boy-man turned his dish upside down, and immediately the door was closed
with a stone; upon which the four brothers set to work and hammered with
their clubs with great fury, until at length they succeeded in making a
slight opening. One of the brothers presented his face at this little
window, and rolled his eye about at the boy-man in a very threatening
way.
The little spirit, who, when he had closed the door, had returned to his
meal, which he was quietly eating, took up his bow and arrow which lay
by his side, and let fly the shaft, which, striking the man in the head,
he fell back. The boy-man merely called out "Number one" as he fell, and
went on with his meal.
In a moment a second face, just like the first, presented itself; and
as he raised his bow, his sister said to him:
"What is the use? You have killed that man already."
Little spirit fired his arrow--the man fell--he called out "Number two,"
and continued his meal.
The two others of the four brothers were dispatched in the same quiet
way, and counted off as "Number three" and "Number four."
After they were all well disposed of in this way, the boy-man directed
his sister to go out and see them. She presently ran back, saying:
"There are four of them."
"Of course," the boy-man answered, "and there always shall be four of
them."
Going out himself, the boy-man raised the brothers to their feet, and
giving each a push, one with his face to the East, another to the West,
a third to the South, and the last to the North, he sent them off to
wander about the earth; and whenever you see four men just alike, they
are the four brothers whom the little spirit or boy-man dispatched upon
their travels.
But this was not the last display of the boy-man's power.
When spring came on, and the lake began to sparkle in the morning sun,
the boy-man said to his sister:
"Make me a new set of arrows, and a bow."
Although he provided for their support, the little spirit never
performed household or hard work of any kind, and his sister obeyed.
When she had made the weapons, which, though they were very small, were
beautifully wrought and of the best stuff the field and wood could
furnish, she again cautioned him not to shoot into the lake.
"She thinks," said the boy-man to himself, "I can see no further into
the water than she. My sister shall learn better."
Regardless of her warnings, he on purpose discharged a shaft into the
lake, waded out into the water till he got into its depth, and paddled
about for his arrow, so as to call the attention of his sister, and as
if to show that he hardily braved her advice.
She hurried to the shore, calling on him to return; but instead of
heeding her, he cried out:
"You of the red fins, come and swallow me!"
Although his sister did not clearly understand whom her brother was
addressing, she too called out:
"Don't mind the foolish boy!"
The boy-man's order seemed to be best attended to, for immediately a
monstrous fish came and swallowed him. Before disappearing entirely,
catching a glimpse of his sister standing in despair upon the shore, the
boy-man hallooed out to her:
"Me-zush-ke-zin-ance!"
She wondered what he meant. At last it occurred to her that it must be
an old moccasin. She accordingly ran to the lodge, and bringing one, she
tied it to a string attached to a tree, and cast it into the water.
The great fish said to the boy-man under water.
"What is that floating?"
To which the boy-man replied:
"Go, take hold of it, swallow it as fast as you can; it is a great
delicacy."
The fish darted toward the old shoe and swallowed it, making of it a
mere mouthful.
The boy-man laughed in himself, but said nothing, till the fish was
fairly caught, when he took hold of the line and began to pull himself
in his fish-carriage ashore.
The sister, who was watching all this time, opened wide her eyes as the
huge fish came up and up upon the shore; and she opened them still more
when the fish seemed to speak, and she heard from within a voice,
saying, "Make haste and release me from this nasty place."
It was her brother's voice, which she was accustomed to obey; and she
made haste with her knife to open a door in the side of the fish, from
which the boy-man presently leaped forth. He lost no time in ordering
her to cut it up and dry it; telling her that their spring supply of
meat was now provided.
The sister now began to believe that her brother was an extraordinary
boy; yet she was not altogether satisfied in her mind that he was
greater than the rest of the world.
They sat, one evening, in the lodge, musing with each other in the dark,
by the light of each other's eyes--for they had no other of any
kind--when the sister said, "My brother, it is strange that you, who can
do so much, are no wiser than the Ko-ko, who gets all his light from the
moon; which shines or not, as it pleases."
"And is not that light enough?" asked the little spirit.
"Quite enough," the sister replied. "If it would but come within the
lodge and not sojourn out in the tree-tops and among the clouds."
