202 INDIAM LEGEND 



should die, for that was of no consequence, as he 

 coukl soon restore it to Kfe. Down goes the diver, 

 and presently the string Avas not jerked any more ; so 

 Wis pulls up and finds the bird dead : he blows upon 

 and brings it back to life, and is told that the bottom 

 was not reached. Next he sends an otter, which is 

 drawn up in the same plight, and similarly revived, 

 and whose success is no better than that of the loon. 

 Now he sends a beaver, which, upon being resus- 

 citated, reports that it saw the tops of the trees, but 

 could not sink any deeper. Last of all. Wis ties a 

 large stone to a musquash, and puts them over : down 

 goes the rat, and presently the string is slackened ; 

 Wis hauls up, and finds the little creature dead, but 

 holding a small quantity of earth in its tiny paws. 

 He revives the messenger and spreads the earth out to 

 dry, after which he blows upon it until it swells and 

 spreads until it is very big. When he thought it large 

 enough, a wolf was sent out to try its extent ; but he 

 soon returned, saying that the world was not large, 

 whereupon Wis blew away again for a long time ; 

 then despatched a crow, and as the bird did not 

 return, Wis concluded that the world was now large 

 enough for all, and, with the animals, quits the canoe. 

 All disperse, and Wis in his travels meets a toad, 

 which sings as it goes, " Nee-shay-woo-shin " (or 



