Mikchich rejoices very much and this comes betimes. He has need of all
these things. The next day all the men go hunting. He is warned by
Kuloskap: "They will try to kill you." The young men go on ahead and
Mikchich delays and waits. Then, however, he makes a magic flight; he
jumps over their heads. No one sees him and in the strong (thick) woods,
there he kills a moose. He drags it to the snowshoe road; when the
hunters arrive, he is sitting on the moose, smoking and waiting for
them.
Now Kuloskap tells them (ironically): "Someone will come out ahead, all
during the day." Then this happens and all are very angry. They decide
to kill Mikchich and his nephew Kuloskap. When he is ready to leave,
Kuloskap tells him what will happen: "First, they will kindle a great
fire; then they will throw you into it; do you, my uncle, go joyfully;
you shall not suffer, owing to my power. Then they will plan to drown
you; do you beg 'let not this be'. They will arrange it all the more
(earnestly); do you fight them; still it shall be." Then what was said
comes to pass and Mikchich is glad; he takes leave of his nephew.
So they seize him and throw him in, and he rolls over and goes to sleep,
for he is lazy. Then when the fire burns down, he wakes up; he asks for
more wood, because the night is cold. Again they seize him; they plan to
drown him. Then, as if he were fearful, he says: "Do not let this be
done. Is it not better that you leave me alone than that you should
throw me into the waters?" On this account, they resolve to drag him on.
Then he screams; also he fights fiercely; he tears up trees; he rips up
rocks also roots like a madman. They take him in a canoe; they paddle to
the middle of the water. Then they throw him in; they stay watching him
sink down.
Next day at noon they see something beginning to crawl on a great rock,
out yonder as far as the eye can reach. Two young men take a canoe; they
paddle out to discover what this might chance to be. On a great rock
island one foot high, Mikchich lies there sunning himself. He sees them
coming; he knows it is so as to take him; he takes his leave, plunging
into the water. He still lives there. Even now all turtles, when they
see someone, plunge into the water.
* * * * *