Moo.NEY] THE ICE MAN 323 



their clieoks. A second time ho .struck his hair across his iiand, and a 

 light rain began to fall. The third time he struck his hair across his 

 open hand there was sleet mixed with the raindrops, and when he struck 

 the fourth time great hailstones fell upon the ground, as if they had 

 come out from the ends ol his hair. " Go back now," .said the Ice Man, 

 ■"and I shall be there to-morrow." So the messengers returned to 

 their people, whom they found still gathered helple.ssly alxnit the great 

 burning pit. 



The next day while they were all watching al)out the tire there came a 

 wind from the north, and they were afraid, for they knew that it came 

 from the Ice Man. But the wind only made the tire blaze up higher. 

 Then a light rain began to fall, but the drops seemed only to make the 

 lire hotter. Then the shower turned to a hea\\v rain, with sleet and 

 hail that killed the blaze and made clouds of smoke and steam rise from 

 the red coals. The people tied to their homes for shelter, and the storm 

 rose to a whirlwind that drove the rain into every burning crevice and 

 piled great hailstones over the embers, until the fire was dead and even 

 the smoke ceased. When at last it was all over and the people returned 

 the_y found a lake where the burning pit had been, and from below the 

 water came a sound as of embers still crackling. 



72. THE HUNTER AND SELU 



A hunter had been tramping over the mountains all day long with- 

 out finding any game and when the sun went down, he built a fire in 

 a hollow stiunp. swallowed a few mouthfuls of corn gruel and lay down 

 to sleep, tired out and completely discouraged. About the middle of 

 the night he dreamed and seemed to hear the sound of beautiful sing- 

 ing, which contiiuied until near daybreak and then appeared to die 

 away into tlie upper air. 



All next day he hunted witii the same poor success, and at night made 

 his lonely camp again in the woods. He slept and the strange dream 

 came to him again, but so vividly that it seemcci to liini like an actual 

 hapj)eniiig. Rousing himself before daylight, he still heai'd the song, 

 and feeling sure now that it was real, he went in tiie direction of tiie 

 sound and found that it came from a single green stalk of corn (■■o'lii). 

 The plant sjjoke to him. and told him to cut off some of its i-oots and 

 take them to his home in the settlement, and the next morning to chew 

 them and "go to water" before anyone else was awake, and then to 

 goout again into the woods, and he would kill many dcei-and from that 

 time on would always be successful in the hunt. 'I'hc corn plant 

 continued to talk, teaching him hunting secrets and telling him always 

 to be genei'ous with th(> game he took, until it was noon and the sun 

 was high, when it suddenly took the form of a woman and rose grace- 

 fully into the air and was gone fiom sight, leaving the hunter alone- in 

 the woods. 



He returned home and told his stoiy, and all the people knew that 



