Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 10, 1899.djvu/241

 Rh from entering. This the grizzly consented to do, and straightway sat herself down on the hole, telling Ground-hog 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 Ground-hog, "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 gound-hog 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 Ground-hog 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