ii'ffman] STORY OF THE PORCUPINE 211 



out, saying, "Let us have some fun with him." "No, my sister," said 

 the other, "he is a rua'nido, and we had better let him alone." The for- 

 mer, however, continued to drive the Porcupine farther and farther 

 through the trunk until at last he came out, when she caught him and 

 pulled all the long quills out of his body, throwing them in the snow. 

 The other remonstrated against such cruelty, for she thought it was 

 too cold to deprive the Porcupine of his robe. Then the girls, who had 

 wasted some time and still had a great distance to travel, continued 

 their running toward the village for which they were bound. 



When they left the hollow log, the Porcupine crawled up a tall pine 

 tree until he reached the very top, where he faced the north and began 

 to shake before his breast his small tshi'saqka rattle, singing in time to 

 its sound. Soon the sky began to darken and the snow to fall, while 

 the progress of the girls, who were still running along, became more 

 and more impeded by the constantly increasing depth of snow. 



One of the sisters looked back and saw the Porcupine on the treetop, 

 using his rattle. Then she said to her sister who had plucked out his 

 quills, "My sister, let us go back to our own village, for I fear some 

 harm will befall us." 



"No; let us go on," replied her companion, "we need not fear the 

 Porcupine." As the depth of the snow impeded their progress, they 

 rolled up their blankets and continued the journey. 



The day was drawing to a close and the sisters had not yet reached 

 a point from which they could see the village they were striving to 

 reach. Traveling on, they came to a stream which they recognized as 

 being near the village, but night had come on, and the snow was now 

 so deep that they were compelled by exhaustion to stop. They could 

 hear the voices of the people in the village, but could not call loud 

 enough to be heard ; so they perished in the snow which the Porcupine 

 had caused to fall. One should never harm the Porcupine, because he 

 is a tshi'saqka and a ma'nido. 



THE RACCOON 



One time the Raccoon went into the woods to fast and to dream. He 

 dreamed that some one said to him, " When you awaken, you must 

 paint your face and body with bands of black and white; that will be 

 your own." 



When the Raccoon awoke, he went and painted liimself as he had 

 been told to do, and so we see him even at this day. 



THE RACCOON AND THE BLIND MEN 



The following tale represents the raccoon as the mischief maker, as 

 the annual of like propensities among other tribes is the coyote. 



There was a large settlement on the shore of a lake, and among its 

 people were two very old blind men. It was decided to remove these 



