XXVIII. TRAPPING IN THE HAPPY HUNTING GROUNDS
(Wyandot)
little papoose was found alone in the woods by a squaw. A blind bear had killed the child’s father, and a huge rabbit had carried off his mother.
The little papoose was taken to the home of his mother’s sister. She named him Tchakobeech. He never grew larger than a papoose, but he was as wise as an old chief. After many moons he made snares or traps and caught the blind bear and the big rabbit, but he never saw his mother again.
Tchakobeech said: “I will go to the Happy Hunting Grounds and find my father and my mother. I will climb to the sky and break it open.”
Tchakobeech left the wigwam one morning and climbed to the top of the tallest pine tree on the highest hill that he could find. No one saw him. Each time he was near the top of the pine he blew his breath on the tree, and it grew twice as tall as it was [[165]]at first. He did this many times, and at last he touched the blue sky. He put his head through this blue wigwam and stepped from the tree into the Happy Hunting Grounds.
Tchakobeech liked this new country very much, but he could not see any people. He was lonesome, so he went back down the tree to the ground. He had left a sister in his aunt’s wigwam. She was always ready to run races and to play with him. He told his sister of the beautiful place behind the sky, and she was ready to go back with him.
The tree did not fall, and Tchakobeech made his sister climb up first, for then he could help her if her foot slipped. He had made little wigwams on the big branches when he came down, and they slept in these when the dark came.
They had four sleeps before the sky was reached. Tchakobeech made another hole in the sky, and after his sister had gone through it he broke off the top of the tree and went through it himself. Nobody could follow them, for now the tree was too short.
The two were very happy together and played all day in the green fields. Tchakobeech made two wigwams and picked many flowers for their resting places. He set his traps to see if he could catch any animals. His sister told him there was nothing to catch in such a beautiful country. [[166]]
Tchakobeech heard a noise in the middle of the night and went to his traps to see what was the matter. They were all on fire, but did not seem to burn. He called to his sister to come and help him.
The little trapper said: “Sister, tell me what I shall do. I have caught a great fire in my traps.”
The girl trembled like a leaf on a tree. She said: “I know what is the matter. You have caught the sun. Let him go. He could not see in the dark, and his feet are caught. He cannot get away.”
The little papoose man could see that she told the truth. He was so small that the sun burned his hands and made him blind when he tried to let it out. Tchakobeech said: “I have made trouble for all the tribes on the ground. I am not wise any more.”
Just then a little mouse jumped out of a stump. It had been with its brothers to eat the moon. The papoose caught the mouse and breathed on it until it grew as big as a bear. Its teeth were very long. He drove it up to the traps, and it bit the leather strings.
The sun jumped out of the snares and went away.
He had been gone a whole day. All the tribes remember when the sun did not shine, and there was no morning between two sleeps. It was many moons ago. Tchakobeech did not put his snares in that place two times. The sun found another place to sleep and was never caught again.
Schoolcraft. [[167]]