After this Nenebuc began travelling again. One time he feasted a lot of animals. He had killed a big bear, which was very fat and he began cooking it, having made a fire with his bow-drill. When he was ready to spread his meat, he heard two trees scraping together, swayed by the wind. He didn’t like this noise while he was having his feast and he thought he could stop it. He climbed up one of the trees and when he reached the spot where the two trees were scraping, his foot got caught in a crack between the trees and he could not free himself.
When the first animal guest came along and saw Nenebuc in the tree, he, the Beaver, said “Come on to the feast, Nenebuc is caught and can’t stop us.” And then the other animals came. The Beaver jumped into the grease and ate it, and the Otter did the same, and that is why they are so fat in the belly. The Beaver scooped up the grease and smeared it on himself, and that is the reason why he is so fat now. All the small animals came and got fat for themselves. Last of all the animals came the Rabbit, when nearly all the grease was gone—only a little left. So he put some on the nape of his neck and some on his groin and for this reason he has only a little fat in those places. So all the animals got their fat except Rabbit. Then they all went, and poor Nenebuc got free at last. He looked around and found a bear’s skull that was all cleaned except for the brain, and there was only a little of that left, but he couldn’t get at it. Then he wished himself to be changed into an ant in order to get into the skull and get enough to eat, for there was only about an ant’s meal left.
(e) Nenebuc Gets Caught in the Bear’s Skull.
Then he became an ant and entered the skull. When he had enough he turned back into a man, but he had his head inside [[34]]the skull; this allowed him to walk but not to see. On account of this he had no idea where he was. Then he felt the trees. He said to one, “What are you?” It answered, “Cedar.” He kept doing this with all the trees in order to keep his course. When he got too near the shore, he knew it by the kind of trees he met. So he kept on walking and the only tree that did not answer promptly was the black spruce, and that said, “I’m Se·′se·ga‵ndαk” (black spruce). Then Nenebuc knew he was on low ground. He came to a lake, but he did not know how large it was, as he couldn’t see. He started to swim across. An Ojibwa was paddling on the lake with his family and he heard someone calling, “Hey! There’s a bear swimming across the lake.” Nenebuc became frightened at this and the Ojibwa then said, “He’s getting near the shore now.” So Nenebuc swam faster, and as he could understand the Ojibwa language, he guided himself by the cries. He landed on a smooth rock, slipped and broke the bear’s skull, which fell off his head. Then the Ojibwa cried out, “That’s no bear! That’s Nenebuc!” Nenebuc was all right, now that he could see, so he ran off, as he didn’t want to stay with these people.
(f) Nenebuc Wounds the Giant Lynx, Disguises Himself in a Toad’s Skin, and Finally Slays Her.
He had his bow and arrow with him, and as he went along he saw a great snake.[8] He shot it with his arrow. He came to a big lake with a nice, sandy shore, where he saw Lions[9] (mici·′bizi‵w “giant lynx”). He couldn’t shoot them with his arrow as they were too far away, nor was there any place where he could hide himself until they came to sun themselves by the shore, when they felt too cold in the water. Finally he hit upon a plan. He took some birch bark from a rotten stump, rolled it into a hollow cylinder, and placed it, like a wigwam, near the shore. He got inside and made a little hole in the bark through which to shoot and kill the Lions. [[35]]
When the Lions saw the thing on the beach, they grew curious to find out what this strange thing was on the beach that was not there the day before. So they sent a big snake to twist around it and to try to upset it, but the snake did not succeed in doing this, for Nenebuc stood too firm. So the Lions came ashore upon the sand and Nenebuc shot one of them with his arrow—a she-lion, the wife of the Lion chief. He did not kill her, but wounded her badly in the side, and the flint arrow point stayed in the wound. She was very badly wounded and went back to a hole which led to a cave in a big rock where she lived.[10] Nenebuc was sorry that he had not killed the Lion queen.
As he went along the shore, the next morning, he heard someone singing and shaking a rattle. Nenebuc stood there wondering and waiting, and pretty soon he saw an old woman making the song. So he went across to see her, and when they met, he asked her, “What are you doing?” “I’m a doctor,” she answered. “The queen of the Lions has been shot by Nenebuc and I am going to cure her.” She didn’t know that it was Nenebuc to whom she was talking, for she was too old. So Nenebuc told her, “Let me hear you singing. Is that what you are going to do to cure her?” “Yes, I will sing and then pull out that arrow.” The Lions had sent for her at the foot of the lake to cure the queen. Nenebuc picked up a club and killed her, saying, “You are no doctor (macki·ki·′winini‵k·we ‘medicine-person woman’) at all.” Then he discovered that she was no person at all, but a big toad (omα′kαk·i·‵). So he skinned her and put on the skin. The skin had a hole in the groin, and as he had no needle to sew it up with, his scrotum hung out when he put it on himself. This did not worry Nenebuc, for he thought, “It will be all right, unless they notice me too closely.” So he walked past the cave in which the Lions lived and kept singing and rattling all the time.
When the young lions heard him, they said, “There’s the old medicine woman coming.” They were very glad to think that their mother would be cured. So they opened the door in the rock and Nenebuc went in, and one of the daughters came to [[36]]meet him and said, “Come in, old woman.” They were very much pleased. Nenebuc said, “Don’t shut the doors. Leave them open, as the queen needs plenty of fresh air!”[11] Then he said, “I’m hungry. I’ve had a long walk and I’m tired.” Then they gave him a good meal first. While he was eating, he sat with open legs and the children cried out, “Look at the old woman with testicles hanging out!” But the older ones told them to be silent, as they thought some old women had testicles.
When he had finished eating, Nenebuc said, “Don’t watch me. I’m going to pull out the arrow point. You will hear her suffering and me singing, but don’t look until you hear her stop suffering. Then she will be cured, and the arrow point will be out. So don’t look, for I am going to cure her.” Then he began rattling and singing, and, as he did so, he shoved the arrow point farther into the wound of the queen in order to kill her. When she yelled, her people thought that the hurt was caused in pulling it out. At last one of the little lion children peeped and saw Nenebuc pushing the arrow farther in. He told his sister, “That’s Nenebuc himself inside!” Then Nenebuc ran outside and the Queen Lion was dying. Nenebuc had difficulty to clear himself. He pulled off the toad skin and tried to climb up the rock.