The Deer entered, leaping and dancing, and his grace was much admired, but as he danced around the fire he swung his long tail over it, and the pitch blazed up. He ran out, sprang into the sea and swam off, with his lighted tail flaring above the waves like a torch. Many sprang into their canoes and tried to follow him, but he escaped and reached our shores in safety. There he struck a dead fir tree with his blazing tail and said to it:
“You shall burn as long as the years last!”
We should remember that it is to him we owe the gift of fire, for his tail was burned off, and since that day all Deer have had a short black tail.
RAVEN AND THE CRAB
Raven had been flying all night over the ocean, and he had grown very hungry indeed, but what was there to eat? At sunrise he reached a sand spit, and there sat a large Crab. Raven thought he might be good to eat, but he was a little timid about attacking him, so he merely touched him on the back, saying, “Let us have a game, grandfather!”
“Certainly not,” replied the Crab gruffly.
But Raven grew bolder and touched him again and again, crying out teasingly, “Come on, let us have a game, grandfather!”
Presently the tide turned, and about that time the Crab grew angry. He seized Raven by the leg and walked very slowly into the water with him.
“Dear grandfather, only let me go!” begged Raven, for he was terribly frightened.
Crab paid no attention to his prayers and cries, but walked on the bottom of the sea until he felt sure that his enemy was dead, when he let go of him, and Raven came up and floated lifeless on the top of the waves.