536 REPORT—1899. 
cedar tree which was hanging loose and fluttering in the wind, and tore 
it off in his excitement, thinking he had caught the maiden by her dress, 
which had given way in his hand. ‘She is mine! I have her!’ he repeated 
again, as he grasped the tree in his arms. But before he could realise his 
mistake he was dragged back from the tree by a dozen hands, and had to 
take up the hunt again. And thus they strove in vain to find the maiden, 
until they had torn the clothes from each other’s backs, and the light of 
day had returned once more. ‘Who's got her?’ ‘Where is she?’ was 
now the cry all round ; and, to the astonishment of all, no one seemed to 
have secured the prize. She had escaped them all, and, moreover, was 
now nowhere to be seen. While all these frantic struggles in the dark 
had been going on, the old aunt had run round the other way and led 
back her niece into the house again, and, taking off her beautiful dress, 
had straightway hidden her in a large basket fashioned like a cradle, 
which she had prepared for the purpose. This she placed on a shelf just 
under the roof, where no one would be likely to investigate and discover 
its contents. Every one now wondered what could have become of the 
maiden, but none save crafty keen-eyed Lynx suspected that a trick had 
been played upon them by their chieftainess. It was commonly supposed 
that the sun, observing the beautiful maiden as she ran, had become 
enamoured of her, and had left his abode in the heavens and come down 
and seized and carried her off. ‘ How else,’ argued they, ‘could you 
account for the sudden darkness of midnight at noonday?’ But Lynx 
thought otherwise, though he said nothing. He, like the others, had 
entered the race, but, finding himself outstripped at the commencement, 
gave up the contest, and kept his keen eyes upon the chieftainess. He 
thought he had seen her run round the other side of the house and return 
again with her niece, but was not quite sure, as the darkness had baffled 
even his keen sight. Nevertheless he inclined to the belief that the 
maiden had returned to her aunt’s dwelling, and even now lay concealed 
there, and he determined to satisfy himself on this point before long. 
For several days and nights, therefore, he hung round the old woman’s 
keekwilee-house, making all sorts of excuses to pay her sudden and 
unexpected visits. At one time he would take her a fine salmon, at 
another some rare roots, and at another a haunch of venison ; but enter 
as often and as suddenly as he would, no trace of the maiden could he 
see. Having failed in this plan, he had resort to another. 
On each occasion that he had visited the old aunt’s house since the 
girl’s disappearance he had noticed the large cradle-basket on the shelf. 
He could not remember to have seen it before, and from its appearance 
it was plain that it was not an old cradle; so he could not help connect- 
ing its presence with the disappearance of the maiden. He vowed he 
would learn by some means the contents of that basket before long ; but 
as there was no chance of doing this openly he must find some other way. 
So accordingly one night, when the whole village was asleep, he stole to 
the roof of the old woman’s house and began sniffing over the spot where 
he knew the cradle lay, and having a keen nose soon assured himself 
that the maiden lay there asleep. Having satisfied himself on this score, 
he now carefully and quietly removed a little of the bark covering from 
the roof, thus making a small hole therein large enough to peep through 
and see the maiden sleeping soundly beneath him. Enlarging the hole 
a little, he thrust in his paw, and gently removing the blanket from her 
breast spat three times upon her abdomen, He then replaced the 
