8 THE MOOSE 



tribe, which, the moose cow said, according to 

 tradition, is to be found over the portal of every 

 properly fitted-up beaver lodge for all those who 

 understand beaver talk to read : " No beaver can be 

 written out of reputation but by himself. " 



Then came the miserable day when the calf saw 

 his mother enter the water on the sheltered side of 

 the island to browse on lily roots, which she pulled 

 up most dexterously and ate, with her flexible 

 muzzle curling round the bulbs Hke a proboscis. 



The sun, shining through the budding alder stems, 

 flickered on the cow's ungainly form, huge ears, and 

 square, wet nose. To the calf she seemed most 

 beautiful, almost perfect, although a cow moose is, 

 in reality, the plainest of all the deer tribe, if a crea- 

 ture of the wild, with all its manifold charms, can be 

 called plain. Only one thing was lacking to make 

 his mother peerless, the calf thought, and what it 

 was he could not define. He had seen no other of 

 his kind with which to compare her. He only 

 knew instinctively that she needed a nameless 

 something to complete her numerous graces. In 

 later days he realized what it was — the unattainable 

 splendour and spread of horns. 



Deeper and deeper the cow pushed into the 



