XL. THE MAGIC MOCCASINS
(Chippewa)
An Indian hunter shot at a moose, but his arrow missed and took the life of another hunter, the brother of Wahkandee the Lightning.
Mukwa, who had made the fatal shot, wore a pair of wonderful moccasins. A manitou had prepared the leather in the moccasins for himself. The manitou had whispered many secrets to the leather; but he gave it all to the hunter’s wife because of his love for her husband.
Wahkandee, the avenger, came into the forest where Mukwa, the moose hunter, was hiding. He saw the feathers in Mukwa’s hair and shot his arrows to avenge his brother. He heard the dry bushes crackle and crept to the place where Mukwa had been. There lay a pair of fine moccasins and many dry moose bones. [[205]]
“I will take the fine moccasins. Mukwa will want them. I will find him.”
Wahkandee reached down to take the moccasins, but they slipped away from his fingers. The moccasins fled across the lake, and Wahkandee followed in his canoe. They crept through the thick brush in the forest on the shores of the lake. Wahkandee followed like the swift feet of Skika the wood duck.
The thorns tore his buckskin suit, but he never stopped in the chase. The moccasins seemed to be always within the reach of his hands, but he could never touch them. Wahkandee thought that the black cloud at the edge of the earth would stop the race; when he reached the place of the black cloud, it was gone. The moccasins were always before him.
A great mountain was in sight. Wahkandee followed the flying moccasins over rocks, roots, and crumbling stones. When going down the further side of the mountain he saw a beautiful white wigwam. All footprints seemed to come away from it. None went toward it. The moccasins had disappeared, and Wahkandee said, “I will rest.”
The white wigwam rested on the stump of a great pine tree. The wigwam had two doors: one in front and one at the back. Two Indian girls sat back to back in the middle of the white wigwam, each looking out of a door. [[206]]