a big feast, build a big wigwam, and invite all the men and women to come in and eat with him. He would tell them, “Well, I want to give a feast.” Then they would come in, sit around the inside of his big wigwam and pass the food around from one to the other. He would provide lots of grease in birch-bark dishes. Now, one time, when he gave one of his feasts, Beaver cut his grease[54]supply into cakes which he served around to his guests. Every time he passed a cake to a guest, pepedit. Indeed, every time he moved, pepedit, or when he would go and cut a new block of grease.25Now every time the Beaver broke wind, the Otter laughed. He did not seem to know that this would offend the Beaver, because he was a little foolish. The other guests told the Otter, “You mustn’t laugh when Beaver does that; he is our chief.” Despite this, every time they went to a feast,castore pedente, the Otter laughed at him.So one time the Beaver sent a man to invite all the people to another feast. He sent the messages all through the camp. Now the people told the Otter this time, “You must not come; you never keep your mouth shut; you always laugh. If you only knew enough to keep still like the rest of us, it would be all right, but you had better stay home.” “Oh well, all right,” said the Otter, “I’ll stay back.” All went to the feast except the Otter. But he asked the others, “You will have to bring my share to me, since I can’t come. Tell the chief to send me my share.” The others agreed and went to attend the feast; but they asked him, “How big a piece of grease do you want?” The Otter replied, “Bring me a piece the size of my forearm.”(The otter has a very small forearm.) When the guests arrived at the feast, the Beaver chief saw that the Otter was not with them. Said he, “Where, indeed, is Otter? I like him because he is so funny.” They informed him that the Otter had not come, but that he wanted the chief to send him a piece of grease as large as his forearm. The Beaver cut a piece that size and sent it to the Otter; that is all the Otter got. He did not get very much because he had such a short forearm. That is the end of my story.(7)Tcaka·bįs.Tcaka·bįs lived with his grandmother. One time he made a long journey and was away for quite a while. He came to where there were some giant women who were scraping frozen beaver skins, “kąc, kąc.” He returned home and told his grandmother, “I heard the giant women scraping beaver hides.”[55]“Don’t go near them,” said his grandmother. And she repeated this warning often to Tcaka·bįs.However, one day he returned to where he had heard the giant women, and when he reached the lake, there they were, chasing beaver on the ice. When he came up, they knew him and cried out, “Ee, come on, come on, Tcaka·bįs!” So he went over to them and they said, “There is a beaver here and you must pull him up.” Tcaka·bįs was small and they thought the beaver would pull him through the hole into the ice. But he caught hold of the beaver’s tail and pulled him through all right. Then they asked him to stay with them, but he went away after he had stolen the big beaver tail, six feet long, and went back to his grandmother. When he got home, he showed her the tail, and she asked, “Did you steal it?” “No, no,” answered he. Then he made a door for their wigwam out of the tail.Soon the giant woman came to where he lived and called. “Tcaka·bįs, you are a dead man!” They came for the purpose of eating Tcaka·bįs and his grandmother. Then the grandmother said, “I told you not to go there. Now they say you are a dead man.” But Tcaka·bįs said, “Don’t be afraid, grandmother. I will take care of you.” Then he took his witch stone26and threw it up inside the wigwam, and the whole wigwam turned to stone except a little hole in the top for the smoke to come through. The stone was so thick that they were unable to hear the giant women pounding on the outside. Then the giant women went away and Tcaka·bįs lay inside of the wigwam in safety. But he felt a little sick, because he had eaten too much beaver fat.Some time after this, Tcaka·bįs went back again to the giant women and found them pounding up and boiling moose bones to make soup. As he came up, one of the giant women seized him and threw him into the pot. There he stayed for a long time, boiling and circling round and round in the pot, but still he was alive. At last, when the giant women needed grease, they dipped up Tcaka·bįs with a wooden spoon and threw him outside. Then Tcaka·bįs went back to his grandmother. He was very thin, because he had been boiled so long, nothing but skin and bones. That’s the end; he was a small fellow.[56](8)Aniwɔ·ye,27the Giant Skunk, and the Origin of Skunks.Aniwɔ·ye was the monster Skunk. He used to travel all over this world, trying to find the Ojibwa. He hunted them to kill them. He often took the form of a man. Whenever he would encounter people, he would approach them et pepedit towards their camp with his back to them, killing the peoplemalo ejus odore. In those days there was no other sickness. That was the only sickness which people had to kill them.Once upon a time in a camp where there were lots of people, hunters of a big band, they beheld the tracks of Aniwɔ·ye near one of their trails. It was winter time. When they saw these tracks, they turned back from their object because they were afraid Aniwɔ·ye would see their own tracks and follow them to camp and kill all their people. On this account they started off in every direction in order to lead Aniwɔ·ye away from the camp and so save their own people and possibly themselves. Said they, “We will go to Big Fisher lake, where the Big Fisher lives.” So they started off. But there was one old woman who could hardly see. She could not travel with them, so they had to leave her, as nobody could carry her.Soon Aniwɔ·ye found their trails and followed them, and soon he came to the wigwam in which the people had left the old woman. He looked in the door and saw her sitting near the fire. “Where are all your people?” he asked her. “They have gone away,” she answered. “They saw Aniwɔ·ye’s track and departed. But I am too old. I can’t see, I can’t walk; so they left me here.” This poor old woman thought it was a young man who spoke to her; she did not know, indeed, that it was Aniwɔ·ye himself. Then Aniwɔ·ye spoke, “If you can’t walk, I can cure you, so that you will be as well and strong as you ever were.” So he turned his back to her et pepedit. He blew the wigwam and the old woman all to pieces.Then Aniwɔ·ye followed on the trail of the people. When he had tracked them to Big Fisher lake, he could see right across the lake, because there was no island in the way, and there, on the other side, he saw where Big Fisher lived. The people had arrived here after a hard trip and begged Big Fisher for[57]protection from Aniwɔ·ye. So fast had they travelled that some of the old people, unable to keep up with the younger ones, had died of their efforts to hurry. Those who had reached Big Fisher’s camp kept watching for Aniwɔ·ye to appear across the lake on their tracks. At last they saw him emerge on the lake and come towards them. All the way along this pursuit, when he had found the people who had died on the march, he pulled at them to see if they were dead. Now, when Aniwɔ·ye appeared Big Fisher said to the people, “We will go to meet him. You men go ahead and I will hide behind you. So we will approach him until we get almost within his range. Do not let him see me,sed cum anum suum nobis verteret, spread apart and let me pass you to the front. While his back is turned to us, we will fix him.” They did as they were told, and the band started forward to meet Aniwɔ·ye, who also approached them slowly.When they were near enoughut odore ejus attingerentur, Aniwɔ·ye turned slowly. When his back was toward them,et cum pediturus esset, they opened ranks and Big Fisher ran forthet prius anum Aniwɔ·yei cepit quam hie pedere posset. He pinchedanum ejus dure. “Ayu!” exclaimed Aniwɔ·ye. “Ayu, ayu! Let go of me!Non iterum pedam!” But Big Fisher held on and would not let go. They struggled for some time, but Big Fisher held fast, and at last Aniwɔ·ye died because he could not discharge. He died and they were all exceedingly glad, rejoicing that he was done for. So they cut him up into small bits and scattered the bits all about. Immediately these turned into little skunks which ran off into the bush. That was the end of Aniwɔ·ye, the Monster Skunk, but there are plenty of small skunks now.(9)The Man Who Transformed a Doll into a Woman and Followed Her into the World Above.There was once a man. He was hunting. He had his own wigwam, where he lived with an old man and an old woman who called him grandchild. He did not even know his father and mother. He had never seen young people, so when he became about twenty years old, he began to think that he ought to get himself a wife. So he started out and travelled all over,[58]but could not find one. At last, one day, he took a piece of wood and tried to carve for himself a big doll. He worked hard and after a while he made it so nearly perfect that it could speak a little. It was a female, but it did not seem to be complete quite yet.Said the doll to him, “Put me in your wigwam, cover me up, and do not look at me for three days. Be sure not to look, because if you do, I won’t be here.”“All right,” said he; and placed his doll in his wigwam. To remove himself from the temptation of breaking her rule he went away by himself and stayed the first night. The next afternoon he came back and began wondering to himself. “If I sleep here,” thought he, “I might, indeed, be tempted to look.” The more he pondered, the more he weakened. At last, he decided to take a little look. He peeped inside the wigwam and saw a very nice-looking young girl seated there. Then, gaining control of himself, he hurried away and camped again that night alone. The third day he came back again to look at his wife. When he came near the camp, he went to the water-hole.28There he saw a woman’s track going away from the water-hole. Thought he to himself, “Alas! my wife has gone.” He walked up to the wigwam, looked in, and found that the woman had actually gone.29He now decided to follow her. He went to the woods, cut a piece of cedar, and made himself a bow and a lot of arrows. The next day he started—this was two days after the woman had left. Then he walked very fast, starting early in the morning. Soon he came to a small lake lying still and frozen. When he reached the edge of the ice, he shot an arrow across, then he sped so fast that he reached the other side of the lake before the arrow got there. Before noon-time he came to where a camp was located, and going up to it, beheld an old woman cooking there. “Oh, my grandchild,” said she, “don’t stand there looking in the door. Come in and eat.” So he went in. Then he asked her whether she had seen a woman pass there. She answered, “Yesterday, about noon.” And the old woman gave him a mess of corn and said, “My dear grandchild, it is very hard[59]where you are going. Many people have tried to go where your road leads; but they have never gotten there, for many creatures are seeking their lives. But I will help you.” Then she gave him a leg-bone of a lynx. “When you are in trouble, you may need this,” she told him. Then he started on, following the tracks of his woman. Every time he came to a lake, he shot an arrow across and sped before it as he had done at first. He was fast indeed.Soon he came to another wigwam and peeped into this as he had done into the first. An old woman who was cooking inside spoke to him, as had the first, and invited him to come in and eat. Then he asked her when she had seen the woman pass by. “A little after noon time,” she replied. Now, by this, he knew that he had not gained very much. As before, he ate a little snack of corn and the old woman said to him, “Where you are going will be a very hard trip for you. Many people try it, but never succeed. They die.” And she, too, gave him a lynx bone and told him, as the other had done, that it would help him in time of need on his journey; and he started on again, doing the same at every lake, until it began to grow late in the day. He had been going so fast that he felt very tired.By and by he came to another camp and peeped in, as before, asked the same question, and was received in the same way. After he had eaten here, the old woman gave him a squirrel’s tail to help him overcome the dangers which she warned him against. Said she, “From now on you won’t see any more camps. Walk very fast now. Soon you will see a big tree with a square trunk, which will reach very far up into the sky. Now you won’t see any trail, but look carefully around. That is where your wife climbed up. There are, indeed, steps cut into the trunk, but you will not be able to see them. To you it will look smooth.”So he proceeded on his way and soon came to the place she had spoken about. There was the big tree, but no tracks were in sight. Around the base he saw lots of bones, bones of people who had tried to climb but had fallen down and died. He was bewildered. Then suddenly he recollected the bones the old women had given him. Taking one in each hand, like a pick, he began climbing up the great tree. At last he ascended so[60]high that the bones began to wear away. When they were so short that he could hardly use them, he looked down. He had gone so high that he could neither see the world beneath nor the end of the tree in the sky above. Now his bones were too short to help him, but he had his bow on his back. He could hardly hold on any longer, so he cried and yelled for help, but nobody could hear him. Soon he heard a spirit nearby which murmured to him, “Close your eyes and look through the tree. You will see steps to climb on.” Then he did as the voice said and perceived steps. He placed his feet in them and started running up. But now he made another mistake, he did not keep his eyes closed. When he looked, lo! he found himself back to where he had begun to climb the steps, holding on with his worn-out bones. Then he bethought himself of the squirrel’s tail, and at the same moment found himself transformed into a squirrel. He found that he could run up the great tree by tapping his tail on the trunk at each step. At last he came to a hole in the sky, in the middle of which the great tree protruded. A wide space, however, surrounded the tree, separating it from the edge of the sky. It would be necessary for him to jump across from the trunk to this edge. He made a great effort and sprang for the edge, but he just managed to catch on at the line of his waist; his upper parts, which reached above the edge, at once became human; his lower parts, extending below the edge, remained in the form of the squirrel.Then he beheld his wife coming across the surface of this upper world toward him. Said she, “You should not have come here, because, after all your trouble, you will die anyway.” She took hold of him and made shift to raise him. Then she pulled him out after teasing him a little while. “Now,” she said to him, “we always play ball up here. There are men here whom you will meet. They are your brothers-in-law. They will want you to play ball. If they beat you in the game, they will kill you; but if you beat them, you will survive.”Then she led him away to a village, where they saw a lot of great White Bears. This was the great White Bear’s home and his family. Now the old Bear arranged a contest for the stranger. Said he, “You take this ball and go around the edge of this world, running. One of these Bears will race with you,[61]to see who gets back here first.” So they started. The Bear took the ball in his mouth and, as soon as he started running, the man jumped upon his back and shook his ears, which made the Bear drop the ball. Then he threw the ball ahead. In this way, repeating the trick, they went around the world, and the man succeeded in getting back first. When he reached the starting point, the Bears said, “You seem to be a pretty good man; but there are still more tricks for you to perform. If you win, you can stay.”And they all went out together and came to a big rock. One of the White Bears tried to move this rock, and with a great effort he succeeded in moving it a little. “Now, you try,” said they, “and if you can’t move it, you are a dead man.” Then the man took his bow and arrow and shot it at the rock. The rock immediately broke into fragments. “Indeed, you are a great man, our brother-in-law, and can stay here and hunt and live with us,” said the old White Bear. Then the old Bear told him, after a while, that he had better go and hunt, or he would grow lonesome in his new life. By this time they had grown to like him very much.One afternoon, late, he started off to hunt. Everything that he met seemed strange to him in this new world. Soon he came to a lake with a little ice on it, and when he walked out he beheld tracks of some animal. Soon he came to a place where a big wooden mallet lay on the ice. He thought to himself that somebody had lost this mallet. Then he took it by the handle and hammered on the ice. Immediately the hammer fell through. Up from the hole in the ice a red otter emerged. He killed the red otter. Then he went on with the hammer to another place. There he tried again, and this time got a blue otter. He tried again at another place and got a black otter, which was like the otters of this world. So, taking his load of otters, he went home to display what he thought was a pretty good hunt. He carried his game in a bag of leather. When he got to his wigwam, he shoved his bag in the entrance ahead of him, so that his wife could open it and see what he had brought.30Thought she to herself, when she saw the game-bag,[62]“I wonder if he will show himself to be a good hunter.” She saw some blood on the bag. Opening it, she beheld the otters, Now the man had made a mistake, for these were tame otters and belonged to the Bears. She went out crying to her people, “This man has killed our otters!” When the old White Bear heard about the news, he said to his family, “We should have told this man about our otters, because he didn’t know. On this account it is all right.” He said no more, because he was afraid of the magic possessed by his new son-in-law.(10)Ayas·e and the Origin of Bats.The Ayas·e family was a large family. They lived in a camp. Very often they used to go picking berries, for their country was a rocky country where berries abounded. Very often some of the berry-pickers would get lost and never be found again. It was thought that some creature made a prey of them and ate them.One time one of the Ayas·e men was travelling. On his way he came across a kind of cabin of rock, from the top of which smoke was rising and in front of which a number of human skulls hung in the opening. Now this Ayas·e managed to enter. By being very careful and not touching the skulls, he gained the inside of the rock house without making any noise. These skulls were put there to rattle when anybody tried to pass. When Ayas·e got inside, he beheld two old blind women. As soon as they became aware of his presence, one of them said, “We had better begin to cook something and we will find out if Ayas·e is passing here.” Now these old women had some grease in a bark dish and one of them put some of the grease in a cooking pail. When she did this, Ayas·e pulled it out with his hand and ate it. Then she took the spoon to taste her grease, but found it gone. So she put another lump in the dish. Ayas·e took this, and when she started to dip it up, it, too, was gone. This happened three or four times. At last the old woman said, “Ayas·e must have passed; somebody told us that Ayas·e was going to pass. He must have passed now.” Then she took a stick which she used to poke the fire with and began feeling all around, poking in the corners of the[63]wigwam to find if Ayas·e were there. Every time she came near poking him, he moved to another part of the wigwam, so she could not reach him. Pretty soon she touched him with the poker and then he took off his coat of fisher-skin which he was wearing and threw in into the door-way. The old women jumped up and when they felt the fur coat they thought it was Ayas·e trying to escape through the door. Now these old women had a sharp pointed bone at each elbow. With this pointed bone they began stabbing the fur coat in their haste to kill Ayas·e, and pretty soon in their blind fury they fell to stabbing each other, each one thinking she was stabbing Ayas·e. They killed each other. One of the old women said before she died, “I believe you hit me by mistake.” It was too late; they both died.Now Ayas·e in the wigwam sat down and looked at them a long time. Then he dragged them outside and looked at them a long time. All around the wigwam he saw the men’s and women’s bones, the bones of the victims of these two old blind women. Then he knew that all of his lost people had been killed by the old women and eaten. They were cannibals in the shape of monster bats, large enough to kill and eat people. Then Ayas·e took their bodies and cut them up into small pieces. These he threw into the air and they sailed off, transformed into small bats as we see them to-day. I did not see any more.(11)Origin of the Constellation Fisher (Ursa Major).31The Fisher (mustela pennanti) was living somewhere in this world. Nobody knows where. Now in those times they had no summer. It was winter, winter all the time. They knew that summer existed somewhere, but it never came to them, although they wanted it very much.Now, once upon a time a man captured some little birds which are calledni·bənis·e“summer (guardian) birds.” He tied them in bundles and kept them with him all the time. That was the reason why it was continually winter, for so long as he held these birds, they could not bring summer to the[64]North Country. The people pondered very much how to go about freeing these birds from the creature who kept them. At last somebody discovered where this creature lived, and they decided that some one would go and try to free the Summer-birds. Now the Fresh-water Herring lived in the same wigwam with the man who kept the Summer-birds.The Fisher at last decided to go and free the birds, so that summer would come. He travelled a long while and reached the wigwam where the captor and the Herring lived. When he went in, he found the Herring alone. He captured the Herring and put some pitch on his mouth, so that he could not cry out. Then Fisher took the bundles of birds and tried to break the bindings, so that he could free them. Using his teeth at last he tore open the bundles and the Summer-birds flew free into the air. Then the pitch broke from the Herring’s mouth and he cried out, “Fisher breaks the bundle! The Summer-birds! Fisher breaks the bundles with his teeth! The Summer-birds!” Two or three times he cried out, until their captor heard him. Then he came up running, but when he arrived, the Fisher and the Summer-birds were already far away.The Fisher ran very fast to save himself. His pursuer had a bow and arrow with which he was going to kill him, but the Fisher sprang into the sky and climbed way up, with the hunter following behind him, still trying to shoot him with his bow and arrow. All he succeeded in shooting, however, was his tail, which is broken where it was wounded.32Although they chased him continually, they never got him.(12)The Young Loon.Once in the autumn of the year, when the birds were ready to fly to the south for the winter, a young Loon was unable to fly far enough to go with the rest of the birds. So he said to his mother, “I cannot go back south with you, as I am not strong enough. But I will stay here all winter in this place, and in the spring, when you come back, I will meet you here at this very spot. When you come back and find me here, it will be on a misty morning.” So they all flew away to the south, and[65]the young Loon was left behind for the winter. The mother was very sad because she had to leave him and because he was not strong enough to go with them.In the spring time, when the ice is breaking up in the lake, and it becomes misty, the Indians say, “The Loon is coming back from her winter sojourn in the South.”(13)The Giant Pike.At that time there were two people living who got married and had some daughters and sons. These grew up and married. One of the sons married and had children, two sons. The grandfather of these died. Then the father and mother died, and left the children with only their grandmother to look after them. At this time they were big enough to shoot bows and arrows and to go in a canoe with their grandmother to set the night lines33for fish. They lived only by fishing, because the grandmother was too old to do anything else.So these two boys used to play around, shooting bows and arrows for fun, just as the Ojibwa boys do now. They used to play near a lake. Then their grandmother would say to them, “Don’t swim in that lake. There is a big pike in there and he might swallow you.” The older boy believed his grandmother, but the younger did not. So one day, while they were playing, the younger boy by mistake shot his arrow out in the lake. He could see it floating on the surface, so he took off his clothes to swim to it. But his brother said, “You know what grandmother told you. The big pike might swallow you.” But the boy started to swim nevertheless, saying, “Koga′miko” (“swallowed in the water”) with each stroke that his arms took. When he called this out, the big pike came and swallowed him.Figure 1. Night set-line.Figure 1.Night set-line.His brother began crying and ran back to his grandmother in the wigwam, saying, “My little brother iskoga′miko, ‘swallowed in the water’.” Then his grandmother began crying and the two were crying together. Soon after this they again[66]set their night lines. When they looked toward the lake, three days later, they saw the float sticks together and the boy said, “We have a fish.” But the grandmother cried and would not look toward the lake where her grandson had died. But soon she went along in the canoe, crying, and pulled in the line. At the end was a very large fish, and they could see that his stomach was full of something. He was so large that they could scarcely pull him into the canoe. However, they managed to get him in and then they paddled to the shore and dragged the fish to a place where they could conveniently clean it. They cut his belly, which was distended, and out jumped the younger brother. “I’m scalded with the intestines! (Nin­babe′nəs,)”34he cried. “I’m scalded. I’ve been here three[67]days.” He was already beginning to be digested. The grandmother was very glad to get her grandson back again. That is the end.(14)Lynx and His Two Wives.There was a time when Lynx had two wives, the one a Rabbit and the other a Marten. The three lived in a wigwam. At this time Lynx drove beaver during the winter time.35Rabbit was a very good hunter. But Lynx this winter had very poor luck and they became very hungry. Lynx beat his wives because they couldn’t find the beaver. He said to them, “If you don’t get some beaver for me, I’ll eat both of you.” At this they became very much frightened. So Rabbit went to a beaver place, and putting a stick in the hole, she felt a beaver in it. Then Rabbit went home and told Marten, and they both were glad to get a beaver and save their lives. Then they both went back to the hole. While Rabbit was pulling the beaver out of the hole and had hold of his hind quarters, Lynx came along and tickled Rabbit, so that she let go and the beaver escaped. Lynx was bent on mischief. He said, “If you don’t get some beaver, I’ll kill you tonight.”Rabbit and Marten went home and burrowed a tunnel in the snow, inside the wigwam. Then they both went into a hole to hide and closed the hole behind them. When Lynx reached home, he was unable to find his wives, but he knew they were somewhere near. So he began to pull uptestes suos in seand then he began dancing.36He said to himself, “When they hear this funny thing, they will laugh.” Pretty soon Marten laughed, and Lynx, digging her out of the hole, killed and ate her. Soon he grew hungry and tried the same trick. But Rabbit was very much afraid and would not laugh. Lynx kept on doing this for some time and finally gave it up. He sat near the fire and cut his belly open, taking out some of his intestines which he roasted and ate. At last, when he had eaten all his intestines, he came to his heart. When he pulled at this, “Huk, huk”! it made a noise. At last he jerked and pulled[68]at it so hard that he died. This is the end. But all the grandchildren of Lynx have testicles as they are to-day.

