TOENER.) FOLKLORE. 339 



do?" The man seized the kettle of hot water and dashed it on the 

 breast of the animal. The marten began to scratch his burning bosom 

 and ran out into the woods; and because he was so severely hurt he 

 now keeps in the densest forests, away ft'om the sight of man. 



The Indian and hin beaver toi/e. — One day an Indian was hunting 

 along the bank of a stream and in the distance saw a beaver's house. 

 In a moment he perceived a beaver swimming toward him. He drew 

 up and was on the point of shooting it when the animal exclaimed, 

 "Do not shoot, I have something to say to you." The Indian inquired, 

 "What is it you have to say?" The beaver asked him, "Would you 

 have me for a wife?" The Indian replied, "I can not live in the water 

 with you." The beaver answered, "You will not know you are living 

 in the water, if you will follow me." The Indian further remarked that 

 he could not live on willows and other woods like a beaver. The beaver 

 assured him that when eating them he would not think them to be 

 willows. She added, " I have a nice house to live in." The man re- 

 plied, "My brother will be looking for me if I come in and he will not 

 know where I am. The beaver directed the man to take off his cloth- 

 ing and leave them on the bank and to follow her. The Indian did as 

 he was instructed. As he was wading through the water he did not 

 feel the water touching him ; so they presently began to swim and soon 

 reached the home of the beaver. The beaver told him as she pointed 

 ahead, "There is my home, and you will find it as good and comfort- 

 able as your own tent. " They both entered and she soon set before 

 him some food which he did not recognize as willow bark. After they 

 had slept two niglits his brother became alarmed and went to search 

 for him, and soon found his track. In following it up his brother came 

 to where he had left his clothing on the bank of the stream. 



The brother was distressed at finding such things, so went sorrow- 

 fidly back to the tent thinking that his brother had been drowned, and 

 so told the other Indians when he arrived. With a heavy heart he 

 went to bed and in the morning he awakened and told his wife that he 

 had dreamed his brother was living with a beaver. He told his wife 

 to make some new clothing for the lost brother as he would go and 

 seek the haunts of the beavers to discover his brother. The man occu- 

 pied himself in making a pair of snowshoes, while the wife prepared 

 the clothing. The next day she had the clothing done and he directed 

 her to make them into a small bundle as he would start on the search 

 early the next morning. Other young men desired to accompany him 

 on the search, but were advised to remain at home as their presence 

 would prevent him from reaching the beaver's retreat. Early in the 

 morning he started off, taking the clothes and snowshoes with him. 

 After some time he found the place where the beaver had her house 

 and in which he suspected his brother to be living. He went to work 

 to make a dam across the stream so as to decrease the depth of water 

 around the beaver's house. The wife had borne two children to the 



