Algonquin Legends of New England by Charles Godfrey Leland
page 62 of 357 (17%)
page 62 of 357 (17%)
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returned and had dried meat for supper. So they were married.
Now Turtle seemed to be very lazy; and when others hunted he lounged at home. One day his young wife said to him that if this went on thus they must soon starve. So he put on his snow-shoes and went forth, and she followed him to see what he would do. And he had not gone far ere he tripped and fell down, and the girl, returning, told her mother that he was worthless. But the mother said, "He will do something yet. Be patient." One day it came to pass that Glooskap said to Mikchich, "To-morrow there will be a great game at ball, and you must play. But because you have made yourself enemies of all the young men here, they will seek to slay you, by crowding all together and trampling upon you. And when they do this it will be by your father-in-law's lodge, and to escape them I give you the power to jump high over it. This you may do twice, but the third time will be terrible for you, and yet it must be." All this happened as he foretold; for the young men indeed tried to take his life, and to escape them Mikchich jumped over the lodge, so that he seemed like a bird flying. But the third time he did this he was caught on the top of the tent-poles, and hung there dangling in the smoke which rose from below. [Illustration: THE MUD TURTLE JUMPING OVER THE WIGWAM OF HIS FATHER-IN-LAW.] Then Glooskap, who was seated in the tent, said, "Uncle, I will now make you the _sogmo_, or great chief of the Tortoises, and you shall bear up a great nation." Then he smoked Mikchich [Footnote: In a |
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