Sure enough the Indians saw him. They recognized Wiske·djak by his antics and thought he was trying to play some trick on them, so they laughed about it and quietly paddled up close to him. They pretended they thought he was a bear and made out as though they were going to kill him. Wiske·djak swam as hard as he could for his life. “Hand me my axe,” said one of the Indians, “till I kill him.” “Stand aside till I shoot him with my arrow,” said another. “Hurry up, paddle hard or we’ll lose him,” said a third. They all kept shouting and making a great pretence to get after him, all the time laughing at Wiske·djak and splashing with their paddles as though trying to keep up with him. Wiske·djak all the time struggled ahead in great fear, expecting any moment to be killed. At last he got across the lake on the other shore and his feet struck bottom. He landed on a flat rock with the Indians behind him. Suddenly he slipped and fell on his head. The bear skull cracked and fell off and left his head free. Then he saw the Indians. “Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!” cried he. “I’m Wiske·djak.” Then he took to the bush and escaped.
(3) Wiske·djak Invites the Ducks to a Dance.
Wiske·djak was always hungry. One time, in the autumn of the year, he noticed the flocks of ducks flying south and how fat they were. Then he made up his mind to try and get some for a good supply against the winter. He decided to make a big dance among the birds in the autumn and to invite all the ducks and geese to come, so that he could kill them. Then he set to work and built a big wigwam and cleaned a nice place around the outside. He built a little fire in the middle of the wigwam and fixed a nice space all around it for the dance to take place. Then he made his door of birch bark, so that the centre stick, which keeps the bark spread, extended over the ends of the bark and kept it from opening inwards. Now, everything was about ready, so he went to see a Duck and said to him, “Soon, [[9]]now, you will be going away south to be gone all winter and not to come back until next spring. It will be a long time before I will see you again, so I want to get up a dance for you all. You go and invite all your friends—the Ducks, the Geese and the others who go south.” “All right,” said the Duck.
So he got ready and went back to his wigwam to wait for the company. To help invite the birds, he sat down in front of it and got his drum and rattle and began singing a song of invitation.
As the ducks came flying by overhead, they heard his song and came down to join the party. He sang his song and told them, “You are going away to be gone until next spring, and I won’t see you for a long time, so I want to get up a dance for you all, before you go.” A lot of them came down and he gathered a crowd outside. Then he said, “Now, let us go inside and have our good time,” and he opened the door and they all went in. Then he fixed the small fire in the middle so that it would just give enough light to see a little. “Now,” said he, “you must obey the rule of this dance and do whatever you are told when you hear the order.” He sat down on one side of the fire near the door and they all began dancing around. They got well mixed up before long—the geese, ducks, loons, and all kinds of birds, and Ciŋgəbis[3] was there too. When he got them warmed up to the dance, they all got mixed up and soon Wiske·djak said, “Now, you must all close your eyes and not open them until I give the word.” Then they obeyed and kept on dancing with their eyes closed. Then, while their eyes were closed, Wiske·djak got up and began wringing the neck of one after another. The noise of the dancing prevented them from hearing what he was doing.
Pretty soon, Ciŋgəbis began to suspect that Wiske·djak was moving around, so he danced over into a dark corner where Wiske·djak could not see him and opened one of his eyes a little to peep out. There he saw Wiske·djak going among the dancers, wringing their necks, and he called out, “Wiske·djak is killing you! Fly!” Then they opened their eyes and saw what was happening and took wing and flew away. But little [[10]]Ciŋgəbis was way up in the corner. When the birds rushed for the door, Ciŋgəbis got there last. Wiske·djak jumped at him and gave him a kick behind that knocked him out of shape. Then he kicked him out of the door and cried, “Now go, you little rascal.” Ciŋgəbis flew off. Ever since then he has been out of shape. His feet are so far back that he cannot walk on land. Wiske·djak did not eat the ducks he had killed after all. He was a curious lad, that Wiske·djak. (I wasn’t with him any longer. I left him there.)[4]
(4) Wiske·djak Anum Suum Urit and Originates Rock-weed and Red Willow from the Scabs.
Now Wiske·djak went on after he had kicked Ciŋgəbis. He saw the flocks of birds rising in the sky and flying overhead for the south to where it is warmer. When he lost sight of them, he went back into his wigwam and looked over what birds he had killed. He wondered how he could cook them best, so they would taste good. Then he made up his mind to build a big fire outside his wigwam. When he got the fire well started, he got a stick and sharpened its point; then with this he loosened up the ground all around and under the fire. When the fire burned down, it left the sand red hot round about, and the holes too. Then, where the holes were, he stuck the fowl head-first with their feathers all on just as he had killed them, leaving their feet sticking out above the ground. Then he put on more fire to roast them well in the hot sand. He stayed up part of the night tending his fire, until he grew drowsy. “Now,” said he, “I’ll take a little sleep while my birds are cooking in the sand.” But he grew uneasy lest somebody might come while he was sleeping and steal his birds. Now Wiske·djak had the power to make anything answer him when he spoke to it, no matter what it might be. So he decided to lie down in a clear space facing the lake where people would come in a canoe if any were around. He lay down ano suo lacui adverso, resting on his knees and elbows. “Now,” declared he, “I’m going to have a little sleep. You watch and tell me when you see any [[11]]Indians, if they should come in a canoe. Wake me up if you see anybody.” So he went to sleep. After a while anus ejus clamavit, saying that an Indian was coming. Wiske·djak jumped up and looked around everywhere, but could not see anybody. So he lay down again and ano suo idem dixit ut antea. But just as he was going to sleep, anus iterum clamavit, saying that a canoe was approaching from around the point. Wiske·djak jumped up again and looked all around, but he could not see any canoe. He then grew angry and anum suum vehementes objurgavit and warned it not to tell any more lies, as he wanted to go to sleep. Then he lay down and fell asleep again.
Now this time there were some Indians coming around the point in a canoe and they saw the smoke from Wiske·djak’s fire on the shore of the lake. Seeing something strange-looking near the fire—they could not well make out what—they paddled near. As they drifted quietly in shore, looking sharp to see what curious creature it might be, they came quite close. One of the Indians said, “Look out, it might be Wiske·djak up to some more of his mischief.” So one of the men went ashore and said, “I’ll go see who it is and what he is doing.” Then he went up the shore to where Wiske·djak was crouching asleep and looked at him. He then found out who it was, Wiske·djak, and saw the fire burning, but couldn’t see anything cooking. But at last he examined the fire-place and saw the fowls’ legs sticking out of the sand around the fire. He stepped closer to the fire and saw that they were the legs of all kinds of ducks and geese. Then he went down to the water and told the rest of the men what he had found. Said they, “We will all go up and take Wiske·djak’s ducks and geese out of the sand and play a trick on him.” So they got out of the canoe and took their paddles. They dug up all the fowl with the paddles and twisted the legs off them. The legs they stuck back in the sand just as Wiske·djak had placed them. They then took the ducks and geese and started off as fast as possible before Wiske·djak should wake up and see them.