The next morning she went out into the woods and killed two deer and a bear and brought them back for her hosts.
After a number of days she said, “I hear my husband coming. You can save me. Cut six basswood poles as tall as a man and when we fight and he throws me down thrust them one by one into his back and you will kill him. Then I will repay you.”
The great stone giant came making a roar like a whirlwind, “Who-whoa-hoh-hoh-hoh!” and the giantess whispered, “Be ready and do your best. Do not be afraid.”
The man hid behind the big rocks and saw the female giant and her husband rush upon each other. They fought very hard and the stone broke when they hurled each other against them.
“The world is small, you could not escape me,” the giant thundered as he flung his wife upon her back and made ready to kill her. Then the man ran out and thrust the sharpened poles into the giant and they came out of his mouth.
“Oh, oh!” he cried, “I am killed, I am gone!” and he fell over dead.
The giantess was glad and rewarded her friend with a small patch of skin. “This skin is covered with the hairs of all animals,” she said, “and when you wish to kill a beast remove a hair and blow it on the wind. The animal will appear and you will be able to kill it.”
So the giantess went away and the man kept his great game charm and was thought a most successful hunter, and no one knew how he got animals when no one else could; but one day a boy saw him blow a hair and a beaver came. Then he hit it with a club and chopped off its tail.
54. THE ANIMATED FINGER.[[49]]
There was a boy named Skunniwundi who was a hunter. It was a time when there was a great famine and game was very scarce. The people were starving. Skunniwundi thought he would find out why there was no game. Long he had been warned not to go north, but north he went.