^3-a LEGENDS 411 



the Water Serpent said, " I will volunteer to help this woman a.id 

 to take care of her; she can come and sit between my horns, and so I 

 shall carry her wherever I go." Loon rejoined, " You can not take 

 care of her, for you are endowed with too much evil orenda (magic 

 power), which would kill her." The Turtle spoke a second time, 

 saying, " 1 think I can care for her, if you can find some earth to 

 place upon my carapace." This suggestion satisfying Loon and the 

 other leaders, Loon replied, " You may take care of her if we can 

 obtain the earth." There were there many kinds of water folk, all 

 of which were sent into the water in an attempt to obtain some earth. 

 They dived down, but, one after another, they soon floated up to the 

 surface dead. Hell-diver at last brought up a small quantity of 

 earth. The Loon beiag the chief, when Hell-diver came up with the 

 earth he sent all of that kind of water folk after more earth. Then 

 Beaver mounted on Turtle's back, and as the Duck people brought up 

 the earth he used his tail like a trowel, fastening the earth on the 

 carapace of the Turtle. 



The earth at once began to grow, spreading out large. Chief Loon 

 soon decided that it had acquired a sufficient extent for their pur- 

 pose, so he called to the Fishhawk and his men to bring down the 

 woman. This they did, placing her on the newly made eartli on the 

 carapace of the Turtle. In the meantime Beaver and the Duck peo- 

 ple kept at work making the earth larger. As it grew in size, a still 

 greater number of Beaver and Duck people were set to work around 

 the edges of it. The Turtle floated with ease. Then on the earth 

 bushes began to grow, little red bushes like water reeds. The woman 

 walked around the edges of the eartli to see how the workers were 

 succeeding in their labors and to encourage them. She was pregnant, 

 and in a short time after this descent a girl baby was born to her. 

 The child grew rapidly to womanhood. She was very active, and 

 soon took her mother's place, walking around the island inspecting 

 its growth. It was now vei-y large, and she would be away all day 

 on her tour of the island. 



One day it chanced as .she was walking along that she met a very 

 fine-looking young man. Pi'omptly falling in love, they decided to 

 live together as husband and wife. It is said that by this union 

 Day and Night came into the world. Her mother was not consulted. 

 It was the custom of the young woman to go out in the morning to 

 look for the young man at their trysting place, and in the evening 

 to start for home. One evening when they had parted she resolved 

 to look back to have a view of him. On turning around, she saw a 

 large turtle walking along where she knew her husband had just 

 been, hence she reached the conclusion that a turtle was deceiving 

 her: then she went home. The next day she remained at home and, 

 indeed, did not go out any more after that time. Her mother saw 



