its, as he presented himself, the
Great Hare gave one of the little round balls, commanding him to
swallow it. All obeyed readily, except the Manitou of the
Mocking-Birds and the Manitou of the strange bird with a hooked nose,
which Ononthio's[A] people have taught to cry, "Damn the Indians." The
last bit off only a small piece of this ball, and the first, after
chewing his, spat it all out with great disdain. That is the reason
that these two still retain a portion of their speech--all the other
creatures swallowed their balls, and thenceforth never spoke with the
tongues of men.

[Footnote A: _Great Mountain_, a name given to one of the early French
governors, and continued to be used generally for the French as long
as they held Canada. The story means a parrot probably.]

The Great Hare, having deprived the beasts of the faculty of speech,
and taken from them a principal portion of the wit and wisdom which
they were about to make such bad use of, turned to the Ottawa woman,
and kindly offered her all the little balls that were left. She took
them, and carefully wrapped them up in a corner of her robe. Before
she died, which was not till her years were more than the years of a
tortoise, she called her eldest daughter to the side of her couch and
gave her the balls, telling her to bestow them upon her eldest
daughter, with such directions as would ensure their remaining among
the Ottawas as long as grass shall grow and water run. They have been
handed down from daughter to daughter, and son to son, till the
present time. And that my brother may not think that I have a forked
tongue, but speak the words of truth, I will show him the little
balls. There they are, wrapped up in a piece of the robe which was
worn at the time by the Ottawa woman, to whom they were given by the
Great Hare.

So saying, the Ottawa story-teller unrolled a piece of dressed deer
skin, and took from thence a number of small balls, about the size of
pills sold by apothecaries, which he gave to M. Verdier.

NOTES.

(1) _Lake of the Great Beaver._--p. 49.

Among the Ottawas, the Great Beaver is, next to Michabou, the chief
deity. He it was who formed lake Nipissing; and all the rapids or
currents, which are found in the river Ottawa, are the remains of the
causeway which he built in order to complete his design. They also
add, that he died in the same place, and that he is buried under a
mountain which you perceive on the northern shore of