"_Lik cho je nain_!" which, being interpreted, meaneth, "And now
show your tail there!" [Footnote: The Skunk is here a parody on the
Beaver.]

So they returned safely. And Glooskap met them at the landing, and his
first words were, "Well, my friends, I see that you have brought back
my canoe." And they answered, "We have, indeed." Then he inquired," Has
all gone well with ye?" And they replied that it had. Then Glooskap,
laughing, let them know that in all they had experienced he had been
busy, and that in all their triumphs he had had a hand. And to the
Mikumwess he said, "Go now thy ways, thou and these, and ever lead
happy lives: thou amid the Elfin, they among mankind. And be sure of
this, that if danger or trouble should come to you, you have but to
think of me, and verily aid will come." So they rose and went to their
wigwams. [Footnote: In its earlier form this must have been a very
remarkable narrative, or poem. That the two combatants in the race were
originally the personified Northern Lights and Lightning, and that
these were _not_ merely names assumed for boasting, is shown by
the incident that the Lightning actually _passed round the world_,
while the Aurora Borealis only covered a portion of it. The diving is
either a later addition, or it represents the same stupendous spirits
taking on the appearance of mastering the element of water as well as
that of fire. Without carrying the Solar myth theory to extremes, it
cannot be denied that Glooskap appears in several of these stories as
Spring, or as the melter of ice, the conqueror of the frozen stream and
of the iceberg. In this narrative he is active and creative Nature
itself, directing and sporting with the warring elements. His vast
practical joking cannot fail to remind the reader yet again of the
Norse deities and their jovial household godhood.