Page:Myths and Legends of British North America.djvu/207

 WISKE-DJAK AND GREAT BEAVER

Algonquin

ISKE-DJAK was traveling about, looking for adventures. He never succeeded in anything he tried to do, and he was always hungry. In his travels he came to Turn-back Lake. White men call it Dumoine Lake. He had no canoe, but he was a good swimmer, yet when he came to Turn-back Lake, he found it too broad to swim. Therefore he started to walk around it.

Wiske-djak wanted to hunt beaver. On one side of the lake he came to a high mountain, very round, which looked just like a beaver lodge. And a little way offshore, in the lake, was a small island, with many grasses.

"Hm-m-m! " said Wiske-djak, "This must be the home of Big Beaver." And so it looked, with the great, round lodge and the island of grasses.

Wiske-djak tried to think how to catch Big Beaver. At last he went to the lower end of the lake and broke down the dam, so the water would run off. He lingered there while the lake drained. He even took a nap. When it was low enough for him to get at Big Beaver,