hewittJ legends 363 



canoe. Giving him a package, she said: "I have made these mocca- 

 sins foi- your mother. Here is another package for you. I wish you 

 to put on a pair every morning, throwing away the old ones." 



He promised to return in the fall, and then they parted. When 

 he reached his mother's lodge the news spread that a certain woman's 

 son had returned after a year's hunting, and many came to see him 

 and the great amount of meat he had brought. He did not tell even 

 his mother that he was married, and many young girls asked for him 

 as a husband. His mother had a beautiful girl in view for him, and 

 continually urged him to marry her, but he would not consent After 

 a while he said to his mother: "I am going to the woods again. I 

 have a cabin there, and sometime 3'ou will know why I do not wish 

 to marry." So saying, he .started off. 



When he reached the river he shook his boat as his wife had in- 

 structed him to do, whereupon it again stretched out. Getting 

 aboard, he started up the river. When he neared his cabin, he 

 saw his wife waiting for him and his little boy running around at 

 play and they were very happy again. She told him she loved him 

 better than ever, for he had withstood temptation. 



Another year passed. They had all the meat they could take 

 care of, and another boy had been born to them. 



Again she got him i-eady to carry meat to his mother, just as 

 she had done before. She seemed, however, to feel that this time he 

 would yield to temptation, so she said to him: "If you marry 

 another woman, you will never see me again, but if you love me and 

 your children, you will be true to us and come back. If you are not 

 true. I shall not be surprised if your new wife will soon be sucking 

 her moccasins from hunger, for your magic power or orenda for 

 hunting will vanish." He promised her everything. 



As before, on reaching home his fame as a hunter brought many 

 beautiful girls to ask for him in marriage. Again his mother 

 urged him to marry, and the temptation to yield then was far 

 greater than the first time, but he resisted and was ready to start 

 for his cabin, when one da}' a beautiful stranger, appearing in the 

 village, came to his mother's lodge. The mother urged him to 

 marry her, as she was so lovely, and he finally yielded. 



The wife in the woods, knowing the conditions, said: "Now 

 children, we must be getting ready to go away. Your father does 

 not love us and will never come back to us." Thougli the children 

 were troubled by their mother's tears, still they were full of play and 

 fun, but the poor mother was always weeping while preparing to 

 leave her home. 



After the man had taken a second wife, the meat in his lodge began 

 to fall away strangely. He could almost see it disappear, though 

 there was a good supply when he married. In a few days but little 