(5)Ciŋgibis.At the time of which my story speaks people were camping just as we are here. In the winter time they used birch bark[48]wigwams. All animals could then talk together. Two girls, who were very foolish, talked foolishly and were in no respect like the other girls of their tribe, made their bed out-of-doors, and slept right out under the stars. The very fact that they slept outside during the winter proves how foolish they were.One of these girls asked the other, “With what star would you like to sleep, the white one or the red one?” The other girl answered, “I’d like to sleep with the red star.” “Oh, that’s all right,” said the first one, “I would like to sleep with the white star. He’s the younger; the red is the older.” Then the two girls fell asleep. When they awoke, they found themselves in another world, the star world. There were four of them there, the two girls and the two stars who had become men. The white star was very, very old and was grey-headed, while the younger was red-headed. He was the red star. The girls stayed a long time in this star world, and the one who had chosen the white star was very sorry, for he was so old.There was an old woman up in this world who sat over a hole in the sky, and, whenever she moved, she showed them the hole and said, “That’s where you came from.” They looked down through and saw their people playing down below, and then the girls grew very sorry and very homesick. One evening, near sunset, the old woman moved a little way from the hole.24The younger girl heard the noise of themite′windown below. When it was almost daylight, the old woman sat over the hole again and the noise ofmite′winstopped; it was her spirit that made the noise. She was the guardian of themite′win.One morning the old woman told the girls, “If you want to go down from where you came from, we will let you down, but get to work and gather roots to make a string-made rope, twisted. The two of you make coils of rope as high as your heads when you are sitting. Two coils will be enough.” The girls worked for days until they had accomplished this. They made plenty of rope and tied it to a big basket. They then got into the basket and the people of the star world lowered them down. They descended right into an Eagle’s nest, but the people above[49]thought the girls were on the ground and stopped lowering them. They were obliged to stay in the nest, because they could do nothing to help themselves.Said one, “We’ll have to stay here until some one comes to get us.” Bear passed by. The girls cried out, “Bear, come and get us. You are going to get married sometime. Now is your chance!” Bear thought, “They are not very good-looking women.” He pretended to climb up and then said, “I can’t climb up any further.” And he went away, for the girls didn’t suit him. Next came Lynx. The girls cried out again, “Lynx, come up and get us. You will go after women some day!” Lynx answered, “I can’t, for I have no claws,” and he went away. Then an ugly-looking man, Wolverine, passed and the girls spoke tohim. “Hey, Wolverine, come and get us.” Wolverine started to climb up, for he thought it a very fortunate thing to have these women and was very glad. When he reached them, they placed their hair ribbons in the nest. Then Wolverine agreed to take one girl at a time, so he took the first one down and went back for the next. Then Wolverine went away with his two wives and enjoyed himself greatly, as he was ugly and nobody else would have him. They went far into the woods, and then they sat down and began to talk. “Oh!” cried one of the girls, “I forgot my hair ribbons.” Then Wolverine said, “I will run back for it.” And he started off to get the hair ribbons. Then the girls hid and told the trees, whenever Wolverine should come back and whistle for them, toanswerhim by whistling. Wolverine soon returned and began to whistle for his wives, and the trees all around him whistled in answer. Wolverine, realizing that he had been tricked, gave up the search and departed very angry.The girls continued through the woods until they came to a big marsh, late in the afternoon. There they saw a big birch bark house. Everything around the house was very clean, the poles were scraped clean of their bark and were perfectly white, while there was neither smoke nor ashes to be seen anywhere. The girls looked at this and said, “The person who lives here must be very clean; we have never seen such a clean house.” There was no dry or green wood lying around, but inside the house they saw a fire-place and plenty of hay. One girl said[50]to the other, “We’d better cut a little wood.” So they cut wood and made the fire in case the man came home late. By this time, the ice was beginning to break. Late in the evening they heard someone crying out, “Who spoiled my wigwam? Who made smoke and ashes?” The owner of the wigwam didn’t know who had done this, so he came in and looked at the two girls. He then cut all the wood. This man was Woodpecker (Meme “pileated woodpecker”). Woodpecker made a fire of the hay, which was beaver hay. It gave no smoke to stain the wigwam and burned as well as wood. He brought in two nice beavers which belonged to him, and gave one to the girls, saying, “You can have this.” He then cooked the other one for himself. He showed the girls where to sleep and since the place where they were to sleep was not near him, they knew that he would not marry either of them.Next morning, after breakfast, he said to them, “Go! Don’t stay here. You go that way and you will find a big river. There you’ll find lots of people and maybe you’ll get married.” So the girls went on. They left Woodpecker and he is there yet. They came to the big river and beheld canoes and all kinds of people passing. First they saw White Duck (wa′bəci·p). He was a good looking man, and as he passed them in his canoe, the girls said to him, “Put us in your canoe, you are going to get married sometime.” White Duck answered, “My canoe is too small. Other people are coming; they will marry you.” And he passed on. Next came Fish Duck (azi′k), a good looking man. They cried out, “Put us in your canoe, you are going to get married anyway.” “No, my canoe is too small,” replied Fish Duck. A great many people passed, but all of them said that their canoes were too small, so the girls had to stay where they were. The people were passing to the mouth of the creek where the village of the chief was. At last came Black Duck (ni′nicip). He was also nice looking. “Come over and get us; you will get married sometime,” cried the girls. “No, My canoe is too small. Ciŋgibis is coming soon and he will marry you.” He was going to be the last person to pass. At last Ciŋgibis came along.When they saw him, one of the girls said, “He is a very ugly man, but we will go in his canoe and, when we get to the village,[51]we’ll get rid of him.” So they called out to him, “Come over and get us; you will get married anyway.” Ciŋgibis was very glad to have two wives, so he paddled over and got the two girls. They said, “Your canoe is a very small canoe.” “Oh no,” said Ciŋgibis, “my canoe is a magic canoe. It is enough.” So the girls got into the canoe and they went down the stream. By and by one girl said, “I’m getting hungry.” “Well,” saidCiŋgibis, “not far down is a nice rock and there we will have lunch. You can pull roots for lunch.” So Ciŋgibis and the two girls went ashore and pulled roots and made a string out of them. “That’s enough,” said Ciŋgibis to one of the girls. “Tie the string to my leg and I’ll dive for something to eat. When you see the string jerk, pull me up.” They did this, and he dove into the water. When the girls saw the string jerk, they pulled him up and he brought with him a big beaver. They skinned and cooked the beaver for lunch; then Ciŋgibis and his two wives continued their journey. Soon Ciŋgibis said, “Well, we are not far from the village now. I am going to place my caribou snare.” He meant rabbit when he said caribou. So he placed his snares. He then told the girls, “At the village your sister-in-law will come down to see you. Maŋg (Loon) is the name of the chief of the village. But we won’t camp near them; we’ll camp a little to one side.” They went down the river until they came to the mouth, and at that point they saw the wigwams.All the people yelled when they saw Ciŋgibis, for he was a great man, although he was the ugliest one among them. They cried, “Ee Ciŋgibis! He has two wives.” So they all laughed and the sister of Ciŋgibis came to shake hands with his two wives. Then Ciŋgibis pitched his wigwam. Soon a man who was a second chief came to Ciŋgibis and said, “Chief Maŋg wants to see you. He is going to have a dance tonight.” Ciŋgibis said to his wives, “Stay here and don’t go to the dance. There are too many nice-looking men there.” On account of this the two wives became angry with him. Ciŋgibis put on his best clothes and went to the dance.By and by the wives heard drumming and fine voices singing. So they decided to go and peep in at the dancers if Ciŋgibis should not see them. They did this and peeped in through[52]the bark, and there they saw Loon singing. He was a fine-looking man with a fine voice and fine clothes. Ciŋgibis was beside Loon, looking exceedingly ugly in contrast to him. The wives said, “It is a shame that Loon is so good-looking.” They then went back to camp and put two stumps in the place where they were to sleep, covered them with blankets and ran off.Ciŋgibis came back from the dance and, thinking that he was sleeping with his two wives, he lay down between the two stumps and fell asleep. But his two wives went to sleep with Chief Loon. By and by ants began to bite Ciŋgibis and he scolded his wives, saying, “Don’t do that.” At last he discovered the stumps and threw them out. At daybreak he went to the chief’s wigwam and there, sleeping with the Chief, he saw his two wives. “You are a dead man for this!” said Ciŋgibis.He then went to his grandmother. “What do you want?” asked she. “I want a chisel and a flint.” “What do you want with them, grandchild? Are you going to be in mischief again?” said the grandmother. However, she gave them to him, and Ciŋgibis tied two flints to his feet and placed the chisel in the fire to make it red hot. Then he asked for some eagle feathers (but this was awiske·djak(Canadian Jay) feather). He got them and placed them on his head. When the ice chisel became red hot, the old grandmother said, “Say, Ciŋgibis, don’t do any mischief again,” but Ciŋgibis picked up the chisel and ran away with it to the wigwam of Loon.Loon always slept with his mouth open. When Ciŋgibis reached the wigwam, he found every one in it asleep. He shoved the chisel into Loon’s open mouth, killing him, ran off to his canoe, jumped into it, and paddled away to his snares. He did this so that no one would suspect that he had killed their chief. This is the reason why the Loon always has a black mouth—from where he was burned. Ciŋgibis found a rabbit in his snare. He placed the blood of the rabbit in some hay and tied the hay to his stomach.When he returned to the camp, the people were mourning for Loon. Ciŋgibis came in slowly. The second chief said, “Ciŋgibis will be very sorry when he hears that Chief Loon is dead. He was his great friend. We must tell him before he arrives.” Then the people called to Ciŋgibis, “Ee Ciŋgibis, the[53]chief is dead.” “What!” said Ciŋgibis, “the chief is dead!” Then he drew out his knife and pierced the hay full of rabbit blood. The blood ran out and all the people thought that he had killed himself. Ciŋgibis then dived into the water and the people came out in their canoes to look for him. They saw the rabbit blood upon the water and gave up looking for him. After a few days, they made another chief, Goose (nixka′), since both Loon and Ciŋgibis were dead.Ten days after this had happened, early in the morning the people heard somebody singing near the shore three times, “Who killed our chief? I am the one.” They awoke Chief Goose and he exclaimed, “I was thinking that that Ciŋgibis was in all kinds of mischief. So we must try to kill him.” Accordingly he sent all the men after him in canoes. When Ciŋgibis dived, they could only see his feathers which his grandmother had given him, but they could not catch him. Ciŋgibis said to them, “You are all spirits. Drink all this water and you will get me.” Then the Ducks and Geese drank all the lake dry and chased Ciŋgibis among the rocks, and thought that they would catch him. “No, no,” laughed Ciŋgibis, “I know some more tricks yet.” So he ran about and kicked the rocks with the flints his grandmother had given him, which were fastened to his feet, and water began flowing out and finally covered everything. The people who were pursuing him had to swim for their lives. They all became ducks. This is the origin of all the ducks. When the people left their canoes, they were obliged to swim and so they are swimming yet.(6)Beaver Gives a Feast.All the animals, once upon a time, were camped together—the Beaver, the Otter, the Muskrat, and the others. Their chief was Beaver. Every once in a while he would give a big feast, build a big wigwam, and invite all the men and women to come in and eat with him. He would tell them, “Well, I want to give a feast.” Then they would come in, sit around the inside of his big wigwam and pass the food around from one to the other. He would provide lots of grease in birch-bark dishes. Now, one time, when he gave one of his feasts, Beaver cut his grease[54]supply into cakes which he served around to his guests. Every time he passed a cake to a guest, pepedit. Indeed, every time he moved, pepedit, or when he would go and cut a new block of grease.25Now every time the Beaver broke wind, the Otter laughed. He did not seem to know that this would offend the Beaver, because he was a little foolish. The other guests told the Otter, “You mustn’t laugh when Beaver does that; he is our chief.” Despite this, every time they went to a feast,castore pedente, the Otter laughed at him.So one time the Beaver sent a man to invite all the people to another feast. He sent the messages all through the camp. Now the people told the Otter this time, “You must not come; you never keep your mouth shut; you always laugh. If you only knew enough to keep still like the rest of us, it would be all right, but you had better stay home.” “Oh well, all right,” said the Otter, “I’ll stay back.” All went to the feast except the Otter. But he asked the others, “You will have to bring my share to me, since I can’t come. Tell the chief to send me my share.” The others agreed and went to attend the feast; but they asked him, “How big a piece of grease do you want?” The Otter replied, “Bring me a piece the size of my forearm.”(The otter has a very small forearm.) When the guests arrived at the feast, the Beaver chief saw that the Otter was not with them. Said he, “Where, indeed, is Otter? I like him because he is so funny.” They informed him that the Otter had not come, but that he wanted the chief to send him a piece of grease as large as his forearm. The Beaver cut a piece that size and sent it to the Otter; that is all the Otter got. He did not get very much because he had such a short forearm. That is the end of my story.(7)Tcaka·bįs.Tcaka·bįs lived with his grandmother. One time he made a long journey and was away for quite a while. He came to where there were some giant women who were scraping frozen beaver skins, “kąc, kąc.” He returned home and told his grandmother, “I heard the giant women scraping beaver hides.”[55]“Don’t go near them,” said his grandmother. And she repeated this warning often to Tcaka·bįs.However, one day he returned to where he had heard the giant women, and when he reached the lake, there they were, chasing beaver on the ice. When he came up, they knew him and cried out, “Ee, come on, come on, Tcaka·bįs!” So he went over to them and they said, “There is a beaver here and you must pull him up.” Tcaka·bįs was small and they thought the beaver would pull him through the hole into the ice. But he caught hold of the beaver’s tail and pulled him through all right. Then they asked him to stay with them, but he went away after he had stolen the big beaver tail, six feet long, and went back to his grandmother. When he got home, he showed her the tail, and she asked, “Did you steal it?” “No, no,” answered he. Then he made a door for their wigwam out of the tail.Soon the giant woman came to where he lived and called. “Tcaka·bįs, you are a dead man!” They came for the purpose of eating Tcaka·bįs and his grandmother. Then the grandmother said, “I told you not to go there. Now they say you are a dead man.” But Tcaka·bįs said, “Don’t be afraid, grandmother. I will take care of you.” Then he took his witch stone26and threw it up inside the wigwam, and the whole wigwam turned to stone except a little hole in the top for the smoke to come through. The stone was so thick that they were unable to hear the giant women pounding on the outside. Then the giant women went away and Tcaka·bįs lay inside of the wigwam in safety. But he felt a little sick, because he had eaten too much beaver fat.Some time after this, Tcaka·bįs went back again to the giant women and found them pounding up and boiling moose bones to make soup. As he came up, one of the giant women seized him and threw him into the pot. There he stayed for a long time, boiling and circling round and round in the pot, but still he was alive. At last, when the giant women needed grease, they dipped up Tcaka·bįs with a wooden spoon and threw him outside. Then Tcaka·bįs went back to his grandmother. He was very thin, because he had been boiled so long, nothing but skin and bones. That’s the end; he was a small fellow.[56](8)Aniwɔ·ye,27the Giant Skunk, and the Origin of Skunks.Aniwɔ·ye was the monster Skunk. He used to travel all over this world, trying to find the Ojibwa. He hunted them to kill them. He often took the form of a man. Whenever he would encounter people, he would approach them et pepedit towards their camp with his back to them, killing the peoplemalo ejus odore. In those days there was no other sickness. That was the only sickness which people had to kill them.Once upon a time in a camp where there were lots of people, hunters of a big band, they beheld the tracks of Aniwɔ·ye near one of their trails. It was winter time. When they saw these tracks, they turned back from their object because they were afraid Aniwɔ·ye would see their own tracks and follow them to camp and kill all their people. On this account they started off in every direction in order to lead Aniwɔ·ye away from the camp and so save their own people and possibly themselves. Said they, “We will go to Big Fisher lake, where the Big Fisher lives.” So they started off. But there was one old woman who could hardly see. She could not travel with them, so they had to leave her, as nobody could carry her.Soon Aniwɔ·ye found their trails and followed them, and soon he came to the wigwam in which the people had left the old woman. He looked in the door and saw her sitting near the fire. “Where are all your people?” he asked her. “They have gone away,” she answered. “They saw Aniwɔ·ye’s track and departed. But I am too old. I can’t see, I can’t walk; so they left me here.” This poor old woman thought it was a young man who spoke to her; she did not know, indeed, that it was Aniwɔ·ye himself. Then Aniwɔ·ye spoke, “If you can’t walk, I can cure you, so that you will be as well and strong as you ever were.” So he turned his back to her et pepedit. He blew the wigwam and the old woman all to pieces.Then Aniwɔ·ye followed on the trail of the people. When he had tracked them to Big Fisher lake, he could see right across the lake, because there was no island in the way, and there, on the other side, he saw where Big Fisher lived. The people had arrived here after a hard trip and begged Big Fisher for[57]protection from Aniwɔ·ye. So fast had they travelled that some of the old people, unable to keep up with the younger ones, had died of their efforts to hurry. Those who had reached Big Fisher’s camp kept watching for Aniwɔ·ye to appear across the lake on their tracks. At last they saw him emerge on the lake and come towards them. All the way along this pursuit, when he had found the people who had died on the march, he pulled at them to see if they were dead. Now, when Aniwɔ·ye appeared Big Fisher said to the people, “We will go to meet him. You men go ahead and I will hide behind you. So we will approach him until we get almost within his range. Do not let him see me,sed cum anum suum nobis verteret, spread apart and let me pass you to the front. While his back is turned to us, we will fix him.” They did as they were told, and the band started forward to meet Aniwɔ·ye, who also approached them slowly.When they were near enoughut odore ejus attingerentur, Aniwɔ·ye turned slowly. When his back was toward them,et cum pediturus esset, they opened ranks and Big Fisher ran forthet prius anum Aniwɔ·yei cepit quam hie pedere posset. He pinchedanum ejus dure. “Ayu!” exclaimed Aniwɔ·ye. “Ayu, ayu! Let go of me!Non iterum pedam!” But Big Fisher held on and would not let go. They struggled for some time, but Big Fisher held fast, and at last Aniwɔ·ye died because he could not discharge. He died and they were all exceedingly glad, rejoicing that he was done for. So they cut him up into small bits and scattered the bits all about. Immediately these turned into little skunks which ran off into the bush. That was the end of Aniwɔ·ye, the Monster Skunk, but there are plenty of small skunks now.(9)The Man Who Transformed a Doll into a Woman and Followed Her into the World Above.There was once a man. He was hunting. He had his own wigwam, where he lived with an old man and an old woman who called him grandchild. He did not even know his father and mother. He had never seen young people, so when he became about twenty years old, he began to think that he ought to get himself a wife. So he started out and travelled all over,[58]but could not find one. At last, one day, he took a piece of wood and tried to carve for himself a big doll. He worked hard and after a while he made it so nearly perfect that it could speak a little. It was a female, but it did not seem to be complete quite yet.Said the doll to him, “Put me in your wigwam, cover me up, and do not look at me for three days. Be sure not to look, because if you do, I won’t be here.”“All right,” said he; and placed his doll in his wigwam. To remove himself from the temptation of breaking her rule he went away by himself and stayed the first night. The next afternoon he came back and began wondering to himself. “If I sleep here,” thought he, “I might, indeed, be tempted to look.” The more he pondered, the more he weakened. At last, he decided to take a little look. He peeped inside the wigwam and saw a very nice-looking young girl seated there. Then, gaining control of himself, he hurried away and camped again that night alone. The third day he came back again to look at his wife. When he came near the camp, he went to the water-hole.28There he saw a woman’s track going away from the water-hole. Thought he to himself, “Alas! my wife has gone.” He walked up to the wigwam, looked in, and found that the woman had actually gone.29He now decided to follow her. He went to the woods, cut a piece of cedar, and made himself a bow and a lot of arrows. The next day he started—this was two days after the woman had left. Then he walked very fast, starting early in the morning. Soon he came to a small lake lying still and frozen. When he reached the edge of the ice, he shot an arrow across, then he sped so fast that he reached the other side of the lake before the arrow got there. Before noon-time he came to where a camp was located, and going up to it, beheld an old woman cooking there. “Oh, my grandchild,” said she, “don’t stand there looking in the door. Come in and eat.” So he went in. Then he asked her whether she had seen a woman pass there. She answered, “Yesterday, about noon.” And the old woman gave him a mess of corn and said, “My dear grandchild, it is very hard[59]where you are going. Many people have tried to go where your road leads; but they have never gotten there, for many creatures are seeking their lives. But I will help you.” Then she gave him a leg-bone of a lynx. “When you are in trouble, you may need this,” she told him. Then he started on, following the tracks of his woman. Every time he came to a lake, he shot an arrow across and sped before it as he had done at first. He was fast indeed.Soon he came to another wigwam and peeped into this as he had done into the first. An old woman who was cooking inside spoke to him, as had the first, and invited him to come in and eat. Then he asked her when she had seen the woman pass by. “A little after noon time,” she replied. Now, by this, he knew that he had not gained very much. As before, he ate a little snack of corn and the old woman said to him, “Where you are going will be a very hard trip for you. Many people try it, but never succeed. They die.” And she, too, gave him a lynx bone and told him, as the other had done, that it would help him in time of need on his journey; and he started on again, doing the same at every lake, until it began to grow late in the day. He had been going so fast that he felt very tired.By and by he came to another camp and peeped in, as before, asked the same question, and was received in the same way. After he had eaten here, the old woman gave him a squirrel’s tail to help him overcome the dangers which she warned him against. Said she, “From now on you won’t see any more camps. Walk very fast now. Soon you will see a big tree with a square trunk, which will reach very far up into the sky. Now you won’t see any trail, but look carefully around. That is where your wife climbed up. There are, indeed, steps cut into the trunk, but you will not be able to see them. To you it will look smooth.”So he proceeded on his way and soon came to the place she had spoken about. There was the big tree, but no tracks were in sight. Around the base he saw lots of bones, bones of people who had tried to climb but had fallen down and died. He was bewildered. Then suddenly he recollected the bones the old women had given him. Taking one in each hand, like a pick, he began climbing up the great tree. At last he ascended so[60]high that the bones began to wear away. When they were so short that he could hardly use them, he looked down. He had gone so high that he could neither see the world beneath nor the end of the tree in the sky above. Now his bones were too short to help him, but he had his bow on his back. He could hardly hold on any longer, so he cried and yelled for help, but nobody could hear him. Soon he heard a spirit nearby which murmured to him, “Close your eyes and look through the tree. You will see steps to climb on.” Then he did as the voice said and perceived steps. He placed his feet in them and started running up. But now he made another mistake, he did not keep his eyes closed. When he looked, lo! he found himself back to where he had begun to climb the steps, holding on with his worn-out bones. Then he bethought himself of the squirrel’s tail, and at the same moment found himself transformed into a squirrel. He found that he could run up the great tree by tapping his tail on the trunk at each step. At last he came to a hole in the sky, in the middle of which the great tree protruded. A wide space, however, surrounded the tree, separating it from the edge of the sky. It would be necessary for him to jump across from the trunk to this edge. He made a great effort and sprang for the edge, but he just managed to catch on at the line of his waist; his upper parts, which reached above the edge, at once became human; his lower parts, extending below the edge, remained in the form of the squirrel.Then he beheld his wife coming across the surface of this upper world toward him. Said she, “You should not have come here, because, after all your trouble, you will die anyway.” She took hold of him and made shift to raise him. Then she pulled him out after teasing him a little while. “Now,” she said to him, “we always play ball up here. There are men here whom you will meet. They are your brothers-in-law. They will want you to play ball. If they beat you in the game, they will kill you; but if you beat them, you will survive.”Then she led him away to a village, where they saw a lot of great White Bears. This was the great White Bear’s home and his family. Now the old Bear arranged a contest for the stranger. Said he, “You take this ball and go around the edge of this world, running. One of these Bears will race with you,[61]to see who gets back here first.” So they started. The Bear took the ball in his mouth and, as soon as he started running, the man jumped upon his back and shook his ears, which made the Bear drop the ball. Then he threw the ball ahead. In this way, repeating the trick, they went around the world, and the man succeeded in getting back first. When he reached the starting point, the Bears said, “You seem to be a pretty good man; but there are still more tricks for you to perform. If you win, you can stay.”And they all went out together and came to a big rock. One of the White Bears tried to move this rock, and with a great effort he succeeded in moving it a little. “Now, you try,” said they, “and if you can’t move it, you are a dead man.” Then the man took his bow and arrow and shot it at the rock. The rock immediately broke into fragments. “Indeed, you are a great man, our brother-in-law, and can stay here and hunt and live with us,” said the old White Bear. Then the old Bear told him, after a while, that he had better go and hunt, or he would grow lonesome in his new life. By this time they had grown to like him very much.One afternoon, late, he started off to hunt. Everything that he met seemed strange to him in this new world. Soon he came to a lake with a little ice on it, and when he walked out he beheld tracks of some animal. Soon he came to a place where a big wooden mallet lay on the ice. He thought to himself that somebody had lost this mallet. Then he took it by the handle and hammered on the ice. Immediately the hammer fell through. Up from the hole in the ice a red otter emerged. He killed the red otter. Then he went on with the hammer to another place. There he tried again, and this time got a blue otter. He tried again at another place and got a black otter, which was like the otters of this world. So, taking his load of otters, he went home to display what he thought was a pretty good hunt. He carried his game in a bag of leather. When he got to his wigwam, he shoved his bag in the entrance ahead of him, so that his wife could open it and see what he had brought.30Thought she to herself, when she saw the game-bag,[62]“I wonder if he will show himself to be a good hunter.” She saw some blood on the bag. Opening it, she beheld the otters, Now the man had made a mistake, for these were tame otters and belonged to the Bears. She went out crying to her people, “This man has killed our otters!” When the old White Bear heard about the news, he said to his family, “We should have told this man about our otters, because he didn’t know. On this account it is all right.” He said no more, because he was afraid of the magic possessed by his new son-in-law.(10)Ayas·e and the Origin of Bats.The Ayas·e family was a large family. They lived in a camp. Very often they used to go picking berries, for their country was a rocky country where berries abounded. Very often some of the berry-pickers would get lost and never be found again. It was thought that some creature made a prey of them and ate them.One time one of the Ayas·e men was travelling. On his way he came across a kind of cabin of rock, from the top of which smoke was rising and in front of which a number of human skulls hung in the opening. Now this Ayas·e managed to enter. By being very careful and not touching the skulls, he gained the inside of the rock house without making any noise. These skulls were put there to rattle when anybody tried to pass. When Ayas·e got inside, he beheld two old blind women. As soon as they became aware of his presence, one of them said, “We had better begin to cook something and we will find out if Ayas·e is passing here.” Now these old women had some grease in a bark dish and one of them put some of the grease in a cooking pail. When she did this, Ayas·e pulled it out with his hand and ate it. Then she took the spoon to taste her grease, but found it gone. So she put another lump in the dish. Ayas·e took this, and when she started to dip it up, it, too, was gone. This happened three or four times. At last the old woman said, “Ayas·e must have passed; somebody told us that Ayas·e was going to pass. He must have passed now.” Then she took a stick which she used to poke the fire with and began feeling all around, poking in the corners of the[63]wigwam to find if Ayas·e were there. Every time she came near poking him, he moved to another part of the wigwam, so she could not reach him. Pretty soon she touched him with the poker and then he took off his coat of fisher-skin which he was wearing and threw in into the door-way. The old women jumped up and when they felt the fur coat they thought it was Ayas·e trying to escape through the door. Now these old women had a sharp pointed bone at each elbow. With this pointed bone they began stabbing the fur coat in their haste to kill Ayas·e, and pretty soon in their blind fury they fell to stabbing each other, each one thinking she was stabbing Ayas·e. They killed each other. One of the old women said before she died, “I believe you hit me by mistake.” It was too late; they both died.Now Ayas·e in the wigwam sat down and looked at them a long time. Then he dragged them outside and looked at them a long time. All around the wigwam he saw the men’s and women’s bones, the bones of the victims of these two old blind women. Then he knew that all of his lost people had been killed by the old women and eaten. They were cannibals in the shape of monster bats, large enough to kill and eat people. Then Ayas·e took their bodies and cut them up into small pieces. These he threw into the air and they sailed off, transformed into small bats as we see them to-day. I did not see any more.(11)Origin of the Constellation Fisher (Ursa Major).31The Fisher (mustela pennanti) was living somewhere in this world. Nobody knows where. Now in those times they had no summer. It was winter, winter all the time. They knew that summer existed somewhere, but it never came to them, although they wanted it very much.Now, once upon a time a man captured some little birds which are calledni·bənis·e“summer (guardian) birds.” He tied them in bundles and kept them with him all the time. That was the reason why it was continually winter, for so long as he held these birds, they could not bring summer to the[64]North Country. The people pondered very much how to go about freeing these birds from the creature who kept them. At last somebody discovered where this creature lived, and they decided that some one would go and try to free the Summer-birds. Now the Fresh-water Herring lived in the same wigwam with the man who kept the Summer-birds.The Fisher at last decided to go and free the birds, so that summer would come. He travelled a long while and reached the wigwam where the captor and the Herring lived. When he went in, he found the Herring alone. He captured the Herring and put some pitch on his mouth, so that he could not cry out. Then Fisher took the bundles of birds and tried to break the bindings, so that he could free them. Using his teeth at last he tore open the bundles and the Summer-birds flew free into the air. Then the pitch broke from the Herring’s mouth and he cried out, “Fisher breaks the bundle! The Summer-birds! Fisher breaks the bundles with his teeth! The Summer-birds!” Two or three times he cried out, until their captor heard him. Then he came up running, but when he arrived, the Fisher and the Summer-birds were already far away.The Fisher ran very fast to save himself. His pursuer had a bow and arrow with which he was going to kill him, but the Fisher sprang into the sky and climbed way up, with the hunter following behind him, still trying to shoot him with his bow and arrow. All he succeeded in shooting, however, was his tail, which is broken where it was wounded.32Although they chased him continually, they never got him.(12)The Young Loon.Once in the autumn of the year, when the birds were ready to fly to the south for the winter, a young Loon was unable to fly far enough to go with the rest of the birds. So he said to his mother, “I cannot go back south with you, as I am not strong enough. But I will stay here all winter in this place, and in the spring, when you come back, I will meet you here at this very spot. When you come back and find me here, it will be on a misty morning.” So they all flew away to the south, and[65]the young Loon was left behind for the winter. The mother was very sad because she had to leave him and because he was not strong enough to go with them.In the spring time, when the ice is breaking up in the lake, and it becomes misty, the Indians say, “The Loon is coming back from her winter sojourn in the South.”(13)The Giant Pike.At that time there were two people living who got married and had some daughters and sons. These grew up and married. One of the sons married and had children, two sons. The grandfather of these died. Then the father and mother died, and left the children with only their grandmother to look after them. At this time they were big enough to shoot bows and arrows and to go in a canoe with their grandmother to set the night lines33for fish. They lived only by fishing, because the grandmother was too old to do anything else.So these two boys used to play around, shooting bows and arrows for fun, just as the Ojibwa boys do now. They used to play near a lake. Then their grandmother would say to them, “Don’t swim in that lake. There is a big pike in there and he might swallow you.” The older boy believed his grandmother, but the younger did not. So one day, while they were playing, the younger boy by mistake shot his arrow out in the lake. He could see it floating on the surface, so he took off his clothes to swim to it. But his brother said, “You know what grandmother told you. The big pike might swallow you.” But the boy started to swim nevertheless, saying, “Koga′miko” (“swallowed in the water”) with each stroke that his arms took. When he called this out, the big pike came and swallowed him.Figure 1. Night set-line.Figure 1.Night set-line.His brother began crying and ran back to his grandmother in the wigwam, saying, “My little brother iskoga′miko, ‘swallowed in the water’.” Then his grandmother began crying and the two were crying together. Soon after this they again[66]set their night lines. When they looked toward the lake, three days later, they saw the float sticks together and the boy said, “We have a fish.” But the grandmother cried and would not look toward the lake where her grandson had died. But soon she went along in the canoe, crying, and pulled in the line. At the end was a very large fish, and they could see that his stomach was full of something. He was so large that they could scarcely pull him into the canoe. However, they managed to get him in and then they paddled to the shore and dragged the fish to a place where they could conveniently clean it. They cut his belly, which was distended, and out jumped the younger brother. “I’m scalded with the intestines! (Nin­babe′nəs,)”34he cried. “I’m scalded. I’ve been here three[67]days.” He was already beginning to be digested. The grandmother was very glad to get her grandson back again. That is the end.(14)Lynx and His Two Wives.There was a time when Lynx had two wives, the one a Rabbit and the other a Marten. The three lived in a wigwam. At this time Lynx drove beaver during the winter time.35Rabbit was a very good hunter. But Lynx this winter had very poor luck and they became very hungry. Lynx beat his wives because they couldn’t find the beaver. He said to them, “If you don’t get some beaver for me, I’ll eat both of you.” At this they became very much frightened. So Rabbit went to a beaver place, and putting a stick in the hole, she felt a beaver in it. Then Rabbit went home and told Marten, and they both were glad to get a beaver and save their lives. Then they both went back to the hole. While Rabbit was pulling the beaver out of the hole and had hold of his hind quarters, Lynx came along and tickled Rabbit, so that she let go and the beaver escaped. Lynx was bent on mischief. He said, “If you don’t get some beaver, I’ll kill you tonight.”Rabbit and Marten went home and burrowed a tunnel in the snow, inside the wigwam. Then they both went into a hole to hide and closed the hole behind them. When Lynx reached home, he was unable to find his wives, but he knew they were somewhere near. So he began to pull uptestes suos in seand then he began dancing.36He said to himself, “When they hear this funny thing, they will laugh.” Pretty soon Marten laughed, and Lynx, digging her out of the hole, killed and ate her. Soon he grew hungry and tried the same trick. But Rabbit was very much afraid and would not laugh. Lynx kept on doing this for some time and finally gave it up. He sat near the fire and cut his belly open, taking out some of his intestines which he roasted and ate. At last, when he had eaten all his intestines, he came to his heart. When he pulled at this, “Huk, huk”! it made a noise. At last he jerked and pulled[68]at it so hard that he died. This is the end. But all the grandchildren of Lynx have testicles as they are to-day.

