^^^ LEGENDS 713 



linued : " He is, too, my uncle, this Oktoondon is; for this reason you 

 and I are brother and sister. Very long ago he stole me from our 

 lodge. Now dress yourself again; your garments hang yonder 

 where he hung them when he brought them back." So the young 

 man dressed himself again in his own garments. Then his sister 

 said : " Here are j^our bow and your arrows." The young man took 

 them, for they indeed belonged to him. 



Thereupon the 3'oung woman said to her brother : " You and I must 

 now return home. I will lay down bark in strips, and on these you 

 must step to conceal your tracks until you reach the canoe; for you 

 and I shall surely die if my husband should meet us before we reach 

 the canoe. They cai'ried out faitiifully this precautionary device for 

 concealing the brother's footprints. When they reached the shore 

 the brother pushed the canoe into the water and then called out to 

 the wild geese: "Come hither, my servants." When they arrived 

 he continued : " You must go directly to the place where my racing 

 ground is." Having said this, the brother and sister boarded the 

 canoe, and the wild geese began to propel it rapidly through the 

 water, making the sounds su% su\ su\ sm' as they propelled it. 

 Then the J'oung man began to sing his song of triumph : " Now, now, 

 now, I am certain that I am on my way homeward." Turning to the 

 wild geese he said : " Have courage *^^ ; be brave and do your duty, ray 

 servants." 



After going some distance it seemed to the two that the canoe kept 

 the same position, although the wild geese were paddling with great 

 vigor, making the sounds sw', 5m', s«', aw'. Turning her head, the 

 young woman saw a fishhook attached to the end of the canoe, and 

 she saw also that her husband, who sat on the opposite shore, was 

 steadily pulling on the line, causing the canoe to move backward 

 toward him. Taking up a stone hatchet from the bottom of the canoe 

 she struck the hook a blow which broke it. At this the canoe again 

 shot forward very swiftly, and they went a long distance, while the 

 young man kept saying: "Have courage, my servants. Exert your- 

 selves to the best of your power." 



But in a very short time thereafter they again noticed that the 

 canoe was seemingly going backward, although the wild geese were 

 still paddling with all their might. Turning her head and looldng 

 back across the lake the sister saw her husband lying prone on the 

 shore, rapidly drinking up the water of the lake, and the canoe was 

 now moving swiftly toward him. His mouth was enormous and his 

 belly was likewise of incredible capacity. His whole body had 

 swollen to huge proportions, owing to the floods of water he was 

 drinking. The canoe and its occupants were fast being drawn into 

 his open mouth, although the geese were paddling with all their 

 might. 



