He told the boy to wish for anything and that he should have it. The boy wished for long life. Menabozho changed the child into a white-cedar tree, and the tree stood for hundreds of winters in the place where the child had stood when he wished for long life. It was not far from where he lay by his mother’s wigwam when he dared the great Menabozho to a deed the manitou could not perform.
It was in this way the wise manitou punished the boy. It is not well for any one to be wiser than a manitou, for even the flint stones show that these spirits are very powerful. [[227]]
II. STORY OF THE DELUGE
(Chippewa, 1900)
enabozho, the great land manitou, did not like the water manitous or spirits. One day he saw the chief of the water manitous asleep on a rock, and he shot and killed him with a magic arrow; then the little water manitous called the big rivers to help them and chased Menabozho up a high hill.
The water reached halfway up the hill; the water manitous called all the little rivers then to help them. The water chased Menabozho to the top of the high hill. He climbed up a tall pine tree, but the water came up to his chin; it could not go over his head, for there is not water enough in the whole world to drown the great Menabozho.
He waited a long time while he stood on the top of the pine tree. The rivers would not go back, and he could not see any land.
A loon flew over his head and then dived into the great water. Menabozho said: “Brother Loon, come [[228]]to me. I must make land for us to stand on. Will you dive down and bring me a little sand?”