"When were the animals made as small as they are now?"
"That belongs to another story. If I tell you any more now, my brain will split and the skin will come off my throat again," replied the old woman.
VII
ANOTHER STORY OF GLUSKAP AND HIS PEOPLE
"A time came when the great animals in Gluskap's own country broke the good rules he had made for them," began old Squat-by-the-fire. "They were so big and strong, and had become so accustomed to seeing Gluskap in the form of a small young man, that they forgot how powerful he was. They were by nature fierce and bloodthirsty, though they had hidden the evil deep in their hearts for many years. The trouble was started by a great wolf. He stuck his head into a man's lodge and glared at the man's children until they all began to cry with fright. Then the man was angry, and struck the wolf on the snout with a club. At that, the wolf caught the man between his cruel jaws and killed him. The taste of the human blood awoke all the evil that had been sleeping for so long in his heart. Then he ran about the country, chasing men and women and every animal smaller or weaker than himself, and killing many of them. At sight of that all the other wolves and fierce animals felt a madness in their brains, and began to hunt and kill. Gluskap left his lodge at the noise and looked about him with eyes that could see for the distance of a four days' journey. At sight of the blood and the hunting beasts he was filled with anger. By his magic he made himself as high as a mountain. Then he caught the animals in his great hands, reaching here and there after them, across hills and valleys; and as he returned each animal to the ground it was as small as its kind is to-day. And this he did all over the world; and from that day to this the animals have no more been masters of the wilderness. Then he led the men and women and children of the tribe, who had been in his care for so many years, far away to a country of thick forest and broad rivers—a finer country, I have heard, than even this land of ours. There they built villages and prospered, and for many hundreds of years Gluskap continued to be as a father to them."
"What did his people do, in their fine new country?" asked Flying Plover.
"They did many things," replied the old woman. "I have heard from Micmacs on the coast that in time there came to be many magicians in that country. Some of the magic was good, such as Gluskap himself knew; and some was bad—and that was practiced by his enemies. Yes, he had many enemies—evil people who hated him because he always fought against evil."
"Please tell me something about the magic," begged the little boy.
The old medicine woman thought for a long time, and scratched her head very hard.
"I know only one story about the magic of Gluskap's people—and I am not sure if it is a true story or not, for I heard it from a Micmac fisherman on the coast," she said.