“What a trouble Manabozho is!” cried the king-fish. “Sun-fish, take hold of his line.”
The sun-fish did as he was bid, and Manabozho drew him up, crying as he did so—
“Wha-ee-he! wha-ee-he!” while the canoe turned in swift circles.
When he saw the sun-fish, he cried—
“Esa, esa! you odious fish! why did you dirty my hook by taking it in your mouth? Let go, I say, let go.”
The sun-fish did as he was bid, and on his return to the bottom of the lake told the king-fish what Manabozho had said. Just then the bait was let down again near to the king, and Manabozho was heard crying out—
“Me-she-nah-ma-gwai, take hold of my hook.”
The king-fish did so, and allowed himself to be dragged to the surface, which he had no sooner reached than he swallowed Manabozho and his canoe at one gulp. When Manabozho came to himself he found he was in his canoe in the fish’s stomach. He now began to think how he should escape. Looking about him, he saw his war-club in his canoe, and with it he immediately struck the heart of the fish. Then he felt as though the fish was moving with great velocity. The king-fish observed to his friends—
“I feel very unwell for having swallowed that nasty fellow Manabozho.”
At that moment he received another more severe blow on the heart. Manabozho thought, “If I am thrown up in the middle of the lake I shall be drowned, so I must prevent it.” So he drew his canoe and placed it across the fish’s throat, and just as he had finished doing this the king-fish tried to cast him out.