"We will have a light of our own, sister," said the boy-man; and,
casting himself upon a mat by the door, he commenced singing:
Fire-fly, fire-fly, bright little thing,
Light me to bed and my song I will sing;
Give me your light, as you fly o'er my head,
That I may merrily go to my bed.
Give me your light o'er the grass as you creep,
That I may joyfully go to my sleep;
Come, little fire-fly, come little beast,
Come! and I'll make you to-morrow a feast.
Come, little candle, that flies as I sing,
Bright little fairy-bug, night's little king;
Come and I'll dream as you guide me along;
Come and I'll pay you, my bug, with a song.
As the boy-man chanted this call, they came in at first one by one, then
in couples, till at last, swarming in little armies, the fire-flies lit
up the little lodge with a thousand sparkling lamps, just as the stars
were lighting the mighty hollow of the sky without.
The faces of the sister and brother shone upon each other, from their
opposite sides of the lodge, with a kindly gleam of mutual trustfulness;
and never more from that hour did a doubt of each other darken their
little household.
XVI.
THE ENCHANTED MOCCASINS.
A long, long time ago, a little boy was living with his sister entirely
alone in an uninhabited country, far out in the north-west. He was
called the Boy that carries the Ball on his Back, from an idea that he
possessed supernatural powers. This boy was in the habit of meditating
alone, and asking within himself, whether there were other beings
similar to themselves on the earth.
When he grew up to manhood, he inquired of his sister whether she knew
of any human beings beside themselves. She replied that she did; and
that there was, at a great distance, a large village.
As soon as he heard this, he said to his sister, "I am now a young man
and very much in want of a companion;" and he asked his sister to make
him several pairs of moccasins.
She complied with his request; and as soon as he received the moccasins,
he took up his war-club and set out in quest of the distant village.
He traveled on till he came to a small wigwam, and on looking into it he
discovered a very old woman sitting alone by the fire. As soon as she
saw the stranger, she invited him in, and thus addressed him:
"My poor grandchild, I suppose you are one of those who seek for the
distant village, from which no person has ever yet returned. Unless your
guardian is more powerful than the guardians of those who have gone
before you, you will share a similar fate to theirs. Be careful to
provide yourself with the invisible bones they use in the
medicine-dance, for without these you can not succeed."
After she had thus spoken, she gave him the following directions for his
journey:
"When you come near to the village which you seek, you will see in the
center a large lodge, in which the chief of the village, who has two
daughters, resides. Before the door there is a great tree, which is
smooth and without bark. On this tree, about the height of a man from
the ground, is hung a small lodge, in which these two false daughters
dwell. It is here that so many have been destroyed, and among them your
two elder brothers. Be wise, my grandchild, and abide strictly by my
directions."
The old woman then gave to the young man the bones which were to secure
his success; and she informed him with great care how he was to
proceed.
Placing them in his bosom, Onwee Bahmondang, or the Wearer of the Ball,
continued his journey, and kept eagerly on until he arrived at the
village of which he was in search; and as he was gazing around him, he
saw both the tree and the lodge which the old woman had mentioned.
He at once bent his steps for the tree, and approaching, he endeavored
to reach the suspended lodge. But all his efforts were in vain; for as
often as he attempted to reach it, the tree began to tremble, and it
soon shot up so that the lodge could hardly be perceived.
He bethought him of his guardian, and invoking his aid, and changing
himself into a squirrel, he mounted nimbly up again, in the hope that
the lodge would not now escape him. Away shot the lodge, climb as
briskly as he might.
Panting, and out of breath, he remembered the instructions of the old
woman, and drawing from his bosom one of the bones, he thrust it into
the trunk of the tree, and rested himself to be ready to start again.
As often as he wearied of climbing, for even a squirrel can not climb
forever, he repeated the little ceremony of the bones; but whenever he
came near the lodge and put forth his hand to touch it, the tree would
shoot up as before, and carry the lodge up far beyond his reach.
At length the bones being all gone, and the lodge well-nigh out of
sight, he began to despair, for the earth, too, had long since vanished
entirely from his view.
Summoning his whole heart, he resolved to try once more. On and up he
went, and, as soon as he put forth his hand to touch it, the tree again
shook, and away went the lodge.
