S^w'S] FICTION 151- 



learn whether they intend to follow us in an attempt to recover the 

 chestnuts." Having again entered the body of the mole, the youth 

 told it to go under the ground until it came to the lodge. The mole 

 obeyed him literally. When the mole reached the lodge, it thrust 

 out its nose and mouth. The youth then stuck his ear out of its 

 mouth and listened to what was being said in the lodge. He finally 

 overheard one of the sisters say: "It must be a young man just 

 grown. No one has succeeded since his uncle in stealing the chest- 

 nuts. Perhaps he has a nephew now who is as crafty as he used to 

 be, and it may be that he, too, is going to live on chestnuts." An- 

 other answered her, saying: '• Well, they are stolen. We may as well 

 let them go." After hearing this last speech the youth asked the 

 mole to bear him back to the forest at once. After reaching the 

 forest the 3'outh dismissed the mole with thanks for its aid, and then 

 hurried home. 



AA'hen the youth reached home he found his uncle sitting by the 

 fii-e, singing his death song, " I must now die of hunger, for my 

 nephew will never return to me." Then the nephew rushed into 

 the lodge, saying, " Oh, my uncle ! I have brought you here a bag full 

 of chestnuts." The old man welcomed his nephew home and gave 

 thanks to their guardian spirits for the latter's success, and he was 

 very, very happy. He is still making chestnut puddings. His 

 nephew became a great hunter. He obtained whatever be desired, 

 because he had the mole for his guardian spirit and aid. 



[Note. — There are several versions of the foregoing story. In one 

 version the tree is guarded by geese. The lad entered one of the 

 geese, and as the seven sisters were bathing he slipped from the goose 

 into the person of the youngest sister, and she thereby became preg- 

 nant. Being born of her, he became the master of the chestnuts.] 



25. The Ott'er's Heart a>!d the Claw Fetishes 



Once in the fall of the year in time long past, a prominent chief 

 with six or seven families went on a hunting expedition far away 

 from their village. Having arrived at thei.- usual hunting grounds, 

 they did not find any game for many days. At last the chief, whose 

 fetish, or charm, was a fawn skin, calling the members of the party 

 to his kanos''ha (temporary lodge), asked each person to lay hold of 

 his pouch fetish, and to declare while touching the pouch what he or 

 she intended to kill on the following day. 



The first one to touch the pouch was a man who said that he in- 

 tended to kill a bear; the next said that he intended to kill a deer, 

 and so on; and finally the chief's wife declared that she intended to 

 kill geese. But, as the pouch passed around, the chief's daughter re- 

 quested her husband not to touch it by any means ; when it was near- 



