Fairy tales -- Canada; Folklore -- Canada; Indians of North America -- Canada -- Folklore
But just then the old man of magic power came home. He had heard the
hub-bub from a distance. When he came in and saw the great holes in
the roof and the side of his house where Owl-man had torn away the
logs, he was very angry and he said to himself, "I will punish both
Owl-man and the girl for this night's work." And he hit upon a plan.
He said to Owl-man, "We must give you a hot bath to melt the gum and
take it from your hair, for it will do you no good, and it will take
all the hair off your head." And Owl-man gladly agreed. So they filled
a great bark tub with water and heated it by placing at the bottom of
it many red-hot stones, after the fashion of Indians in those old
days. But the old man put so many hot stones in the water that it was
soon almost boiling with the heat, and when they put Owl-man into the
tub he was almost scalded to death and he yelled loudly in pain. Then
the old man said, "Now I will take vengeance. You will trouble me no
more. You have broken my house. Henceforth you will be not a man but
an Owl, and you will dwell alone in the forest with few friends, and
you will live always on frogs and toads and field-mice, and people
will hear you at night crying for your wife all over the land, but you
shall never find her." Then with his magic power he changed him to an
Owl and sent him on his way.
He said to the girl, "You have done me much harm too, and you have
brought all this trouble upon me. Henceforth you will be not a girl
but a Fish-Hawk, and you will always cry and fret and scream as you
have done before, and you will never be satisfied." And with his magic
power he changed her into a Fish-Hawk, and sent her out to the ocean.
And there she screams always, and she is a great glutton, for she can
never get enough to eat. And since that time, Owl and Fish-Hawk have
not dwelt together and have not been on friendly terms. They live far
apart, and Owl keeps to the forest and the mountains, while the other
keeps to the sea. Thus was the old man avenged, and thus was the
weeping maiden punished for her tears. And the cries of Owl and
Fish-Hawk are still heard in many places, one calling for his wife,
the other screaming unsatisfied for something she cannot get.
ERMINE AND THE HUNTER
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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