hub-bub from a distance. When he came in and saw the great holes in
the roof and the side of his house where Owl-man had torn away the
logs, he was very angry and he said to himself, "I will punish both
Owl-man and the girl for this night's work." And he hit upon a plan.
He said to Owl-man, "We must give you a hot bath to melt the gum and
take it from your hair, for it will do you no good, and it will take
all the hair off your head." And Owl-man gladly agreed. So they filled
a great bark tub with water and heated it by placing at the bottom of
it many red-hot stones, after the fashion of Indians in those old
days. But the old man put so many hot stones in the water that it was
soon almost boiling with the heat, and when they put Owl-man into the
tub he was almost scalded to death and he yelled loudly in pain. Then
the old man said, "Now I will take vengeance. You will trouble me no
more. You have broken my house. Henceforth you will be not a man but
an Owl, and you will dwell alone in the forest with few friends, and
you will live always on frogs and toads and field-mice, and people
will hear you at night crying for your wife all over the land, but you
shall never find her." Then with his magic power he changed him to an
Owl and sent him on his way.
He said to the girl, "You have done me much harm too, and you have
brought all this trouble upon me. Henceforth you will be not a girl
but a Fish-Hawk, and you will always cry and fret and scream as you
have done before, and you will never be satisfied." And with his magic
power he changed her into a Fish-Hawk, and sent her out to the ocean.
And there she screams always, and she is a great glutton, for she can
never get enough to eat. And since that time, Owl and Fish-Hawk have
not dwelt together and have not been on friendly terms. They live far
apart, and Owl keeps to the forest and the mountains, while the other
keeps to the sea. Thus was the old man avenged, and thus was the
weeping maiden punished for her tears. And the cries of Owl and
Fish-Hawk are still heard in many places, one calling for his wife,
the other screaming unsatisfied for something she cannot get.
ERMINE AND THE HUNTER
Far away in the Canadian North Country an old man lived with his wife
and children. They lived far from other people, but they were never
lonely, for they had much work to do. The old man was a great hunter,
and in summer he and his wife and children lived on the fish and game
he captured in the winter. In the spring-time he gathered sap from the
maple trees, from which he made maple syrup and maple sugar with which
to sweeten their food. One day in summer he found three small bears
eating his stock of sugar. When he came upon them, his sugar was all
gone, and he was very cross. With a stout club he killed the little
bears and skinned them and dried their meat. But his wife said, "No
good can come of it. You should not have killed the three little
bears, for they were too young for slaughter."
The next day the old Bear came along, looking for his lost children.
When he saw their skins hanging up to dry he knew that they had been
killed by the hunter. He was very sad and angry, and he called to the
hunter, "You have killed my little motherless cubs, and in return for
that wickedness, some night when you are off your guard I will kill
your children, and then I will kill you and your wife, and I will
devour all your food." The old man shot at him with his arrows, but
the arrows did not harm him, for he was Brown Bear of the Stony Heart,
and he could not be killed by man. For many nights and days the old
man tried to trap him, but he met with no success. And each day he saw
his store of food growing smaller, for Bear of the Stony Heart stole
it always in the night. And he thought, "We shall all surely starve
before the winter comes, and game is plentiful again."
One day in despair he resolved to look about him for some one who
would tell him how to kill the Bear. He went to the bank of the river
and sat there in thought and smoked long at his pipe. And he called to
the God of the River and said, "Oh, River-God, help me to drown Bear
when he comes to fish." The river came from the Lime Stone country far
back among the rocks, and it was flowing rapidly to the sea. And the
River-God said, "My water cannot tarry. There are millions of oysters
down on the ocean shore waiting for shells, and I am hurrying down
there with the lime to make them," and he rushed quickly past.
Then the old man called to the Spirit of the Wind, and he said, "Oh,
Spirit of the Wind, stay here with me to-night and help me to kill
Bear of the Stony Heart. You can knock down great trees upon his back
and crush him to the earth." But the Wind Spirit said, "I cannot
linger. Many ships with rich cargoes lie silent on the ocean waiting
to sail, and I must hurry along with the force to drive them." And
like the River-God he hastened on his way.
