[3] The jay is well known to be particularly fond of fat of any kind, hence the tempting morsel withheld was a source for future reflection.
[ The deer and the squirrel.—]
A reindeer called all the mammals and birds together and announced that he would give names to all of them. When he came to name the squirrel he inquired of the little creature what name it would prefer. The squirrel replied that it would like to have the same name as the black bear. The reindeer smiled and informed the squirrel that it was too small to have the name of the bear. The squirrel began to cry and wept so long that his lower eyelids became white.
[ The young man who went to live with the deer.—]
A young man one morning told his old father that he had dreamed the night before that a deer had asked him to come and live with them. The old father replied, “That is a good sign; you will kill many deer after that dream.” The young man went away to hunt, and while out he saw a large herd of deer. A young doe from the band ran up toward him, and he was about to fire at her when she said to him, “Do not fire, for my father has sent me to you. Please put up your arrows.” She came nearer and informed him that her father had sent her to ask him to come and live with the deer forever.
The young man inquired, “How could I live with you when it is upon deer that I live? I live in a tent and can not live outside. I can not live without fire. I can not live without water.” The doe replied, “We have plenty of fire, water, and meat; you will never want; you will live forever. Your father will never want, as there will be enough deer given to him.” The man consented to go with them. The doe pointed to a large hill and said, “That is our home.” She told him to leave his deerskin mantle, snowshoes, and arrows on the ground, but to keep the bow. As they were walking along they came to a big valley. She informed him that that was their path. The two went toward the steep hillside and found the ground to be covered with deer. Some of the deer were frightened when they saw the man coming, and started to run. The doe’s father said to the frightened deer, “Do you not pity the poor Indians who have to hunt for their living while we do not?” When the young man and the doe came up, the father of the doe addressed the young man, asking if he was hungry. The man replied, “Yes.” The father then gave him a piece of nice meat and some fat. After the man had finished eating the father inquired, “Is your father also hungry?” The son replied, “Yes.”
The old buck informed the young man that they would give the son’s father some deer to-morrow. After the young man had slept out one night his father, in the morning, went out to look for his son, but found only his mantle, snowshoes, and arrows, which had been cast aside the day before, and also found the tracks in the valley leading to the home of the deer under the hill. The old man returned to his tent and told the other Indians that his son had gone away to live with the deer. The old man then said, “Let us make snares and we will yet take him, as he can not run as fast as the deer.” The Indians prepared a number of snare nooses and went to the valley to set them among the bushes on the path. The father of the young doe saw what was going on in the valley and told the rest, “Let us go and give the old man some deer.” He told the young man to come with them. The man replied that he could not accompany them, as he would be left behind in no time while they were running. The old buck instructed the young man to keep among the rest of the deer and he would not be left behind them. All the deer then went out to the valley. The young man kept among them; and as they were going through the bushes he heard the shouts of the Indians who were concealed behind them. The deer saw the snares and some of the animals fell into the nooses and were caught. The remainder, with the young man, were soon beyond the snares. The Indians began to kill the deer which had been taken in the nooses, and when they had finished they found they had not captured the young man. They consulted together and decided to search among the tracks of the escaped deer to ascertain whether his foot-prints were among them. They found his track and also the mark of his bow as he had dragged it along in the snow.
The young man’s father then said, “Let him go if he thinks he is able to live with the deer;” and the people returned to their tents.
[ The wolf’s daughter going to seek her lover.—]
An old mother wolf one morning said to her daughter, “You must go and look for your lover or else we shall all starve to death, as your brothers can not kill any deer.” The daughter inquired of her mother, “Who is my lover?” The mother replied, “The otter is your lover. He lives in the water. If you go to the narrows of the lake you will find him.” The daughter said she would go. So early in the morning she started off, and as she was going along the shore of the lake she saw an open hole in the ice, and in the water the otter was sitting. The wolf went up to the otter, but the otter swam away and was going to dive, when the wolf said, “Do not dive and go away. My mother says you are my lover.” The otter asked, “How can I be your lover when I live in the water?” The wolf replied, “You can live on the land as well as in the water.” The otter answered back, “I will not live on the land.” The wolf retorted, “You will have to live on the land, and if you do not come out I shall smother you in the water.” The otter said, “You can not smother me, for I have a number of holes made in the lake ice.” The otter dove into the water and disappeared. The wolf began to howl dismally when the otter vanished. The wind began to blow and drifted the snow furiously. The snow fell into the otter’s breathing holes and filled them with slushy snow, which soon froze and completely stopped all the holes in the ice but one where the wolf was sitting. This hole was kept clear of snow and ice by the wolf scraping it out as fast as it collected. Soon she heard the otter going to the holes for breath, but when he came near the hole where the wolf was sitting she could hear him snuffing for air, and she stood with open jaws ready to seize him when he should appear. The otter was nearly exhausted, so the wolf went off a little distance, and the otter came up to the surface of the water nearly out of breath. He crept out of the water and rolled himself in the dry snow to take the water off of his coat of fur and exclaimed to the wolf, “I will live with you; I will live with you.” The wolf then addressed her lover and said, “Did I not tell you I would smother you?” The otter did not reply to this, but asked her, “Have you got a piece of line? Give it to me, and I will go to catch some fish for you if you will go and prepare a tent.” The wolf drew out a piece of fishing line and handed it to the otter. The otter went down into the same hole in the ice whence he had come. He was gone some time, and in the meantime the wolf was busy making the tent, which was completed before the otter returned. Soon after, however, the otter came back to the hole with a long string of fish which he had killed and had them all strung on the line. He left the string of fish in the hole in the ice with one end of it fastened to the ice. The otter rolled himself in the snow to remove the water from his fur, and then went to the tent to tell his wife to go and get the fish which he had left in the hole in the ice. The wolf went and hauled up the line, which was full of fish, and began to devour so many that soon she could scarcely move. She hauled the remainder of the fish home to the tent.