The two were very happy together and played all day in the green fields. Tchakobeech made two wigwams and picked many flowers for their resting places. He set his traps to see if he could catch any animals. His sister told him there was nothing to catch in such a beautiful country. [[166]]
Tchakobeech heard a noise in the middle of the night and went to his traps to see what was the matter. They were all on fire, but did not seem to burn. He called to his sister to come and help him.
The little trapper said: “Sister, tell me what I shall do. I have caught a great fire in my traps.”
The girl trembled like a leaf on a tree. She said: “I know what is the matter. You have caught the sun. Let him go. He could not see in the dark, and his feet are caught. He cannot get away.”
The little papoose man could see that she told the truth. He was so small that the sun burned his hands and made him blind when he tried to let it out. Tchakobeech said: “I have made trouble for all the tribes on the ground. I am not wise any more.”
Just then a little mouse jumped out of a stump. It had been with its brothers to eat the moon. The papoose caught the mouse and breathed on it until it grew as big as a bear. Its teeth were very long. He drove it up to the traps, and it bit the leather strings.
The sun jumped out of the snares and went away.
He had been gone a whole day. All the tribes remember when the sun did not shine, and there was no morning between two sleeps. It was many moons ago. Tchakobeech did not put his snares in that place two times. The sun found another place to sleep and was never caught again.
Schoolcraft. [[167]]