(5)Ciŋgibis.At the time of which my story speaks people were camping just as we are here. In the winter time they used birch bark[48]wigwams. All animals could then talk together. Two girls, who were very foolish, talked foolishly and were in no respect like the other girls of their tribe, made their bed out-of-doors, and slept right out under the stars. The very fact that they slept outside during the winter proves how foolish they were.One of these girls asked the other, “With what star would you like to sleep, the white one or the red one?” The other girl answered, “I’d like to sleep with the red star.” “Oh, that’s all right,” said the first one, “I would like to sleep with the white star. He’s the younger; the red is the older.” Then the two girls fell asleep. When they awoke, they found themselves in another world, the star world. There were four of them there, the two girls and the two stars who had become men. The white star was very, very old and was grey-headed, while the younger was red-headed. He was the red star. The girls stayed a long time in this star world, and the one who had chosen the white star was very sorry, for he was so old.There was an old woman up in this world who sat over a hole in the sky, and, whenever she moved, she showed them the hole and said, “That’s where you came from.” They looked down through and saw their people playing down below, and then the girls grew very sorry and very homesick. One evening, near sunset, the old woman moved a little way from the hole.24The younger girl heard the noise of themite′windown below. When it was almost daylight, the old woman sat over the hole again and the noise ofmite′winstopped; it was her spirit that made the noise. She was the guardian of themite′win.One morning the old woman told the girls, “If you want to go down from where you came from, we will let you down, but get to work and gather roots to make a string-made rope, twisted. The two of you make coils of rope as high as your heads when you are sitting. Two coils will be enough.” The girls worked for days until they had accomplished this. They made plenty of rope and tied it to a big basket. They then got into the basket and the people of the star world lowered them down. They descended right into an Eagle’s nest, but the people above[49]thought the girls were on the ground and stopped lowering them. They were obliged to stay in the nest, because they could do nothing to help themselves.Said one, “We’ll have to stay here until some one comes to get us.” Bear passed by. The girls cried out, “Bear, come and get us. You are going to get married sometime. Now is your chance!” Bear thought, “They are not very good-looking women.” He pretended to climb up and then said, “I can’t climb up any further.” And he went away, for the girls didn’t suit him. Next came Lynx. The girls cried out again, “Lynx, come up and get us. You will go after women some day!” Lynx answered, “I can’t, for I have no claws,” and he went away. Then an ugly-looking man, Wolverine, passed and the girls spoke tohim. “Hey, Wolverine, come and get us.” Wolverine started to climb up, for he thought it a very fortunate thing to have these women and was very glad. When he reached them, they placed their hair ribbons in the nest. Then Wolverine agreed to take one girl at a time, so he took the first one down and went back for the next. Then Wolverine went away with his two wives and enjoyed himself greatly, as he was ugly and nobody else would have him. They went far into the woods, and then they sat down and began to talk. “Oh!” cried one of the girls, “I forgot my hair ribbons.” Then Wolverine said, “I will run back for it.” And he started off to get the hair ribbons. Then the girls hid and told the trees, whenever Wolverine should come back and whistle for them, toanswerhim by whistling. Wolverine soon returned and began to whistle for his wives, and the trees all around him whistled in answer. Wolverine, realizing that he had been tricked, gave up the search and departed very angry.The girls continued through the woods until they came to a big marsh, late in the afternoon. There they saw a big birch bark house. Everything around the house was very clean, the poles were scraped clean of their bark and were perfectly white, while there was neither smoke nor ashes to be seen anywhere. The girls looked at this and said, “The person who lives here must be very clean; we have never seen such a clean house.” There was no dry or green wood lying around, but inside the house they saw a fire-place and plenty of hay. One girl said[50]to the other, “We’d better cut a little wood.” So they cut wood and made the fire in case the man came home late. By this time, the ice was beginning to break. Late in the evening they heard someone crying out, “Who spoiled my wigwam? Who made smoke and ashes?” The owner of the wigwam didn’t know who had done this, so he came in and looked at the two girls. He then cut all the wood. This man was Woodpecker (Meme “pileated woodpecker”). Woodpecker made a fire of the hay, which was beaver hay. It gave no smoke to stain the wigwam and burned as well as wood. He brought in two nice beavers which belonged to him, and gave one to the girls, saying, “You can have this.” He then cooked the other one for himself. He showed the girls where to sleep and since the place where they were to sleep was not near him, they knew that he would not marry either of them.Next morning, after breakfast, he said to them, “Go! Don’t stay here. You go that way and you will find a big river. There you’ll find lots of people and maybe you’ll get married.” So the girls went on. They left Woodpecker and he is there yet. They came to the big river and beheld canoes and all kinds of people passing. First they saw White Duck (wa′bəci·p). He was a good looking man, and as he passed them in his canoe, the girls said to him, “Put us in your canoe, you are going to get married sometime.” White Duck answered, “My canoe is too small. Other people are coming; they will marry you.” And he passed on. Next came Fish Duck (azi′k), a good looking man. They cried out, “Put us in your canoe, you are going to get married anyway.” “No, my canoe is too small,” replied Fish Duck. A great many people passed, but all of them said that their canoes were too small, so the girls had to stay where they were. The people were passing to the mouth of the creek where the village of the chief was. At last came Black Duck (ni′nicip). He was also nice looking. “Come over and get us; you will get married sometime,” cried the girls. “No, My canoe is too small. Ciŋgibis is coming soon and he will marry you.” He was going to be the last person to pass. At last Ciŋgibis came along.When they saw him, one of the girls said, “He is a very ugly man, but we will go in his canoe and, when we get to the village,[51]we’ll get rid of him.” So they called out to him, “Come over and get us; you will get married anyway.” Ciŋgibis was very glad to have two wives, so he paddled over and got the two girls. They said, “Your canoe is a very small canoe.” “Oh no,” said Ciŋgibis, “my canoe is a magic canoe. It is enough.” So the girls got into the canoe and they went down the stream. By and by one girl said, “I’m getting hungry.” “Well,” saidCiŋgibis, “not far down is a nice rock and there we will have lunch. You can pull roots for lunch.” So Ciŋgibis and the two girls went ashore and pulled roots and made a string out of them. “That’s enough,” said Ciŋgibis to one of the girls. “Tie the string to my leg and I’ll dive for something to eat. When you see the string jerk, pull me up.” They did this, and he dove into the water. When the girls saw the string jerk, they pulled him up and he brought with him a big beaver. They skinned and cooked the beaver for lunch; then Ciŋgibis and his two wives continued their journey. Soon Ciŋgibis said, “Well, we are not far from the village now. I am going to place my caribou snare.” He meant rabbit when he said caribou. So he placed his snares. He then told the girls, “At the village your sister-in-law will come down to see you. Maŋg (Loon) is the name of the chief of the village. But we won’t camp near them; we’ll camp a little to one side.” They went down the river until they came to the mouth, and at that point they saw the wigwams.All the people yelled when they saw Ciŋgibis, for he was a great man, although he was the ugliest one among them. They cried, “Ee Ciŋgibis! He has two wives.” So they all laughed and the sister of Ciŋgibis came to shake hands with his two wives. Then Ciŋgibis pitched his wigwam. Soon a man who was a second chief came to Ciŋgibis and said, “Chief Maŋg wants to see you. He is going to have a dance tonight.” Ciŋgibis said to his wives, “Stay here and don’t go to the dance. There are too many nice-looking men there.” On account of this the two wives became angry with him. Ciŋgibis put on his best clothes and went to the dance.By and by the wives heard drumming and fine voices singing. So they decided to go and peep in at the dancers if Ciŋgibis should not see them. They did this and peeped in through[52]the bark, and there they saw Loon singing. He was a fine-looking man with a fine voice and fine clothes. Ciŋgibis was beside Loon, looking exceedingly ugly in contrast to him. The wives said, “It is a shame that Loon is so good-looking.” They then went back to camp and put two stumps in the place where they were to sleep, covered them with blankets and ran off.Ciŋgibis came back from the dance and, thinking that he was sleeping with his two wives, he lay down between the two stumps and fell asleep. But his two wives went to sleep with Chief Loon. By and by ants began to bite Ciŋgibis and he scolded his wives, saying, “Don’t do that.” At last he discovered the stumps and threw them out. At daybreak he went to the chief’s wigwam and there, sleeping with the Chief, he saw his two wives. “You are a dead man for this!” said Ciŋgibis.He then went to his grandmother. “What do you want?” asked she. “I want a chisel and a flint.” “What do you want with them, grandchild? Are you going to be in mischief again?” said the grandmother. However, she gave them to him, and Ciŋgibis tied two flints to his feet and placed the chisel in the fire to make it red hot. Then he asked for some eagle feathers (but this was awiske·djak(Canadian Jay) feather). He got them and placed them on his head. When the ice chisel became red hot, the old grandmother said, “Say, Ciŋgibis, don’t do any mischief again,” but Ciŋgibis picked up the chisel and ran away with it to the wigwam of Loon.Loon always slept with his mouth open. When Ciŋgibis reached the wigwam, he found every one in it asleep. He shoved the chisel into Loon’s open mouth, killing him, ran off to his canoe, jumped into it, and paddled away to his snares. He did this so that no one would suspect that he had killed their chief. This is the reason why the Loon always has a black mouth—from where he was burned. Ciŋgibis found a rabbit in his snare. He placed the blood of the rabbit in some hay and tied the hay to his stomach.When he returned to the camp, the people were mourning for Loon. Ciŋgibis came in slowly. The second chief said, “Ciŋgibis will be very sorry when he hears that Chief Loon is dead. He was his great friend. We must tell him before he arrives.” Then the people called to Ciŋgibis, “Ee Ciŋgibis, the[53]chief is dead.” “What!” said Ciŋgibis, “the chief is dead!” Then he drew out his knife and pierced the hay full of rabbit blood. The blood ran out and all the people thought that he had killed himself. Ciŋgibis then dived into the water and the people came out in their canoes to look for him. They saw the rabbit blood upon the water and gave up looking for him. After a few days, they made another chief, Goose (nixka′), since both Loon and Ciŋgibis were dead.Ten days after this had happened, early in the morning the people heard somebody singing near the shore three times, “Who killed our chief? I am the one.” They awoke Chief Goose and he exclaimed, “I was thinking that that Ciŋgibis was in all kinds of mischief. So we must try to kill him.” Accordingly he sent all the men after him in canoes. When Ciŋgibis dived, they could only see his feathers which his grandmother had given him, but they could not catch him. Ciŋgibis said to them, “You are all spirits. Drink all this water and you will get me.” Then the Ducks and Geese drank all the lake dry and chased Ciŋgibis among the rocks, and thought that they would catch him. “No, no,” laughed Ciŋgibis, “I know some more tricks yet.” So he ran about and kicked the rocks with the flints his grandmother had given him, which were fastened to his feet, and water began flowing out and finally covered everything. The people who were pursuing him had to swim for their lives. They all became ducks. This is the origin of all the ducks. When the people left their canoes, they were obliged to swim and so they are swimming yet.(6)Beaver Gives a Feast.All the animals, once upon a time, were camped together—the Beaver, the Otter, the Muskrat, and the others. Their chief was Beaver. Every once in a while he would give a big feast, build a big wigwam, and invite all the men and women to come in and eat with him. He would tell them, “Well, I want to give a feast.” Then they would come in, sit around the inside of his big wigwam and pass the food around from one to the other. He would provide lots of grease in birch-bark dishes. Now, one time, when he gave one of his feasts, Beaver cut his grease[54]supply into cakes which he served around to his guests. Every time he passed a cake to a guest, pepedit. Indeed, every time he moved, pepedit, or when he would go and cut a new block of grease.25Now every time the Beaver broke wind, the Otter laughed. He did not seem to know that this would offend the Beaver, because he was a little foolish. The other guests told the Otter, “You mustn’t laugh when Beaver does that; he is our chief.” Despite this, every time they went to a feast,castore pedente, the Otter laughed at him.So one time the Beaver sent a man to invite all the people to another feast. He sent the messages all through the camp. Now the people told the Otter this time, “You must not come; you never keep your mouth shut; you always laugh. If you only knew enough to keep still like the rest of us, it would be all right, but you had better stay home.” “Oh well, all right,” said the Otter, “I’ll stay back.” All went to the feast except the Otter. But he asked the others, “You will have to bring my share to me, since I can’t come. Tell the chief to send me my share.” The others agreed and went to attend the feast; but they asked him, “How big a piece of grease do you want?” The Otter replied, “Bring me a piece the size of my forearm.”(The otter has a very small forearm.) When the guests arrived at the feast, the Beaver chief saw that the Otter was not with them. Said he, “Where, indeed, is Otter? I like him because he is so funny.” They informed him that the Otter had not come, but that he wanted the chief to send him a piece of grease as large as his forearm. The Beaver cut a piece that size and sent it to the Otter; that is all the Otter got. He did not get very much because he had such a short forearm. That is the end of my story.(7)Tcaka·bįs.Tcaka·bįs lived with his grandmother. One time he made a long journey and was away for quite a while. He came to where there were some giant women who were scraping frozen beaver skins, “kąc, kąc.” He returned home and told his grandmother, “I heard the giant women scraping beaver hides.”[55]“Don’t go near them,” said his grandmother. And she repeated this warning often to Tcaka·bįs.However, one day he returned to where he had heard the giant women, and when he reached the lake, there they were, chasing beaver on the ice. When he came up, they knew him and cried out, “Ee, come on, come on, Tcaka·bįs!” So he went over to them and they said, “There is a beaver here and you must pull him up.” Tcaka·bįs was small and they thought the beaver would pull him through the hole into the ice. But he caught hold of the beaver’s tail and pulled him through all right. Then they asked him to stay with them, but he went away after he had stolen the big beaver tail, six feet long, and went back to his grandmother. When he got home, he showed her the tail, and she asked, “Did you steal it?” “No, no,” answered he. Then he made a door for their wigwam out of the tail.Soon the giant woman came to where he lived and called. “Tcaka·bįs, you are a dead man!” They came for the purpose of eating Tcaka·bįs and his grandmother. Then the grandmother said, “I told you not to go there. Now they say you are a dead man.” But Tcaka·bįs said, “Don’t be afraid, grandmother. I will take care of you.” Then he took his witch stone26and threw it up inside the wigwam, and the whole wigwam turned to stone except a little hole in the top for the smoke to come through. The stone was so thick that they were unable to hear the giant women pounding on the outside. Then the giant women went away and Tcaka·bįs lay inside of the wigwam in safety. But he felt a little sick, because he had eaten too much beaver fat.Some time after this, Tcaka·bįs went back again to the giant women and found them pounding up and boiling moose bones to make soup. As he came up, one of the giant women seized him and threw him into the pot. There he stayed for a long time, boiling and circling round and round in the pot, but still he was alive. At last, when the giant women needed grease, they dipped up Tcaka·bįs with a wooden spoon and threw him outside. Then Tcaka·bįs went back to his grandmother. He was very thin, because he had been boiled so long, nothing but skin and bones. That’s the end; he was a small fellow.[56](8)Aniwɔ·ye,27the Giant Skunk, and the Origin of Skunks.Aniwɔ·ye was the monster Skunk. He used to travel all over this world, trying to find the Ojibwa. He hunted them to kill them. He often took the form of a man. Whenever he would encounter people, he would approach them et pepedit towards their camp with his back to them, killing the peoplemalo ejus odore. In those days there was no other sickness. That was the only sickness which people had to kill them.Once upon a time in a camp where there were lots of people, hunters of a big band, they beheld the tracks of Aniwɔ·ye near one of their trails. It was winter time. When they saw these tracks, they turned back from their object because they were afraid Aniwɔ·ye would see their own tracks and follow them to camp and kill all their people. On this account they started off in every direction in order to lead Aniwɔ·ye away from the camp and so save their own people and possibly themselves. Said they, “We will go to Big Fisher lake, where the Big Fisher lives.” So they started off. But there was one old woman who could hardly see. She could not travel with them, so they had to leave her, as nobody could carry her.Soon Aniwɔ·ye found their trails and followed them, and soon he came to the wigwam in which the people had left the old woman. He looked in the door and saw her sitting near the fire. “Where are all your people?” he asked her. “They have gone away,” she answered. “They saw Aniwɔ·ye’s track and departed. But I am too old. I can’t see, I can’t walk; so they left me here.” This poor old woman thought it was a young man who spoke to her; she did not know, indeed, that it was Aniwɔ·ye himself. Then Aniwɔ·ye spoke, “If you can’t walk, I can cure you, so that you will be as well and strong as you ever were.” So he turned his back to her et pepedit. He blew the wigwam and the old woman all to pieces.Then Aniwɔ·ye followed on the trail of the people. When he had tracked them to Big Fisher lake, he could see right across the lake, because there was no island in the way, and there, on the other side, he saw where Big Fisher lived. The people had arrived here after a hard trip and begged Big Fisher for[57]protection from Aniwɔ·ye. So fast had they travelled that some of the old people, unable to keep up with the younger ones, had died of their efforts to hurry. Those who had reached Big Fisher’s camp kept watching for Aniwɔ·ye to appear across the lake on their tracks. At last they saw him emerge on the lake and come towards them. All the way along this pursuit, when he had found the people who had died on the march, he pulled at them to see if they were dead. Now, when Aniwɔ·ye appeared Big Fisher said to the people, “We will go to meet him. You men go ahead and I will hide behind you. So we will approach him until we get almost within his range. Do not let him see me,sed cum anum suum nobis verteret, spread apart and let me pass you to the front. While his back is turned to us, we will fix him.” They did as they were told, and the band started forward to meet Aniwɔ·ye, who also approached them slowly.When they were near enoughut odore ejus attingerentur, Aniwɔ·ye turned slowly. When his back was toward them,et cum pediturus esset, they opened ranks and Big Fisher ran forthet prius anum Aniwɔ·yei cepit quam hie pedere posset. He pinchedanum ejus dure. “Ayu!” exclaimed Aniwɔ·ye. “Ayu, ayu! Let go of me!Non iterum pedam!” But Big Fisher held on and would not let go. They struggled for some time, but Big Fisher held fast, and at last Aniwɔ·ye died because he could not discharge. He died and they were all exceedingly glad, rejoicing that he was done for. So they cut him up into small bits and scattered the bits all about. Immediately these turned into little skunks which ran off into the bush. That was the end of Aniwɔ·ye, the Monster Skunk, but there are plenty of small skunks now.(9)The Man Who Transformed a Doll into a Woman and Followed Her into the World Above.There was once a man. He was hunting. He had his own wigwam, where he lived with an old man and an old woman who called him grandchild. He did not even know his father and mother. He had never seen young people, so when he became about twenty years old, he began to think that he ought to get himself a wife. So he started out and travelled all over,[58]but could not find one. At last, one day, he took a piece of wood and tried to carve for himself a big doll. He worked hard and after a while he made it so nearly perfect that it could speak a little. It was a female, but it did not seem to be complete quite yet.Said the doll to him, “Put me in your wigwam, cover me up, and do not look at me for three days. Be sure not to look, because if you do, I won’t be here.”“All right,” said he; and placed his doll in his wigwam. To remove himself from the temptation of breaking her rule he went away by himself and stayed the first night. The next afternoon he came back and began wondering to himself. “If I sleep here,” thought he, “I might, indeed, be tempted to look.” The more he pondered, the more he weakened. At last, he decided to take a little look. He peeped inside the wigwam and saw a very nice-looking young girl seated there. Then, gaining control of himself, he hurried away and camped again that night alone. The third day he came back again to look at his wife. When he came near the camp, he went to the water-hole.28There he saw a woman’s track going away from the water-hole. Thought he to himself, “Alas! my wife has gone.” He walked up to the wigwam, looked in, and found that the woman had actually gone.29He now decided to follow her. He went to the woods, cut a piece of cedar, and made himself a bow and a lot of arrows. The next day he started—this was two days after the woman had left. Then he walked very fast, starting early in the morning. Soon he came to a small lake lying still and frozen. When he reached the edge of the ice, he shot an arrow across, then he sped so fast that he reached the other side of the lake before the arrow got there. Before noon-time he came to where a camp was located, and going up to it, beheld an old woman cooking there. “Oh, my grandchild,” said she, “don’t stand there looking in the door. Come in and eat.” So he went in. Then he asked her whether she had seen a woman pass there. She answered, “Yesterday, about noon.” And the old woman gave him a mess of corn and said, “My dear grandchild, it is very hard[59]where you are going. Many people have tried to go where your road leads; but they have never gotten there, for many creatures are seeking their lives. But I will help you.” Then she gave him a leg-bone of a lynx. “When you are in trouble, you may need this,” she told him. Then he started on, following the tracks of his woman. Every time he came to a lake, he shot an arrow across and sped before it as he had done at first. He was fast indeed.Soon he came to another wigwam and peeped into this as he had done into the first. An old woman who was cooking inside spoke to him, as had the first, and invited him to come in and eat. Then he asked her when she had seen the woman pass by. “A little after noon time,” she replied. Now, by this, he knew that he had not gained very much. As before, he ate a little snack of corn and the old woman said to him, “Where you are going will be a very hard trip for you. Many people try it, but never succeed. They die.” And she, too, gave him a lynx bone and told him, as the other had done, that it would help him in time of need on his journey; and he started on again, doing the same at every lake, until it began to grow late in the day. He had been going so fast that he felt very tired.By and by he came to another camp and peeped in, as before, asked the same question, and was received in the same way. After he had eaten here, the old woman gave him a squirrel’s tail to help him overcome the dangers which she warned him against. Said she, “From now on you won’t see any more camps. Walk very fast now. Soon you will see a big tree with a square trunk, which will reach very far up into the sky. Now you won’t see any trail, but look carefully around. That is where your wife climbed up. There are, indeed, steps cut into the trunk, but you will not be able to see them. To you it will look smooth.”So he proceeded on his way and soon came to the place she had spoken about. There was the big tree, but no tracks were in sight. Around the base he saw lots of bones, bones of people who had tried to climb but had fallen down and died. He was bewildered. Then suddenly he recollected the bones the old women had given him. Taking one in each hand, like a pick, he began climbing up the great tree. At last he ascended so[60]high that the bones began to wear away. When they were so short that he could hardly use them, he looked down. He had gone so high that he could neither see the world beneath nor the end of the tree in the sky above. Now his bones were too short to help him, but he had his bow on his back. He could hardly hold on any longer, so he cried and yelled for help, but nobody could hear him. Soon he heard a spirit nearby which murmured to him, “Close your eyes and look through the tree. You will see steps to climb on.” Then he did as the voice said and perceived steps. He placed his feet in them and started running up. But now he made another mistake, he did not keep his eyes closed. When he looked, lo! he found himself back to where he had begun to climb the steps, holding on with his worn-out bones. Then he bethought himself of the squirrel’s tail, and at the same moment found himself transformed into a squirrel. He found that he could run up the great tree by tapping his tail on the trunk at each step. At last he came to a hole in the sky, in the middle of which the great tree protruded. A wide space, however, surrounded the tree, separating it from the edge of the sky. It would be necessary for him to jump across from the trunk to this edge. He made a great effort and sprang for the edge, but he just managed to catch on at the line of his waist; his upper parts, which reached above the edge, at once became human; his lower parts, extending below the edge, remained in the form of the squirrel.Then he beheld his wife coming across the surface of this upper world toward him. Said she, “You should not have come here, because, after all your trouble, you will die anyway.” She took hold of him and made shift to raise him. Then she pulled him out after teasing him a little while. “Now,” she said to him, “we always play ball up here. There are men here whom you will meet. They are your brothers-in-law. They will want you to play ball. If they beat you in the game, they will kill you; but if you beat them, you will survive.”Then she led him away to a village, where they saw a lot of great White Bears. This was the great White Bear’s home and his family. Now the old Bear arranged a contest for the stranger. Said he, “You take this ball and go around the edge of this world, running. One of these Bears will race with you,[61]to see who gets back here first.” So they started. The Bear took the ball in his mouth and, as soon as he started running, the man jumped upon his back and shook his ears, which made the Bear drop the ball. Then he threw the ball ahead. In this way, repeating the trick, they went around the world, and the man succeeded in getting back first. When he reached the starting point, the Bears said, “You seem to be a pretty good man; but there are still more tricks for you to perform. If you win, you can stay.”And they all went out together and came to a big rock. One of the White Bears tried to move this rock, and with a great effort he succeeded in moving it a little. “Now, you try,” said they, “and if you can’t move it, you are a dead man.” Then the man took his bow and arrow and shot it at the rock. The rock immediately broke into fragments. “Indeed, you are a great man, our brother-in-law, and can stay here and hunt and live with us,” said the old White Bear. Then the old Bear told him, after a while, that he had better go and hunt, or he would grow lonesome in his new life. By this time they had grown to like him very much.One afternoon, late, he started off to hunt. Everything that he met seemed strange to him in this new world. Soon he came to a lake with a little ice on it, and when he walked out he beheld tracks of some animal. Soon he came to a place where a big wooden mallet lay on the ice. He thought to himself that somebody had lost this mallet. Then he took it by the handle and hammered on the ice. Immediately the hammer fell through. Up from the hole in the ice a red otter emerged. He killed the red otter. Then he went on with the hammer to another place. There he tried again, and this time got a blue otter. He tried again at another place and got a black otter, which was like the otters of this world. So, taking his load of otters, he went home to display what he thought was a pretty good hunt. He carried his game in a bag of leather. When he got to his wigwam, he shoved his bag in the entrance ahead of him, so that his wife could open it and see what he had brought.30Thought she to herself, when she saw the game-bag,[62]“I wonder if he will show himself to be a good hunter.” She saw some blood on the bag. Opening it, she beheld the otters, Now the man had made a mistake, for these were tame otters and belonged to the Bears. She went out crying to her people, “This man has killed our otters!” When the old White Bear heard about the news, he said to his family, “We should have told this man about our otters, because he didn’t know. On this account it is all right.” He said no more, because he was afraid of the magic possessed by his new son-in-law.(10)Ayas·e and the Origin of Bats.The Ayas·e family was a large family. They lived in a camp. Very often they used to go picking berries, for their country was a rocky country where berries abounded. Very often some of the berry-pickers would get lost and never be found again. It was thought that some creature made a prey of them and ate them.One time one of the Ayas·e men was travelling. On his way he came across a kind of cabin of rock, from the top of which smoke was rising and in front of which a number of human skulls hung in the opening. Now this Ayas·e managed to enter. By being very careful and not touching the skulls, he gained the inside of the rock house without making any noise. These skulls were put there to rattle when anybody tried to pass. When Ayas·e got inside, he beheld two old blind women. As soon as they became aware of his presence, one of them said, “We had better begin to cook something and we will find out if Ayas·e is passing here.” Now these old women had some grease in a bark dish and one of them put some of the grease in a cooking pail. When she did this, Ayas·e pulled it out with his hand and ate it. Then she took the spoon to taste her grease, but found it gone. So she put another lump in the dish. Ayas·e took this, and when she started to dip it up, it, too, was gone. This happened three or four times. At last the old woman said, “Ayas·e must have passed; somebody told us that Ayas·e was going to pass. He must have passed now.” Then she took a stick which she used to poke the fire with and began feeling all around, poking in the corners of the[63]wigwam to find if Ayas·e were there. Every time she came near poking him, he moved to another part of the wigwam, so she could not reach him. Pretty soon she touched him with the poker and then he took off his coat of fisher-skin which he was wearing and threw in into the door-way. The old women jumped up and when they felt the fur coat they thought it was Ayas·e trying to escape through the door. Now these old women had a sharp pointed bone at each elbow. With this pointed bone they began stabbing the fur coat in their haste to kill Ayas·e, and pretty soon in their blind fury they fell to stabbing each other, each one thinking she was stabbing Ayas·e. They killed each other. One of the old women said before she died, “I believe you hit me by mistake.” It was too late; they both died.Now Ayas·e in the wigwam sat down and looked at them a long time. Then he dragged them outside and looked at them a long time. All around the wigwam he saw the men’s and women’s bones, the bones of the victims of these two old blind women. Then he knew that all of his lost people had been killed by the old women and eaten. They were cannibals in the shape of monster bats, large enough to kill and eat people. Then Ayas·e took their bodies and cut them up into small pieces. These he threw into the air and they sailed off, transformed into small bats as we see them to-day. I did not see any more.(11)Origin of the Constellation Fisher (Ursa Major).31The Fisher (mustela pennanti) was living somewhere in this world. Nobody knows where. Now in those times they had no summer. It was winter, winter all the time. They knew that summer existed somewhere, but it never came to them, although they wanted it very much.Now, once upon a time a man captured some little birds which are calledni·bənis·e“summer (guardian) birds.” He tied them in bundles and kept them with him all the time. That was the reason why it was continually winter, for so long as he held these birds, they could not bring summer to the[64]North Country. The people pondered very much how to go about freeing these birds from the creature who kept them. At last somebody discovered where this creature lived, and they decided that some one would go and try to free the Summer-birds. Now the Fresh-water Herring lived in the same wigwam with the man who kept the Summer-birds.The Fisher at last decided to go and free the birds, so that summer would come. He travelled a long while and reached the wigwam where the captor and the Herring lived. When he went in, he found the Herring alone. He captured the Herring and put some pitch on his mouth, so that he could not cry out. Then Fisher took the bundles of birds and tried to break the bindings, so that he could free them. Using his teeth at last he tore open the bundles and the Summer-birds flew free into the air. Then the pitch broke from the Herring’s mouth and he cried out, “Fisher breaks the bundle! The Summer-birds! Fisher breaks the bundles with his teeth! The Summer-birds!” Two or three times he cried out, until their captor heard him. Then he came up running, but when he arrived, the Fisher and the Summer-birds were already far away.The Fisher ran very fast to save himself. His pursuer had a bow and arrow with which he was going to kill him, but the Fisher sprang into the sky and climbed way up, with the hunter following behind him, still trying to shoot him with his bow and arrow. All he succeeded in shooting, however, was his tail, which is broken where it was wounded.32Although they chased him continually, they never got him.(12)The Young Loon.Once in the autumn of the year, when the birds were ready to fly to the south for the winter, a young Loon was unable to fly far enough to go with the rest of the birds. So he said to his mother, “I cannot go back south with you, as I am not strong enough. But I will stay here all winter in this place, and in the spring, when you come back, I will meet you here at this very spot. When you come back and find me here, it will be on a misty morning.” So they all flew away to the south, and[65]the young Loon was left behind for the winter. The mother was very sad because she had to leave him and because he was not strong enough to go with them.In the spring time, when the ice is breaking up in the lake, and it becomes misty, the Indians say, “The Loon is coming back from her winter sojourn in the South.”(13)The Giant Pike.At that time there were two people living who got married and had some daughters and sons. These grew up and married. One of the sons married and had children, two sons. The grandfather of these died. Then the father and mother died, and left the children with only their grandmother to look after them. At this time they were big enough to shoot bows and arrows and to go in a canoe with their grandmother to set the night lines33for fish. They lived only by fishing, because the grandmother was too old to do anything else.So these two boys used to play around, shooting bows and arrows for fun, just as the Ojibwa boys do now. They used to play near a lake. Then their grandmother would say to them, “Don’t swim in that lake. There is a big pike in there and he might swallow you.” The older boy believed his grandmother, but the younger did not. So one day, while they were playing, the younger boy by mistake shot his arrow out in the lake. He could see it floating on the surface, so he took off his clothes to swim to it. But his brother said, “You know what grandmother told you. The big pike might swallow you.” But the boy started to swim nevertheless, saying, “Koga′miko” (“swallowed in the water”) with each stroke that his arms took. When he called this out, the big pike came and swallowed him.Figure 1. Night set-line.Figure 1.Night set-line.His brother began crying and ran back to his grandmother in the wigwam, saying, “My little brother iskoga′miko, ‘swallowed in the water’.” Then his grandmother began crying and the two were crying together. Soon after this they again[66]set their night lines. When they looked toward the lake, three days later, they saw the float sticks together and the boy said, “We have a fish.” But the grandmother cried and would not look toward the lake where her grandson had died. But soon she went along in the canoe, crying, and pulled in the line. At the end was a very large fish, and they could see that his stomach was full of something. He was so large that they could scarcely pull him into the canoe. However, they managed to get him in and then they paddled to the shore and dragged the fish to a place where they could conveniently clean it. They cut his belly, which was distended, and out jumped the younger brother. “I’m scalded with the intestines! (Nin­babe′nəs,)”34he cried. “I’m scalded. I’ve been here three[67]days.” He was already beginning to be digested. The grandmother was very glad to get her grandson back again. That is the end.(14)Lynx and His Two Wives.There was a time when Lynx had two wives, the one a Rabbit and the other a Marten. The three lived in a wigwam. At this time Lynx drove beaver during the winter time.35Rabbit was a very good hunter. But Lynx this winter had very poor luck and they became very hungry. Lynx beat his wives because they couldn’t find the beaver. He said to them, “If you don’t get some beaver for me, I’ll eat both of you.” At this they became very much frightened. So Rabbit went to a beaver place, and putting a stick in the hole, she felt a beaver in it. Then Rabbit went home and told Marten, and they both were glad to get a beaver and save their lives. Then they both went back to the hole. While Rabbit was pulling the beaver out of the hole and had hold of his hind quarters, Lynx came along and tickled Rabbit, so that she let go and the beaver escaped. Lynx was bent on mischief. He said, “If you don’t get some beaver, I’ll kill you tonight.”Rabbit and Marten went home and burrowed a tunnel in the snow, inside the wigwam. Then they both went into a hole to hide and closed the hole behind them. When Lynx reached home, he was unable to find his wives, but he knew they were somewhere near. So he began to pull uptestes suos in seand then he began dancing.36He said to himself, “When they hear this funny thing, they will laugh.” Pretty soon Marten laughed, and Lynx, digging her out of the hole, killed and ate her. Soon he grew hungry and tried the same trick. But Rabbit was very much afraid and would not laugh. Lynx kept on doing this for some time and finally gave it up. He sat near the fire and cut his belly open, taking out some of his intestines which he roasted and ate. At last, when he had eaten all his intestines, he came to his heart. When he pulled at this, “Huk, huk”! it made a noise. At last he jerked and pulled[68]at it so hard that he died. This is the end. But all the grandchildren of Lynx have testicles as they are to-day.

