“O mother, make a lunch for us!” they exclaimed.
“Where are you going?” asked the old woman.
“We are going out among the hills and down on the plains where the trees grow, to hunt rabbits.”
“O my poor little boys! What will you do?—you will freeze to death, for you have no clothes and no wool grows on your backs.”
“Well, mother, we’re tough. We will get up tomorrow and wait until the sun shines warm—then we can go hunting.”
“How in the world will you carry your food? You have no blanket to wrap it in.”
“Oh, you just make some corn-cakes,” answered the boys, “and string them on a little stick, and we can take hold of the middle of the stick and carry them just as well as not.”
“Hi-ta!” cried the old woman. “Listen, father.” So she made the corn-cakes and strung them on little sticks, and the two boys went to bed. But they couldn’t sleep very well, being so impatient to go hunting rabbits, and they kept waking each other and peeping out to see how long it would be before daylight.
In the morning the old Badger got up early and collected a lot of bark which he rubbed until it was soft, and then he wove the boys each a curious pair of moccasins that would come half-way up to the knees. So the elder brother put on his moccasins and ran out into the snow. “U-kwatchi!” exclaimed he. “First rate!” So the other little boy put on his bark moccasins, and they took their strings of corn-cakes and bows and arrows, and started off as fast as they could. Well, they went off among the hills at the foot of Thunder Mountain. It was only a little while ere they struck a rabbit trail, and the first arrow they shot killed the rabbit. So they kept on hunting until they had a large number of rabbits and began to get tired. Although there was snow on the ground, the sun was very warm, so they soon forgot all about it until they began to grow hungry, and then they looked up and saw that it was noon-time, because the sun was resting in the mid-heavens. So they went up on top of a high hill, and carried their rabbits there one by one, to find a place where the snow was shallow. Here they brushed a space clear of the snow, and, depositing the rabbits, sat down to eat their corn-cakes, which they laid on a bundle of grass. While they sat there eating, the Sun looked down and pitied his two poor little children. “Wait a bit,” said he to himself, “I’ll go down and talk to the little fellows, and help them.” So by his will alone he descended, and lo! he stood there on the earth just a little way from the two boys,—grand, beautiful, sublime. Upon his body were garments of embroidered cotton; fringed leggings covered his knees, and he was girt with many-colored girdles; buckskins of bright leather protected his feet; bracelets and strings of wampum ornamented his neck and arms; turquoise earrings hung from his ears; beautiful plumes waved over his head; his long, glossy hair was held with cords of many colors, into which great plumes of macaw feathers were stuck. Fearful, wonderful, beautiful, he stood. Suddenly one of the boys looked up and saw the Sun-father standing there.
“Blood!” cried he to the other. “Ati! Somebody’s coming!”