_Ojibwa_
Once when Nenebuc was traveling, he met Big Bear. Now Big Bear ate
people, and he had eaten many Indians. They were all very much
afraid of him. Nenebuc went to Bear and said, “If you eat so many
Indians, they will soon all be gone. I shall make you very small and
harmless.”
Then Nenebuc turned Bear into Squirrel and Squirrel into Bear.
Squirrel did not care at all, because he was fond of eating berries
and roots anyway. He did not care to eat Indians.
But Big Bear felt very badly. He wept so much at being Squirrel that
his eyebrows turned gray, and his eyes are all white and shiny.
Nenebuc said to Bear, “Now what are you going to eat?” and Bear
said, “I shall go right on eating people.” But he was so small, now
that he was Squirrel, he couldn’t eat them at all.
Nenebuc said, “You are too small to eat people. Run up that black
spruce there, and taste the seeds in the cones. Then see whether you
want to eat Indians any more.”
And Squirrel did that. He tasted the sweet seeds in the spruce cones
and was so well pleased he said he really did not want to eat
Indians any more.