Then the old man called to Storm Cloud, which was just then passing
over his head, and he said, "Oh, Spirit of the Storm Cloud, stay here
with me to-night and help me to kill Bear of the Stony Heart, for he
seeks to destroy my children. You can send lightning and thunder to
strike him dead." But the Storm Cloud said, "I cannot loiter on the
way. Far from here there are millions of blades of corn and grass
dying from thirst in the summer heat, for I see the heat waves rising
on the earth, and I am hurrying there with rain to save them." And
like the River-God and the Wind Spirit he hurried along on his
business. The poor old man was in great sorrow, for it seemed that no
one would help him to rid the land of Bear of the Stony Heart.
As he sat wondering what he should do, an old woman came along. She
said, "I am very hungry and tired, for I have come far. Will you give
me food and let me rest here a while?" And he said, "We have very
little food, for Bear of the Stony Heart steals it from us nightly,
but you may share with us what little we have." So he went away and
brought back to her a good fat meal. While she was eating her dinner
he told her of his troubles with Bear, and he said that no one would
help him to get rid of the pest, and that Bear could not be killed by
man. And the old woman said, "There is a little animal who can kill
Bear of the Stony Heart. He alone can save you. You have done well to
me. Here is a wand which I will give you. Go to sleep here, soon, on
the bank of the river. Wave this wand before you sleep and say what I
shall teach you, and when you awake call to you the first animal you
see when you open your eyes. He will be the animal of which I speak,
and he will rid you of the Bear." She taught him a little rhyme and
gave him a wand which she took from the basket on her arm; then she
hobbled away, and the old man knew that she was the weird woman of the
Fairy Blue Mountain, of whom he had often heard. He marvelled greatly,
but he resolved to do as she had told him.
After the old woman had gone, the man waved the little wand three
times, and cried:
"Animal, animal, come from your lair,
Help me to slaughter the old Brown Bear!
Make with my magic a little white dart,
To pierce in the centre old Bear's Stony Heart!"
He repeated the rhyme three times. Then he felt himself getting drowsy
and sleep soon came upon him. He slept but a short time when the heat
woke him up, for the hot sun beat down upon him. He rubbed his eyes
and looked about him. Watching him from behind a tree was a little
animal with a shaggy brown coat. The old man thought to himself,
"Surely the weird fairy woman of the Blue Mountain has played a trick
on me. That scraggy little animal with the dirty coat cannot kill the
Bear." But he resolved to test her word. He repeated his rhyme again,
and the little animal came quickly towards him. "Who are you?" said
the man. "I am Ermine," said the little animal. "Are you the animal of
which the fairy woman of the Blue Hills has told me?" asked the man.
"I am indeed the same," said Ermine. "I have been sent to you to kill
the Bear, and here I have the little darts made powerful because of
your magic wand." He pointed to his mouth and showed the old man his
sharp white teeth. "So now to your task," said the old man in high
spirits. "Oh, not so fast," said Ermine, "you must first pay me for my
work." "What can I do for you?" asked the man. "I am ashamed of my
dirty brown coat, which I have worn for a long time," said the animal;
"you have great magic from the wand you received from the fairy woman
of the Blue Hills. I want a sleek and shining white coat that I can
wear always, for I want to be clean." The man waved his wand again and
wished for what the animal had asked him, and at once the shaggy brown
coat of Ermine was replaced by a sleek and shining white coat as
spotless as the new snow in winter. Then the animal said, "I have one
more condition to impose on you. You must promise never to kill a
bear's young cubs when they are still following their mother in the
summer time. You must give them a chance to grow strong, so that they
may be able to fight for their own lives." And the man promised,
placing his hand upon the wand to bind his oath. Then, when he looked
again, the wand had vanished from his hand. It had gone back through
the air to the fairy woman of the Blue Hills.
[Illustration: THE COAT OF ERMINE WAS REPLACED BY A SLEEK AND SHINING
WHITE COAT, AS SPOTLESS AS THE NEW SNOW IN WINTER]
Then Ermine set out on his search for Bear. The afternoon was very
hot, and the forest was still, and not a leaf or a blade of grass was
stirring, and there was not a ripple on the stream. The whole world
was drowsy in the dry summer heat. But Ermine did not feel the heat,
he was in such high spirits because of his new white coat. Soon he
came upon Bear, stretched out at full length on the bank of the river,
taking his afternoon nap, as was his custom after his fat midday meal.