(5)Ciŋgibis.At the time of which my story speaks people were camping just as we are here. In the winter time they used birch bark[48]wigwams. All animals could then talk together. Two girls, who were very foolish, talked foolishly and were in no respect like the other girls of their tribe, made their bed out-of-doors, and slept right out under the stars. The very fact that they slept outside during the winter proves how foolish they were.One of these girls asked the other, “With what star would you like to sleep, the white one or the red one?” The other girl answered, “I’d like to sleep with the red star.” “Oh, that’s all right,” said the first one, “I would like to sleep with the white star. He’s the younger; the red is the older.” Then the two girls fell asleep. When they awoke, they found themselves in another world, the star world. There were four of them there, the two girls and the two stars who had become men. The white star was very, very old and was grey-headed, while the younger was red-headed. He was the red star. The girls stayed a long time in this star world, and the one who had chosen the white star was very sorry, for he was so old.There was an old woman up in this world who sat over a hole in the sky, and, whenever she moved, she showed them the hole and said, “That’s where you came from.” They looked down through and saw their people playing down below, and then the girls grew very sorry and very homesick. One evening, near sunset, the old woman moved a little way from the hole.24The younger girl heard the noise of themite′windown below. When it was almost daylight, the old woman sat over the hole again and the noise ofmite′winstopped; it was her spirit that made the noise. She was the guardian of themite′win.One morning the old woman told the girls, “If you want to go down from where you came from, we will let you down, but get to work and gather roots to make a string-made rope, twisted. The two of you make coils of rope as high as your heads when you are sitting. Two coils will be enough.” The girls worked for days until they had accomplished this. They made plenty of rope and tied it to a big basket. They then got into the basket and the people of the star world lowered them down. They descended right into an Eagle’s nest, but the people above[49]thought the girls were on the ground and stopped lowering them. They were obliged to stay in the nest, because they could do nothing to help themselves.Said one, “We’ll have to stay here until some one comes to get us.” Bear passed by. The girls cried out, “Bear, come and get us. You are going to get married sometime. Now is your chance!” Bear thought, “They are not very good-looking women.” He pretended to climb up and then said, “I can’t climb up any further.” And he went away, for the girls didn’t suit him. Next came Lynx. The girls cried out again, “Lynx, come up and get us. You will go after women some day!” Lynx answered, “I can’t, for I have no claws,” and he went away. Then an ugly-looking man, Wolverine, passed and the girls spoke tohim. “Hey, Wolverine, come and get us.” Wolverine started to climb up, for he thought it a very fortunate thing to have these women and was very glad. When he reached them, they placed their hair ribbons in the nest. Then Wolverine agreed to take one girl at a time, so he took the first one down and went back for the next. Then Wolverine went away with his two wives and enjoyed himself greatly, as he was ugly and nobody else would have him. They went far into the woods, and then they sat down and began to talk. “Oh!” cried one of the girls, “I forgot my hair ribbons.” Then Wolverine said, “I will run back for it.” And he started off to get the hair ribbons. Then the girls hid and told the trees, whenever Wolverine should come back and whistle for them, toanswerhim by whistling. Wolverine soon returned and began to whistle for his wives, and the trees all around him whistled in answer. Wolverine, realizing that he had been tricked, gave up the search and departed very angry.The girls continued through the woods until they came to a big marsh, late in the afternoon. There they saw a big birch bark house. Everything around the house was very clean, the poles were scraped clean of their bark and were perfectly white, while there was neither smoke nor ashes to be seen anywhere. The girls looked at this and said, “The person who lives here must be very clean; we have never seen such a clean house.” There was no dry or green wood lying around, but inside the house they saw a fire-place and plenty of hay. One girl said[50]to the other, “We’d better cut a little wood.” So they cut wood and made the fire in case the man came home late. By this time, the ice was beginning to break. Late in the evening they heard someone crying out, “Who spoiled my wigwam? Who made smoke and ashes?” The owner of the wigwam didn’t know who had done this, so he came in and looked at the two girls. He then cut all the wood. This man was Woodpecker (Meme “pileated woodpecker”). Woodpecker made a fire of the hay, which was beaver hay. It gave no smoke to stain the wigwam and burned as well as wood. He brought in two nice beavers which belonged to him, and gave one to the girls, saying, “You can have this.” He then cooked the other one for himself. He showed the girls where to sleep and since the place where they were to sleep was not near him, they knew that he would not marry either of them.Next morning, after breakfast, he said to them, “Go! Don’t stay here. You go that way and you will find a big river. There you’ll find lots of people and maybe you’ll get married.” So the girls went on. They left Woodpecker and he is there yet. They came to the big river and beheld canoes and all kinds of people passing. First they saw White Duck (wa′bəci·p). He was a good looking man, and as he passed them in his canoe, the girls said to him, “Put us in your canoe, you are going to get married sometime.” White Duck answered, “My canoe is too small. Other people are coming; they will marry you.” And he passed on. Next came Fish Duck (azi′k), a good looking man. They cried out, “Put us in your canoe, you are going to get married anyway.” “No, my canoe is too small,” replied Fish Duck. A great many people passed, but all of them said that their canoes were too small, so the girls had to stay where they were. The people were passing to the mouth of the creek where the village of the chief was. At last came Black Duck (ni′nicip). He was also nice looking. “Come over and get us; you will get married sometime,” cried the girls. “No, My canoe is too small. Ciŋgibis is coming soon and he will marry you.” He was going to be the last person to pass. At last Ciŋgibis came along.When they saw him, one of the girls said, “He is a very ugly man, but we will go in his canoe and, when we get to the village,[51]we’ll get rid of him.” So they called out to him, “Come over and get us; you will get married anyway.” Ciŋgibis was very glad to have two wives, so he paddled over and got the two girls. They said, “Your canoe is a very small canoe.” “Oh no,” said Ciŋgibis, “my canoe is a magic canoe. It is enough.” So the girls got into the canoe and they went down the stream. By and by one girl said, “I’m getting hungry.” “Well,” saidCiŋgibis, “not far down is a nice rock and there we will have lunch. You can pull roots for lunch.” So Ciŋgibis and the two girls went ashore and pulled roots and made a string out of them. “That’s enough,” said Ciŋgibis to one of the girls. “Tie the string to my leg and I’ll dive for something to eat. When you see the string jerk, pull me up.” They did this, and he dove into the water. When the girls saw the string jerk, they pulled him up and he brought with him a big beaver. They skinned and cooked the beaver for lunch; then Ciŋgibis and his two wives continued their journey. Soon Ciŋgibis said, “Well, we are not far from the village now. I am going to place my caribou snare.” He meant rabbit when he said caribou. So he placed his snares. He then told the girls, “At the village your sister-in-law will come down to see you. Maŋg (Loon) is the name of the chief of the village. But we won’t camp near them; we’ll camp a little to one side.” They went down the river until they came to the mouth, and at that point they saw the wigwams.All the people yelled when they saw Ciŋgibis, for he was a great man, although he was the ugliest one among them. They cried, “Ee Ciŋgibis! He has two wives.” So they all laughed and the sister of Ciŋgibis came to shake hands with his two wives. Then Ciŋgibis pitched his wigwam. Soon a man who was a second chief came to Ciŋgibis and said, “Chief Maŋg wants to see you. He is going to have a dance tonight.” Ciŋgibis said to his wives, “Stay here and don’t go to the dance. There are too many nice-looking men there.” On account of this the two wives became angry with him. Ciŋgibis put on his best clothes and went to the dance.By and by the wives heard drumming and fine voices singing. So they decided to go and peep in at the dancers if Ciŋgibis should not see them. They did this and peeped in through[52]the bark, and there they saw Loon singing. He was a fine-looking man with a fine voice and fine clothes. Ciŋgibis was beside Loon, looking exceedingly ugly in contrast to him. The wives said, “It is a shame that Loon is so good-looking.” They then went back to camp and put two stumps in the place where they were to sleep, covered them with blankets and ran off.Ciŋgibis came back from the dance and, thinking that he was sleeping with his two wives, he lay down between the two stumps and fell asleep. But his two wives went to sleep with Chief Loon. By and by ants began to bite Ciŋgibis and he scolded his wives, saying, “Don’t do that.” At last he discovered the stumps and threw them out. At daybreak he went to the chief’s wigwam and there, sleeping with the Chief, he saw his two wives. “You are a dead man for this!” said Ciŋgibis.He then went to his grandmother. “What do you want?” asked she. “I want a chisel and a flint.” “What do you want with them, grandchild? Are you going to be in mischief again?” said the grandmother. However, she gave them to him, and Ciŋgibis tied two flints to his feet and placed the chisel in the fire to make it red hot. Then he asked for some eagle feathers (but this was awiske·djak(Canadian Jay) feather). He got them and placed them on his head. When the ice chisel became red hot, the old grandmother said, “Say, Ciŋgibis, don’t do any mischief again,” but Ciŋgibis picked up the chisel and ran away with it to the wigwam of Loon.Loon always slept with his mouth open. When Ciŋgibis reached the wigwam, he found every one in it asleep. He shoved the chisel into Loon’s open mouth, killing him, ran off to his canoe, jumped into it, and paddled away to his snares. He did this so that no one would suspect that he had killed their chief. This is the reason why the Loon always has a black mouth—from where he was burned. Ciŋgibis found a rabbit in his snare. He placed the blood of the rabbit in some hay and tied the hay to his stomach.When he returned to the camp, the people were mourning for Loon. Ciŋgibis came in slowly. The second chief said, “Ciŋgibis will be very sorry when he hears that Chief Loon is dead. He was his great friend. We must tell him before he arrives.” Then the people called to Ciŋgibis, “Ee Ciŋgibis, the[53]chief is dead.” “What!” said Ciŋgibis, “the chief is dead!” Then he drew out his knife and pierced the hay full of rabbit blood. The blood ran out and all the people thought that he had killed himself. Ciŋgibis then dived into the water and the people came out in their canoes to look for him. They saw the rabbit blood upon the water and gave up looking for him. After a few days, they made another chief, Goose (nixka′), since both Loon and Ciŋgibis were dead.Ten days after this had happened, early in the morning the people heard somebody singing near the shore three times, “Who killed our chief? I am the one.” They awoke Chief Goose and he exclaimed, “I was thinking that that Ciŋgibis was in all kinds of mischief. So we must try to kill him.” Accordingly he sent all the men after him in canoes. When Ciŋgibis dived, they could only see his feathers which his grandmother had given him, but they could not catch him. Ciŋgibis said to them, “You are all spirits. Drink all this water and you will get me.” Then the Ducks and Geese drank all the lake dry and chased Ciŋgibis among the rocks, and thought that they would catch him. “No, no,” laughed Ciŋgibis, “I know some more tricks yet.” So he ran about and kicked the rocks with the flints his grandmother had given him, which were fastened to his feet, and water began flowing out and finally covered everything. The people who were pursuing him had to swim for their lives. They all became ducks. This is the origin of all the ducks. When the people left their canoes, they were obliged to swim and so they are swimming yet.

