284 WILD NEIGHBORS CHAP. 



The raccoon felt reproached by this act of cour- 

 age and magnanimity, and refused to dishonor 

 himself by exterminating the whole race. At this 

 moment Manabozha, the Deity, happened to pass 

 by. Seeing how things were : 



" Tyau ! " he shouted to the raccoon. "Thou art 

 a thief and an unmerciful dog. Get thee up into 

 the trees, lest I change thee into one of these same 

 wormfish, for thou wast thyself originally a shell, 

 and bearest in thy name the influence of my trans- 

 forming hand." 



He then took up the little supplicant crayfish 

 girls, and cast them into the stream. 



" There," said he, " you may dwell. Hide your- 

 self under the stones, and hereafter you shall be 

 playthings for children." 



Mr. Schoolcraft explains that the name of the 

 raccoon, Assibun, in the Chippewa language, seems 

 to be a derivation from the noun meaning shell; 

 but he says that no tale of a transformation, such 

 as is here alluded to, has come to his knowledge. 

 The raccoon also figures in another tale, where the 

 giant (red-headed) woodpecker saves Manabozha 

 from starving to death, on one occasion in winter, 

 by digging out of a tree with his powerful bill a 

 family of torpid 'coons, and laying them at the 

 sovereign's feet. 



Dr. Godman relates that a pair of raccoons in 

 his keeping were never happy except when pro- 

 vided with a tub of water, in which they played 



