1894-95.] THREE CARRIER MYTHS. 31 



grizzly bear, my son," said his mother. " It is also occasionally eaten. 

 Therefore let them kill it." So they did, and thenceforth they killed 

 great numbers of those animals. 



Another day that one of them had returned from the chase to take 

 advice from his mother, he said to her: "Mother, our little sister-dog 

 is pursuing an animal which has long legs and on the head something 

 resembling the upright roots of a fallen tree\ What is it and what shall 

 we do with it?" Then she made answer thus: " My son, that animal is 

 called a caribou. Its meat is very good, and its skin serves to make 

 moccasins with. Let them shoot it." Therefore they shot it, and after- 

 wards many more caribou. * 



Lastly, one day that one of them was again consulting his mother, he 

 said to her: "Mother, our little sister-dog is chasing a very large animal 

 not unlike the caribou, but bigger. What can it be and what to do with 

 it? " Upon which his mother said in answer : " My son, this is what we 

 call a moose. Its flesh is excellent, and its skin is also very useful. Let 

 them shoot it." After they had shot it, they also killed many more 

 moose. 



They were now exercised to hunt all kinds of animals, and they had 

 grown to be young men and successful hunters. In recognition of the 

 service rendered their mother by the old woman who had preserved fire 

 for her at the time that she had been abandoned, they used to present 

 her, after each hunt, with the fat of the animals mixed with their blood. 

 One day that the)' wanted to fool her, they mixed pieces of rotten wood 

 with blood and offered the whole to her, saying: "Grandmother^, fry this 

 fat mixed with blood which we give you as is our wont." The old 

 woman did as she was bid, but she soon detected the fraud, upon which 

 ■ she exclaimed : " Pdssa I ya 't^h 'ghiuJitij !^ Oh ! may you be translated 

 up to the sky !" For she was indeed very angry. 



Now it came to pass that a short time afterwards their sister-dog 

 scented a herd of caribou. They set at once in pursuit of the game. Far, 

 very far away they ran on the tracks of their sister-dog, and yet they 

 could not catch up with her. The more they advanced, the higher up 

 they were going. At length, after a very long chase, one of the three 

 thought of sitting down to rest awhile. Looking back, he discovered 

 that they had reached the sky, and then he was terrified indeed. He 



^ Raz, a primary root, means all that. 



2 In the Dene legends, the old women are always addressed as grandmothers. 

 * Archaic form of words in the Lower Carrier dialect. Pissa ! has no modern equivalent 

 and is expressive of spite and rage. 