He was lying on his back, and his mouth was open wide, and he was
snoring loudly like a waterfall. "This is your last sleep," said
Ermine, creeping softly to his side, "for you are a dangerous thief;
you shall snore no more." And with a bound he jumped down Bear's
throat, and in an instant had pierced with his teeth his strong stony
heart, which the arrows of the Indians could never reach. Then as
quickly as he had entered the Bear's mouth Ermine jumped out again and
ran from the place. Bear snored no more; he was quite dead, and the
land was rid of his thefts and terrors. Then Ermine went back to the
old man and told him that the deed was done; and that night was a
great feast night in the old man's home. And since that time Ermine in
the North Country has worn a sleek white coat as spotless as the new
snow in winter. And to this day the hunters in the far north will not
kill, if they can avoid it, the young Bear cubs while they are still
following their mothers through the forest. They give them a chance to
grow up and grow strong, so that they may be able to fight for their
own lives, as the fairy woman of the Blue Hills had asked.
HOW RABBIT DECEIVED FOX
Long ago in Indian days in Canada, when Rabbit worked for Glooskap as
his forest guide, he was a great thief. He liked most of all to steal
by moonlight, and he crept quietly into gardens and fields where
Indian vegetables were growing, for he was very fond of cabbage and
lettuce and beans. Not far from his home there lived alone an old
widow woman who had no children. She could not hunt game because she
was a woman, and she had never been trained to the chase, so she kept
a little garden from which she made a good living. All day long from
dawn until sunset she toiled hard, tilling her little garden, watering
her vegetables and keeping them free from weeds. And she grew green
cabbages and red carrots and yellow beans and big fat pumpkins and
Indian corn, which she traded with Indian hunters in return for fish
and meat. In this way she always had plenty of food, and she lived
very well on good fare. But Rabbit, going his rounds one day,
discovered her garden, although it was deep in the forest, and every
night by moonlight or starlight he robbed it, and grew sleek and fat
from the results of his thefts. And morning after morning the old
widow woman found that many cabbages and carrots were missing and that
much harm had been done to her plants. She had an idea that Rabbit was
the pilferer, for she had heard that he was a great thief, but she was
not very sure. She watched many nights, but she was never able to
catch the robber, so stealthily did he come, and it was not easy to
see him in the shadows. So she said to herself, "I will set up a
scarecrow, a figure in the shape of a little man, and I will place it
at my garden gate, and it will frighten away the robber, whoever he
may be, for I must save my vegetables or I shall starve when the cold
winter comes."
She picked from the spruce and the fir trees close by a great store of
gum and balsam. This she formed into a figure in the shape of a little
man. She made two eyes from glass beads that would shine like fire in
the starlight, and a nose from a pine cone, and hair from the corn
tassels and yellow moss. Then she placed the figure at the entrance to
the garden where she knew the robber would come. "Now," she thought,
"I will scare away the thief."
When night fell and the moon rose above the trees, Rabbit came along,
as was his custom, to steal his nightly meal. As he came near the
garden very softly, he saw in the moonlight what he thought was a man
standing in the path by the garden gate. The moon hung low over the
forest, and there was a thin grey mist on the earth, for it was near
to autumn and the nights were already cool; and the figure of the
little man looked larger than human in the misty light, and it cast a
long black shadow like that of a giant on the grass. Rabbit was much
afraid and he trembled like an aspen leaf, but he stood quiet behind a
tree and watched the strange figure. For a long time he stood still
and watched and listened. But the strange figure did not move, and not
a sound did Rabbit hear but the chirp of a cricket. Then with great
caution he came closer. But still the figure did not move. Then his
fear left him and he grew bolder, for he was very hungry, and he could
smell the vegetables and the wild honeysuckle in the still night air.
So he walked bravely up to the little dummy man and said, "Get out of
my way and let me pass." But the man did not move. Then Rabbit struck
the man a sharp blow with his fist. But still the figure did not move.
Rabbit's fist stuck fast in the gum and he could not pull it away.
Then he struck out with his other fist, and it too, like the other,
was held firm. "I shall kick you," said Rabbit in a rage. "Take that,"
and he struck out wildly with his foot. But his foot, like his fists,
stuck fast. Then he kicked with the other foot, but that too was held
in the gum. Rabbit was now very cross, and in his anger he said, "Now
I shall bite you," but when he bit the little man, his teeth, like his
feet and hands, stuck fast. Then he pushed with his body with all his
might, hoping to knock the little man down, but his whole body stuck
to the dummy figure.
