182 THE MKNOMINI INDIANS ' [eth. Aim. 14 



robe; I have been cruelly treated this day." Then he turned his face 

 away and continued to weep. Even in his sleep he sobbed, because of 

 his distress. 



When he awoke, he said to his sister, " My sister, give me a thread ; I 

 wish to use it." 



She handed him a sinew thread, but he said to her, •' No, that is not 

 what I want; I want a hail thread.'' Sbe said to him, " Take this; this 

 is strung." " No," he replied, " that is not the kind of a thread I want ; 

 I want a hair thread." 



She then understood his meaning, and plucking a single hair from 

 her person handed it to him, when he said, " That is what I want," and 

 taking it at both ends he began to pull it gently, smoothing it out as it 

 continued to lengthen until it reached from the tips of the fingers of 

 one hand to the ends of the fingers of the other. 



Then he started out to where the Sun's path touched the earth. 

 When he reached the place where the Sun was when it burned his robe, 

 the little boy made a noose and stretched it across the path, and when 

 the Sun came to that point the noose caught him around the neck and 

 began to choke him until he almost lost his breath. It became dark, 

 and the Sun called out to the ma'nidos, "Help me, my brothers, and 

 cut this string before it kills me." The ma'nidos came, but the thread 

 had so cut into the flesh of the Sun's neck that they could not sever it. 

 When all but one had given up, the Sun called to the Koq'kipikuq'ki 

 (the mouse) to try to cut the string. The Mouse came up and gnawed 

 at the string, but it was difficult work, because the string was hot and 

 deeply embedded in the Sun's neck. After working at the string a 

 good while, however, the Mouse succeeded in cutting it, when the Sun 

 breathed again and the darkness disappeared. If the Mouse had not 

 succeeded, the Sun would have died. Then the boy said to the Sun, 

 "For your cruelty I have punished you; now you may go." 



The boy then returned to his sister, satisfied with what he had done. 



THE HUNTER AND THE ELK PEOPLE, AND HOW THE MOOSE WERE 



DEFEATED 



In this myth the hunter proves to have been Mii'nabush, he having 

 in some unexplained manner assumed the dress and manner of a hunter, 

 and in that guise experienced some curious adventures, as follows : 



The three brothers now lived with and provided for their sister, until 

 one day the eldest felt inclined to go away hunting in a region which 

 he had not before visited. While away, at a great distance from his 

 own kindred, he came upon a wigwam inhabited by a family of three 

 X^ersons — a man aud his wife and their only child, who was a girl. The 

 young hunter became fond of the girl and married her, but soon moved 

 away and built a wigwam of his own. In due course of time the hunt- 

 er's wife bore a child, and then the hunter was obliged to hunt for 

 more game and furs to provide for his little family. His wife was not 