(5)Ciŋgibis.

At the time of which my story speaks people were camping just as we are here. In the winter time they used birch bark[48]wigwams. All animals could then talk together. Two girls, who were very foolish, talked foolishly and were in no respect like the other girls of their tribe, made their bed out-of-doors, and slept right out under the stars. The very fact that they slept outside during the winter proves how foolish they were.One of these girls asked the other, “With what star would you like to sleep, the white one or the red one?” The other girl answered, “I’d like to sleep with the red star.” “Oh, that’s all right,” said the first one, “I would like to sleep with the white star. He’s the younger; the red is the older.” Then the two girls fell asleep. When they awoke, they found themselves in another world, the star world. There were four of them there, the two girls and the two stars who had become men. The white star was very, very old and was grey-headed, while the younger was red-headed. He was the red star. The girls stayed a long time in this star world, and the one who had chosen the white star was very sorry, for he was so old.There was an old woman up in this world who sat over a hole in the sky, and, whenever she moved, she showed them the hole and said, “That’s where you came from.” They looked down through and saw their people playing down below, and then the girls grew very sorry and very homesick. One evening, near sunset, the old woman moved a little way from the hole.24The younger girl heard the noise of themite′windown below. When it was almost daylight, the old woman sat over the hole again and the noise ofmite′winstopped; it was her spirit that made the noise. She was the guardian of themite′win.One morning the old woman told the girls, “If you want to go down from where you came from, we will let you down, but get to work and gather roots to make a string-made rope, twisted. The two of you make coils of rope as high as your heads when you are sitting. Two coils will be enough.” The girls worked for days until they had accomplished this. They made plenty of rope and tied it to a big basket. They then got into the basket and the people of the star world lowered them down. They descended right into an Eagle’s nest, but the people above[49]thought the girls were on the ground and stopped lowering them. They were obliged to stay in the nest, because they could do nothing to help themselves.Said one, “We’ll have to stay here until some one comes to get us.” Bear passed by. The girls cried out, “Bear, come and get us. You are going to get married sometime. Now is your chance!” Bear thought, “They are not very good-looking women.” He pretended to climb up and then said, “I can’t climb up any further.” And he went away, for the girls didn’t suit him. Next came Lynx. The girls cried out again, “Lynx, come up and get us. You will go after women some day!” Lynx answered, “I can’t, for I have no claws,” and he went away. Then an ugly-looking man, Wolverine, passed and the girls spoke tohim. “Hey, Wolverine, come and get us.” Wolverine started to climb up, for he thought it a very fortunate thing to have these women and was very glad. When he reached them, they placed their hair ribbons in the nest. Then Wolverine agreed to take one girl at a time, so he took the first one down and went back for the next. Then Wolverine went away with his two wives and enjoyed himself greatly, as he was ugly and nobody else would have him. They went far into the woods, and then they sat down and began to talk. “Oh!” cried one of the girls, “I forgot my hair ribbons.” Then Wolverine said, “I will run back for it.” And he started off to get the hair ribbons. Then the girls hid and told the trees, whenever Wolverine should come back and whistle for them, toanswerhim by whistling. Wolverine soon returned and began to whistle for his wives, and the trees all around him whistled in answer. Wolverine, realizing that he had been tricked, gave up the search and departed very angry.The girls continued through the woods until they came to a big marsh, late in the afternoon. There they saw a big birch bark house. Everything around the house was very clean, the poles were scraped clean of their bark and were perfectly white, while there was neither smoke nor ashes to be seen anywhere. The girls looked at this and said, “The person who lives here must be very clean; we have never seen such a clean house.” There was no dry or green wood lying around, but inside the house they saw a fire-place and plenty of hay. One girl said[50]to the other, “We’d better cut a little wood.” So they cut wood and made the fire in case the man came home late. By this time, the ice was beginning to break. Late in the evening they heard someone crying out, “Who spoiled my wigwam? Who made smoke and ashes?” The owner of the wigwam didn’t know who had done this, so he came in and looked at the two girls. He then cut all the wood. This man was Woodpecker (Meme “pileated woodpecker”). Woodpecker made a fire of the hay, which was beaver hay. It gave no smoke to stain the wigwam and burned as well as wood. He brought in two nice beavers which belonged to him, and gave one to the girls, saying, “You can have this.” He then cooked the other one for himself. He showed the girls where to sleep and since the place where they were to sleep was not near him, they knew that he would not marry either of them.Next morning, after breakfast, he said to them, “Go! Don’t stay here. You go that way and you will find a big river. There you’ll find lots of people and maybe you’ll get married.” So the girls went on. They left Woodpecker and he is there yet. They came to the big river and beheld canoes and all kinds of people passing. First they saw White Duck (wa′bəci·p). He was a good looking man, and as he passed them in his canoe, the girls said to him, “Put us in your canoe, you are going to get married sometime.” White Duck answered, “My canoe is too small. Other people are coming; they will marry you.” And he passed on. Next came Fish Duck (azi′k), a good looking man. They cried out, “Put us in your canoe, you are going to get married anyway.” “No, my canoe is too small,” replied Fish Duck. A great many people passed, but all of them said that their canoes were too small, so the girls had to stay where they were. The people were passing to the mouth of the creek where the village of the chief was. At last came Black Duck (ni′nicip). He was also nice looking. “Come over and get us; you will get married sometime,” cried the girls. “No, My canoe is too small. Ciŋgibis is coming soon and he will marry you.” He was going to be the last person to pass. At last Ciŋgibis came along.When they saw him, one of the girls said, “He is a very ugly man, but we will go in his canoe and, when we get to the village,[51]we’ll get rid of him.” So they called out to him, “Come over and get us; you will get married anyway.” Ciŋgibis was very glad to have two wives, so he paddled over and got the two girls. They said, “Your canoe is a very small canoe.” “Oh no,” said Ciŋgibis, “my canoe is a magic canoe. It is enough.” So the girls got into the canoe and they went down the stream. By and by one girl said, “I’m getting hungry.” “Well,” saidCiŋgibis, “not far down is a nice rock and there we will have lunch. You can pull roots for lunch.” So Ciŋgibis and the two girls went ashore and pulled roots and made a string out of them. “That’s enough,” said Ciŋgibis to one of the girls. “Tie the string to my leg and I’ll dive for something to eat. When you see the string jerk, pull me up.” They did this, and he dove into the water. When the girls saw the string jerk, they pulled him up and he brought with him a big beaver. They skinned and cooked the beaver for lunch; then Ciŋgibis and his two wives continued their journey. Soon Ciŋgibis said, “Well, we are not far from the village now. I am going to place my caribou snare.” He meant rabbit when he said caribou. So he placed his snares. He then told the girls, “At the village your sister-in-law will come down to see you. Maŋg (Loon) is the name of the chief of the village. But we won’t camp near them; we’ll camp a little to one side.” They went down the river until they came to the mouth, and at that point they saw the wigwams.All the people yelled when they saw Ciŋgibis, for he was a great man, although he was the ugliest one among them. They cried, “Ee Ciŋgibis! He has two wives.” So they all laughed and the sister of Ciŋgibis came to shake hands with his two wives. Then Ciŋgibis pitched his wigwam. Soon a man who was a second chief came to Ciŋgibis and said, “Chief Maŋg wants to see you. He is going to have a dance tonight.” Ciŋgibis said to his wives, “Stay here and don’t go to the dance. There are too many nice-looking men there.” On account of this the two wives became angry with him. Ciŋgibis put on his best clothes and went to the dance.By and by the wives heard drumming and fine voices singing. So they decided to go and peep in at the dancers if Ciŋgibis should not see them. They did this and peeped in through[52]the bark, and there they saw Loon singing. He was a fine-looking man with a fine voice and fine clothes. Ciŋgibis was beside Loon, looking exceedingly ugly in contrast to him. The wives said, “It is a shame that Loon is so good-looking.” They then went back to camp and put two stumps in the place where they were to sleep, covered them with blankets and ran off.Ciŋgibis came back from the dance and, thinking that he was sleeping with his two wives, he lay down between the two stumps and fell asleep. But his two wives went to sleep with Chief Loon. By and by ants began to bite Ciŋgibis and he scolded his wives, saying, “Don’t do that.” At last he discovered the stumps and threw them out. At daybreak he went to the chief’s wigwam and there, sleeping with the Chief, he saw his two wives. “You are a dead man for this!” said Ciŋgibis.He then went to his grandmother. “What do you want?” asked she. “I want a chisel and a flint.” “What do you want with them, grandchild? Are you going to be in mischief again?” said the grandmother. However, she gave them to him, and Ciŋgibis tied two flints to his feet and placed the chisel in the fire to make it red hot. Then he asked for some eagle feathers (but this was awiske·djak(Canadian Jay) feather). He got them and placed them on his head. When the ice chisel became red hot, the old grandmother said, “Say, Ciŋgibis, don’t do any mischief again,” but Ciŋgibis picked up the chisel and ran away with it to the wigwam of Loon.Loon always slept with his mouth open. When Ciŋgibis reached the wigwam, he found every one in it asleep. He shoved the chisel into Loon’s open mouth, killing him, ran off to his canoe, jumped into it, and paddled away to his snares. He did this so that no one would suspect that he had killed their chief. This is the reason why the Loon always has a black mouth—from where he was burned. Ciŋgibis found a rabbit in his snare. He placed the blood of the rabbit in some hay and tied the hay to his stomach.When he returned to the camp, the people were mourning for Loon. Ciŋgibis came in slowly. The second chief said, “Ciŋgibis will be very sorry when he hears that Chief Loon is dead. He was his great friend. We must tell him before he arrives.” Then the people called to Ciŋgibis, “Ee Ciŋgibis, the[53]chief is dead.” “What!” said Ciŋgibis, “the chief is dead!” Then he drew out his knife and pierced the hay full of rabbit blood. The blood ran out and all the people thought that he had killed himself. Ciŋgibis then dived into the water and the people came out in their canoes to look for him. They saw the rabbit blood upon the water and gave up looking for him. After a few days, they made another chief, Goose (nixka′), since both Loon and Ciŋgibis were dead.Ten days after this had happened, early in the morning the people heard somebody singing near the shore three times, “Who killed our chief? I am the one.” They awoke Chief Goose and he exclaimed, “I was thinking that that Ciŋgibis was in all kinds of mischief. So we must try to kill him.” Accordingly he sent all the men after him in canoes. When Ciŋgibis dived, they could only see his feathers which his grandmother had given him, but they could not catch him. Ciŋgibis said to them, “You are all spirits. Drink all this water and you will get me.” Then the Ducks and Geese drank all the lake dry and chased Ciŋgibis among the rocks, and thought that they would catch him. “No, no,” laughed Ciŋgibis, “I know some more tricks yet.” So he ran about and kicked the rocks with the flints his grandmother had given him, which were fastened to his feet, and water began flowing out and finally covered everything. The people who were pursuing him had to swim for their lives. They all became ducks. This is the origin of all the ducks. When the people left their canoes, they were obliged to swim and so they are swimming yet.

At the time of which my story speaks people were camping just as we are here. In the winter time they used birch bark[48]wigwams. All animals could then talk together. Two girls, who were very foolish, talked foolishly and were in no respect like the other girls of their tribe, made their bed out-of-doors, and slept right out under the stars. The very fact that they slept outside during the winter proves how foolish they were.

One of these girls asked the other, “With what star would you like to sleep, the white one or the red one?” The other girl answered, “I’d like to sleep with the red star.” “Oh, that’s all right,” said the first one, “I would like to sleep with the white star. He’s the younger; the red is the older.” Then the two girls fell asleep. When they awoke, they found themselves in another world, the star world. There were four of them there, the two girls and the two stars who had become men. The white star was very, very old and was grey-headed, while the younger was red-headed. He was the red star. The girls stayed a long time in this star world, and the one who had chosen the white star was very sorry, for he was so old.

There was an old woman up in this world who sat over a hole in the sky, and, whenever she moved, she showed them the hole and said, “That’s where you came from.” They looked down through and saw their people playing down below, and then the girls grew very sorry and very homesick. One evening, near sunset, the old woman moved a little way from the hole.24

The younger girl heard the noise of themite′windown below. When it was almost daylight, the old woman sat over the hole again and the noise ofmite′winstopped; it was her spirit that made the noise. She was the guardian of themite′win.

One morning the old woman told the girls, “If you want to go down from where you came from, we will let you down, but get to work and gather roots to make a string-made rope, twisted. The two of you make coils of rope as high as your heads when you are sitting. Two coils will be enough.” The girls worked for days until they had accomplished this. They made plenty of rope and tied it to a big basket. They then got into the basket and the people of the star world lowered them down. They descended right into an Eagle’s nest, but the people above[49]thought the girls were on the ground and stopped lowering them. They were obliged to stay in the nest, because they could do nothing to help themselves.

Said one, “We’ll have to stay here until some one comes to get us.” Bear passed by. The girls cried out, “Bear, come and get us. You are going to get married sometime. Now is your chance!” Bear thought, “They are not very good-looking women.” He pretended to climb up and then said, “I can’t climb up any further.” And he went away, for the girls didn’t suit him. Next came Lynx. The girls cried out again, “Lynx, come up and get us. You will go after women some day!” Lynx answered, “I can’t, for I have no claws,” and he went away. Then an ugly-looking man, Wolverine, passed and the girls spoke tohim. “Hey, Wolverine, come and get us.” Wolverine started to climb up, for he thought it a very fortunate thing to have these women and was very glad. When he reached them, they placed their hair ribbons in the nest. Then Wolverine agreed to take one girl at a time, so he took the first one down and went back for the next. Then Wolverine went away with his two wives and enjoyed himself greatly, as he was ugly and nobody else would have him. They went far into the woods, and then they sat down and began to talk. “Oh!” cried one of the girls, “I forgot my hair ribbons.” Then Wolverine said, “I will run back for it.” And he started off to get the hair ribbons. Then the girls hid and told the trees, whenever Wolverine should come back and whistle for them, toanswerhim by whistling. Wolverine soon returned and began to whistle for his wives, and the trees all around him whistled in answer. Wolverine, realizing that he had been tricked, gave up the search and departed very angry.

The girls continued through the woods until they came to a big marsh, late in the afternoon. There they saw a big birch bark house. Everything around the house was very clean, the poles were scraped clean of their bark and were perfectly white, while there was neither smoke nor ashes to be seen anywhere. The girls looked at this and said, “The person who lives here must be very clean; we have never seen such a clean house.” There was no dry or green wood lying around, but inside the house they saw a fire-place and plenty of hay. One girl said[50]to the other, “We’d better cut a little wood.” So they cut wood and made the fire in case the man came home late. By this time, the ice was beginning to break. Late in the evening they heard someone crying out, “Who spoiled my wigwam? Who made smoke and ashes?” The owner of the wigwam didn’t know who had done this, so he came in and looked at the two girls. He then cut all the wood. This man was Woodpecker (Meme “pileated woodpecker”). Woodpecker made a fire of the hay, which was beaver hay. It gave no smoke to stain the wigwam and burned as well as wood. He brought in two nice beavers which belonged to him, and gave one to the girls, saying, “You can have this.” He then cooked the other one for himself. He showed the girls where to sleep and since the place where they were to sleep was not near him, they knew that he would not marry either of them.

Next morning, after breakfast, he said to them, “Go! Don’t stay here. You go that way and you will find a big river. There you’ll find lots of people and maybe you’ll get married.” So the girls went on. They left Woodpecker and he is there yet. They came to the big river and beheld canoes and all kinds of people passing. First they saw White Duck (wa′bəci·p). He was a good looking man, and as he passed them in his canoe, the girls said to him, “Put us in your canoe, you are going to get married sometime.” White Duck answered, “My canoe is too small. Other people are coming; they will marry you.” And he passed on. Next came Fish Duck (azi′k), a good looking man. They cried out, “Put us in your canoe, you are going to get married anyway.” “No, my canoe is too small,” replied Fish Duck. A great many people passed, but all of them said that their canoes were too small, so the girls had to stay where they were. The people were passing to the mouth of the creek where the village of the chief was. At last came Black Duck (ni′nicip). He was also nice looking. “Come over and get us; you will get married sometime,” cried the girls. “No, My canoe is too small. Ciŋgibis is coming soon and he will marry you.” He was going to be the last person to pass. At last Ciŋgibis came along.

When they saw him, one of the girls said, “He is a very ugly man, but we will go in his canoe and, when we get to the village,[51]we’ll get rid of him.” So they called out to him, “Come over and get us; you will get married anyway.” Ciŋgibis was very glad to have two wives, so he paddled over and got the two girls. They said, “Your canoe is a very small canoe.” “Oh no,” said Ciŋgibis, “my canoe is a magic canoe. It is enough.” So the girls got into the canoe and they went down the stream. By and by one girl said, “I’m getting hungry.” “Well,” saidCiŋgibis, “not far down is a nice rock and there we will have lunch. You can pull roots for lunch.” So Ciŋgibis and the two girls went ashore and pulled roots and made a string out of them. “That’s enough,” said Ciŋgibis to one of the girls. “Tie the string to my leg and I’ll dive for something to eat. When you see the string jerk, pull me up.” They did this, and he dove into the water. When the girls saw the string jerk, they pulled him up and he brought with him a big beaver. They skinned and cooked the beaver for lunch; then Ciŋgibis and his two wives continued their journey. Soon Ciŋgibis said, “Well, we are not far from the village now. I am going to place my caribou snare.” He meant rabbit when he said caribou. So he placed his snares. He then told the girls, “At the village your sister-in-law will come down to see you. Maŋg (Loon) is the name of the chief of the village. But we won’t camp near them; we’ll camp a little to one side.” They went down the river until they came to the mouth, and at that point they saw the wigwams.

All the people yelled when they saw Ciŋgibis, for he was a great man, although he was the ugliest one among them. They cried, “Ee Ciŋgibis! He has two wives.” So they all laughed and the sister of Ciŋgibis came to shake hands with his two wives. Then Ciŋgibis pitched his wigwam. Soon a man who was a second chief came to Ciŋgibis and said, “Chief Maŋg wants to see you. He is going to have a dance tonight.” Ciŋgibis said to his wives, “Stay here and don’t go to the dance. There are too many nice-looking men there.” On account of this the two wives became angry with him. Ciŋgibis put on his best clothes and went to the dance.

By and by the wives heard drumming and fine voices singing. So they decided to go and peep in at the dancers if Ciŋgibis should not see them. They did this and peeped in through[52]the bark, and there they saw Loon singing. He was a fine-looking man with a fine voice and fine clothes. Ciŋgibis was beside Loon, looking exceedingly ugly in contrast to him. The wives said, “It is a shame that Loon is so good-looking.” They then went back to camp and put two stumps in the place where they were to sleep, covered them with blankets and ran off.