One more endeavor, brave Onwee, and in he goes; for having now reached
the arch of heaven, the fly-away lodge could go no higher.
Onwee entered the lodge with a fearless step, and he beheld the two
wicked sisters sitting opposite each other. He asked their names. The
one on his left hand called herself Azhabee, and the one on the right,
Negahnabee.
After talking with them a little while, he discovered that whenever he
addressed the one on his left hand, the tree would tremble as before and
settle down to its former place; but when he addressed the one on his
right hand, it would again shoot upward.
When he thus perceived that by addressing the one on his left hand that
the tree would descend, he continued to do so until it had again settled
down to its place near the earth. Then seizing his war-club, he said to
the sisters:
"You who have caused the death of so many of my brethren I will now put
an end to, and thus have revenge for those you have destroyed."
As he spoke this he raised the club, and with one blow laid the two
wicked women dead at his feet.
Onwee then descended, and learning that these sisters had a brother
living with their father, who had shared all together in the spoils of
all such as the wicked sisters had betrayed, and who would now pursue
him for having put an end to their wicked profits, Onwee set off at
random, not knowing whither he went.
The father coming in the evening to visit the lodge of his daughters,
discovered what had happened. He immediately sent word to his son that
his sisters had been slain, and that there were no more spoils to be
had, which greatly inflamed the young man's temper, especially the
woeful announcement at the close.
"The person who has done this," said the brother, as soon as he had
reached the spot, chafing and half beside himself at the gloomy prospect
of having no more travelers to strip, "must be that boy who carries the
ball on his back. I know his mode of going about his business, and since
he would not allow himself to be killed by my sisters, he shall have the
honor of dying by my hand. I will pursue him and have revenge."
"It is well, my son," replied the father; "the spirit of your life
grant you success. I counsel you to be wary in the pursuit. Bahmondang
is a cunning youth. It is a strong spirit who has put him on to do this
injury to us, and he will try to deceive you in every way. Above all,
avoid tasting food till you succeed; for if you break your fast before
you see his blood, your power will be destroyed."
The son took this fatherly advice all in good part, except that portion
which enjoined upon him to abstain from staying his stomach; but over
that he made a number of wry faces, for the brother of the two wicked
sisters had, among numerous noble gifts, a very noble appetite.
Nevertheless, he took up his weapons and departed in pursuit of Onwee
Bahmondang, at the top of his speed.
Onwee finding that he was closely followed, climbed up into one of the
tallest trees, and shot forth the magic arrows with which he had
provided himself.
Seeing that his pursuer was not turned back by his arrows, Onwee renewed
his flight; and when he found himself hard pressed, and his enemy close
behind him, he transformed himself into the skeleton of a moose that had
been killed, whose flesh had come off from his bones. He then remembered
the moccasins which his sister had given him, and which were enchanted.
Taking a pair of them, he placed them near the skeleton.
"Go," said he to them, "to the end of the earth."
The moccasins then left him, and their tracks remained.
The angry brother at length came to the skeleton of the moose, when he
perceived that the track he had been long pursuing did not stop there,
so he continued to follow it up till he arrived at the end of the earth,
where, for all his trouble, he found only a pair of moccasins.
Vexed that he had been outwitted by following a pair of moccasins
instead of their owner, who was the object of his pursuit, he bitterly
complained, resolving not to give up his revenge, and to be more wary in
scrutinizing signs.
He then called to mind the skeleton he had met with on his way, and
concluded that it must be the object of his search.
He retraced his steps toward the skeleton, but to his surprise it had
disappeared, and the tracks of the wearer of the ball were in another
direction. He now became faint with hunger, and lost heart; but when he
remembered the blood of his sisters, and that he should not be allowed
to enjoy a meal, nor so much as a mouthful, until he had put an end to
Onwee Bahmondang, he plucked up his spirits and determined again to
pursue.
Onwee, finding that he was closely followed, and that the hungry brother
was approaching very fast, changed himself into a very old man, with
two daughters, and living in a large lodge in the center of a beautiful
garden, which was filled with every thing that could delight the eye, or
was pleasant to the taste. He made himself appear so very old as to be
unable to leave his lodge, and to require his daughters to bring him
food and wait on him, as though he had been a mere child. The garden
also had the appearance of old age, with its ancient bushes and hanging
branches and decrepit vines loitering lazily about in the sun.
