178 THE MENOMINI INDIANS [eth.aiw.14 



people? Don't you see that around you there are a number with 

 arrows sticking into their bodies'? That is the work done by you 

 and your brothers. I will put a stop to this by transforming: you into 

 a bear." 



By this time the second brother came up breathlessly to where the 

 eldest one stood, and cried out, "Don't you see that bear lying there; 

 why don't you shoot him?'' — and grasping his arrow he attempted to 

 thrust it into the bear; but his brother held back his arm and said, 

 "Don't you see where you are? " 



The one addressed was not aware that he was in the presence of the 

 chief of the bear ana'maqki'u, but continued to struggle forward to 

 kill the bear. Again the elder brother remonstrated with him, and 

 then he looked up and beheld the angry bears about him. On one side 

 were the servants of the Bear chief, while on the other side, but farther 

 away, were the servants of the chief's sister, who also was there. The 

 chief's sister had compassion on the two young men and begged her 

 brother, the Bear chief, not to kill them. He told them that he would 

 not take their lives, but that he would transform the brothers in such a 

 way that they would be half bear and half human — the arms and legs 

 being like the fore and hind legs of a bear, while the head and body of 

 each should rauain as they were. There were two springs of water in the 

 ground near where the brothers were standing. When the Bear chief 

 advanced to them, he took from the water a bunch of moss and rubbed 

 it over the boys' legs and arms, when these members immediately became 

 likened to the corresponding limbs of a bear. 



In the meantime, the father of the boys, having awaited in vain their 

 return, started out to hud them. The Bear chief knew that search 

 would be made for the young men, so he told one of his servants to go 

 to the brush at the fork of the trail, and there await the boys' father. 

 The father, on reaching the fork of the trail, did not know which 

 direction his sons had taken, but after a few moments' search he dis- 

 covered fresh tracks of snowshoes leading forward toward the brush from 

 which the bears had appeared. Iu following this trail the father went 

 forward so fast that he stumbled, and falling slid headlong into a cavity 

 in which the bear servant of the Bear chief had secreted himself. The 

 bear thereupon broke the man's neck, and awaited the coming of any- 

 one else who might search for the young men or their father. 



When the father did not return to the wigwam, his wife knew that 

 some disaster had befallen him, so she decided to follow his trail and to 

 learn, if possible, what had become of him and her two sons. She 

 started upon the course taken by the now missing men until she arrived 

 at the fork of the trail. Here she discovered the tracks of snowshoes 

 leading forward on the two branches of the trail, but she was undecided 

 which she should follow. She espied the brush, a short distance ahead, 

 where the bears had before secreted themselves, and while contemplat- 

 ing the situation her eyes fell upon the snowshoe tracks made by her 