Ciŋgibis came back from the dance and, thinking that he was sleeping with his two wives, he lay down between the two stumps and fell asleep. But his two wives went to sleep with Chief Loon. By and by ants began to bite Ciŋgibis and he scolded his wives, saying, “Don’t do that.” At last he discovered the stumps and threw them out. At daybreak he went to the chief’s wigwam and there, sleeping with the Chief, he saw his two wives. “You are a dead man for this!” said Ciŋgibis.

He then went to his grandmother. “What do you want?” asked she. “I want a chisel and a flint.” “What do you want with them, grandchild? Are you going to be in mischief again?” said the grandmother. However, she gave them to him, and Ciŋgibis tied two flints to his feet and placed the chisel in the fire to make it red hot. Then he asked for some eagle feathers (but this was awiske·djak(Canadian Jay) feather). He got them and placed them on his head. When the ice chisel became red hot, the old grandmother said, “Say, Ciŋgibis, don’t do any mischief again,” but Ciŋgibis picked up the chisel and ran away with it to the wigwam of Loon.

Loon always slept with his mouth open. When Ciŋgibis reached the wigwam, he found every one in it asleep. He shoved the chisel into Loon’s open mouth, killing him, ran off to his canoe, jumped into it, and paddled away to his snares. He did this so that no one would suspect that he had killed their chief. This is the reason why the Loon always has a black mouth—from where he was burned. Ciŋgibis found a rabbit in his snare. He placed the blood of the rabbit in some hay and tied the hay to his stomach.

When he returned to the camp, the people were mourning for Loon. Ciŋgibis came in slowly. The second chief said, “Ciŋgibis will be very sorry when he hears that Chief Loon is dead. He was his great friend. We must tell him before he arrives.” Then the people called to Ciŋgibis, “Ee Ciŋgibis, the[53]chief is dead.” “What!” said Ciŋgibis, “the chief is dead!” Then he drew out his knife and pierced the hay full of rabbit blood. The blood ran out and all the people thought that he had killed himself. Ciŋgibis then dived into the water and the people came out in their canoes to look for him. They saw the rabbit blood upon the water and gave up looking for him. After a few days, they made another chief, Goose (nixka′), since both Loon and Ciŋgibis were dead.

Ten days after this had happened, early in the morning the people heard somebody singing near the shore three times, “Who killed our chief? I am the one.” They awoke Chief Goose and he exclaimed, “I was thinking that that Ciŋgibis was in all kinds of mischief. So we must try to kill him.” Accordingly he sent all the men after him in canoes. When Ciŋgibis dived, they could only see his feathers which his grandmother had given him, but they could not catch him. Ciŋgibis said to them, “You are all spirits. Drink all this water and you will get me.” Then the Ducks and Geese drank all the lake dry and chased Ciŋgibis among the rocks, and thought that they would catch him. “No, no,” laughed Ciŋgibis, “I know some more tricks yet.” So he ran about and kicked the rocks with the flints his grandmother had given him, which were fastened to his feet, and water began flowing out and finally covered everything. The people who were pursuing him had to swim for their lives. They all became ducks. This is the origin of all the ducks. When the people left their canoes, they were obliged to swim and so they are swimming yet.

(6)Beaver Gives a Feast.All the animals, once upon a time, were camped together—the Beaver, the Otter, the Muskrat, and the others. Their chief was Beaver. Every once in a while he would give a big feast, build a big wigwam, and invite all the men and women to come in and eat with him. He would tell them, “Well, I want to give a feast.” Then they would come in, sit around the inside of his big wigwam and pass the food around from one to the other. He would provide lots of grease in birch-bark dishes. Now, one time, when he gave one of his feasts, Beaver cut his grease[54]supply into cakes which he served around to his guests. Every time he passed a cake to a guest, pepedit. Indeed, every time he moved, pepedit, or when he would go and cut a new block of grease.25Now every time the Beaver broke wind, the Otter laughed. He did not seem to know that this would offend the Beaver, because he was a little foolish. The other guests told the Otter, “You mustn’t laugh when Beaver does that; he is our chief.” Despite this, every time they went to a feast,castore pedente, the Otter laughed at him.So one time the Beaver sent a man to invite all the people to another feast. He sent the messages all through the camp. Now the people told the Otter this time, “You must not come; you never keep your mouth shut; you always laugh. If you only knew enough to keep still like the rest of us, it would be all right, but you had better stay home.” “Oh well, all right,” said the Otter, “I’ll stay back.” All went to the feast except the Otter. But he asked the others, “You will have to bring my share to me, since I can’t come. Tell the chief to send me my share.” The others agreed and went to attend the feast; but they asked him, “How big a piece of grease do you want?” The Otter replied, “Bring me a piece the size of my forearm.”(The otter has a very small forearm.) When the guests arrived at the feast, the Beaver chief saw that the Otter was not with them. Said he, “Where, indeed, is Otter? I like him because he is so funny.” They informed him that the Otter had not come, but that he wanted the chief to send him a piece of grease as large as his forearm. The Beaver cut a piece that size and sent it to the Otter; that is all the Otter got. He did not get very much because he had such a short forearm. That is the end of my story.

(6)Beaver Gives a Feast.

All the animals, once upon a time, were camped together—the Beaver, the Otter, the Muskrat, and the others. Their chief was Beaver. Every once in a while he would give a big feast, build a big wigwam, and invite all the men and women to come in and eat with him. He would tell them, “Well, I want to give a feast.” Then they would come in, sit around the inside of his big wigwam and pass the food around from one to the other. He would provide lots of grease in birch-bark dishes. Now, one time, when he gave one of his feasts, Beaver cut his grease[54]supply into cakes which he served around to his guests. Every time he passed a cake to a guest, pepedit. Indeed, every time he moved, pepedit, or when he would go and cut a new block of grease.25Now every time the Beaver broke wind, the Otter laughed. He did not seem to know that this would offend the Beaver, because he was a little foolish. The other guests told the Otter, “You mustn’t laugh when Beaver does that; he is our chief.” Despite this, every time they went to a feast,castore pedente, the Otter laughed at him.So one time the Beaver sent a man to invite all the people to another feast. He sent the messages all through the camp. Now the people told the Otter this time, “You must not come; you never keep your mouth shut; you always laugh. If you only knew enough to keep still like the rest of us, it would be all right, but you had better stay home.” “Oh well, all right,” said the Otter, “I’ll stay back.” All went to the feast except the Otter. But he asked the others, “You will have to bring my share to me, since I can’t come. Tell the chief to send me my share.” The others agreed and went to attend the feast; but they asked him, “How big a piece of grease do you want?” The Otter replied, “Bring me a piece the size of my forearm.”(The otter has a very small forearm.) When the guests arrived at the feast, the Beaver chief saw that the Otter was not with them. Said he, “Where, indeed, is Otter? I like him because he is so funny.” They informed him that the Otter had not come, but that he wanted the chief to send him a piece of grease as large as his forearm. The Beaver cut a piece that size and sent it to the Otter; that is all the Otter got. He did not get very much because he had such a short forearm. That is the end of my story.

All the animals, once upon a time, were camped together—the Beaver, the Otter, the Muskrat, and the others. Their chief was Beaver. Every once in a while he would give a big feast, build a big wigwam, and invite all the men and women to come in and eat with him. He would tell them, “Well, I want to give a feast.” Then they would come in, sit around the inside of his big wigwam and pass the food around from one to the other. He would provide lots of grease in birch-bark dishes. Now, one time, when he gave one of his feasts, Beaver cut his grease[54]supply into cakes which he served around to his guests. Every time he passed a cake to a guest, pepedit. Indeed, every time he moved, pepedit, or when he would go and cut a new block of grease.25Now every time the Beaver broke wind, the Otter laughed. He did not seem to know that this would offend the Beaver, because he was a little foolish. The other guests told the Otter, “You mustn’t laugh when Beaver does that; he is our chief.” Despite this, every time they went to a feast,castore pedente, the Otter laughed at him.

So one time the Beaver sent a man to invite all the people to another feast. He sent the messages all through the camp. Now the people told the Otter this time, “You must not come; you never keep your mouth shut; you always laugh. If you only knew enough to keep still like the rest of us, it would be all right, but you had better stay home.” “Oh well, all right,” said the Otter, “I’ll stay back.” All went to the feast except the Otter. But he asked the others, “You will have to bring my share to me, since I can’t come. Tell the chief to send me my share.” The others agreed and went to attend the feast; but they asked him, “How big a piece of grease do you want?” The Otter replied, “Bring me a piece the size of my forearm.”(The otter has a very small forearm.) When the guests arrived at the feast, the Beaver chief saw that the Otter was not with them. Said he, “Where, indeed, is Otter? I like him because he is so funny.” They informed him that the Otter had not come, but that he wanted the chief to send him a piece of grease as large as his forearm. The Beaver cut a piece that size and sent it to the Otter; that is all the Otter got. He did not get very much because he had such a short forearm. That is the end of my story.

(7)Tcaka·bįs.Tcaka·bįs lived with his grandmother. One time he made a long journey and was away for quite a while. He came to where there were some giant women who were scraping frozen beaver skins, “kąc, kąc.” He returned home and told his grandmother, “I heard the giant women scraping beaver hides.”[55]“Don’t go near them,” said his grandmother. And she repeated this warning often to Tcaka·bįs.However, one day he returned to where he had heard the giant women, and when he reached the lake, there they were, chasing beaver on the ice. When he came up, they knew him and cried out, “Ee, come on, come on, Tcaka·bįs!” So he went over to them and they said, “There is a beaver here and you must pull him up.” Tcaka·bįs was small and they thought the beaver would pull him through the hole into the ice. But he caught hold of the beaver’s tail and pulled him through all right. Then they asked him to stay with them, but he went away after he had stolen the big beaver tail, six feet long, and went back to his grandmother. When he got home, he showed her the tail, and she asked, “Did you steal it?” “No, no,” answered he. Then he made a door for their wigwam out of the tail.Soon the giant woman came to where he lived and called. “Tcaka·bįs, you are a dead man!” They came for the purpose of eating Tcaka·bįs and his grandmother. Then the grandmother said, “I told you not to go there. Now they say you are a dead man.” But Tcaka·bįs said, “Don’t be afraid, grandmother. I will take care of you.” Then he took his witch stone26and threw it up inside the wigwam, and the whole wigwam turned to stone except a little hole in the top for the smoke to come through. The stone was so thick that they were unable to hear the giant women pounding on the outside. Then the giant women went away and Tcaka·bįs lay inside of the wigwam in safety. But he felt a little sick, because he had eaten too much beaver fat.Some time after this, Tcaka·bįs went back again to the giant women and found them pounding up and boiling moose bones to make soup. As he came up, one of the giant women seized him and threw him into the pot. There he stayed for a long time, boiling and circling round and round in the pot, but still he was alive. At last, when the giant women needed grease, they dipped up Tcaka·bįs with a wooden spoon and threw him outside. Then Tcaka·bįs went back to his grandmother. He was very thin, because he had been boiled so long, nothing but skin and bones. That’s the end; he was a small fellow.[56]

(7)Tcaka·bįs.

Tcaka·bįs lived with his grandmother. One time he made a long journey and was away for quite a while. He came to where there were some giant women who were scraping frozen beaver skins, “kąc, kąc.” He returned home and told his grandmother, “I heard the giant women scraping beaver hides.”[55]“Don’t go near them,” said his grandmother. And she repeated this warning often to Tcaka·bįs.However, one day he returned to where he had heard the giant women, and when he reached the lake, there they were, chasing beaver on the ice. When he came up, they knew him and cried out, “Ee, come on, come on, Tcaka·bįs!” So he went over to them and they said, “There is a beaver here and you must pull him up.” Tcaka·bįs was small and they thought the beaver would pull him through the hole into the ice. But he caught hold of the beaver’s tail and pulled him through all right. Then they asked him to stay with them, but he went away after he had stolen the big beaver tail, six feet long, and went back to his grandmother. When he got home, he showed her the tail, and she asked, “Did you steal it?” “No, no,” answered he. Then he made a door for their wigwam out of the tail.Soon the giant woman came to where he lived and called. “Tcaka·bįs, you are a dead man!” They came for the purpose of eating Tcaka·bįs and his grandmother. Then the grandmother said, “I told you not to go there. Now they say you are a dead man.” But Tcaka·bįs said, “Don’t be afraid, grandmother. I will take care of you.” Then he took his witch stone26and threw it up inside the wigwam, and the whole wigwam turned to stone except a little hole in the top for the smoke to come through. The stone was so thick that they were unable to hear the giant women pounding on the outside. Then the giant women went away and Tcaka·bįs lay inside of the wigwam in safety. But he felt a little sick, because he had eaten too much beaver fat.Some time after this, Tcaka·bįs went back again to the giant women and found them pounding up and boiling moose bones to make soup. As he came up, one of the giant women seized him and threw him into the pot. There he stayed for a long time, boiling and circling round and round in the pot, but still he was alive. At last, when the giant women needed grease, they dipped up Tcaka·bįs with a wooden spoon and threw him outside. Then Tcaka·bįs went back to his grandmother. He was very thin, because he had been boiled so long, nothing but skin and bones. That’s the end; he was a small fellow.[56]

Tcaka·bįs lived with his grandmother. One time he made a long journey and was away for quite a while. He came to where there were some giant women who were scraping frozen beaver skins, “kąc, kąc.” He returned home and told his grandmother, “I heard the giant women scraping beaver hides.”[55]“Don’t go near them,” said his grandmother. And she repeated this warning often to Tcaka·bįs.

However, one day he returned to where he had heard the giant women, and when he reached the lake, there they were, chasing beaver on the ice. When he came up, they knew him and cried out, “Ee, come on, come on, Tcaka·bįs!” So he went over to them and they said, “There is a beaver here and you must pull him up.” Tcaka·bįs was small and they thought the beaver would pull him through the hole into the ice. But he caught hold of the beaver’s tail and pulled him through all right. Then they asked him to stay with them, but he went away after he had stolen the big beaver tail, six feet long, and went back to his grandmother. When he got home, he showed her the tail, and she asked, “Did you steal it?” “No, no,” answered he. Then he made a door for their wigwam out of the tail.

Soon the giant woman came to where he lived and called. “Tcaka·bįs, you are a dead man!” They came for the purpose of eating Tcaka·bįs and his grandmother. Then the grandmother said, “I told you not to go there. Now they say you are a dead man.” But Tcaka·bįs said, “Don’t be afraid, grandmother. I will take care of you.” Then he took his witch stone26and threw it up inside the wigwam, and the whole wigwam turned to stone except a little hole in the top for the smoke to come through. The stone was so thick that they were unable to hear the giant women pounding on the outside. Then the giant women went away and Tcaka·bįs lay inside of the wigwam in safety. But he felt a little sick, because he had eaten too much beaver fat.

Some time after this, Tcaka·bįs went back again to the giant women and found them pounding up and boiling moose bones to make soup. As he came up, one of the giant women seized him and threw him into the pot. There he stayed for a long time, boiling and circling round and round in the pot, but still he was alive. At last, when the giant women needed grease, they dipped up Tcaka·bįs with a wooden spoon and threw him outside. Then Tcaka·bįs went back to his grandmother. He was very thin, because he had been boiled so long, nothing but skin and bones. That’s the end; he was a small fellow.[56]

(8)Aniwɔ·ye,27the Giant Skunk, and the Origin of Skunks.Aniwɔ·ye was the monster Skunk. He used to travel all over this world, trying to find the Ojibwa. He hunted them to kill them. He often took the form of a man. Whenever he would encounter people, he would approach them et pepedit towards their camp with his back to them, killing the peoplemalo ejus odore. In those days there was no other sickness. That was the only sickness which people had to kill them.Once upon a time in a camp where there were lots of people, hunters of a big band, they beheld the tracks of Aniwɔ·ye near one of their trails. It was winter time. When they saw these tracks, they turned back from their object because they were afraid Aniwɔ·ye would see their own tracks and follow them to camp and kill all their people. On this account they started off in every direction in order to lead Aniwɔ·ye away from the camp and so save their own people and possibly themselves. Said they, “We will go to Big Fisher lake, where the Big Fisher lives.” So they started off. But there was one old woman who could hardly see. She could not travel with them, so they had to leave her, as nobody could carry her.Soon Aniwɔ·ye found their trails and followed them, and soon he came to the wigwam in which the people had left the old woman. He looked in the door and saw her sitting near the fire. “Where are all your people?” he asked her. “They have gone away,” she answered. “They saw Aniwɔ·ye’s track and departed. But I am too old. I can’t see, I can’t walk; so they left me here.” This poor old woman thought it was a young man who spoke to her; she did not know, indeed, that it was Aniwɔ·ye himself. Then Aniwɔ·ye spoke, “If you can’t walk, I can cure you, so that you will be as well and strong as you ever were.” So he turned his back to her et pepedit. He blew the wigwam and the old woman all to pieces.Then Aniwɔ·ye followed on the trail of the people. When he had tracked them to Big Fisher lake, he could see right across the lake, because there was no island in the way, and there, on the other side, he saw where Big Fisher lived. The people had arrived here after a hard trip and begged Big Fisher for[57]protection from Aniwɔ·ye. So fast had they travelled that some of the old people, unable to keep up with the younger ones, had died of their efforts to hurry. Those who had reached Big Fisher’s camp kept watching for Aniwɔ·ye to appear across the lake on their tracks. At last they saw him emerge on the lake and come towards them. All the way along this pursuit, when he had found the people who had died on the march, he pulled at them to see if they were dead. Now, when Aniwɔ·ye appeared Big Fisher said to the people, “We will go to meet him. You men go ahead and I will hide behind you. So we will approach him until we get almost within his range. Do not let him see me,sed cum anum suum nobis verteret, spread apart and let me pass you to the front. While his back is turned to us, we will fix him.” They did as they were told, and the band started forward to meet Aniwɔ·ye, who also approached them slowly.When they were near enoughut odore ejus attingerentur, Aniwɔ·ye turned slowly. When his back was toward them,et cum pediturus esset, they opened ranks and Big Fisher ran forthet prius anum Aniwɔ·yei cepit quam hie pedere posset. He pinchedanum ejus dure. “Ayu!” exclaimed Aniwɔ·ye. “Ayu, ayu! Let go of me!Non iterum pedam!” But Big Fisher held on and would not let go. They struggled for some time, but Big Fisher held fast, and at last Aniwɔ·ye died because he could not discharge. He died and they were all exceedingly glad, rejoicing that he was done for. So they cut him up into small bits and scattered the bits all about. Immediately these turned into little skunks which ran off into the bush. That was the end of Aniwɔ·ye, the Monster Skunk, but there are plenty of small skunks now.

(8)Aniwɔ·ye,27the Giant Skunk, and the Origin of Skunks.

Aniwɔ·ye was the monster Skunk. He used to travel all over this world, trying to find the Ojibwa. He hunted them to kill them. He often took the form of a man. Whenever he would encounter people, he would approach them et pepedit towards their camp with his back to them, killing the peoplemalo ejus odore. In those days there was no other sickness. That was the only sickness which people had to kill them.Once upon a time in a camp where there were lots of people, hunters of a big band, they beheld the tracks of Aniwɔ·ye near one of their trails. It was winter time. When they saw these tracks, they turned back from their object because they were afraid Aniwɔ·ye would see their own tracks and follow them to camp and kill all their people. On this account they started off in every direction in order to lead Aniwɔ·ye away from the camp and so save their own people and possibly themselves. Said they, “We will go to Big Fisher lake, where the Big Fisher lives.” So they started off. But there was one old woman who could hardly see. She could not travel with them, so they had to leave her, as nobody could carry her.Soon Aniwɔ·ye found their trails and followed them, and soon he came to the wigwam in which the people had left the old woman. He looked in the door and saw her sitting near the fire. “Where are all your people?” he asked her. “They have gone away,” she answered. “They saw Aniwɔ·ye’s track and departed. But I am too old. I can’t see, I can’t walk; so they left me here.” This poor old woman thought it was a young man who spoke to her; she did not know, indeed, that it was Aniwɔ·ye himself. Then Aniwɔ·ye spoke, “If you can’t walk, I can cure you, so that you will be as well and strong as you ever were.” So he turned his back to her et pepedit. He blew the wigwam and the old woman all to pieces.Then Aniwɔ·ye followed on the trail of the people. When he had tracked them to Big Fisher lake, he could see right across the lake, because there was no island in the way, and there, on the other side, he saw where Big Fisher lived. The people had arrived here after a hard trip and begged Big Fisher for[57]protection from Aniwɔ·ye. So fast had they travelled that some of the old people, unable to keep up with the younger ones, had died of their efforts to hurry. Those who had reached Big Fisher’s camp kept watching for Aniwɔ·ye to appear across the lake on their tracks. At last they saw him emerge on the lake and come towards them. All the way along this pursuit, when he had found the people who had died on the march, he pulled at them to see if they were dead. Now, when Aniwɔ·ye appeared Big Fisher said to the people, “We will go to meet him. You men go ahead and I will hide behind you. So we will approach him until we get almost within his range. Do not let him see me,sed cum anum suum nobis verteret, spread apart and let me pass you to the front. While his back is turned to us, we will fix him.” They did as they were told, and the band started forward to meet Aniwɔ·ye, who also approached them slowly.When they were near enoughut odore ejus attingerentur, Aniwɔ·ye turned slowly. When his back was toward them,et cum pediturus esset, they opened ranks and Big Fisher ran forthet prius anum Aniwɔ·yei cepit quam hie pedere posset. He pinchedanum ejus dure. “Ayu!” exclaimed Aniwɔ·ye. “Ayu, ayu! Let go of me!Non iterum pedam!” But Big Fisher held on and would not let go. They struggled for some time, but Big Fisher held fast, and at last Aniwɔ·ye died because he could not discharge. He died and they were all exceedingly glad, rejoicing that he was done for. So they cut him up into small bits and scattered the bits all about. Immediately these turned into little skunks which ran off into the bush. That was the end of Aniwɔ·ye, the Monster Skunk, but there are plenty of small skunks now.

Aniwɔ·ye was the monster Skunk. He used to travel all over this world, trying to find the Ojibwa. He hunted them to kill them. He often took the form of a man. Whenever he would encounter people, he would approach them et pepedit towards their camp with his back to them, killing the peoplemalo ejus odore. In those days there was no other sickness. That was the only sickness which people had to kill them.

Once upon a time in a camp where there were lots of people, hunters of a big band, they beheld the tracks of Aniwɔ·ye near one of their trails. It was winter time. When they saw these tracks, they turned back from their object because they were afraid Aniwɔ·ye would see their own tracks and follow them to camp and kill all their people. On this account they started off in every direction in order to lead Aniwɔ·ye away from the camp and so save their own people and possibly themselves. Said they, “We will go to Big Fisher lake, where the Big Fisher lives.” So they started off. But there was one old woman who could hardly see. She could not travel with them, so they had to leave her, as nobody could carry her.

Soon Aniwɔ·ye found their trails and followed them, and soon he came to the wigwam in which the people had left the old woman. He looked in the door and saw her sitting near the fire. “Where are all your people?” he asked her. “They have gone away,” she answered. “They saw Aniwɔ·ye’s track and departed. But I am too old. I can’t see, I can’t walk; so they left me here.” This poor old woman thought it was a young man who spoke to her; she did not know, indeed, that it was Aniwɔ·ye himself. Then Aniwɔ·ye spoke, “If you can’t walk, I can cure you, so that you will be as well and strong as you ever were.” So he turned his back to her et pepedit. He blew the wigwam and the old woman all to pieces.

Then Aniwɔ·ye followed on the trail of the people. When he had tracked them to Big Fisher lake, he could see right across the lake, because there was no island in the way, and there, on the other side, he saw where Big Fisher lived. The people had arrived here after a hard trip and begged Big Fisher for[57]protection from Aniwɔ·ye. So fast had they travelled that some of the old people, unable to keep up with the younger ones, had died of their efforts to hurry. Those who had reached Big Fisher’s camp kept watching for Aniwɔ·ye to appear across the lake on their tracks. At last they saw him emerge on the lake and come towards them. All the way along this pursuit, when he had found the people who had died on the march, he pulled at them to see if they were dead. Now, when Aniwɔ·ye appeared Big Fisher said to the people, “We will go to meet him. You men go ahead and I will hide behind you. So we will approach him until we get almost within his range. Do not let him see me,sed cum anum suum nobis verteret, spread apart and let me pass you to the front. While his back is turned to us, we will fix him.” They did as they were told, and the band started forward to meet Aniwɔ·ye, who also approached them slowly.

