hokfman] THE BEAR ANa'MAQKI'U 177 



They now got the bears together and took them home to the wigwam. 

 Throwing them down before their father, they said, "Father, here are 

 three bears; now you shall have something to eat." 



Their father replied, saying, "When I was a young man I used to 

 get four bears in one day; but hunters nowadays don't do so well." 



The boys did not know what to make of this remark, but kept quiet, as 

 they intended to see what success they would have on the following day. 



The father then dressed the meat and a feast was prepared, of which 

 they all ate heartily. 



Now, these bears which had been killed were the servants of the 

 Bear chief of the ana'maqki'ii, who dwelt in a lofty, long mountain in 

 the direction in which the young men hunted, but much farther away; 

 and every time a bear was killed, although the body remained, the 

 shade of the bear returned to the home of the Bear chief, where his 

 wounds were visible to all the others. 



The Bear chief became very angry at the destruction of his servants, 

 so decided to capture and destroy the hunters. He called one of his 

 servants and said to him, "You go to the brush at the fork of the trail 

 where the boys killed your brothers, and the moment they come back 

 and the dogs discover you, you must return with all speed to this 

 place. The mountain will open to let you in, and the hunters will 

 follow; then I shall take them and punish them. 



The servant of the Bear chief started off to the brush at the fork of 

 the trail and awaited the coming of the three huntsmen. 



Next morning, after the father of the boys had prepared the feast, 

 the two elder sons started off to hunt, leaving the youngest brother at 

 home. The snow was soft and slushy, and the air was so damp that 

 the bowstring of the elder brother became unfastened, while that on 

 the bow of the younger brother became broken. Just as this mishap 

 was discovered the dogs began to bark, and to chase a bear, the servant 

 of the Bear chief, out of the brush where he had secreted himself. The 

 bear ran rapidly along the right-hand trail, the dogs and the brothers 

 following. In this way they traveled a great distance, but finally saw 

 a large mountain before them, stretching to the right and left of the 

 trail upon which they were. The servant of the Bear chief was 

 expected at the home of the ana'maqki'u, and the mountain opened 

 to admit him, the dogs following, and the elder of the brothers follow- 

 ing the dogs into the very middle of the mountain. The other brother 

 had become so exhausted that he was still far behind. When the 

 elder had reached the middle of the Bear chief's wigwam, he realized 

 where he was; he saw bears on every side of him, sitting around as if 

 they were holding a council, which indeed they were doing at that 

 very time. The bear which the elder brother had been chasing was 

 lying panting on the ground near his feet, but when he saw where he 

 was he made no attempt to shoot the animal. The chief of the bears 

 then said to the young man, "Why are you trying to kill all of my 

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