1894-95.] THREE CARUIER MYTHS. 29 



grandfather was so mad at this that he tore the dressed skins off from 

 under them and cast them in the fire. Then he packed all his belongings 

 and, going away together with his wife, he abandoned his daughter. All 

 the inhabitants of the village did likewise, and they migrated to a distant 

 country; for they were too much ashamed. Moreover, to cause the death 

 of the woman and of her little dogs, they carefully extinguished the fire 

 of each lodged But an old woman there was who thought herself un- 

 able to undertake a long journey. She succeeded in snatching away by 

 stealth a firebrand, which she concealed until ail had left. This fire 

 prevented them from dying of cold and hunger. 



Shortly after she had been abandoned, the mother of the little dogs 

 heard a slight noise as of the gnawing of a piece of wood. She soon 

 perceived that a rabbit had made a hole in the board wall of the lodge. 

 A like hole was afterwards made by rabbits at each of the other walls. 

 At each of them the mother set a snare wherewith she soon caught plenty 

 of rabbits. Their flesh she ate herself, and with their skins she made 

 blankets for her little ones. The latter grew up very fast, and they seemed 

 to be very fond of play. 



Now it happened that their mother left one day to gather at some 

 short distance bear-berries- for the family. When she got back, she saw 

 on the floor of the lodge many human foot-prints, and perceived that the 

 whole house was full of dust as if a dance had been in progress. She 

 was very much surprised at this. So she set her mind upon discovering 

 who had made the foot-prints. Therefore, she left again as usual to pick 

 up bear-berries. But once arrived at the place where the fruit was abun- 

 dant, she disposed her blanket as a mannequin, which she laid up against 

 a stump. She wanted thereby to deceive her little dogs and make them 

 believe that she was still at the berries. 



Meantime she returned by a round-about way to the lodge. She sur- 

 prised the little ones dancing without their dog-skins, while their sister 

 was keeping watch over the mannequin. By a rapid movement, their 

 mother seized the skins of the three dogs now become boys, and threw 

 them in the fire. Their sister-dog had come out of her skin as far down 

 as the waist only ; she had time to re-enter it before her mother could 

 snatch it away from her. Therefore, she remained a she-dog forever. 

 " Then you are men after all, and yet it is on account of you that I have 

 become so wretched!" exclaimed their mother as she burned their spoils, 



^'Ihe fire-drill or tan-tjij was known to the primitive Carriers, but the critical condition of 

 the mother and the degree of decrepitude of tlie old woman rendered its preparation and use 

 impossible. 

 » 'Vulgarly called kinnikinik { Arctostaphylos ttva urst). 



