iSwS] FICTION 147 



aboard, so I leaped. You are afraid this canoe will carry you away. 

 1 am the person who was with you last night. It is my fault that 

 you are frightened, for I did not give you full instructions. The 

 reason the canoe goes faster and faster and higher and higher is that 

 you keep repeating the song. You should change the words of the 

 song, and then you can guide it. I came to tell you this." As he 

 stopped speaking, he stepped off the stern of the canoe into the air 

 and disappeared. 



The youth now changed the words of the song, singing, " Tgdiiehe 

 wcCtke'^''dion' ddH ne" aUhoh'wd'^^^'' and at once the canoe began to 

 descend, gradually coming to the ground. But the occupant of the 

 canoe exclaimed, " Oh ! this is not what I wanted. I desired to come 

 down a little lower only, not to the ground." So he sang again the 

 first words of the song. At once the canoe shot upward like an arrow 

 and, heading northward, flew faster than it did before. As it flew 

 along the youth saw the woman's tracks ahead. Higher and higher 

 went the canoe, the wind whizzing past his ears in a frightful man- 

 ner. The speed of the canoe troubled the youth, and finally he ex- 

 claimed, " Oh ! I am getting too high again." Then, recollecting that 

 he must change the words of the song, he sang, '•'"Tgdiiehe hehdageshon 

 hohweson naUhon wCo^T The canoe descended, but its speed was so 

 great that he was greatly disturbed and distressed. At last he said, 

 " I have learned the music, and all I have to do is to sing, ' My canoe 

 must stop immediately.' " 



[The story ends here, thus abruptly.] 



24. The Chestntjt Tree Guarded by the Seven Sisters 



In a small lodge, deep in a dense forest, a man lived alone with his 

 nephew. It was the custom of the uncle to cook every day the food 

 required by his nephew, but he never ate with him. There came a 

 time, however, when the little nephew asked his uncle to eat with 

 him. The only reply was, "No; I have already eaten my food." 

 Then, urging his nephew to be quiet, he would remark, " I have 

 cooked this food for you alone." 



As the little nephew grew older he began to wonder at this strange 

 conduct of his uncle. Finally he asked him : " Oh, my uncle, I never 

 see you eat! How is this? " But the uncle made him no reply. So 

 the little nephew decided to try to catch his uncle eating by spying 

 on him. One night after this, when the little nephew had eaten his 

 supper, he said : " Oh, uncle, I am very tired and sleepy. I am now 

 going to bed to get a gQod rest." With this remark he lay down on 

 his bed, and drawing over him the deerskin cover soon began to 

 snore as if he were sound asleep. 