The brother kept on until he was nearly starved and ready to sink to the
earth. He exclaimed, with a long-drawn and most mournful sigh, "Oh! I
will forget the blood of my sisters, for I am starving. Oh! oh!"
But again he thought of the blood of his sisters, and what a fine
appetite he would have if he should ever be allowed to eat any thing
again, and once more he resolved to pursue, and to be content with
nothing short of the amplest revenge.
He pushed on till he came to the beautiful garden. He advanced toward
the lodge.
As soon as the fairy daughters perceived him they ran and told their
father that a stranger approached.
Their father replied, "Invite him in, my children, invite him in."
They did so promptly, and, by the command of their father, they boiled
some corn, and prepared several other palatable dishes. The savor was
most delicious to the nostrils of the hungry brother, who had not the
least suspicion of the sport that was going on at his expense.
He was faint and weary with travel, and he felt that he could endure
fasting no longer; for his appetite was terribly inflamed by the sight
of the choice food that was steaming before him.
He fell to and partook heartily of the meal; and, by so doing, he was
overcome, and lost his right of revenge. All at once he forgot the blood
of his sisters, and even the village of his nativity, and his father's
lodge, and his whole past life. He ate so keenly, and came and went to
the choice dishes so often, that drowsiness at length overpowered him,
and he soon fell into a profound sleep.
Onwee Bahmondang watched his opportunity, and as soon as he saw that the
false brother's sleep was sound, he resumed his youthful form, and sent
off the two fairy daughters and the old garden; and drawing the
magic-ball from his back, which turned out to be a great war-club, he
fetched the slumbering brother a mighty blow, which sent him away too;
and thus did Onwee Bahmondang vindicate his title as the Wearer of the
Ball.
When Onwee swung around, with the great force and weight of the club
with which he had dispatched the brother of the two wicked women, he
found himself in a large village, surrounded by a great crowd of people.
At the door of a beautiful lodge stood his sister, smiling, and ready to
invite him in. Onwee entered, and hanging up his war-club and the
enchanted moccasins, which he had recovered, he rested from his labors,
and smoked his evening pipe, with the admiration and approval of the
whole world.
With one exception only, Onwee Bahmondang had the hearty praises of all
the people.
Now it happened that there lived in this same village an envious and
boastful fellow, who had been once a chief, but coming home always badly
whipped, he was put out of office, and now spent his time about the
place mainly, in proclaiming certain great things which he had in his
eye, and which he meant to do--one of these days.
This man's name was Ko-ko, the Owl; and hearing much of the wonderful
achievements of the Wearer of the Ball, Ko-ko put on a big look, and
announced that he was going to do something extraordinary himself.
Onwee Bahmondang, he said, had not half done his work, and he, Ko-ko,
meant to go on the ground and finish it up as it should be.
He began by procuring an oak ball, which he thrust down his back, and,
confident in its magical powers, he, too, called himself the Wearer of
the Ball. In fact it was the self-same ball that Onwee had employed,
except that the magic had entirely gone out of it. Coming by night in
the shadow of the lodge, he thrust his arm in at the door, and
stealthily possessed himself of the enchanted moccasins. He would have
taken away Onwee's war-club too, if he could have carried it; but
although he was twice the size and girth of Onwee, he had not the
strength to lift it; so he borrowed a club from an old chief, who was
purblind, and mistook Ko-ko for his brother who was a brave man; and
raising a terrible tumult with his voice, and a great dust with his
heels, Ko-ko set out.
He had traveled all day, when he came to a small wigwam, and on looking
into it, he discovered a very old woman sitting alone by the fire; just
as Onwee had before.
This is the wigwam, said Ko-ko, and this is the old woman.
"What are you looking for?" asked the old woman.
"I want to find the lodge with the wicked young women in it, who slay
travellers and steal their trappings," answered Ko-ko.
"You mean the two young women who lived in the flying lodge?" said the
old woman.
"The same," answered Ko-ko. "I am going to kill them."
With this he gave a great flourish with his borrowed club, and looked
desperate and murderous as he could.
"They were slain yesterday by the Wearer of the Ball," said the old
woman.
