nd leaping in
the sky, and the chief said: "The Northern Lights would be angry if you
got married without running them a race. Run your best and win, and
there will be no more delay."

The Northern Lights darted away at once to the west, and the eldest
brother ran after them; and the chief said to his daughter: "They will
lead him right down to the other side of the world, and he will be an
old man before he can get back, so he won't trouble us any more." But
just as the chief finished speaking, here came the Algonquin running up
from the east. He had turned himself into lightning and gone right round
the world; and the night was nearly gone before the Northern Lights came
up after him, panting and sputtering.

"Yes, my son," said the chief; "you have won the race; so now we can go
on with the wedding. The place where we have our weddings is down by the
river at the bottom of the valley, and we will go there on our
toboggans."

Now the hillside was rough with rocks and trees, and the river flowed
between steep precipices, so nobody could toboggan down there without
being broken to pieces. But the eldest brother said he was ready, and
asked the chief to come on the same toboggan.

"No," said the chief, "but as soon as you have started I will."

Then the Algonquin gave his toboggan a push, and jumped on, and didn't
even take the trouble to sit down. The chief waited to see him dashed to
pieces; but the toboggan skimmed down the mountain side without touching
a rock or a tree, and flew across the ravine at the bottom, and up the
hillside opposite; and the Algonquin was standing straight up the whole
time. When he got to the top of the mountain opposite he turned his
toboggan round and coasted back as he had come. And when the chief saw
him coming near and standing up on his toboggan, he lost his temper and
let fly an arrow straight at the young man's heart; but the arrow stuck
in Goose-cap's bead, and the Algonquin left it sticking there and took
no notice. Only when he got to the top he said to the chief, "Now it's
your turn," and put him on the toboggan and sent him spinning down into
the valley. And whether the chief ever came up again we don't know; but
at any rate his daughter married the Algonquin without any more fuss,
and went home with him.

THE JOKER

This story is about Lox. He called himself the joker, and he was very
proud of his jokes; but nobody else could see anything in them to laugh
at.