The woman did not return, and wondering at her delay, Iena at last arose, peeped through the door of the lodge and beheld her greedily eating all the fat of the deer. He exclaimed:
"I thought I was blessed, but I find I was mistaken." Then addressing the woman, "Poor Marten," said he, "feast on the game I have brought."
He again took up his packet and departed. Then finding a tree, he hung it upon a branch, and the next morning again wandered off in quest of game.
In the evening he returned, with his customary good luck, bringing in a fine deer, and again found that a lodge had taken the place of his packet. He gazed through an opening in the side of the lodge, and there was another beautiful woman sitting alone, with his packet by her side.
"Oh!" he exclaimed, "it is the same as it was yesterday and the day before that. I am Iena, the Wanderer, and it is not the will of the Great Spirit that he should have a lodge, a woman, or the fat of the deer that he kills."
So saying he entered the lodge, but the woman rose cheerfully, welcomed him home, and without delay or complaining brought in the deer, cut it up as it should be, and hung up the meat to dry. She then prepared a portion of it for the supper of the weary hunter, who was thinking to himself, "Now I am certainly blessed."
And so it went on. He continued his practise of hunting every day, and the woman, on his return, always welcomed him, readily took charge of the meat, and promptly prepared his evening meal; and he ever after lived a contented and happy man.