230 SENECA FICTION, LEGENDS, AND MYTHS [bth. ann. 32 



Soon the old man met another person, a slender young man, who 

 asked, "AVhere are you goinj!;?" "I am going to the east to see 

 how people live in that region," answered the old man. " You 

 can not get there; you are too fat, and so you can not travel so far," 

 said the young man. "How do you keep so fat?" "Well, when I 

 come to a village and find people lying around, I bore a hole in each 

 one I like and suck the fat out; that is the way to get fat," said the 

 old man. " I must try this plan. I am so lean that I must try to 

 get fat," said the other. 



Each went his own road. Soon the thin man came to an opening, 

 or clearing, in the forest, where he found an animal lying a.=ileep at 

 the edge of the woods. Crawling up to it carefully he tried to make 

 a hole in its body near the tail, in order to suck out the fat. But the 

 animal, springing up, hit him a great blow with his heels and ran off. 

 " I shall pay that old man the next time I meet him," said the slim 

 man. 



Going on farther he met the fat old fellow again. " How do you 

 •get so fat? " asked the slim man. "Oh, I do it by eating fish," said 

 the old man; "I put my tail through a hole in the ice, and when a 

 fish bites I pull him out and eat him. That is how I get fat." " I 

 will try that plan," said the slim young man. He went on until he 

 came to where there was a good place to fish. Making a hole in the 

 ice, he stuck his tail through and waited until it was frozen in; then 

 he pulled until his tail came off. 



The young man went on his way and was magically changed into an- 

 other kind of person through losing his tail. He traveled around until 

 the next summer, when again he met the old man. " Where are you 

 going? " he asked of the latter. " I am going east," said the old man. 

 " You will never get there ; you are so fat you can not travel fast 

 enough. You would better run a race with me." " Very well," said 

 the fat man ; " you maj- run on land but I will run on water. We will 

 run to-morrow." 



The fat man collected a great number of his people, whom he 

 po.sted in the river all along the course to the starting place, telling 

 each one to stick up his head when the land runner had come almost 

 up to him. As was cu.stomary in the contests of great sorcerers, the 

 wager in this race was the head of the loser. 



The racers started. The slim young man ran with all his might, 

 but every little while the fat man. as he thought, stuck his head out 

 of the water in advance of him. When he returned to the starting 

 place the fat man was there before him. " You have won the race," 

 said the young man. "Of course I have," said the fat man. and 

 seizing the young fellow by the neck he led him to a stone where he 

 cut off his head. 



