'Now I must practise,' he said, and he jumped into the lake just as a
frog would do, right down to the bottom. Then he walked along, till a
trout in passing swished him with its tail, and quickly he turned and
caught it in his hands. Holding the trout carefully, he swam up to the
surface, and when he was on shore again he unlaced the skin and hung it
on the branch of a tree, where no one was likely to see it.
After that he went home and found his grandmother and the princess still
sleeping, so he laid the trout on the beach in front of the house and
curled himself up on his mat.
By and bye the princess awoke, and the first thing she heard was the
sound of a raven crying on the beach. So she quickly got out of bed and
went to the place where the poor little boy was lying, and said to him:
'Go down to the beach, and see why the raven is crying.'
The poor little boy said nothing, but did her bidding, and in a few
minutes he came back holding out the trout to the princess.
'The raven brought this,' he said to her. But it was the trout which he
himself had caught in the bottom of the lake; and he and his grandmother
ate of it, but the princess would not eat. And every morning this same
thing happened, but the princess would eat nothing, not even when the
raven--for it was he, she thought--brought them a salmon.
At last a night came when the princess could not sleep, and hearing a
movement she rose softly and peeped through her curtain of skins. The
poor little boy was getting ready to go out, and as she watched him she
saw that he was a poor little boy no longer, but a tall youth. After a
long, long time he crept in again and lay down, but the princess did not
sleep; and when daylight broke and the raven called, she went to the
beach herself, and beheld a large salmon on the sand. She took up the
salmon, and carried it into the house, and stood before the poor little
boy.
'I know the truth now,' she said. 'It was you and not the raven who
found the trout,' and the poor little boy answered:
'Yes; it was I. My uncle deserted us all, and I had to get food. The
frog lived in the lake, and when I called it, it came, and I set a trap
for it and killed it; and by the help of its skin I dived into the lake
likewise, and now I am great, for you have taken notice of me.'
'You shall marry me,' said the princess, and he married her, for he had
ceased to be a poor little boy, and was grown to be a man. And whenever
he went out to hunt or to fish, luck was with him, and he killed all
that he sent his spear after, even whales and porpoises.
Time passed and they had two children, and still his hunting prospered
and he grew rich. But one day he suddenly felt very tired and he told
his wife, who feared greatly that some evil should befall him.
'Oh, cease hunting, I pray you!' said she. 'Surely you are rich enough';
but he would not listen, and hunted as much as ever.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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