nKwi'^] FICTION 181 



The next da}' when the father came home he asked whether the 

 same thing had taken phice. The boy replied, " Yes." Then the 

 man determined to natch his wife. The following day he started 

 out to hunt, as usual. After going some distance, he crept back to 

 a place whence he could see what took place around the cabin. 

 Shortly he saw the skin door open and his boy thrust out and the 

 water vessel thrown after him. He saw the boy pick up the vessel 

 and start off. crying bitterly. This made the father very sad. but he 

 waited as j^atiently as possible to see what would happen next. 



The boy brought the water. Soon after this his wife came out in 

 new garments, carrying her strap and hatchet. She walked away 

 from the lodge in a bee line, her husband following cautiously. 

 Walking down a little hill, she went on until slie came to a dry black 

 ash tree, from which the bark could be sti'ipped easily. There she 

 stood, looking up at it. Her husband drew as near as he could with- 

 out being seen by her. After gazing up into the tree for a moment, 

 she struck it with the back of her hatchet, making a beautiful sound. 

 After waiting a while, she struck it a second time. Again the same 

 musical sound was heard. The third time she struck it he heard a 

 bird on the top branches. As she struck it the fouith time the bird 

 flew down. As it alighted on the ground it became a handsome man. 

 The husband saw how his wife and her lover dallied together. At 

 that moment, drawing his bow. he shot an arrow. In the twinkling 

 of an eye the lover, turning himself into a bird, flew upward and dis- 

 appeared in the air. The woman sprang up, and seeing her husband, 

 said, "It is you, is it^ " "Yes," he replied, "now I know why you 

 abuse our boy." "Yes; I do abuse him, and I will abuse you, too," 

 she declared. Seizing a club, she beat him imtil he was helpless; 

 then, leaving him on the ground, she ran home, put her children out- 

 side the cabin, and set fire to the hemlock boughs composing its roof. 

 These blazed up and feoon the lodge was in ashes. Then she said to 

 her children, "You stay here: everything will be all right." Then, 

 taking up a handful of ashes, she threw them into the air, saying. 

 " Let there be a snowstorm and let the snow lie as deep as these trees 

 are high." As the snow began to fall, she said to the boy, " Here is 

 your dog; keep him with you. and take care of youi- sister." Then 

 she started off. 



The snow kept coming down. Soon the boy and gii'l were covered, 

 but they felt as comfortable as if the}' were in a warm cabin. 



.Vfter a while the father, having recovered, dragged himself toward 

 his home. When near, he saw there was no longer a lodge. He 

 searched for his children and at last found and rescued them. Then 

 he set about building a lodge of boughs. The boy told him what his 

 mother had said and done, and he was very sad. M'hen the lodge 

 was finished, he said: "You must stay here and take care of your 



