81 
Then, in the evening, “Now, this time let the number be eighty,” 
he was told. 
“How is it to be this time, big brother?” 
“Over the smooth place on the ice there will be a race. They are never 
beaten at this,” he said. 
“Oh, very well!” 
The next morning they went there. There, the others were there 
already; then they started. Little Snow-Dart’s father was coming a long 
ways off, from the far shore. 
When they got there, “Oho, do not forget we were to have a contest! 
Do not forget we were to race each other!” Silly-Fellow’s father was told. 
He flung himself down, and off went an otter, sliding over the smooth 
surface. It went very fast. 
“Come, father, go in pursuit!” he said to his father. 
Then his father said, “I shall not be able to overtake him, my son; 
he has far outdone me,” said he. 
When he flung himself down, there was a mink. It, too, as well as it 
might, went gliding over the ice. 
Then the opponent who was paired with Little Snow-Dart, said, “When 
first I dreamt, the elk-ball took pity on me!” and threw himself on the 
ground. 
Swiftly that elk-ball went speeding. 
Then Little Snow-Dart said, “As first I dreamt, on ahead you will 
stay still. Half-way across the ice you will flounder as though mired!” 
he said; “When first I dreamt, the treetop took pity on me!” he said. 
Truly, he went pursuing the other. 
“As swiftly as speeds a bullet through the air, so swiftly will you speed, 
my snow-dart!” he said. 
Truly, when he reached that which had befriended him in dreams, 
why, there he was in the lead. In pitch, in sticky gum his father was badly 
stuck; close to that place the others were passing. 
“Father, hold fast here, at the rear!” he said to him. 
He seized hold of the snow-dart as it passed him, and overtook that 
otter. 
“Do not forget we were racing!” he said to it. 
“Yes! Don’t you see how fast I am going?” it answered him. 
Then that elk-ball. It was floundering in something that held it 
stuck fast. 
“Do not forget we were racing!” he said to it. 
“Yes! Can’t you see how fast I am going?” it said to him. 
Truly, Silly-Fellow’s father and his partner were outstripping the 
others. This made the others angry. 
“Come, in full number now!” they were told. 
Now there was danger that Silly-Fellow might be killed; they could 
not possibly defeat the others. 
“And this time we shall not do as the other does!” they were told. 
Then Little Snow-Dart went and called the boys. 
“Now, go help our grandmother. They are to be very small; cut up 
those entrails,” he said. 
Then, the next morning, at once they all went in a body to the edge 
of the lake. 
