95 
“Yes, indeed!” 
“But now our little wooden houses are in sight.” 
“Why, sweetheart mine, as far as yon house that we see, up to that 
place, is my name.” 
then they 
walked backwards, stooping over just like this. 
“Hey, what is the matter now with these little ones that make them- 
selves look like prairie chickens?” 
“Hey, mother, do not speak! Before you know it, you will be speak- 
ing your son-in-law’s name! It is his name, what we are doing until we 
bump into your house!” 
Then, from no one knew where, was heard the cry of a child. Walking 
backwards they landed 
against their little wooden house. Then they stopped. 
“Hey, my children, sit over there with that man, make your bed over 
there; I am too much given to sleep-walking; I might run into my son-in- 
law,” she said. 
When darkness fell, they went to bed. When it was almost daybreak, 
hey, there was the old woman crawling about; a bad case of sleep-walking! 
At last her son-in-law shoved her aside. 
“Hey, my children, that lake over there, if I ate the head and the 
tail of the giant beaver that is there,” said that old woman, “then, my 
dream tells me, I should cease to walk in my sleep, if tomorrow my son- 
in-law would kill it,” she said. 
The youth heard that. Presently, when day broke, early in the morn- 
ing he set out, taking an ax and his darts. When he reached the lake, in 
the centre he made a hole in the ice. He made a great hole in the ice. 
Then, “Now, O my grandfather, come forth! I have come to feed 
you that whose taste you so love!” he said. 
Presently, there came with gaping mouth the giant beaver. He threw 
his dart at it; he killed it. He took its head and its tail; he took them 
home. He flung them into the house. 
“Here are the things your mother wants to eat!” 
The old woman wept, crying, “My dream guardian!” Hey, as it is 
destined, go feed them to mortal men! These things they will eat; and 
him who has been slain they will fetch; they will eat him!” 
Again night fell; they went to bed. Then again the old woman walked 
in her sleep. 
There, when she awoke, “By my dream, if my son-in-law kills the 
giant jumping-deer, if my son-in-law kills him, that will be the end of my 
sleep-walking, if I eat its head,” she said. 
Then really, in the morning, “There he goes!” the people’s cry was 
heard. When he leaped out of the house, lo, that jumping-moose had 
bounded past. He threw a dart at it; he killed it; he took only its head. 
He flung it into the house. 
“Here is what your mother wants to eat!” he called to them. 
Again the old woman wept. 
“It is mourning my dream-spirit I am, that has been killed!” she said; 
“So now, my children, go feed it to mortal men!” 
“Yes,” they said. 
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