THERE was a large camp in which Miqkano, the Turtle, took up his abode. He built a wigwam but he had no one to keep house for him. He thought he needed a wife.
Now Turtle found a young woman whom he liked. He said, “I want you to be my wife.”
She said, “How are you going to provide for me? You cannot keep up with the rest of the people when they move.”
Turtle replied, “I can keep up with the best of your people.”
Then the young woman wanted to put him off. She said, “Oh, well, I will marry you in the spring.”
Turtle was vexed with this. At last he said, “I shall go to war and take some captives. When I return in the spring, I shall expect you to marry me.”
Then Turtle prepared to go on the war path. He called all his friends, the Turtles, to him. He left camp, followed by a throng of curious Indians. The young woman he wanted to marry laughed as the Turtles moved away. They were so very slow.
Turtle was vexed again. He said, “In four days from now you will surely mourn for me because I shall be at a great distance from you.”
“Why,” said the girl, laughing, “in four days from this time you will scarcely be out of sight.”
Turtle immediately corrected himself, and said, “I did not mean four days, but four years. Then I shall return.”