Then Kuloskap takes and fetches wampum; he proposes for Mikchich. The
mother consents; she approves of Mikchich. Then the maiden spreads out
new fir boughs; she covers the bed with a great white bear's skin. She
goes to Mikchich and they eat dried meat for supper. So they were
married.
Mikchich was very lazy; when the others went hunting he stays at home.
One day his wife says to him: "Now if you do not do something quickly,
we shall starve to death." Then he puts on his snow-shoes. The woman
follows him as he goes to hunt; she wants to see what he will do. He
does not go far; then he stumbles; he falls down; he hurts himself. His
wife then goes back; she says to her mother: "Mikchich is not worth
anything." Her mother says: "He will do something in time; be patient."
One day Kuloskap says to Mikchich: "To-morrow will be a general big
ball-game; you must take part in it. Because all the young men are
enemies here, they will try to kill you; they will crowd you and trample
you; when they do, it will be near your father-in-law's wigwam. In order
that you may escape them, I will give you magic power, so that you can
jump over it twice, but the third time you will go terribly (it will go
terribly with you), but it must be so."
Everything happened thus; the young men tried to kill him; in order to
evade them, he had to jump over the wigwam as if he were a bird flying,
but the third time he was caught on the wigwam poles. Then he hung there
dangling, smoke-blackened by smoke rising from below.
Then Kuloskap, sitting in the wigwam, says to him: "My uncle, I will
make you a chief, the great chief of the turtles. You can bear up
(carry) great nations." So he smoked Mikchich. Then his skin gets hard.
How he marked him is still visible to this day, and he disembowels him;
one thing only, the greater intestine is left. And he (Mikchich) calls
out to him: "My nephew you are killing me," but his nephew answers him:
"Not so, I am giving you great life. Hereafter you will be able to roll
through flame--you can live on land and in the water. Even if they
behead you, you will still live for nine days. Even your heart shall
beat when taken from your body that long."
* * * * *