When the Turtle married, the Master bade him make a feast, and wished
that the banquet should be a mighty one. To do this he gave him great
power. He bade him go down to a point of rocks by the sea, where many
whales were always to be found. He bade him bring one; he gave him
power to do so, but he set a mark, or an appointed space, and bade him
not go an inch beyond it. So the Turtle went down to the sea; he caught
a great whale, he bore it to camp; it seemed to him easy to do this.
But like all men there was in him vain curiosity; the falsehood of
disobedience was in him, and to try the Master he went beyond the mark;
and as he did this he lost his magic strength; he became as a man; even
as a common mortal his nerves weakened, and he fell, crushed flat
beneath the weight of the great fish.

Then men ran to Glooskap, saying that Turtle was dead. But the Master
answered, "Cut up the Whale; he who is now dead will revive." So they
cut it up; (and when the feast was ready) Turtle came in yawning, and
stretching out his leg he cried, "How tired I am! Truly, I must have
overslept myself." Now from this time all men greatly feared Glooskap,
for they saw that he was a spirit.

It came to pass that the Turtle waxed mighty in his own conceit, and
thought that he could take Glooskap's place and reign in his stead. So
he held a council of all the animals to find out how he could be slain.
The Lord of Men and Beasts laughed at this. Little did he care for
them!

And knowing all that was in their hearts, he put on the shape of an old
squaw and went into the council-house. And he sat down by two witches:
one was the Porcupine, the other the Toad; as women they sat there. Of