come on! I’m not afraid of you, and I’ll tell you what I think of you!” There was no enduring such language as this from a groundhog; so she turned aside again and rushed at the little old fellow, who waited until she was nearly upon him, and then, with a scoffing laugh, scuttled down his hole, closing the door as before.
This delay, which good-natured Groundhog had caused the grizzly, enabled the boys to get to the river, jump into the waiting boat, and be ferried over before their enemy got to the bank. As the boys jumped out of the boat, the ferryman, who was known by the same name as his brother, told them not to trouble themselves about the grizzly any more, she would never trouble them again; that he was going to punish and make an end of her for her great wickedness. The three boys went on their way much relieved, wondering how the little ferryman was going to outwit and punish the great grizzly-woman. Earlier in the day, before the boys arrived, on learning from the talking-bird what a wicked woman the grizzly was, and that she was pursuing the boys and would desire to cross the river in his boat, he went to his food-cellar, and taking all his store of food, he carried it to the river’s bank. Calling all the fish in the river to him, he threw them the food, promising to give them a daily supper ever after if they would help him that day. They consented to do so, and asked what he wished them to do. He told them that later in the day he would have to ferry the grizzly-woman across, and that he would make her sit in a hole, which he would make for the purpose in the bottom of his canoe, and that as she sat there they were to all come and bite a piece out of her, the little trout first, and then the bigger ones, and then the salmon trout, and then the salmon themselves, and last of all the big sturgeon. They readily promised to do as he wished, the more so as the grizzly’s carcase was to be theirs afterwards. The boys had barely landed when the grizzly appeared on the opposite bank, and shouted for the ferryman to come and put her over. He was busily engaged in making the hole in his boat’s bottom, and cried out that he could not come over for a little while as he had to mend a hole in his boat that one of the boys he had just landed had made as he was jumping out of it. “Oh! never mind the hole,” shouted the impatient grizzly; “I am in a great hurry to cross. I cannot wait.” “But I could never bring you over with my boat in this condition,” answered Groundhog, as he knocked the last piece out of the hole. “I must really mend it first.” “I cannot be delayed in this manner,” called out the grizzly; “my business will not admit of delay. Come across at once; I will risk the passage.” The groundhog, having made the hole, no longer had any reason for delay; so after making the grizzly promise to do exactly what he told her, he sat in the far end of his canoe so that the fore part, which had the hole in it, rose completely out of the water, and enabled him to cross without letting the water in. When he reached the other side he pointed out the big hole in the bottom to the grizzly, telling her that it was very risky to attempt the passage with the boat in such a condition, and that the only possible way to cross would be for her to sit down in the hole, and thus prevent the water from entering. This the grizzly consented to do, and straightway sat herself down on the hole, telling Groundhog to hurry. “Now, don’t move on any account,” said he, as he pushed off, “or we shall both be drowned.” The boat had not gone far when the little trout began snapping at that portion of the grizzly’s body which protruded through the hole. At the first snap the grizzly gave a start, and half rose from her place, so that the water rushed in. “Sit down, and don’t move again, I beseech you,” cried Groundhog, “you’ll drown us both if you are not more careful. Is a flea-bite enough to make you risk our lives?” The grizzly had scarcely settled herself in the hole a second time when the bigger trout made a dash at her, biting big pieces out of her. She cried out and moved again; but seeing the water rush in, and urged by the remonstrance of the ferryman, who pretended to be greatly alarmed for their safety, she was fain to stop the hole with her body once more. The salmon-trout now attacked her, and again the pain made her rise from the hole, only to drop back into it a moment later; for the boat was now more than half full of water, and she believed that they would surely go down, as the groundhog vehemently pointed out, if she suffered any more water to enter the boat. And thus the wretched grizzly was torn and bitten first by one fish and then by another, rising out of the hole after each bite, and declaring she could stand it no longer, only to drop back again a moment later, as the rising water urged her to stop the leak for her own safety’s sake, until the great sturgeon rushing at her tore her entrails out and she dropped dead in the boat. Thus did she miserably perish and suffer for her misdeeds. The boys had waited in hiding on their side of the river; and when they saw the grizzly’s end, they thanked Groundhog for his help and continued their journey with easy minds.
When they had gone on their way some little distance further, they began to feel very hungry, having eaten nothing since they left home. Moreover, it was camping time; so a halt was proposed, and while the two elder brothers sat wondering how they should procure food for themselves, the younger one strolled off by himself. He had not gone far when he observed a large elk before him. Straightway transforming himself into a little humming-bird, he flew at the elk, and entering it by the fundament passed clean through and came out of its mouth, thus causing it to fall dead where it stood. Having done this, he assumed his boy’s form again and sat on the antlers of the elk to await his brothers, who, having missed him, now came to look for him, and were greatly surprised to find him sitting on the antlers of a recently killed elk. When questioned, he pretended ignorance of its presence there; but the second brother suspected that he knew more than he would tell, and was in no way surprised at events which befell later.
Next day as they went on their way, they came to a large beaver pond. Said the eldest brother, as he saw the beavers: “How I would like some beaver-tail for supper tonight; there is nothing so delicious as beaver-tail.” The little one said nothing; but presently, when the camp-ground had been chosen for the night, he strolled off by himself along the edge of the lake, and stooping down drank of the water till the lake was quite dry. He then took a stick and killed all the beavers one after the other as they ran out of their holes, and piling them one on top of another sat down upon the topmost and awaited his brothers’ presence. Seeing him seated on what appeared to them a tree stump they called to him to come to camp; but as he took no notice of them, they came to fetch him, and great indeed was their astonishment to see what they had taken for a tree stump was a pile of freshly-killed beavers. “Now, brother,” said he to the eldest, “you will be able to have beaver-tail for supper.” The second one was now quite sure in his mind that his little brother possessed great medicine, or power, and recalled to the elder one’s memory the mysterious way their supper of the night before had been provided for them, as he endeavoured to persuade him of the same. But the elder brother laughed at the idea, and would not believe in this suddenly-acquired power of his little brother. The little one himself had offered no explanation of the beavers’ presence, only requesting that his brothers should take out all the beavers’ eyes for him and thread them on a cord. This they did, and he bound the string of eyes round his head and lay down to sleep.
On the following morning the eldest brother arose early and waked the other two, but the little fellow declared that he was not ready to start yet. At this the eldest brother threatened to go on and leave him behind. “All right,” replied the little one, “go on if you want to. I shall not come yet.” The eldest brother did so, taking with him the second brother, who was very reluctant to leave his little brother, whom he had hitherto carried all the way on his shoulders. He tried to persuade the other to wait, but he would not hear of it. After they had started, the second brother kept looking back as they proceeded, hoping to see his little brother coming after them; but he still slept by the fire and made no effort to follow them. And now suddenly there arose a great flood, and the waters spread rapidly over the land. The two brothers made for some rising ground close by, the second one looking anxiously back from time to time in the direction of their late camp. “Our brother will surely be drowned. Let us hasten back and wake him,” said he; but as he spoke they both saw from the higher ground that the waters were raging and roaring along the path by which they had just come, and that a return to the camp was now impossible. As they stood watching the rising waters, they were surprised to see the smoke still ascending from the camp fire and the outlines of their brother’s form lying peacefully by its side. Wondering how this could be, as the camp lay in the valley by the side of the lake, they perceived that a strange and wonderful thing
