“Finally they reached the top of a high mountain and from there they could jump into heaven, by breaking through the celestial floor.
“Before the sky-people could stop them, Ojeeg had cut open the cages and freed the Birds of Summer. They flew quickly down through the hole in heaven and so we now have summer and warmth and flowers.
“Poor Ojeeg was overtaken by the sky-men and, although he changed himself into his totem animal, the fisher, he died from an arrow-head in the tip of his tail—the only spot that was vulnerable. As he died, he exclaimed: ‘I am satisfied to die because I have done such good, not only to my son but to all who come hereafter.’
“There he is in the sky as a remembrance. What we call the ‘Dipper’s Handle,’ the Indians call Ojeeg’s long tail with the arrow sticking in the end.”
“What is the fisher like?” questioned Paul.
“It’s like an otter or a sable or a marten,” replied Billy, the hunter.
“This marten story makes six different names I have heard the Dipper go by, and I suppose there really are others,” remarked Elizabeth.
“Six!” exclaimed Paul in surprise. “What are they besides the Bear and the Dipper and this Fisher Ojeeg?”
“Why, there are the Seven Plough Oxen, The Seven Rishis, or Wise Men, and the Persian Heft Aurang or Seven Thrones,” explained Elizabeth, the lover of poetry and romance.
But the stars were soon forgotten after the Woodcrafters landed and wearily sought their cots. A full and happy day in the open made most of them sleepy and glad to stretch out for the night.