Chapter VIII: The Partridge and the Spring

[_Passamaquoddy_]

_Uskitap iaqu bamose kʾchikok
Etuchi nodak metetaguak kequ pichikok._[68]

A man was walking the woods
When he heard afar a noise
As of footsteps beating the ground.
With a cry as of merry singing;
So he sought to find the people;
’Twas a week before he found them.

’Twas a man and his wife a-dancing
About a tree; on its summit
There sat a great Raccoon,
And by their constant treading
They had worn a trench in the ground--
Yea, in it, up to their waists.

And when the stranger in wonder
Asked of them, “What are you doing?”
They answered that being hungry
They were trying to fell the tree,
And bring it down by dancing.

The stranger said to them:
“Know ye not that another,
A newer and better way
Of felling trees more quickly,
Has come into the land?”
They asked him how it might be.

Then, while they greatly wondered,
Taking his axe, he showed them
How to cut down trees in a hurry;
But made it a condition
That when the Raccoon should be taken
They might have his meat and eat it,
But the pelt should be his portion.

So, when the tree had fallen,
And the game became their booty,
The woman tanned the skin
Which was strangely large and glossy
And gave it to the Indian
Who took it and went away.

Then afar in a path in the forest
He met with another man,
And was greatly amazed at the sight,
Because the other was bearing
A very large birch wigwam,
A dwelling with many rooms.
He never had seen the like,
And at first was in a fright,
But the man, putting down the house,
Burst into a fit of laughter,
And shook him by the hand,
Seeming in faith to be
A downright honest fellow.
Then, while they smoked and laughed,
The man of the house beheld
The skin which the other bore
Of Espuns, the Raccoon,
And said with curious air:
“_He kekw nit?_” “What have you there
The skin of magic power?”
Then the other answering told
How he met the man and his wife
Who danced around the tree:
Whereat the man of the house
Offered to buy the skin
At any price at all,
And offered the house for it.

Then the other looked it through
And truly he was amazed
To find how many rooms
Were all contained in it,
And what a wondrous store
Of furniture and arms
And kettles and the like
Were stored in every room.
“But oh and alack,” he cried,
“I could never carry this house
As you do, on your head.”

“You can do it with ease,” replied
_Pilowî wʾskichin_,
That is “the stranger man;”
“Just put it on your head.”
He tried and found it as light
As a _kchi bʾsnŭd_, or
A basket made of birch.

And so he went his way,
Bearing the magic house
Lightly upon his head,
Till he came to a hard-wood ridge
In which was a bubbling spring;
And here he said: “I will live.”
So searching he found a room
In which there was a bed;
A better he ne’er had seen,
All covered with the skin
Of a snow-white northern bear.
So he laid him down to sleep.

In the morning when he awoke
What was his wonderment
To see above his head,
All hanging to the beams,
Good food of every kind,
All dainties known to man.
For there were venison,
Bear hams and many ducks,
Buckets of maple sugar,
Others of cranberries,
And many golden ears
Of drying Indian corn.
But as in his delight
He stretched out both his hands
To grasp the tempting food,
The bear-skin, melting fast,
As water ran away--
For it was but the snow
Which all the winter long
Had gathered o’er his nest.
And as he stretched his arms,
Lo! they were changed to wings!
And up he flew to the food,
Which was the early buds
Of the birch on which they hung.
He was in truth himself
A Partridge who had been
Wintering beneath the snow,
And who in joy came forth
To greet the pleasant spring. L.

FOOTNOTES:

[68] A man was walking in the woods and he heard something far off.