^^bwi'tt] legends 419 



thing." " Well, maybe tomorrow I shall kill something," replied the 

 orphan. 



The next day he went as usual to the swing. While swinging he 

 heard a sound like the crying of a woman. He was frightened and 

 stopped swinging. Soon he saw a female panther coming toward 

 him with three cubs. As they approached he heard a great noise in 

 the north, the direction from which the panthers had come, and a 

 Dagwanoenyent appeared, tearing down all the trees in his path. 

 He stopped on a tree near the swing: "There! you know what harm 

 you have done," said the Dagwanoenyent. (The old panther and 

 cubs had been in Dagwanoenyent's lodge on the rocks and had run 

 away.) "Why are you so angry at the panthers? " asked the young 

 man ; " what have they done to you ? " " They have torn up my best 

 feather cap," I'eplied Dagwanoenyent. " What makes you think so 

 much of j'our cap ? It must be very fine," said the orphan. " Yes ; 

 it was fine," replied Dagwanoenyent. " Of what kind of skin was it 

 made?" was the next question. "It was made of the skin of 

 a horned owl," said the Dagwanoenyent. " What would you think 

 if I gave you another one? " queried the orphan. "How can you get 

 one?" asked Dagwanoenyent. Going to the foot of the tree, the 

 young man tossed up the owl which he had killed. The wind had 

 stopped blowing as soon as Dagwanoenyent lighted on the tree. The 

 old mother panther stood at hand, listening to what Dagwanoenyent 

 and the young man said to each other. As he tossed up the owl, 

 Dagwanoenyent caught it and said, " I thank you ; this is better 

 than the old one;" so saying he flew away. The panther thanked 

 the _voung man, saying : " I am very glad you had this owl. You 

 have saved my life and the lives of my children; now I will try to 

 help you. Go to that knoll yonder, and just behind it you will see 

 a couple of buck deer fighting. You must try to kill both. The one 

 you shoot first will not run; they will fight until they die." Running 

 over to the knoll, the orphan found the two bucks and killed both. 

 Taking a large piece of the venison, he went home to his wife, for she 

 was almost starved to death. " I have brought you meat," said the 

 hu.sband. "I have killed two buck deer today." Jumping up, she 

 threw the venison on the fire to broil, and hardly waited for it to 

 cook before she began to eat it. The young man and his wife dragged 

 the two deer home, and 'having skinned and dressed them, had 

 plenty of venison. The young woman also dried the meat and 

 tanned the skins. The panther told the orphan that now he must 

 hunt, and that he must never swing, because he would kill much game. 



AVhen they had a great deal of meat the young man said : " I 

 should go to see your brothers now. Probably they have a large 

 quantity of meat, for they are good hunters." He started on his 