Ko-ko looked around for the door in a very owlish way, and heaving a
short hem from his chest, he acknowledged that he had heard something to
that effect down in one of the villages.
"But there's the brother. I'll have a chance at him," said Ko-ko.
"He is dead too," said the old woman.
"Is there nobody then left for me to kill?" cried Ko-ko. "Must I then go
back without any blood upon my hands?"
He made as if he could shed tears over his sad mishap.
"The father is still living; and you will find him in the lodge, if you
have a mind to call on him. He would like to see the Owl," the old woman
added.
"He shall," replied Ko-ko. "Have you any bones about the house; for I
suppose I shall have to climb that tree."
"Oh, yes; plenty," answered the old woman. "You can have as many as you
want."
And she gave him a handful of fish-bones, which Ko-ko, taking them to be
the Invisible Tallies which had helped Onwee Bahmondang in climbing the
magical tree, thrust into his bosom.
"Thank you," said Ko-ko; taking up his club and striding toward the
door.
"Will you not have a little advice," said the old woman. "This is a
dangerous business you are going on."
Ko-ko turned about and laughed to scorn the proposal, and putting forth
his right foot from the lodge first, an observance in which he had great
hopes, he started for the lodge of the wicked father.
Ko-ko ran very fast, as if he feared he should lose the chance of
massacring any member of the wicked family, until he came in sight of
the lodge hanging upon the tree.
He then slackened his pace, and crept forward with a wary eye lest
somebody might chance to be looking out at the door. All was, however,
still up there; and Ko-ko clasped the tree and began to climb.
Away went the lodge, and up went Ko-ko, puffing and panting, after it.
And it was not a great while before the Owl had puffed and panted away
all the wind he had to spare; and yet the lodge kept flying aloft,
higher, higher. What was to be done!
Ko-ko of course bethought him of the bones, for that was just what, as
he knew, had occurred to Onwee Bahmondang under the like circumstances.
He had the bones in his bosom; and now it was necessary for him to be a
squirrel. He immediately called on several guardian spirits whom he knew
of by name, and requested them to convert him into a squirrel. But not
one of all them seemed to pay the slightest attention to his request;
for there he hung, the same heavy-limbed, big-headed, be-clubbed, and
be-blanketed Ko-ko as ever.
He then desired that they would turn him into an opossum; an application
which met with the same luck as the previous one. After this he
petitioned to be a wolf, a gophir, a dog, or a bear--if they would be so
obliging. The guardian spirits were either all deaf, or indifferent to
his wishes, or absent on some other business.
Ko-ko, in spite of all his begging and supplication and beseeching, was
obliged to be still Ko-ko.
"The bones, however," he said, to himself, "are good. I shall get a nice
rest, at any rate, if I am forced to climb as I am."
With this he drew out one of the bones from his bosom, and shouting
aloud, "Ho! ho! who is there?" he thrust it into the trunk of the tree,
and would have indulged himself in a rest; but being no more than a
common fish-bone, without the slightest savor of magic in it, it snapped
with Ko-ko, who came tumbling down, with the door of the lodge which he
had shaken loose, rattling after him.
"Ho! ho! who is there?" cried the wicked father, making his appearance
at the opening and looking down.
"It is I, Onwee Bahmondang!" cried Ko-koor, thinking to frighten the
wicked father.
"Ah! it is you, is it? I will be there presently," called the old man.
"Do not be in haste to go away!"
Ko-ko, observing that the old man was in earnest, scrambled up from the
ground, and set off promptly at his highest rate of speed.
When he looked back and saw that the wicked father was gaining upon him,
Ko-koor mounted a tree, as had Onwee Bahmondang before, and fired off a
number of arrows, but as they were no more than common arrows, he got
nothing by it, but was obliged to descend, and run again for life.
As he hurried on he encountered the skeleton of a moose, into which he
would have transformed himself, but not having the slightest confidence
in any one of all the guardians who should have helped him, he passed
on.
The wicked father was hot in pursuit, and Ko-koor was suffering terribly
for lack of wind, when luckily he remembered the enchanted moccasins. He
could not send them to the end of the earth, as had Onwee Bahmondang.
"I will improve on that dull fellow," said Ko-ko. "I will put them on
myself."
Accordingly, Ko-ko had just time to draw on the moccasins when the
wicked father came in sight.