“Oh, it would not be fair to tell you, my young son, for then you would have an advantage over the other young braves. Just spread the news and this afternoon we will gather in the meadow for the race.”
Eagerly Little Snapping Turtle ran to tell all the young boys to gather in the meadow north of the village late in the afternoon for a race. He also told them about the prize that any young brave would want. Most of the boys he talked to were working hard in the gardens to make up for time lost during the rain. But they stopped long enough to listen excitedly to the news Little Snapping Turtle brought. All of them said they would be there, and then went back to work. The rain had been good for the seed, but it had also been good for the weeds. When Little Snapping Turtle got back home, he went to work cheerfully with his father in their garden to clear out the weeds.
Finally the time neared for the big contest, and the young boys began to gather in the meadow. Soon every boy in the village was present, and Big Snapping Turtle stepped to the front to explain the rules.
He first gave each boy a small container made of birch bark. After this had been done, Big Snapping Turtle signaled for all to be quiet.
“A quarter of a mile from here there are several small lakes,” he said. “In one of those lakes, as you know, there are some very small fish. Each of you has a container. At the signal you will run to that lake and trap a small fish. Making sure to keep the fish in the container, you will run back to the meadow. The first boy to return with a fish still alive in the container will win the race. Then after the prize has been awarded, we will put all the fish you caught into the stream that runs through our village so that they can swim to the great lake to the south.”
The boys waited impatiently for the signal. When it was given, they shouted and laughed as they raced toward the lake that held the small fish. Little Snapping Turtle soon was far ahead of the other young boys. When he reached the lake shore, he waded knee deep into the lake and placed his container halfway under and then stood perfectly still, waiting for the curious little fish to swim into the trap.
As he stood there quietly, peering at the sandy bottom, several of the others arrived and began to follow his lead. Soon there were fifteen or twenty of them spread out near the shore standing motionless waiting for the fish. Now and then a boy would shout that he had made a catch only to find that the fish had escaped.
Finally patience rewarded Little Snapping Turtle. With a flick of his wrist, Little Snapping Turtle scooped his container into the water. When he looked into it, he discovered that he had trapped two fish instead of one. Quickly he waded toward shore and he saw that two boys had also trapped their fish and were on the way back to the meadow. He stopped only a moment to tear a large leaf from a plant that grew along the lake shore. Then he wrapped it tightly over the mouth of the container and started running again.
The two boys were running swiftly ahead of him along the trail, each with a container in his hand. Suddenly, one of the boys slipped and fell and his container and fish went flying off into the brush. Now only one boy, Crying Hawk, stood between Little Snapping Turtle and victory. Using all the strength he had, he began to catch up with the young boy ahead of him.
As he began to pass Crying Hawk, he noticed that the boy was limping. Looking at the boy’s feet, he saw that Crying Hawk’s moccasins were loose, and he guessed that a pebble must have fallen into one of them. The boy stopped to take the pebble out. As he did, Little Snapping Turtle sped by him. Turning to look at Crying Hawk, Little Snapping Turtle found that the boy had just sat down and was crying. He stopped and went back to him.