Page:Myths and Legends of British North America.djvu/111

 THE GREAT BEAR AND THE HUNTER

Chilcotin

NCE a man went out with his two dogs to hunt. It was in the autumn and there was a little snow on the ground. At night he camped.

As he lay on the ground under the trees, Great Bear appeared in the sky. Then the hunter started on, because he knew it was nearly morning. When he had gone but a little way, however, his dogs started a bear.

The bear ran fast and the dogs followed. The man followed both as rapidly as he could, and soon he came to a man sitting on a log. At once the hunter knew this was the bear. The man wore a blanket made of many different kinds of skins.

When the hunter came up, Bear said, "You thought last night I was slow in coming up, but my trail in the Sky Land is very hard and rough. Sun has the same trouble. He travels rapidly at first when the trail is smooth, but in the middle of the day the trail is rough and he travels more slowly. Then his trail grows easier again, and he travels more rapidly to the going-down place at the edge of the earth."