His love of adventures was not satisfied, and in a little time he went again to the forest and made his camp by the lake, where he had been before so unsuccessful in hunting. Now he found plenty of game, and when spring came, he thought he would try still another mode of voyaging—he would like to fly through the air. Seeing a flock of geese upon the waters, he thought if he were secured to their feet he might rise with them and be carried along through the aerial regions, and look down upon the [[118]]valleys beneath. So he took strips of bark and stealthily crept into the water, and swimming along, suddenly encircled them with his string, and tied himself to their feet, when with a great screaming they rose and he was borne along over mountains, and rivers, and valleys, where he saw strange people, and plains, and heard strange and beautiful music. After awhile he was borne so far aloft, that he could scarcely breathe; then he severed the string and descended again to earth. On alighting, he found himself snugly settled in a hollow tree. He received no harm, but could see no way of escape. For several days he was a prisoner, and again in danger of starving, when he heard voices and endeavored to speak. The noise he made attracted the attention of those who passed by, and thinking it some animal, they felled the tree, and lo! to their astonishment, it was a man.
As soon as he was set free, he proceeded on his way and came to a large stream, the color of which was bright crimson. Never before had he seen any thing so beautiful. He drank of it and the taste was like a ripe strawberry. He followed it to its source, and found it issued from one of these berries, the size of which was marvellous, and gave rise to a never failing rivulet, to refresh the hunter when he was weary and found no food.
Again he pursued his way, and whilst wandering in the forest he saw something that looked like a great cloud. Slowly it sailed to and fro, and when it descended he saw that it was an army of grasshoppers each as large as a canoe. They were frightful to behold.
Again he thought he would spend the winter in hunting, and plunged into the thick forest where the bear and buffalo made their haunts. But in vain he bent his bow and set his trap. They all eluded his vigilance. Then in a dream was suggested to him the hunter’s charm. [[119]]He used it, and there came flocking to him from all the country every animal of the forest, so near that he could touch them, and so tame that he could sleep in the midst of them unharmed. Then he built him a hut to dry his venison, and though he had enough, he was still surrounded. Every four-footed and creeping thing infested his dwelling till he was obliged to flee.
Again he returned hence and related his marvellous adventures, which now none believed, yet he was not satisfied. His thirst for fame was insatiable, and his egotism inexhaustible. Absenting himself another long period, he returned with still greater beasts.
He crossed a stream of a rich golden hue, and being thirsty drank of its waters, and was astonished at the delicious flavor. On tracing it, he found it to issue from a mandrake which was an inexhaustible fountain, and sent forth its juices to refresh the wayfarer, lest he faint in the wilderness.
Pursuing his way he saw a duck sailing upon a dimpling pool, and bent his bow for its destruction; the arrow passed through the duck, and glancing upon the waters, pierced a deer that was slaking her thirst at the fountain; not having spent its force, the arrow glided on and entered a tree, making an opening from which issued a stream of richest honey. Here he rested and enjoyed a feast. Again when sitting beneath a spreading walnut-tree, he saw a nut rolling over and over upon the ground; on striking it with his tomahawk, a seam was made in the shell, through which came forth a bear; and then another and another, till six monsters of the forest were reclining around him, whose home was the walnut-shell!
The bears in the walnut-shell remind us of the fairies in a hazel-nut shell, as sung by Drayton, our old [[120]]English poet, in the “Court of Fairy.” In fear of falling into the hands of a hobgoblin the fairies,
“Hop, and Mop, and Drop, so clear,
Pip, and Trip, and Skip, that were