He cried out loudly, for he was now beside himself with fear, and the
old woman, when she heard his yells, came running out of her house.
"Aha!" she said, "so you are the robber who has been stealing from my
garden. I will rid the world of a pilfering pest, for I will kill you
this very night." Then she pulled him away from the gum figure and put
him in a strong bag and tied the mouth of the bag with a stout string.
She left the bag on the path by the garden gate and went to look for
her axe to kill Rabbit. While Rabbit lay there wondering how he was
going to escape, Fox came prowling along. He stumbled over the bag,
for he did not see it in the shadows, and he plunged forward headlong
to the ground with a great thud. He got up and rained kicks upon the
bag. He was mad because he had been tripped. He kicked poor Rabbit's
back until Rabbit cried in pain. "Who are you in the bag?" asked Fox
when he heard the cries. "I am your friend Rabbit," was the answer.
"What are you doing, hiding in the bag?" asked Fox. Then Rabbit
suddenly thought of a way of escape. He knew that Fox had long been
looking for a wife, but that no one would have him as no one trusted
him because his fame for treachery and slyness was so great. "I am not
hiding," he said. "The old woman who owns this garden wants me to
marry her grand-daughter, and when I refused to do it she caught me
and shut me up in this bag; she has just gone to bring the girl from
her house, for she is determined to make me marry her here in the
moonlight this very night. I don't want to marry her, for she is very
big and fat, and I am very small and lean." Then he cried
"Boo-hoo-hoo" again, and Fox said, "I have been looking for a wife for
a long time, and I like fat people. Let me get into the bag in your
place, and I will marry the grand-daughter instead, for the old woman
will not know me in the shadows." And Rabbit gladly agreed. Then Fox
untied the bag and let Rabbit out and got into the bag himself, and
Rabbit tied up the mouth of the bag and hurried away as quickly as he
could.
Soon the old woman came back, carrying her axe. She sharpened it on a
stone and said, "Now I will kill you, and you will thieve no more in
my garden. A poor woman must live untroubled by such pilfering
rogues." When Fox heard these words and the sound of the stone upon
the axe, he knew that he had been deceived by Rabbit, and when the old
woman opened the bag he sprang nimbly out with a sudden bound and was
away before she could catch him. He swore by the Starlight that he
would have vengeance on Rabbit. All night long he searched for him and
all the next day, but he could not find him. At last in the gathering
twilight he came upon him in an open space in the forest, on the other
side of a stream, eating his fill of wild vegetables. Fox tried to
coax him across the stream to his side, for he himself was afraid of
the water, but Rabbit would not go. "Why don't you eat some cheese?"
said Rabbit; "there is a big round cheese in the stream." Fox looked
into the stream where Rabbit pointed, and there he saw the reflection
of the big round yellow moon. He thought it was a round cheese, and he
plunged in after it, for he was very fond of cheese. Rabbit hoped he
would be drowned, but the stream was shallow and Fox climbed out with
no cheese and with only a bad fright and a wet coat for his pains. He
was very cross, for he knew that Rabbit wished to do him harm, but he
kept his anger to himself. Rabbit was still eating contentedly.
[Illustration: THEN FOX UNTIED THE BAG AND LET RABBIT OUT AND GOT INTO
THE BAG HIMSELF]
"What are you eating?" said Fox, trying to hold him in talk until he
could think of a plan to catch him. "I am eating good ripe fruit,"
said Rabbit. "I am eating Indian melons." "Throw me one," said Fox,
for he was hungry. Rabbit threw him a large round wild cucumber all
covered with green prickles. "Swallow it whole at a mouthful," said
Rabbit; "it is very good that way." It was night and the moon shone
dimly through the trees, and Fox could not see what he was eating. He
swallowed the cucumber at one gulp, as Rabbit had told him, but the
prickles stuck in his throat and he almost choked to death. And while
he was choking and spluttering and trying to cough up the cucumber,
Rabbit ran away as fast as he could, laughing heartily to himself. Fox
knew that he had been tricked again, and this time he swore he would
kill Rabbit as soon as he could find him; he resolved that when next
he saw him he would not give him a moment to live.
