destroyed by Kut-o-yis´.




THE DOG AND THE ROOT DIGGER


This happened long ago.

In those days the people were hungry. No buffalo could be found, no
antelope were seen on the prairie. Grass grew in the trails where
the elk and the deer used to travel. There was not even a rabbit in
the brush. Then the people prayed, "Oh, Napi, help us now or we must
die. The buffalo and the deer are gone. It is useless to kindle the
morning fires; our arrows are useless to us; our knives remain in
their sheaths."

Then Napi set out to find where the game was, and with him went a
young man, the son of a chief. For many days they travelled over the
prairies. They could see no game; roots and berries were their only
food. One day they climbed to the crest of a high ridge, and as they
looked off over the country they saw far away by a stream a lonely
lodge.

"Who can it be?" asked the young man. "Who camps there alone, far
from friends?"

"That," said Napi, "is he who has hidden all the animals from the
people. He has a wife and a little son." Then they went down near to