Now, once upon a time a man captured some little birds which are called ni·bənis·e “summer (guardian) birds.” He tied them in bundles and kept them with him all the time. That was the reason why it was continually winter, for so long as he held these birds, they could not bring summer to the [[64]]North Country. The people pondered very much how to go about freeing these birds from the creature who kept them. At last somebody discovered where this creature lived, and they decided that some one would go and try to free the Summer-birds. Now the Fresh-water Herring lived in the same wigwam with the man who kept the Summer-birds.
The Fisher at last decided to go and free the birds, so that summer would come. He travelled a long while and reached the wigwam where the captor and the Herring lived. When he went in, he found the Herring alone. He captured the Herring and put some pitch on his mouth, so that he could not cry out. Then Fisher took the bundles of birds and tried to break the bindings, so that he could free them. Using his teeth at last he tore open the bundles and the Summer-birds flew free into the air. Then the pitch broke from the Herring’s mouth and he cried out, “Fisher breaks the bundle! The Summer-birds! Fisher breaks the bundles with his teeth! The Summer-birds!” Two or three times he cried out, until their captor heard him. Then he came up running, but when he arrived, the Fisher and the Summer-birds were already far away.
The Fisher ran very fast to save himself. His pursuer had a bow and arrow with which he was going to kill him, but the Fisher sprang into the sky and climbed way up, with the hunter following behind him, still trying to shoot him with his bow and arrow. All he succeeded in shooting, however, was his tail, which is broken where it was wounded.[32] Although they chased him continually, they never got him.
(12) The Young Loon.
Once in the autumn of the year, when the birds were ready to fly to the south for the winter, a young Loon was unable to fly far enough to go with the rest of the birds. So he said to his mother, “I cannot go back south with you, as I am not strong enough. But I will stay here all winter in this place, and in the spring, when you come back, I will meet you here at this very spot. When you come back and find me here, it will be on a misty morning.” So they all flew away to the south, and [[65]]the young Loon was left behind for the winter. The mother was very sad because she had to leave him and because he was not strong enough to go with them.
In the spring time, when the ice is breaking up in the lake, and it becomes misty, the Indians say, “The Loon is coming back from her winter sojourn in the South.”
(13) The Giant Pike.
At that time there were two people living who got married and had some daughters and sons. These grew up and married. One of the sons married and had children, two sons. The grandfather of these died. Then the father and mother died, and left the children with only their grandmother to look after them. At this time they were big enough to shoot bows and arrows and to go in a canoe with their grandmother to set the night lines[33] for fish. They lived only by fishing, because the grandmother was too old to do anything else.
So these two boys used to play around, shooting bows and arrows for fun, just as the Ojibwa boys do now. They used to play near a lake. Then their grandmother would say to them, “Don’t swim in that lake. There is a big pike in there and he might swallow you.” The older boy believed his grandmother, but the younger did not. So one day, while they were playing, the younger boy by mistake shot his arrow out in the lake. He could see it floating on the surface, so he took off his clothes to swim to it. But his brother said, “You know what grandmother told you. The big pike might swallow you.” But the boy started to swim nevertheless, saying, “Koga′miko” (“swallowed in the water”) with each stroke that his arms took. When he called this out, the big pike came and swallowed him.
