“The man had not gone far, moving slowly, carefully, through the timber and brush along the river, when he heard ahead a great splashing in the water, and, going closer, found that it was caused by two otters playing. They would chase each other in the water, then climb the bank and go as swift as arrows from a bow down a slide that they had made, and again chase and tumble each other over in the water. The man crept closer to the slide, an arrow in his bow, another in his hand, and, watching his chance, shot one of the players. He tried to get the other, but it dived and was gone before he could fit the other arrow to his bow: ‘It is too bad that I didn’t get the other. I would have liked a skin of these medicine skins for each of my women,’ he said to himself.
“He took the otter home and handed it to Camas. ‘That is yours,’ he said. ‘There were two of them. To-morrow, Marmot, I will get the other for you, and then you will each have a strong medicine skin.’
“Marmot said nothing, but looked cross.
“The man went hunting the next day but he could not find the other otter. He searched the river for many days and could not find one.
“And as the days passed, Marmot became more and more angry, and finally said to her sister: ‘I have proof now that our man loves you best. He gave you the otter; he does not even try to get one for me. He hunts other animals every day, bighorn, goats, animals that live nowhere near the haunts of the otter.’
“‘Now, don’t be foolish!’ Camas answered. ‘You know as well as I do that he has tried and tried to get the other otter for you. But at the same time he has to get meat for us: that is why he hunts the mountain animals.’
“‘Camas, the two of us can no longer live in this lodge,’ cried Marmot. ‘You are a bad woman! I hate you! I will fight you any way you say to see which of us shall be our man’s one wife!’
“Then it was that, for the first time, Camas became angry: ‘We have no weapons to fight with,’ she answered, ‘but I propose this: We will swim this lake across and back and across and back until one of us becomes tired and drowns! Now, crazy woman, what do you say to that?’
“‘Come on! Come on!’ Marmot cried, and ran to the shore and tore off her clothes. So did Camas, and the two rushed into the water and began their swim of hate. They crossed the lake; turned and came back; crossed again and started back, Camas well in the lead. She reached the shore in front of the lodge, dragged herself out on the shore, and turned. Her sister had gone down. There was not even a ripple on the still water. Marmot was drowned. Hardly knowing what she did, she put on her clothes and went into the lodge and cried and cried. The man came home. She was still crying. He asked her where Marmot was, and she cried all the harder, but at last told him all. Then the man cried. Together the two mourned for a long time, and searched the lake for the body of the lost one, and could not find it. So they moved away from the unhappy place and returned to the camp of their people, but it was a long time, a very long time, before they ceased mourning, and never again would they go anywhere near the lake.
“Yes, this is the Lake of the Jealous Women!”