^"ewS] legends 507 



carried war clubs. They ran toward the place where hung the 

 woman's skin, which was guarding their chestnut trees. When they 

 arrived there they found no human being. Thereupon the old woman 

 angrily said, " Indeed, you have told a falsehood," and struck the 

 hanging skin with her war club, and each of her daughters, running 

 up, did likewise. Then all the women went back to their lodge, and 

 the boy said to himself, " How may I deceive this woman on the 

 watch?" At last he hit upon a scheme which he thought would 

 accomplish his purpose. Stripping off a piece of basswood bark as 

 wide as his person, he removed the outside rough portion of suitable 

 length. Spreading this out on the ground, he drew thereon with a 

 piece of charcoal the outlines of many kinds of animals, all true to 

 nature. He then filled the outlines with the animals he had drawn — 

 the bear, the deer, the wolf, the fox, and the raccoon; in fact, with 

 the forms of all the animals. 



Then the youth returned to the edge of the clearing, where he again 

 took his stand. He found the skin of the dead woman still hanging 

 there, watching, looking this way and that, to detect, if possible, the 

 approach of any stranger. In full readiness to execute his design, 

 he finally started toward the skin, and, running swiftly, reached the 

 spot before she was aware of his approach. Seizing it at once, the 

 skin ceased swinging. Thereupon the boy said to it : " Do not report 

 my taking this pile of chestnuts away with me. I will pay you for 

 this favor ; indeed, I will pay you a very high price ; it is of the value 

 of a man's life. I will pay you with what is called a wampum belt, 

 which is made of wampum beads." Saying this, he gave her what 

 he had made, and she accepted it. She opened her eyes wide in look- 

 ing at it, exclaiming, " Oh ! it is beautiful," for it looked fine to her, 

 and she laughed with delight. Then she said, " So be it; I will not 

 give the alarm." Answering, " Do not give the alarm," he proceeded 

 to take a bark case of chestnuts which had been left there temporarily. 

 Placing this on his back by means of a forehead strap, he departed 

 at once. He had not gone very far when suddenly he heard the 

 voice of the hanging skin of the woman singing, " Gi'-nn'', gi'-mi^, 

 gi'-nu' ; one has closed my mouth with a belt of wampum. Gi'-nu'- ; 

 at the edge of the clearing goes the pack of chestnuts." 



On hearing this, the old woman, the mother of the three women 

 in the distant lodge, said urgently, "Take courage! Bestir your- 

 selves, my children ! I suppose some one has now robbed us of our 

 chestnuts." In a moment they rushed out of the lodge and ran 

 toward the place where the woman's skin hung swinging to and fro, 

 singing the notes of alarm. They soon arrived there, and, lo ! the 

 skin swung to and fro, gazing intently at a wampum belt, and saying, 

 " It is of the value of a human life, and by it one closed my mouth." 

 The women rushed up, and their mother snatched the so-called belt 



