Often he went out into the forest with the little bow and arrows which his father had made for him, to hunt the small creatures of the woods. But it was too cold for him to stay long; for in those days there were no seasons, only cold and snow day after day, moon following moon. So little Omeme often came back to the lodge with fingers stiff and numb. As he shivered and held his fingers over the fire of the lodge, he cried, “There is nothing for Omeme to shoot. The birds fly up to the sun for warmth. The little creatures hide in the forest: they hide far down beneath the snow blanket. It is cold. Omeme can get no game.” One day Omeme met a squirrel in the forest, and the squirrel said, “Do not shoot me, Omeme. I will tell you a great secret.” Then Omeme said, “I will not shoot you. Tell me your secret.” And the squirrel said, “Away up in the Sky Land it is always warm. There is no frost, no snow. If we could have some of the warmth of the Sky Land, we should not always be cold. There would be good hunting for Omeme. There would be plenty for us all to eat.” “But the Sky Land is far away,” said Omeme. “Yes,” replied the squirrel, “but Ojeeg is mighty. Could he not go to the Sky Land and bring away some of its warmth?” “My father is mighty,” answered Omeme. “I will ask him.” He ran home, for he had grown cold while listening to the squirrel’s secret. Ojeeg was in the lodge. “Oh, my father,” exclaimed Omeme, “all we little creatures are so cold! The squirrel tells me there is warmth in the Sky Land. Could you not go there and bring some of its warmth to the earth?” [Illustration: “OMEME SAID, ‘I WILL NOT SHOOT YOU. TELL ME YOUR SECRET’”] Ojeeg was silent for a long, long time. He loved Omeme dearly. He was sorry that Omeme was cold. But the journey to the Sky Land was long. It was full of dangers. At length Ojeeg said, “The earth _is_ cold. I will hold a council with my neighbors.” So Ojeeg, the Fisher, called together his neighbors, the Otter, the Beaver, the Badger, the Lynx, and the Wolverine. Long and earnestly they considered the matter, and at length they decided to undertake the journey to the Sky Land. Upon a given day they started. It was a great adventure, and Ojeeg felt sure that he would never return to his lodge, and never again would he see the little Omeme. For a long, long distance they traveled and at last, tired and spent with hunger, they reached the top of a very high mountain. So high it was that the sky seemed almost to rest upon it. There they found meat and a fire, as though some traveler had left them. So they rested and were refreshed. Then Ojeeg said to the Otter, “Now we will try to gain entrance to the Sky Land. It is just above us. Jump, and see if you cannot break through, and we will follow.” The Otter tried, but he could not jump high enough, and he fell, and slid all the way down to the foot of the mountain. So he gave up and returned to his home.