and. Go," said he, to a raven which sat in her canoe near him, "and
fetch me a little earth from the bottom of the abyss. I will send a
woman, because the eyes of a woman are so curious, and searching, and
inquisitive, that if it is wished to find anything hidden in utter
darkness, and lost to all else, a woman will be sure to find it before
you have counted your fingers over twice."

The raven, proud of the praise bestowed on her sex, answered, that she
had no objection to undertake the commission. So, leaving her
tail-feathers at home, she dived into the abyss. She was gone a long
time, but, notwithstanding her being a woman, she returned baffled of
her object. Whereupon Sakechak said to the otter, "My little man, I
will send you to the bottom, and see if your industry and perseverance
will enable you to accomplish what has been left undone by the wit and
cunning of the raven." So the otter departed upon his dangerous
expedition.

He accomplished its object. When he again appeared on the earth, he
held in his paw a lump of black mud, as large as the tip of the thumb
of a full-grown man. This he gave into the hands of Sakechak. But the
hunter of the hill Wecheganawaw was without the wisdom which would
make the mud avail to the re-production of the world. He fell on his
knees, and besought the Great Master of all to endow him with the
knowledge which should lead to the re-establishment of things as they
were before the deluge. The Master answered not; but his intentions to
communicate his wishes to the good hunter were made known by the ant.
So Sakechak slept and dreamed, and this was his dream:--

He saw again the Great Master, who bade him divide the lump of mud
into five portions. The central portion--that which came out of the
middle of the lump--he was commanded to take into the hollow of his
hand, to wet with spittle, and to mould into a cake, a little highest
in the middle, and flattened all around the edges. He was commanded,
when he had done this, to blow a bubble upon the water, and set the
little cake afloat in the bubble; with these words:--_I-yah
ask-ke_--"I make an earth." He was not to suffer the little world to
break away, but was to attach it to his canoe by a string formed of
the sinews of the mud-turtle. As it increased in size, he was to strew
upon it the remaining portions of mud, which he was enjoined to be
very careful to crumble fine, and rub thoroughly to dust. The voice
told him, that in les