When they were near enoughut odore ejus attingerentur, Aniwɔ·ye turned slowly. When his back was toward them,et cum pediturus esset, they opened ranks and Big Fisher ran forthet prius anum Aniwɔ·yei cepit quam hie pedere posset. He pinchedanum ejus dure. “Ayu!” exclaimed Aniwɔ·ye. “Ayu, ayu! Let go of me!Non iterum pedam!” But Big Fisher held on and would not let go. They struggled for some time, but Big Fisher held fast, and at last Aniwɔ·ye died because he could not discharge. He died and they were all exceedingly glad, rejoicing that he was done for. So they cut him up into small bits and scattered the bits all about. Immediately these turned into little skunks which ran off into the bush. That was the end of Aniwɔ·ye, the Monster Skunk, but there are plenty of small skunks now.

(9)The Man Who Transformed a Doll into a Woman and Followed Her into the World Above.There was once a man. He was hunting. He had his own wigwam, where he lived with an old man and an old woman who called him grandchild. He did not even know his father and mother. He had never seen young people, so when he became about twenty years old, he began to think that he ought to get himself a wife. So he started out and travelled all over,[58]but could not find one. At last, one day, he took a piece of wood and tried to carve for himself a big doll. He worked hard and after a while he made it so nearly perfect that it could speak a little. It was a female, but it did not seem to be complete quite yet.Said the doll to him, “Put me in your wigwam, cover me up, and do not look at me for three days. Be sure not to look, because if you do, I won’t be here.”“All right,” said he; and placed his doll in his wigwam. To remove himself from the temptation of breaking her rule he went away by himself and stayed the first night. The next afternoon he came back and began wondering to himself. “If I sleep here,” thought he, “I might, indeed, be tempted to look.” The more he pondered, the more he weakened. At last, he decided to take a little look. He peeped inside the wigwam and saw a very nice-looking young girl seated there. Then, gaining control of himself, he hurried away and camped again that night alone. The third day he came back again to look at his wife. When he came near the camp, he went to the water-hole.28There he saw a woman’s track going away from the water-hole. Thought he to himself, “Alas! my wife has gone.” He walked up to the wigwam, looked in, and found that the woman had actually gone.29He now decided to follow her. He went to the woods, cut a piece of cedar, and made himself a bow and a lot of arrows. The next day he started—this was two days after the woman had left. Then he walked very fast, starting early in the morning. Soon he came to a small lake lying still and frozen. When he reached the edge of the ice, he shot an arrow across, then he sped so fast that he reached the other side of the lake before the arrow got there. Before noon-time he came to where a camp was located, and going up to it, beheld an old woman cooking there. “Oh, my grandchild,” said she, “don’t stand there looking in the door. Come in and eat.” So he went in. Then he asked her whether she had seen a woman pass there. She answered, “Yesterday, about noon.” And the old woman gave him a mess of corn and said, “My dear grandchild, it is very hard[59]where you are going. Many people have tried to go where your road leads; but they have never gotten there, for many creatures are seeking their lives. But I will help you.” Then she gave him a leg-bone of a lynx. “When you are in trouble, you may need this,” she told him. Then he started on, following the tracks of his woman. Every time he came to a lake, he shot an arrow across and sped before it as he had done at first. He was fast indeed.Soon he came to another wigwam and peeped into this as he had done into the first. An old woman who was cooking inside spoke to him, as had the first, and invited him to come in and eat. Then he asked her when she had seen the woman pass by. “A little after noon time,” she replied. Now, by this, he knew that he had not gained very much. As before, he ate a little snack of corn and the old woman said to him, “Where you are going will be a very hard trip for you. Many people try it, but never succeed. They die.” And she, too, gave him a lynx bone and told him, as the other had done, that it would help him in time of need on his journey; and he started on again, doing the same at every lake, until it began to grow late in the day. He had been going so fast that he felt very tired.By and by he came to another camp and peeped in, as before, asked the same question, and was received in the same way. After he had eaten here, the old woman gave him a squirrel’s tail to help him overcome the dangers which she warned him against. Said she, “From now on you won’t see any more camps. Walk very fast now. Soon you will see a big tree with a square trunk, which will reach very far up into the sky. Now you won’t see any trail, but look carefully around. That is where your wife climbed up. There are, indeed, steps cut into the trunk, but you will not be able to see them. To you it will look smooth.”So he proceeded on his way and soon came to the place she had spoken about. There was the big tree, but no tracks were in sight. Around the base he saw lots of bones, bones of people who had tried to climb but had fallen down and died. He was bewildered. Then suddenly he recollected the bones the old women had given him. Taking one in each hand, like a pick, he began climbing up the great tree. At last he ascended so[60]high that the bones began to wear away. When they were so short that he could hardly use them, he looked down. He had gone so high that he could neither see the world beneath nor the end of the tree in the sky above. Now his bones were too short to help him, but he had his bow on his back. He could hardly hold on any longer, so he cried and yelled for help, but nobody could hear him. Soon he heard a spirit nearby which murmured to him, “Close your eyes and look through the tree. You will see steps to climb on.” Then he did as the voice said and perceived steps. He placed his feet in them and started running up. But now he made another mistake, he did not keep his eyes closed. When he looked, lo! he found himself back to where he had begun to climb the steps, holding on with his worn-out bones. Then he bethought himself of the squirrel’s tail, and at the same moment found himself transformed into a squirrel. He found that he could run up the great tree by tapping his tail on the trunk at each step. At last he came to a hole in the sky, in the middle of which the great tree protruded. A wide space, however, surrounded the tree, separating it from the edge of the sky. It would be necessary for him to jump across from the trunk to this edge. He made a great effort and sprang for the edge, but he just managed to catch on at the line of his waist; his upper parts, which reached above the edge, at once became human; his lower parts, extending below the edge, remained in the form of the squirrel.Then he beheld his wife coming across the surface of this upper world toward him. Said she, “You should not have come here, because, after all your trouble, you will die anyway.” She took hold of him and made shift to raise him. Then she pulled him out after teasing him a little while. “Now,” she said to him, “we always play ball up here. There are men here whom you will meet. They are your brothers-in-law. They will want you to play ball. If they beat you in the game, they will kill you; but if you beat them, you will survive.”Then she led him away to a village, where they saw a lot of great White Bears. This was the great White Bear’s home and his family. Now the old Bear arranged a contest for the stranger. Said he, “You take this ball and go around the edge of this world, running. One of these Bears will race with you,[61]to see who gets back here first.” So they started. The Bear took the ball in his mouth and, as soon as he started running, the man jumped upon his back and shook his ears, which made the Bear drop the ball. Then he threw the ball ahead. In this way, repeating the trick, they went around the world, and the man succeeded in getting back first. When he reached the starting point, the Bears said, “You seem to be a pretty good man; but there are still more tricks for you to perform. If you win, you can stay.”And they all went out together and came to a big rock. One of the White Bears tried to move this rock, and with a great effort he succeeded in moving it a little. “Now, you try,” said they, “and if you can’t move it, you are a dead man.” Then the man took his bow and arrow and shot it at the rock. The rock immediately broke into fragments. “Indeed, you are a great man, our brother-in-law, and can stay here and hunt and live with us,” said the old White Bear. Then the old Bear told him, after a while, that he had better go and hunt, or he would grow lonesome in his new life. By this time they had grown to like him very much.One afternoon, late, he started off to hunt. Everything that he met seemed strange to him in this new world. Soon he came to a lake with a little ice on it, and when he walked out he beheld tracks of some animal. Soon he came to a place where a big wooden mallet lay on the ice. He thought to himself that somebody had lost this mallet. Then he took it by the handle and hammered on the ice. Immediately the hammer fell through. Up from the hole in the ice a red otter emerged. He killed the red otter. Then he went on with the hammer to another place. There he tried again, and this time got a blue otter. He tried again at another place and got a black otter, which was like the otters of this world. So, taking his load of otters, he went home to display what he thought was a pretty good hunt. He carried his game in a bag of leather. When he got to his wigwam, he shoved his bag in the entrance ahead of him, so that his wife could open it and see what he had brought.30Thought she to herself, when she saw the game-bag,[62]“I wonder if he will show himself to be a good hunter.” She saw some blood on the bag. Opening it, she beheld the otters, Now the man had made a mistake, for these were tame otters and belonged to the Bears. She went out crying to her people, “This man has killed our otters!” When the old White Bear heard about the news, he said to his family, “We should have told this man about our otters, because he didn’t know. On this account it is all right.” He said no more, because he was afraid of the magic possessed by his new son-in-law.

(9)The Man Who Transformed a Doll into a Woman and Followed Her into the World Above.

There was once a man. He was hunting. He had his own wigwam, where he lived with an old man and an old woman who called him grandchild. He did not even know his father and mother. He had never seen young people, so when he became about twenty years old, he began to think that he ought to get himself a wife. So he started out and travelled all over,[58]but could not find one. At last, one day, he took a piece of wood and tried to carve for himself a big doll. He worked hard and after a while he made it so nearly perfect that it could speak a little. It was a female, but it did not seem to be complete quite yet.Said the doll to him, “Put me in your wigwam, cover me up, and do not look at me for three days. Be sure not to look, because if you do, I won’t be here.”“All right,” said he; and placed his doll in his wigwam. To remove himself from the temptation of breaking her rule he went away by himself and stayed the first night. The next afternoon he came back and began wondering to himself. “If I sleep here,” thought he, “I might, indeed, be tempted to look.” The more he pondered, the more he weakened. At last, he decided to take a little look. He peeped inside the wigwam and saw a very nice-looking young girl seated there. Then, gaining control of himself, he hurried away and camped again that night alone. The third day he came back again to look at his wife. When he came near the camp, he went to the water-hole.28There he saw a woman’s track going away from the water-hole. Thought he to himself, “Alas! my wife has gone.” He walked up to the wigwam, looked in, and found that the woman had actually gone.29He now decided to follow her. He went to the woods, cut a piece of cedar, and made himself a bow and a lot of arrows. The next day he started—this was two days after the woman had left. Then he walked very fast, starting early in the morning. Soon he came to a small lake lying still and frozen. When he reached the edge of the ice, he shot an arrow across, then he sped so fast that he reached the other side of the lake before the arrow got there. Before noon-time he came to where a camp was located, and going up to it, beheld an old woman cooking there. “Oh, my grandchild,” said she, “don’t stand there looking in the door. Come in and eat.” So he went in. Then he asked her whether she had seen a woman pass there. She answered, “Yesterday, about noon.” And the old woman gave him a mess of corn and said, “My dear grandchild, it is very hard[59]where you are going. Many people have tried to go where your road leads; but they have never gotten there, for many creatures are seeking their lives. But I will help you.” Then she gave him a leg-bone of a lynx. “When you are in trouble, you may need this,” she told him. Then he started on, following the tracks of his woman. Every time he came to a lake, he shot an arrow across and sped before it as he had done at first. He was fast indeed.Soon he came to another wigwam and peeped into this as he had done into the first. An old woman who was cooking inside spoke to him, as had the first, and invited him to come in and eat. Then he asked her when she had seen the woman pass by. “A little after noon time,” she replied. Now, by this, he knew that he had not gained very much. As before, he ate a little snack of corn and the old woman said to him, “Where you are going will be a very hard trip for you. Many people try it, but never succeed. They die.” And she, too, gave him a lynx bone and told him, as the other had done, that it would help him in time of need on his journey; and he started on again, doing the same at every lake, until it began to grow late in the day. He had been going so fast that he felt very tired.By and by he came to another camp and peeped in, as before, asked the same question, and was received in the same way. After he had eaten here, the old woman gave him a squirrel’s tail to help him overcome the dangers which she warned him against. Said she, “From now on you won’t see any more camps. Walk very fast now. Soon you will see a big tree with a square trunk, which will reach very far up into the sky. Now you won’t see any trail, but look carefully around. That is where your wife climbed up. There are, indeed, steps cut into the trunk, but you will not be able to see them. To you it will look smooth.”So he proceeded on his way and soon came to the place she had spoken about. There was the big tree, but no tracks were in sight. Around the base he saw lots of bones, bones of people who had tried to climb but had fallen down and died. He was bewildered. Then suddenly he recollected the bones the old women had given him. Taking one in each hand, like a pick, he began climbing up the great tree. At last he ascended so[60]high that the bones began to wear away. When they were so short that he could hardly use them, he looked down. He had gone so high that he could neither see the world beneath nor the end of the tree in the sky above. Now his bones were too short to help him, but he had his bow on his back. He could hardly hold on any longer, so he cried and yelled for help, but nobody could hear him. Soon he heard a spirit nearby which murmured to him, “Close your eyes and look through the tree. You will see steps to climb on.” Then he did as the voice said and perceived steps. He placed his feet in them and started running up. But now he made another mistake, he did not keep his eyes closed. When he looked, lo! he found himself back to where he had begun to climb the steps, holding on with his worn-out bones. Then he bethought himself of the squirrel’s tail, and at the same moment found himself transformed into a squirrel. He found that he could run up the great tree by tapping his tail on the trunk at each step. At last he came to a hole in the sky, in the middle of which the great tree protruded. A wide space, however, surrounded the tree, separating it from the edge of the sky. It would be necessary for him to jump across from the trunk to this edge. He made a great effort and sprang for the edge, but he just managed to catch on at the line of his waist; his upper parts, which reached above the edge, at once became human; his lower parts, extending below the edge, remained in the form of the squirrel.Then he beheld his wife coming across the surface of this upper world toward him. Said she, “You should not have come here, because, after all your trouble, you will die anyway.” She took hold of him and made shift to raise him. Then she pulled him out after teasing him a little while. “Now,” she said to him, “we always play ball up here. There are men here whom you will meet. They are your brothers-in-law. They will want you to play ball. If they beat you in the game, they will kill you; but if you beat them, you will survive.”Then she led him away to a village, where they saw a lot of great White Bears. This was the great White Bear’s home and his family. Now the old Bear arranged a contest for the stranger. Said he, “You take this ball and go around the edge of this world, running. One of these Bears will race with you,[61]to see who gets back here first.” So they started. The Bear took the ball in his mouth and, as soon as he started running, the man jumped upon his back and shook his ears, which made the Bear drop the ball. Then he threw the ball ahead. In this way, repeating the trick, they went around the world, and the man succeeded in getting back first. When he reached the starting point, the Bears said, “You seem to be a pretty good man; but there are still more tricks for you to perform. If you win, you can stay.”And they all went out together and came to a big rock. One of the White Bears tried to move this rock, and with a great effort he succeeded in moving it a little. “Now, you try,” said they, “and if you can’t move it, you are a dead man.” Then the man took his bow and arrow and shot it at the rock. The rock immediately broke into fragments. “Indeed, you are a great man, our brother-in-law, and can stay here and hunt and live with us,” said the old White Bear. Then the old Bear told him, after a while, that he had better go and hunt, or he would grow lonesome in his new life. By this time they had grown to like him very much.One afternoon, late, he started off to hunt. Everything that he met seemed strange to him in this new world. Soon he came to a lake with a little ice on it, and when he walked out he beheld tracks of some animal. Soon he came to a place where a big wooden mallet lay on the ice. He thought to himself that somebody had lost this mallet. Then he took it by the handle and hammered on the ice. Immediately the hammer fell through. Up from the hole in the ice a red otter emerged. He killed the red otter. Then he went on with the hammer to another place. There he tried again, and this time got a blue otter. He tried again at another place and got a black otter, which was like the otters of this world. So, taking his load of otters, he went home to display what he thought was a pretty good hunt. He carried his game in a bag of leather. When he got to his wigwam, he shoved his bag in the entrance ahead of him, so that his wife could open it and see what he had brought.30Thought she to herself, when she saw the game-bag,[62]“I wonder if he will show himself to be a good hunter.” She saw some blood on the bag. Opening it, she beheld the otters, Now the man had made a mistake, for these were tame otters and belonged to the Bears. She went out crying to her people, “This man has killed our otters!” When the old White Bear heard about the news, he said to his family, “We should have told this man about our otters, because he didn’t know. On this account it is all right.” He said no more, because he was afraid of the magic possessed by his new son-in-law.

There was once a man. He was hunting. He had his own wigwam, where he lived with an old man and an old woman who called him grandchild. He did not even know his father and mother. He had never seen young people, so when he became about twenty years old, he began to think that he ought to get himself a wife. So he started out and travelled all over,[58]but could not find one. At last, one day, he took a piece of wood and tried to carve for himself a big doll. He worked hard and after a while he made it so nearly perfect that it could speak a little. It was a female, but it did not seem to be complete quite yet.

Said the doll to him, “Put me in your wigwam, cover me up, and do not look at me for three days. Be sure not to look, because if you do, I won’t be here.”

“All right,” said he; and placed his doll in his wigwam. To remove himself from the temptation of breaking her rule he went away by himself and stayed the first night. The next afternoon he came back and began wondering to himself. “If I sleep here,” thought he, “I might, indeed, be tempted to look.” The more he pondered, the more he weakened. At last, he decided to take a little look. He peeped inside the wigwam and saw a very nice-looking young girl seated there. Then, gaining control of himself, he hurried away and camped again that night alone. The third day he came back again to look at his wife. When he came near the camp, he went to the water-hole.28There he saw a woman’s track going away from the water-hole. Thought he to himself, “Alas! my wife has gone.” He walked up to the wigwam, looked in, and found that the woman had actually gone.29

He now decided to follow her. He went to the woods, cut a piece of cedar, and made himself a bow and a lot of arrows. The next day he started—this was two days after the woman had left. Then he walked very fast, starting early in the morning. Soon he came to a small lake lying still and frozen. When he reached the edge of the ice, he shot an arrow across, then he sped so fast that he reached the other side of the lake before the arrow got there. Before noon-time he came to where a camp was located, and going up to it, beheld an old woman cooking there. “Oh, my grandchild,” said she, “don’t stand there looking in the door. Come in and eat.” So he went in. Then he asked her whether she had seen a woman pass there. She answered, “Yesterday, about noon.” And the old woman gave him a mess of corn and said, “My dear grandchild, it is very hard[59]where you are going. Many people have tried to go where your road leads; but they have never gotten there, for many creatures are seeking their lives. But I will help you.” Then she gave him a leg-bone of a lynx. “When you are in trouble, you may need this,” she told him. Then he started on, following the tracks of his woman. Every time he came to a lake, he shot an arrow across and sped before it as he had done at first. He was fast indeed.

Soon he came to another wigwam and peeped into this as he had done into the first. An old woman who was cooking inside spoke to him, as had the first, and invited him to come in and eat. Then he asked her when she had seen the woman pass by. “A little after noon time,” she replied. Now, by this, he knew that he had not gained very much. As before, he ate a little snack of corn and the old woman said to him, “Where you are going will be a very hard trip for you. Many people try it, but never succeed. They die.” And she, too, gave him a lynx bone and told him, as the other had done, that it would help him in time of need on his journey; and he started on again, doing the same at every lake, until it began to grow late in the day. He had been going so fast that he felt very tired.

By and by he came to another camp and peeped in, as before, asked the same question, and was received in the same way. After he had eaten here, the old woman gave him a squirrel’s tail to help him overcome the dangers which she warned him against. Said she, “From now on you won’t see any more camps. Walk very fast now. Soon you will see a big tree with a square trunk, which will reach very far up into the sky. Now you won’t see any trail, but look carefully around. That is where your wife climbed up. There are, indeed, steps cut into the trunk, but you will not be able to see them. To you it will look smooth.”

So he proceeded on his way and soon came to the place she had spoken about. There was the big tree, but no tracks were in sight. Around the base he saw lots of bones, bones of people who had tried to climb but had fallen down and died. He was bewildered. Then suddenly he recollected the bones the old women had given him. Taking one in each hand, like a pick, he began climbing up the great tree. At last he ascended so[60]high that the bones began to wear away. When they were so short that he could hardly use them, he looked down. He had gone so high that he could neither see the world beneath nor the end of the tree in the sky above. Now his bones were too short to help him, but he had his bow on his back. He could hardly hold on any longer, so he cried and yelled for help, but nobody could hear him. Soon he heard a spirit nearby which murmured to him, “Close your eyes and look through the tree. You will see steps to climb on.” Then he did as the voice said and perceived steps. He placed his feet in them and started running up. But now he made another mistake, he did not keep his eyes closed. When he looked, lo! he found himself back to where he had begun to climb the steps, holding on with his worn-out bones. Then he bethought himself of the squirrel’s tail, and at the same moment found himself transformed into a squirrel. He found that he could run up the great tree by tapping his tail on the trunk at each step. At last he came to a hole in the sky, in the middle of which the great tree protruded. A wide space, however, surrounded the tree, separating it from the edge of the sky. It would be necessary for him to jump across from the trunk to this edge. He made a great effort and sprang for the edge, but he just managed to catch on at the line of his waist; his upper parts, which reached above the edge, at once became human; his lower parts, extending below the edge, remained in the form of the squirrel.

Then he beheld his wife coming across the surface of this upper world toward him. Said she, “You should not have come here, because, after all your trouble, you will die anyway.” She took hold of him and made shift to raise him. Then she pulled him out after teasing him a little while. “Now,” she said to him, “we always play ball up here. There are men here whom you will meet. They are your brothers-in-law. They will want you to play ball. If they beat you in the game, they will kill you; but if you beat them, you will survive.”

Then she led him away to a village, where they saw a lot of great White Bears. This was the great White Bear’s home and his family. Now the old Bear arranged a contest for the stranger. Said he, “You take this ball and go around the edge of this world, running. One of these Bears will race with you,[61]to see who gets back here first.” So they started. The Bear took the ball in his mouth and, as soon as he started running, the man jumped upon his back and shook his ears, which made the Bear drop the ball. Then he threw the ball ahead. In this way, repeating the trick, they went around the world, and the man succeeded in getting back first. When he reached the starting point, the Bears said, “You seem to be a pretty good man; but there are still more tricks for you to perform. If you win, you can stay.”

And they all went out together and came to a big rock. One of the White Bears tried to move this rock, and with a great effort he succeeded in moving it a little. “Now, you try,” said they, “and if you can’t move it, you are a dead man.” Then the man took his bow and arrow and shot it at the rock. The rock immediately broke into fragments. “Indeed, you are a great man, our brother-in-law, and can stay here and hunt and live with us,” said the old White Bear. Then the old Bear told him, after a while, that he had better go and hunt, or he would grow lonesome in his new life. By this time they had grown to like him very much.

One afternoon, late, he started off to hunt. Everything that he met seemed strange to him in this new world. Soon he came to a lake with a little ice on it, and when he walked out he beheld tracks of some animal. Soon he came to a place where a big wooden mallet lay on the ice. He thought to himself that somebody had lost this mallet. Then he took it by the handle and hammered on the ice. Immediately the hammer fell through. Up from the hole in the ice a red otter emerged. He killed the red otter. Then he went on with the hammer to another place. There he tried again, and this time got a blue otter. He tried again at another place and got a black otter, which was like the otters of this world. So, taking his load of otters, he went home to display what he thought was a pretty good hunt. He carried his game in a bag of leather. When he got to his wigwam, he shoved his bag in the entrance ahead of him, so that his wife could open it and see what he had brought.30Thought she to herself, when she saw the game-bag,[62]“I wonder if he will show himself to be a good hunter.” She saw some blood on the bag. Opening it, she beheld the otters, Now the man had made a mistake, for these were tame otters and belonged to the Bears. She went out crying to her people, “This man has killed our otters!” When the old White Bear heard about the news, he said to his family, “We should have told this man about our otters, because he didn’t know. On this account it is all right.” He said no more, because he was afraid of the magic possessed by his new son-in-law.

