he prepared a great whip and with it he severely thrashed
the trees. Up to this time the birch had been the most beautiful of trees.
Its great trunk was of the purest white, without any blemish or blotch upon
it. But ever since the thrashing Nanahboozhoo gave it it has had to carry
the marks of that terrible whipping; and that is why the white birch tree
is so covered with scars.

"When Nanahboozhoo had ceased thrashing the trees he found himself so very
hungry that he resolved to eat the brains that were in the head of the
bear, that had been overlooked by the wolves. However, he found the skull
very hard. So he transformed himself into a little snake, and in this way
got inside of the bear's skull and enjoyed his feast. In fact he enjoyed it
too much, for when he was through with his eating he could not get out of
the skull, he was so full. However, he was able to roll along, skull and
all, but as he could not see where he was going he bumped along in a very
erratic manner until at length he tumbled into a big lake and sank at first
deep down under the waves.

"When he came up to the surface he just put a part of the head of the bear
out of the water, as does the bear when swimming. Then he listened
intently. It was not long before Nanahboozhoo heard voices saying:

"'Look! There is a bear swimming. Let us kill him."

"So there was a chase on the lake, and it was not long before the Indians
came up, in their canoe, and one of them with his stone ax struck the
bear's head such a blow that he split open the skull.

"This just suited Nanahboozhoo, and instantly he sprang out and made for
the shore.

"Then Nanahboozhoo journeyed on and again he began to feel very hungry. The
brains of the bear were not much to one who had had his mind set on eating
the whole carcass. It was not long before he met the raccoon awkwardly
carrying a birch _rogan_ that he had stolen from a couple of blind men.
Seeing the merry smile on the raccoon's face, Nanahboozhoo bade him a good
day, and asked him what was amusing him.

"The raccoon, who did not know that it was Nanahboozhoo with whom he was
talking, told him how he obtained the dish. When Nanahboozhoo heard this he
was very angry at the raccoon for his heartless trick.

"It seems that there was quite a large settlement of people who had among
them a couple of blind men. As these Indians were hunters they had to be on
the move a good deal of the time following the game. As the othe