Rabbit hid among the dry underbrush all the next day. But when the day
went down and the sky was red in the west and the wind was very still,
he sat on a log, as was his custom, and played softly on his flute,
for he was a great player on the Indian pipe. While he was playing,
Fox suddenly came upon him unawares. Rabbit saw him watching him
through the trees close at hand, but although taken by surprise, he
was not to be outdone. Fox was just about to spring upon him when
Rabbit said, "The Chief's daughter has just been married to a great
warrior, and the wedding party will soon be along this way. They asked
me to sit here and make music for them with my flute as they pass by.
They have promised to pay me well, and they have invited me to the
wedding feast. Come and join me and play too, and you will be well
paid, and we will go to the wedding feast together and get good things
to eat." Fox thought he would let Rabbit get the pay he had been
promised, for he was a very greedy fellow; then he would rob him and
kill him, and he would take his flute and go to the wedding feast
alone, and his vengeance would then be complete. So he decided to let
his anger cool for a little time. And he said, "I have no flute, and I
cannot therefore make music; but I will sit with you to see the
wedding guests go by." But Rabbit said, "Take my flute. I have
another at home. I will go and get it, for there is yet time."
So Fox took the flute and began to play loudly, and Rabbit slipped
hurriedly out of sight, pretending to go for his Indian pipe. But he
resolved to make an end of Fox, for he feared for his own life, and
instead of going home, he set the underbrush on fire. He kindled the
fire at many places all around the log on which Fox sat. Fox could not
hear the fire crackling because of the loud music of his flute, and he
thought the light was but the bright light of the moon. And the fire
was almost upon him before he knew that he was in danger. Then he
tried to get away, but on all sides his escape was stopped by the
flames and he could not find an opening. At last, in despair, to save
his life, he jumped through the ring of fire. He escaped with his
life, but his eyelids were singed, and his sleek black coat with its
silver spots was scorched to a red-brown colour. He was in great pain.
He concluded that Rabbit was too clever for him to cope with, and he
resolved to leave him alone and to forego his revenge, for he was glad
to get away with his life. But he decided never again to live on
friendly terms with Rabbit. And since that night Rabbit and Fox have
never hunted together. And to the present day the descendants of this
Fox have red eyes and a red-brown coat, because Rabbit scorched their
ancestor in the olden times.
THE BOY AND THE DRAGON
Once, long ago, before the white man came to Canada, a boy was living
with his parents in a village near the ocean. As he had no brothers or
sisters, he was often lonely, and he longed for adventure and
companionship. At last he decided to set out to seek his fortune
elsewhere. He was just on the point of leaving his home when it was
noised abroad one day that there had come into the land a great
dragon, who was doing great havoc and damage wherever he went. The
country was in great terror, for the dragon carried off women and
children and devoured them one by one. And what was still more
mystifying, he had power to take on human form, and often he changed
himself into a man of pleasing shape and manner and came among the
people to carry out his cruel designs before they knew that he was
near. The Chief of the tribe called for volunteers to meet the
dragon-man, but none of his warriors responded. They were strong and
mighty in combat with men, but it was a different matter to encounter
a dragon.
When the youth heard this dreadful story and saw the terror of his
people, he said, "Here is my chance to do a great deed," for somehow
he felt that he had more than human power. So he said good-bye to his
parents and set out on his adventure. He travelled all day inland
through the forest, until at evening he came to a high hill in the
centre of an open space. He said, "I will climb this hill, and perhaps
I can see all the country round about me." So he went slowly to the
top. As he stood there, looking over the country which he could see
for many miles around, a man suddenly appeared beside him. He was a
very pleasant fellow, and they talked together for some time. The boy
was on his guard, but he thought, "Surely this man with the good looks
cannot be the dragon," and he laughed at his suspicions and put them
from his mind.
The stranger said, "Where are you going?" And the boy answered, "I am
going far away. I am seeking adventure in the forest for it is very
lonely down by the sea." But he did not tell him of his real errand.
"You may stay with me to-night," said the new-comer. "I have a very
comfortable lodge not far from here, and I will give you food." The
boy was very hungry and tired, and he went along with the man to his
lodge. When they reached the house the boy was surprised to see a
great heap of bleached bones lying before the door. But he showed no
fear nor did he comment on the horrible sight. Inside the lodge sat a
very old and bent woman, tending a pot. She was stirring it with a big
stick, and the boy saw that it contained meat stew. When she placed
the stew before them, the boy said he would rather have corn, for he
feared to taste the meat. The old woman fried some corn for him, and
he had a good meal.