So Alnūset set out at once; and Mātigwess cut down a hollow tree, the very one in which Mīko lay, and placed it on the fire for a backlog. He then put out the fire, so that there should be no smoke from the wigwam, and it might seem deserted. He also set a snare for Mawquejess, by bending down two large tree forks and fastening them in place with a twisted birch withe.
This done, he crawled into the hollow log to await the coming of Mawquejess. Poor Mīko, meantime, had taken refuge under some old roots.
They had not long to wait for Mawquejess, who was soon heard stealing cautiously along, examining everything suspiciously. He spied Mīko, and asked him where the two hunters were; but Mīko replied: “I saw them early this morning going towards the mountain.”
He did not add, as he might truthfully have done: “One of them came back, hoping to catch you.”
Mawquejess directed Mīko to keep watch, and warn him if he saw them returning. He then put his head into the wigwam, saw that the fire had gone out, and that there was only some dried meat hanging on poles; but this gave him courage to enter, for his appetite was keen this cold morning.
He found that his body was too big to go through the small door of the wigwam, so he took the hatchet which he always carries and began to chop a larger entrance. In cutting away the sticks, he cut the withes that fastened the snare, thus making it useless.
This alarmed Mātigwess, who had hoped to see him caught in the snare, and then kill him with his bow and arrow.
After working for several hours, Mawquejess got into the wigwam, seized the fattest piece of venison, and making a fire, began to cook it.
Mātigwess in the hollow log could bear the heat no longer. When his long tail began to scorch, he sprang out. Mawquejess caught him by the tail, and strove to hold him in the fire; but the tail broke off close to the body,[30] and Mātigwess escaped.
He found Mīko, and sent him to tell Alnūset that Mawquejess was in the wigwam devouring everything. He was nearly maddened by the loss of his dear tail, and he sang a magic song with great energy:—