hoffman] THE FOOD OF THE DEER 201 



that his shadow fell on the spot where the Sucker had taken refuge. 

 While hovering thus the Fish-hawk saw the Sucker becoming restless, 

 and the latter, seeing the shadow of a large bird on the bed of the 

 stream, became alarmed at it, for he thought it might be some evil 

 ma'nido, and slowly rose toward the surface. This was just what the 

 Fish-hawk desired to accomplish, and so soon as the Sucker had come 

 within a short distance of the surface the Fish-hawk pounced on him, 

 caught him in his claws, and took him away to devour him. 



The Rabbit then looked around him and espied Moqwai'o (the wolf), 

 and, calling him to come nearer, asked him, " Moqwai'o, what will you 

 select as your food?" The Wolf replied, "I will select the Deer." But 

 the Deer replied, " You can not eat me, because I am too fleet for you." 

 The Wolf said they would decide that, and both made preparations for 

 a race. The Deer sped away, followed by the Wolf. The latter still 

 wore his fur robe, hence the Deer gradually increased the space between 

 them after they had run for a great distance. The Wolf soon found 

 that he could not catch the Deer the way in which he was running, so 

 he threw off his robe, discharged a quantity of excrement, and bolted 

 ahead, soon capturing the Deer, which he ate. 



Then another Deer — one of the same totem — was asked by the Rab- 

 bit: "Deer, what will you select as food?" 



The Deer replied, "I will eat people; there are many Indians in the 

 country, and I will subsist on them." 



"But," exclaimed the other birds \nd animals present, "the Indian 

 is too powerful; you will never be able to eat people." 



" Well," returned the Deer, " I will select them anyhow." and started 

 away. 



It happened that at one time when an Indian was out hunting in tho 

 forest he discovered the tracks of a deer, which made a large circuit 

 to the right. lie followed these tracks, and on returning to the place 

 at which he had first seen them he observed that they took a course 

 toward the left and made another large circuit. He followed the tracks 

 in this direction, and when he returned to the place where he had first 

 seen them he observed that a deer was following him; so he posted 

 himself at a place where he might get a good view of the animal. 



The Deer was fully determined to catch the Indian and eat him, and 

 to accomplish this he pulled a rib from each of his sides and stuck 

 them into his lower jaw to represent tusks. The Deer came along 

 looking for the Indian, and when the latter saw the quadruped coming 

 toward him he raised his bow, and, pulling a strong arrow let it fly 

 with such force and precision as to pass entirely through its body. 



The hunter then took the Deer and cut off the meat, which he carried 

 to his wigwam. Then the shade of the Deer went back to the gather- 

 ing of birds and animals, and told them what had happened. " You 

 see," said the Rabbit, "you are not strong enough to kill people for 

 food, so you will have to resort to grass and twigs." 



