Page:Kutenai Tales.djvu/246

Rh was about to shoot | Wolf, who did not see him. He touched his canoe, || and it made a little noise. Wolf heard the canoe. | He looked 100 at it, and Buck was standing in the water, | about to shoot him. Wolf said to him: "O brother-in-law! I love you. | Don't kill me!" Buck said: | "I shall not take pity on you, for you have killed all my relatives." || The Wolf was shot and killed. Fish said: | "Go 105 back to your wife. Your son is poor." | Now I have told all that happened in olden times. |

Well, I'll tell you what happened, what the brothers | Skunk and Fisher did long ago. |

Skunk and his brother lived in a tent. Fisher was his younger brother. | There also was the tent of Frog and her granddaughters, Chipmunk and || Big Chipmunk. | 5

Chipmunk was hungry for meat, and said: Haom, | haom!" Her grandmother said to her: O granddaughter, granddaughter! | what do you mean?" Chipmunk said: "I am hungry." | Her grandmother said to her: "Take whatever you hunger for." || Chipmunk said: 10 "I am hungry for meat." | Her grandmother said to her: "Take a little piece of dried meat. Eat it." | Chipmunk did not take it. She was told: "Do you want fresh meat?" | She replied: "Yes." Then her grandmother, Frog, said to her: "Go to | Fisher. He shall be your husband. Don't look at || Skunk. He is bad. Only Fisher 15 shall be your husband. | Fisher never is hungry. He is a skillful hunter." | Then the sisters Chipmunk and Big Chipmunk started. | Their grandmother said to them: "When you get there, stay at a distance. After a while, | in the evening you will see Fisher coming back. Then || you may go near." When the sisters arrived (at the tent), | they 20, staid at a little distance. Skunk knew already | that the two girls were coming. He had manitou powder; therefore | he knew that they were there. He was always pounding bones. He worked | his manitou power. He took his younger brother's blanket, put it on, and went out, || and his manitou pounded bones. Chipmunk said: | 25 "Let us go near! There is Fisher. | He is at home." She was told by her elder sister: "That is not Fisher | who came out, it is Skunk." Chipmunk said: | "Where Fisher came out, there is always the noise of Skunk pounding (bones) || inside." She was told by her elder sister: 30 "It is not Skunk who | makes the noise. Skunk's manitou does it." After a while | Chipmunk insisted. Then her elder sister said: "Well, I let us go, but do not feel badly about it if it is not Fisher. |