IT^l^i] MYTHS 469 



The lad replied, "Oh, no! He got off yesterday. This is the little 

 old woman herself. She says you promised her in a dream to help 

 her." The Morning Star replied, " Oh, no ! I never had any con- 

 versation with her. I never made any promise to her." With these 

 words the Morning Star fell asleep again and slept on, letting the 

 Orb of Day come at its own time. The water on the island kept 

 rising and rising until it had reached the top of the pine tree, when 

 the inhabitants of the lake ate up the little old woman. 



The man was at home with his young wife and they lived ever 

 after in peace and happiness. 



101. The Woman and the Cannibal ^'^ Thunder 



One day a stranger came to a lodge in which a man, his wife, and 

 four children lived, and asked leave to marry the young daughter of 

 the family. Both father and mother consenting, he married her. 



The man remained there for a time, and then he wished his wife 

 to go to his own lodge. The old people were willing, so the two 

 started. They soon reached a large cabin, whereupon the young man 

 said, " This is my cabin." "WHien they arrived there was no one in it, 

 but toward night the woman heard some person approaching on the 

 run. Soon afterward a man entered and sat down by the door; again 

 she heard the sound of someone running, and another man entered 

 and sat down; then a third person came. They began talking one 

 with another, relating how far they had been. One of them said, 

 "I had good luck; I killed a bear." Finding that he was the only 

 one of the three who had killed anything, they said, " Go, bring it in ; 

 we will cook it." The young woman sat watching at the end of the 

 room. The man brought in what he called a bear, which she saw 

 was the trunk and head of a man. Having cut it up, they put it into 

 a kettle to boil; when cooked, they ate it. The three walked to and 

 fro in the room without once looking toward the woman. Her hus- 

 band was there, but he did not talk, nor eat with the men. Although 

 they were his brothers, he never ate their kind of food. The next 

 morning, and on succeeding days, after making the usual prepara- 

 tions, the three went hunting; in the evening they returned, and sit- 

 ting down by the door, talked over their journey. If they had killed 

 any game they brought it into the lodge, and cooked and ate it; if 

 they had killed nothing, they ate what was left from the meal of the 

 previous evening. 



One day when the young woman went to draw water she found a 

 Uian standing by the spring. He addressed these words to her, '' I 

 came to tell you that your husband is going into the ground to- 

 morrow. He is magically a very powerful and evil man. As soon 

 as he is gone, you must put your moccasin exactly in the center of 

 your lodge, telling it to answer for you every time your husband 