(10)Ayas·e and the Origin of Bats.The Ayas·e family was a large family. They lived in a camp. Very often they used to go picking berries, for their country was a rocky country where berries abounded. Very often some of the berry-pickers would get lost and never be found again. It was thought that some creature made a prey of them and ate them.One time one of the Ayas·e men was travelling. On his way he came across a kind of cabin of rock, from the top of which smoke was rising and in front of which a number of human skulls hung in the opening. Now this Ayas·e managed to enter. By being very careful and not touching the skulls, he gained the inside of the rock house without making any noise. These skulls were put there to rattle when anybody tried to pass. When Ayas·e got inside, he beheld two old blind women. As soon as they became aware of his presence, one of them said, “We had better begin to cook something and we will find out if Ayas·e is passing here.” Now these old women had some grease in a bark dish and one of them put some of the grease in a cooking pail. When she did this, Ayas·e pulled it out with his hand and ate it. Then she took the spoon to taste her grease, but found it gone. So she put another lump in the dish. Ayas·e took this, and when she started to dip it up, it, too, was gone. This happened three or four times. At last the old woman said, “Ayas·e must have passed; somebody told us that Ayas·e was going to pass. He must have passed now.” Then she took a stick which she used to poke the fire with and began feeling all around, poking in the corners of the[63]wigwam to find if Ayas·e were there. Every time she came near poking him, he moved to another part of the wigwam, so she could not reach him. Pretty soon she touched him with the poker and then he took off his coat of fisher-skin which he was wearing and threw in into the door-way. The old women jumped up and when they felt the fur coat they thought it was Ayas·e trying to escape through the door. Now these old women had a sharp pointed bone at each elbow. With this pointed bone they began stabbing the fur coat in their haste to kill Ayas·e, and pretty soon in their blind fury they fell to stabbing each other, each one thinking she was stabbing Ayas·e. They killed each other. One of the old women said before she died, “I believe you hit me by mistake.” It was too late; they both died.Now Ayas·e in the wigwam sat down and looked at them a long time. Then he dragged them outside and looked at them a long time. All around the wigwam he saw the men’s and women’s bones, the bones of the victims of these two old blind women. Then he knew that all of his lost people had been killed by the old women and eaten. They were cannibals in the shape of monster bats, large enough to kill and eat people. Then Ayas·e took their bodies and cut them up into small pieces. These he threw into the air and they sailed off, transformed into small bats as we see them to-day. I did not see any more.

(10)Ayas·e and the Origin of Bats.

The Ayas·e family was a large family. They lived in a camp. Very often they used to go picking berries, for their country was a rocky country where berries abounded. Very often some of the berry-pickers would get lost and never be found again. It was thought that some creature made a prey of them and ate them.One time one of the Ayas·e men was travelling. On his way he came across a kind of cabin of rock, from the top of which smoke was rising and in front of which a number of human skulls hung in the opening. Now this Ayas·e managed to enter. By being very careful and not touching the skulls, he gained the inside of the rock house without making any noise. These skulls were put there to rattle when anybody tried to pass. When Ayas·e got inside, he beheld two old blind women. As soon as they became aware of his presence, one of them said, “We had better begin to cook something and we will find out if Ayas·e is passing here.” Now these old women had some grease in a bark dish and one of them put some of the grease in a cooking pail. When she did this, Ayas·e pulled it out with his hand and ate it. Then she took the spoon to taste her grease, but found it gone. So she put another lump in the dish. Ayas·e took this, and when she started to dip it up, it, too, was gone. This happened three or four times. At last the old woman said, “Ayas·e must have passed; somebody told us that Ayas·e was going to pass. He must have passed now.” Then she took a stick which she used to poke the fire with and began feeling all around, poking in the corners of the[63]wigwam to find if Ayas·e were there. Every time she came near poking him, he moved to another part of the wigwam, so she could not reach him. Pretty soon she touched him with the poker and then he took off his coat of fisher-skin which he was wearing and threw in into the door-way. The old women jumped up and when they felt the fur coat they thought it was Ayas·e trying to escape through the door. Now these old women had a sharp pointed bone at each elbow. With this pointed bone they began stabbing the fur coat in their haste to kill Ayas·e, and pretty soon in their blind fury they fell to stabbing each other, each one thinking she was stabbing Ayas·e. They killed each other. One of the old women said before she died, “I believe you hit me by mistake.” It was too late; they both died.Now Ayas·e in the wigwam sat down and looked at them a long time. Then he dragged them outside and looked at them a long time. All around the wigwam he saw the men’s and women’s bones, the bones of the victims of these two old blind women. Then he knew that all of his lost people had been killed by the old women and eaten. They were cannibals in the shape of monster bats, large enough to kill and eat people. Then Ayas·e took their bodies and cut them up into small pieces. These he threw into the air and they sailed off, transformed into small bats as we see them to-day. I did not see any more.

The Ayas·e family was a large family. They lived in a camp. Very often they used to go picking berries, for their country was a rocky country where berries abounded. Very often some of the berry-pickers would get lost and never be found again. It was thought that some creature made a prey of them and ate them.

One time one of the Ayas·e men was travelling. On his way he came across a kind of cabin of rock, from the top of which smoke was rising and in front of which a number of human skulls hung in the opening. Now this Ayas·e managed to enter. By being very careful and not touching the skulls, he gained the inside of the rock house without making any noise. These skulls were put there to rattle when anybody tried to pass. When Ayas·e got inside, he beheld two old blind women. As soon as they became aware of his presence, one of them said, “We had better begin to cook something and we will find out if Ayas·e is passing here.” Now these old women had some grease in a bark dish and one of them put some of the grease in a cooking pail. When she did this, Ayas·e pulled it out with his hand and ate it. Then she took the spoon to taste her grease, but found it gone. So she put another lump in the dish. Ayas·e took this, and when she started to dip it up, it, too, was gone. This happened three or four times. At last the old woman said, “Ayas·e must have passed; somebody told us that Ayas·e was going to pass. He must have passed now.” Then she took a stick which she used to poke the fire with and began feeling all around, poking in the corners of the[63]wigwam to find if Ayas·e were there. Every time she came near poking him, he moved to another part of the wigwam, so she could not reach him. Pretty soon she touched him with the poker and then he took off his coat of fisher-skin which he was wearing and threw in into the door-way. The old women jumped up and when they felt the fur coat they thought it was Ayas·e trying to escape through the door. Now these old women had a sharp pointed bone at each elbow. With this pointed bone they began stabbing the fur coat in their haste to kill Ayas·e, and pretty soon in their blind fury they fell to stabbing each other, each one thinking she was stabbing Ayas·e. They killed each other. One of the old women said before she died, “I believe you hit me by mistake.” It was too late; they both died.

Now Ayas·e in the wigwam sat down and looked at them a long time. Then he dragged them outside and looked at them a long time. All around the wigwam he saw the men’s and women’s bones, the bones of the victims of these two old blind women. Then he knew that all of his lost people had been killed by the old women and eaten. They were cannibals in the shape of monster bats, large enough to kill and eat people. Then Ayas·e took their bodies and cut them up into small pieces. These he threw into the air and they sailed off, transformed into small bats as we see them to-day. I did not see any more.

(11)Origin of the Constellation Fisher (Ursa Major).31The Fisher (mustela pennanti) was living somewhere in this world. Nobody knows where. Now in those times they had no summer. It was winter, winter all the time. They knew that summer existed somewhere, but it never came to them, although they wanted it very much.Now, once upon a time a man captured some little birds which are calledni·bənis·e“summer (guardian) birds.” He tied them in bundles and kept them with him all the time. That was the reason why it was continually winter, for so long as he held these birds, they could not bring summer to the[64]North Country. The people pondered very much how to go about freeing these birds from the creature who kept them. At last somebody discovered where this creature lived, and they decided that some one would go and try to free the Summer-birds. Now the Fresh-water Herring lived in the same wigwam with the man who kept the Summer-birds.The Fisher at last decided to go and free the birds, so that summer would come. He travelled a long while and reached the wigwam where the captor and the Herring lived. When he went in, he found the Herring alone. He captured the Herring and put some pitch on his mouth, so that he could not cry out. Then Fisher took the bundles of birds and tried to break the bindings, so that he could free them. Using his teeth at last he tore open the bundles and the Summer-birds flew free into the air. Then the pitch broke from the Herring’s mouth and he cried out, “Fisher breaks the bundle! The Summer-birds! Fisher breaks the bundles with his teeth! The Summer-birds!” Two or three times he cried out, until their captor heard him. Then he came up running, but when he arrived, the Fisher and the Summer-birds were already far away.The Fisher ran very fast to save himself. His pursuer had a bow and arrow with which he was going to kill him, but the Fisher sprang into the sky and climbed way up, with the hunter following behind him, still trying to shoot him with his bow and arrow. All he succeeded in shooting, however, was his tail, which is broken where it was wounded.32Although they chased him continually, they never got him.

(11)Origin of the Constellation Fisher (Ursa Major).31

The Fisher (mustela pennanti) was living somewhere in this world. Nobody knows where. Now in those times they had no summer. It was winter, winter all the time. They knew that summer existed somewhere, but it never came to them, although they wanted it very much.Now, once upon a time a man captured some little birds which are calledni·bənis·e“summer (guardian) birds.” He tied them in bundles and kept them with him all the time. That was the reason why it was continually winter, for so long as he held these birds, they could not bring summer to the[64]North Country. The people pondered very much how to go about freeing these birds from the creature who kept them. At last somebody discovered where this creature lived, and they decided that some one would go and try to free the Summer-birds. Now the Fresh-water Herring lived in the same wigwam with the man who kept the Summer-birds.The Fisher at last decided to go and free the birds, so that summer would come. He travelled a long while and reached the wigwam where the captor and the Herring lived. When he went in, he found the Herring alone. He captured the Herring and put some pitch on his mouth, so that he could not cry out. Then Fisher took the bundles of birds and tried to break the bindings, so that he could free them. Using his teeth at last he tore open the bundles and the Summer-birds flew free into the air. Then the pitch broke from the Herring’s mouth and he cried out, “Fisher breaks the bundle! The Summer-birds! Fisher breaks the bundles with his teeth! The Summer-birds!” Two or three times he cried out, until their captor heard him. Then he came up running, but when he arrived, the Fisher and the Summer-birds were already far away.The Fisher ran very fast to save himself. His pursuer had a bow and arrow with which he was going to kill him, but the Fisher sprang into the sky and climbed way up, with the hunter following behind him, still trying to shoot him with his bow and arrow. All he succeeded in shooting, however, was his tail, which is broken where it was wounded.32Although they chased him continually, they never got him.

The Fisher (mustela pennanti) was living somewhere in this world. Nobody knows where. Now in those times they had no summer. It was winter, winter all the time. They knew that summer existed somewhere, but it never came to them, although they wanted it very much.

Now, once upon a time a man captured some little birds which are calledni·bənis·e“summer (guardian) birds.” He tied them in bundles and kept them with him all the time. That was the reason why it was continually winter, for so long as he held these birds, they could not bring summer to the[64]North Country. The people pondered very much how to go about freeing these birds from the creature who kept them. At last somebody discovered where this creature lived, and they decided that some one would go and try to free the Summer-birds. Now the Fresh-water Herring lived in the same wigwam with the man who kept the Summer-birds.

The Fisher at last decided to go and free the birds, so that summer would come. He travelled a long while and reached the wigwam where the captor and the Herring lived. When he went in, he found the Herring alone. He captured the Herring and put some pitch on his mouth, so that he could not cry out. Then Fisher took the bundles of birds and tried to break the bindings, so that he could free them. Using his teeth at last he tore open the bundles and the Summer-birds flew free into the air. Then the pitch broke from the Herring’s mouth and he cried out, “Fisher breaks the bundle! The Summer-birds! Fisher breaks the bundles with his teeth! The Summer-birds!” Two or three times he cried out, until their captor heard him. Then he came up running, but when he arrived, the Fisher and the Summer-birds were already far away.

The Fisher ran very fast to save himself. His pursuer had a bow and arrow with which he was going to kill him, but the Fisher sprang into the sky and climbed way up, with the hunter following behind him, still trying to shoot him with his bow and arrow. All he succeeded in shooting, however, was his tail, which is broken where it was wounded.32Although they chased him continually, they never got him.

(12)The Young Loon.Once in the autumn of the year, when the birds were ready to fly to the south for the winter, a young Loon was unable to fly far enough to go with the rest of the birds. So he said to his mother, “I cannot go back south with you, as I am not strong enough. But I will stay here all winter in this place, and in the spring, when you come back, I will meet you here at this very spot. When you come back and find me here, it will be on a misty morning.” So they all flew away to the south, and[65]the young Loon was left behind for the winter. The mother was very sad because she had to leave him and because he was not strong enough to go with them.In the spring time, when the ice is breaking up in the lake, and it becomes misty, the Indians say, “The Loon is coming back from her winter sojourn in the South.”

(12)The Young Loon.

Once in the autumn of the year, when the birds were ready to fly to the south for the winter, a young Loon was unable to fly far enough to go with the rest of the birds. So he said to his mother, “I cannot go back south with you, as I am not strong enough. But I will stay here all winter in this place, and in the spring, when you come back, I will meet you here at this very spot. When you come back and find me here, it will be on a misty morning.” So they all flew away to the south, and[65]the young Loon was left behind for the winter. The mother was very sad because she had to leave him and because he was not strong enough to go with them.In the spring time, when the ice is breaking up in the lake, and it becomes misty, the Indians say, “The Loon is coming back from her winter sojourn in the South.”

Once in the autumn of the year, when the birds were ready to fly to the south for the winter, a young Loon was unable to fly far enough to go with the rest of the birds. So he said to his mother, “I cannot go back south with you, as I am not strong enough. But I will stay here all winter in this place, and in the spring, when you come back, I will meet you here at this very spot. When you come back and find me here, it will be on a misty morning.” So they all flew away to the south, and[65]the young Loon was left behind for the winter. The mother was very sad because she had to leave him and because he was not strong enough to go with them.

In the spring time, when the ice is breaking up in the lake, and it becomes misty, the Indians say, “The Loon is coming back from her winter sojourn in the South.”

(13)The Giant Pike.At that time there were two people living who got married and had some daughters and sons. These grew up and married. One of the sons married and had children, two sons. The grandfather of these died. Then the father and mother died, and left the children with only their grandmother to look after them. At this time they were big enough to shoot bows and arrows and to go in a canoe with their grandmother to set the night lines33for fish. They lived only by fishing, because the grandmother was too old to do anything else.So these two boys used to play around, shooting bows and arrows for fun, just as the Ojibwa boys do now. They used to play near a lake. Then their grandmother would say to them, “Don’t swim in that lake. There is a big pike in there and he might swallow you.” The older boy believed his grandmother, but the younger did not. So one day, while they were playing, the younger boy by mistake shot his arrow out in the lake. He could see it floating on the surface, so he took off his clothes to swim to it. But his brother said, “You know what grandmother told you. The big pike might swallow you.” But the boy started to swim nevertheless, saying, “Koga′miko” (“swallowed in the water”) with each stroke that his arms took. When he called this out, the big pike came and swallowed him.Figure 1. Night set-line.Figure 1.Night set-line.His brother began crying and ran back to his grandmother in the wigwam, saying, “My little brother iskoga′miko, ‘swallowed in the water’.” Then his grandmother began crying and the two were crying together. Soon after this they again[66]set their night lines. When they looked toward the lake, three days later, they saw the float sticks together and the boy said, “We have a fish.” But the grandmother cried and would not look toward the lake where her grandson had died. But soon she went along in the canoe, crying, and pulled in the line. At the end was a very large fish, and they could see that his stomach was full of something. He was so large that they could scarcely pull him into the canoe. However, they managed to get him in and then they paddled to the shore and dragged the fish to a place where they could conveniently clean it. They cut his belly, which was distended, and out jumped the younger brother. “I’m scalded with the intestines! (Nin­babe′nəs,)”34he cried. “I’m scalded. I’ve been here three[67]days.” He was already beginning to be digested. The grandmother was very glad to get her grandson back again. That is the end.

(13)The Giant Pike.

At that time there were two people living who got married and had some daughters and sons. These grew up and married. One of the sons married and had children, two sons. The grandfather of these died. Then the father and mother died, and left the children with only their grandmother to look after them. At this time they were big enough to shoot bows and arrows and to go in a canoe with their grandmother to set the night lines33for fish. They lived only by fishing, because the grandmother was too old to do anything else.So these two boys used to play around, shooting bows and arrows for fun, just as the Ojibwa boys do now. They used to play near a lake. Then their grandmother would say to them, “Don’t swim in that lake. There is a big pike in there and he might swallow you.” The older boy believed his grandmother, but the younger did not. So one day, while they were playing, the younger boy by mistake shot his arrow out in the lake. He could see it floating on the surface, so he took off his clothes to swim to it. But his brother said, “You know what grandmother told you. The big pike might swallow you.” But the boy started to swim nevertheless, saying, “Koga′miko” (“swallowed in the water”) with each stroke that his arms took. When he called this out, the big pike came and swallowed him.Figure 1. Night set-line.Figure 1.Night set-line.His brother began crying and ran back to his grandmother in the wigwam, saying, “My little brother iskoga′miko, ‘swallowed in the water’.” Then his grandmother began crying and the two were crying together. Soon after this they again[66]set their night lines. When they looked toward the lake, three days later, they saw the float sticks together and the boy said, “We have a fish.” But the grandmother cried and would not look toward the lake where her grandson had died. But soon she went along in the canoe, crying, and pulled in the line. At the end was a very large fish, and they could see that his stomach was full of something. He was so large that they could scarcely pull him into the canoe. However, they managed to get him in and then they paddled to the shore and dragged the fish to a place where they could conveniently clean it. They cut his belly, which was distended, and out jumped the younger brother. “I’m scalded with the intestines! (Nin­babe′nəs,)”34he cried. “I’m scalded. I’ve been here three[67]days.” He was already beginning to be digested. The grandmother was very glad to get her grandson back again. That is the end.

At that time there were two people living who got married and had some daughters and sons. These grew up and married. One of the sons married and had children, two sons. The grandfather of these died. Then the father and mother died, and left the children with only their grandmother to look after them. At this time they were big enough to shoot bows and arrows and to go in a canoe with their grandmother to set the night lines33for fish. They lived only by fishing, because the grandmother was too old to do anything else.

So these two boys used to play around, shooting bows and arrows for fun, just as the Ojibwa boys do now. They used to play near a lake. Then their grandmother would say to them, “Don’t swim in that lake. There is a big pike in there and he might swallow you.” The older boy believed his grandmother, but the younger did not. So one day, while they were playing, the younger boy by mistake shot his arrow out in the lake. He could see it floating on the surface, so he took off his clothes to swim to it. But his brother said, “You know what grandmother told you. The big pike might swallow you.” But the boy started to swim nevertheless, saying, “Koga′miko” (“swallowed in the water”) with each stroke that his arms took. When he called this out, the big pike came and swallowed him.

Figure 1. Night set-line.Figure 1.Night set-line.

Figure 1.Night set-line.

His brother began crying and ran back to his grandmother in the wigwam, saying, “My little brother iskoga′miko, ‘swallowed in the water’.” Then his grandmother began crying and the two were crying together. Soon after this they again[66]set their night lines. When they looked toward the lake, three days later, they saw the float sticks together and the boy said, “We have a fish.” But the grandmother cried and would not look toward the lake where her grandson had died. But soon she went along in the canoe, crying, and pulled in the line. At the end was a very large fish, and they could see that his stomach was full of something. He was so large that they could scarcely pull him into the canoe. However, they managed to get him in and then they paddled to the shore and dragged the fish to a place where they could conveniently clean it. They cut his belly, which was distended, and out jumped the younger brother. “I’m scalded with the intestines! (Nin­babe′nəs,)”34he cried. “I’m scalded. I’ve been here three[67]days.” He was already beginning to be digested. The grandmother was very glad to get her grandson back again. That is the end.

(14)Lynx and His Two Wives.There was a time when Lynx had two wives, the one a Rabbit and the other a Marten. The three lived in a wigwam. At this time Lynx drove beaver during the winter time.35Rabbit was a very good hunter. But Lynx this winter had very poor luck and they became very hungry. Lynx beat his wives because they couldn’t find the beaver. He said to them, “If you don’t get some beaver for me, I’ll eat both of you.” At this they became very much frightened. So Rabbit went to a beaver place, and putting a stick in the hole, she felt a beaver in it. Then Rabbit went home and told Marten, and they both were glad to get a beaver and save their lives. Then they both went back to the hole. While Rabbit was pulling the beaver out of the hole and had hold of his hind quarters, Lynx came along and tickled Rabbit, so that she let go and the beaver escaped. Lynx was bent on mischief. He said, “If you don’t get some beaver, I’ll kill you tonight.”Rabbit and Marten went home and burrowed a tunnel in the snow, inside the wigwam. Then they both went into a hole to hide and closed the hole behind them. When Lynx reached home, he was unable to find his wives, but he knew they were somewhere near. So he began to pull uptestes suos in seand then he began dancing.36He said to himself, “When they hear this funny thing, they will laugh.” Pretty soon Marten laughed, and Lynx, digging her out of the hole, killed and ate her. Soon he grew hungry and tried the same trick. But Rabbit was very much afraid and would not laugh. Lynx kept on doing this for some time and finally gave it up. He sat near the fire and cut his belly open, taking out some of his intestines which he roasted and ate. At last, when he had eaten all his intestines, he came to his heart. When he pulled at this, “Huk, huk”! it made a noise. At last he jerked and pulled[68]at it so hard that he died. This is the end. But all the grandchildren of Lynx have testicles as they are to-day.

(14)Lynx and His Two Wives.

There was a time when Lynx had two wives, the one a Rabbit and the other a Marten. The three lived in a wigwam. At this time Lynx drove beaver during the winter time.35Rabbit was a very good hunter. But Lynx this winter had very poor luck and they became very hungry. Lynx beat his wives because they couldn’t find the beaver. He said to them, “If you don’t get some beaver for me, I’ll eat both of you.” At this they became very much frightened. So Rabbit went to a beaver place, and putting a stick in the hole, she felt a beaver in it. Then Rabbit went home and told Marten, and they both were glad to get a beaver and save their lives. Then they both went back to the hole. While Rabbit was pulling the beaver out of the hole and had hold of his hind quarters, Lynx came along and tickled Rabbit, so that she let go and the beaver escaped. Lynx was bent on mischief. He said, “If you don’t get some beaver, I’ll kill you tonight.”Rabbit and Marten went home and burrowed a tunnel in the snow, inside the wigwam. Then they both went into a hole to hide and closed the hole behind them. When Lynx reached home, he was unable to find his wives, but he knew they were somewhere near. So he began to pull uptestes suos in seand then he began dancing.36He said to himself, “When they hear this funny thing, they will laugh.” Pretty soon Marten laughed, and Lynx, digging her out of the hole, killed and ate her. Soon he grew hungry and tried the same trick. But Rabbit was very much afraid and would not laugh. Lynx kept on doing this for some time and finally gave it up. He sat near the fire and cut his belly open, taking out some of his intestines which he roasted and ate. At last, when he had eaten all his intestines, he came to his heart. When he pulled at this, “Huk, huk”! it made a noise. At last he jerked and pulled[68]at it so hard that he died. This is the end. But all the grandchildren of Lynx have testicles as they are to-day.

There was a time when Lynx had two wives, the one a Rabbit and the other a Marten. The three lived in a wigwam. At this time Lynx drove beaver during the winter time.35Rabbit was a very good hunter. But Lynx this winter had very poor luck and they became very hungry. Lynx beat his wives because they couldn’t find the beaver. He said to them, “If you don’t get some beaver for me, I’ll eat both of you.” At this they became very much frightened. So Rabbit went to a beaver place, and putting a stick in the hole, she felt a beaver in it. Then Rabbit went home and told Marten, and they both were glad to get a beaver and save their lives. Then they both went back to the hole. While Rabbit was pulling the beaver out of the hole and had hold of his hind quarters, Lynx came along and tickled Rabbit, so that she let go and the beaver escaped. Lynx was bent on mischief. He said, “If you don’t get some beaver, I’ll kill you tonight.”

Rabbit and Marten went home and burrowed a tunnel in the snow, inside the wigwam. Then they both went into a hole to hide and closed the hole behind them. When Lynx reached home, he was unable to find his wives, but he knew they were somewhere near. So he began to pull uptestes suos in seand then he began dancing.36He said to himself, “When they hear this funny thing, they will laugh.” Pretty soon Marten laughed, and Lynx, digging her out of the hole, killed and ate her. Soon he grew hungry and tried the same trick. But Rabbit was very much afraid and would not laugh. Lynx kept on doing this for some time and finally gave it up. He sat near the fire and cut his belly open, taking out some of his intestines which he roasted and ate. At last, when he had eaten all his intestines, he came to his heart. When he pulled at this, “Huk, huk”! it made a noise. At last he jerked and pulled[68]at it so hard that he died. This is the end. But all the grandchildren of Lynx have testicles as they are to-day.

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