A Guide to MythologyClarke, Helen A. (Helen Archibald)
General
A Guide to Mythology
Clarke, Helen A. (Helen Archibald)
Mythology -- Juvenile literature
He walked briskly all day, and at night he had the satisfaction of
reaching a lodge in all respects like that which he had left in the
morning. There were two fine old men, and his treatment was in every
particular the same, even down to the parting blessing and the laughter
that followed him as he went his way.
After walking the third day, and coming to a lodge the same as before,
he was satisfied from the bearings of the course he had taken that he
had been journeying in a circle, and by a notch which he had cut in the
door-post that these were the same two old men all along; and that,
despite their innocent faces and their very white heads, they had been
playing him a sorry trick.
“Who are you,” said Paup-puk-keewiss, “to treat me so? Come forth, I say!”
They were compelled to obey his summons lest, in his anger, he should
take their lives, and they appeared on the outside of the lodge.
“We must have a little trial of speed now,” said Paup-puk-keewiss.
“A race?” they asked. “We are very old; we cannot run.”
“We will see,” said Paup-puk-keewiss; whereupon he set them out upon the
road, and then he gave them a gentle push, which put them in motion. Then
he pushed them again—harder—harder—until they got under fine headway,
when he gave each of them an astounding shock with his foot, and off
they flew at a great rate, round and round the course; and such was the
magic virtue of the foot of Paup-puk-keewiss that no object once set
going by it could by any possibility stop; so that, for aught we know to
the contrary, the two innocent, white-headed, merry old men are trotting
with all their might and main around the circle in which they beguiled
Paup-puk-keewiss to this day.
Continuing his journey, Paup-puk-keewiss, although his head was warm
and buzzing with all sorts of schemes, did not know exactly what to do
until he came to a big lake. He mounted a high hill to try and see to the
other side, but he could not. He then made a canoe, and sailed forth.
The water was very clear—a transparent blue—and he saw that it abounded
with fish of a rare and delicate complexion. This circumstance inspired
him with a wish to return to his village, and to bring his people to live
near this beautiful lake.
Toward evening, coming to a woody island, he encamped and ate the fish he
had speared, and they proved to be as comforting to the stomach as they
were pleasing to the eye. The next day Paup-puk-keewiss returned to the
mainland, and as he wandered along the shore he espied at a distance the
celebrated giant, Manabozho, who is a bitter enemy of Paup-puk-keewiss,
and loses no opportunity to stop him on his journeyings and to thwart his
plans.
At first it occurred to Paup-puk-keewiss to have a trial of wits with the
giant, but on second thoughts he said to himself: “I am in a hurry now; I
will see him another time.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account