From a Photograph
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VI. MENABOZHO SWALLOWED BY A LARGE FISH
(Chippewa, 1895)
One day Menabozho went fishing with hook and line in Gitchee Gumee, the Big Sea Water. A large fish came along and swallowed the hook and line, swallowed Menabozho and his canoe, swallowed everything, just like a big sea cave.
When Menabozho waked out of his sleep he saw a squirrel sitting on the canoe beside him. The fish had swallowed him, too.
Menabozho said: “Brother Squirrel, where are we?”
The squirrel answered: “Menabozho, we are in a great fish.”
Menabozho found his bow and arrows in the canoe and shot an arrow upward. It killed the great fish. The body of the fish began to rise to the top of the water. Menabozho prayed to the Great Manitou that the wind might blow from the south. The Great Spirit heard his prayer and sent the south wind. It blew the great fish to the north shore of Gitchee Gumee, where Nokomis lived. [[240]]