330 THE HUDSON BAV ESKIMO. 



The young man's father then said, "Let him go if he thinks he is 

 able to live with the deer;" and the people returned to their tents. 



The Hiolf's daughter going to seek her lover. — An old mother wolf one 

 morning said to her daughter, "You must go and look for your lover or 

 else we shall all starve to death, as your brothers can not kill any deer." 

 The daughter inquired of her mother, " Who is my lover ! " The mother 

 replied, "The otter is your lover. He lives in the water. Ifyougoto 

 the narrows of the lake you will find him." The daughter said she 

 would go. So eai'ly in the morning she started off, and as she was go- 

 ing along the shore of the lake she saw an open hole in the ice, and 

 in the water the otter was sitting. The wolf went up to the otter, but 

 the otter swam away and was going to dive, when the wolf said, "Do 

 not dive and go away. My mother says you are my lover." The otter 

 asked, " How can I be yoiu" lover when I live in the water?" The wolf 

 replied, "You can live on the land as well as in the water." The otter 

 answered back, "I will not live on the land." The wolf retorted, " You 

 will have to live on the land, and if you do not come out I shall smother 

 you in the water." The otter said, "You can not smother me, for I have 

 a number of holes made in the lake ice." The otter dove into the water 

 and disappeared. The wolf began to howl dismally when the otter 

 vanished. The wind began to blow and drifted the snow furiously. 

 The snow fell into the otter's breathing holes and filled them with 

 slushy snow, which soon froze and completely stopped all the holes in 

 the ice but one where the wolf was sitting. This hole was kept clear 

 of snow and ice by the wolf scraping it out as fast as it collected. 

 Soon she heard the otter going to the holes for breath, but when he 

 came near the hole where the wolf was sitting she could hear him 

 snuffing for air, and she stood with open Jaws ready to seize him when 

 he should appear. The otter was nearly exhausted, so the wolf went 

 oft' a little distance, and the otter came up to the surface of the water 

 nearly out of breath. He crept out of the water and rolled himself in 

 the dry snow to take the water oft" of his coat of fur and exclaimed to 

 the wolf, " I will live with you; I will live with you." The wolf then 

 addressed her lover and said, "Did I not tell you I would smother 

 youf The otter did not reply to this, but asked her, " Have you got 

 a piece of line? Give it to nie, and I will go to catch some fish for you 

 if you will go and prepare a tent." The wolf drew out a \)ieve of fishing 

 line and handed it to the otter. The otter went down into the same 

 hole ill the ice whence he had come. He was gone some time, and in 

 the meantime the wolf was busy making the tent, which was completed 

 before the otter returned. Soon after, however, the otter came back to 

 the hole with a long string of fish which he had killed and had them 

 all strung on the line. He left the string of fish in the hole in the ice 

 with one end of it fastened to the ice. The otter rolled himself in the 

 snow to remove the water ft-om his fur, and then went to the tent to tell 

 his wife to go and get the flsh which he had left in the hole in the ice. 



