206 EXPLORATIONS IN THE FAR NORTH 



One day Wisagatchak's brother " was going along," in the 

 form of a wolf, and was feeling very hungry. Coming upon 

 the trail of a moose, he followed it until he came to the shores 

 of a great lake. He had been warned by Wisagatchak not to 

 venture into the water, for in it lived the long-tailed misipisi- 

 wuk (lynxes) which would kill him; but hunger overcame his 

 prudence and he followed the moose track into the lake, with 

 fatal result. 



When the wolf did not return, Wisagatchak traced him to 

 the lakeside, where he found a kingfisher, which was sitting 

 upon a dead branch, looking out upon the lake and mournfully 

 crying. 



" What is the matter? " asked the manito. 



" My spear is too small," was the reply. Wisagatchak made 

 the bill of the bird long and sharp, as it remains to this day, 

 saying, "now try it." The first dive resulted in a fish being 

 impaled upon the perfected spear. 



"What were you looking at when I came along? " asked 

 Wisagatchak. 



" I was looking at a wolf's tail which the misipisiwuk were 

 playing with." 



" What do they do in the middle of the day?" 



"They come ashore on that sandy beach to sleep." 



The manito then provided himself with a spear and went to the 

 sands, where he transformed himself into a pine stump to await 

 the coming of the lynxes. Some of the wisest of these were 

 alarmed when they arrived, declaring that the stump had not 

 been there before, but the others were as positive that it had. 

 Two of the strongest misipisiwuk tried to dislodge it by locking 

 their tails together and pulling, but as Wisagatchak retained 

 his hold they decided that it was certainly a stump and pro- 

 ceeded to frolic about on the shore. When all were tired and 

 had lain down to sleep, Wisagatchak resumed the form of a 

 man, caught up his spear and killed them one by one, leaving 

 his spear sticking in the last, which still lived. 



This resulted in the waters rising until the earth was flooded. 

 Wisagatchak built a raft and placed a bit of earth in a tree. 

 The water rose so rapidly that he forgot this in his haste, when 

 he embarked upon the raft. While floating, he heard some- 

 thing gnawing at the logs beneath. 



