254 ^ THE AMERICAN MOOSE 



but when he went to look for them, he saw the 

 moose tracks, and knew what had happened. He 

 at once took his snowshoes and tomahawk, and 

 started In pursuit of them. He traveled three 

 days and three nights, always following the tracks. 

 Every night he saw where they had nibbled the 

 bark from the trees and where they had rested in 

 the snow. On the fourth day he came to a clearing 

 where four moose were feeding, and he knew the 

 children had found their mother. He struck his 

 ax into a tree and hung his snowshoes on it, then 

 went to her and pleaded to be allowed to go with 

 them; so she turned him into a moose, and they 

 journeyed away together. 



"Meantime, his old father at home missed his 

 son and his grandchildren, and went to look for 

 them. He traveled three days and three nights, 

 as his son had done, following the footprints and 

 the tracks until, toward the fourth night, he saw 

 the tomahawk in the tree, with the snowshoes 

 hanging on it. He saw that now there were the 

 tracks of five moose in the snow instead of three, 

 and knew that he had come too late. These were 

 the parents of all the moose in the world today."^ 



9 In Indian Tents, pp. 101-105. Miss Abby L. Alger, the author, 

 assisted Charles G. Leland in collecting material for the Algonquin 

 Legends of New England. 



