THE WONDERFUL EXPLOITS OF PAUP-PUK-KEEWISS A man of large stature found himself standing alone on a prairie. He thought to himself: “How came I here? Are there no beings on this earth but myself? I must travel and see. I must walk till I find the abodes of men.” So soon as his mind was made up he set out, he knew not whither, in search of habitations. He was a resolute fellow, and no difficulties could turn him from his purpose: neither prairies, rivers, woods, nor storms had the effect to daunt his courage or turn him back. After travelling a long time he came to a wood, in which he saw decayed stumps of trees, as if they had been cut in ancient times, but no other trace of men. Pursuing his journey, he found more recent marks of the same kind; after this he came upon fresh traces of human beings; first their footsteps, and then the wood they had felled, lying in heaps. Pushing on, he emerged toward dusk from the forest, and beheld at a distance a large village of high lodges standing on rising ground. “I am tired of this dog-trot,” he said to himself. “I will arrive there on a run.” He started off with all his speed. On coming to the first lodge, without any especial exertion, he jumped over it, and found himself standing by the door on the other side. Those within saw something pass over the opening in the roof, and then they heard a thump upon the ground. “What is that?” they all said, and one ran out to see and invited him in. He found himself in company with an old chief and several men who were seated in the lodge. Meat was set before him, after which the old chief asked him whither he was going, and what was his name. He answered that he was in search of adventures, and that his name was “Paup-puk-keewiss.” They all opened their eyes upon the stranger with a broad stare. “Paup-puk-keewiss!” whispered one to another, and a general titter went round.