1894-95. ] THREE CARRIER MYTHS. 31

grizzly bear, my son,” said his mother. “It is also occasionally eaten.
Therefore let them kill it.” So they did, and thenceforth they killed
great numbers of those animals.

Another day that one of them had returned from the chase to take
advice from his mother, he said to her: “Mother, our little sister-dog
is pursuing an animal which has long legs and on the head something
resembling the upright roots of a fallen tree!. What is it and what shall
we do with it?” Then she made answer thus: “ My son, that animal is
called a caribou. Its meat is very good, and its skin serves to make
moccasins with. Let them shoot it.” Therefore they shot it, and after-
wards many more caribou.

Lastly, one day that one of them was again consulting his mother, he
said to her: “Mother, our little sister-dog is chasing a very large animal
not unlike the caribou, but bigger. What can it be and what to do with
it?” Upon which his mother said in answer: “ My son, this is what we
call a moose. Its flesh is excellent, and its skin is also very useful. Let
them shoot it.” After they had shot it, they also killed many more
moose.

They were now exercised to hunt all kinds of animals, and they had
grown to be young men and successful hunters. In recognition of the
service rendered their mother by the old woman who had preserved fire
for her at the time that she had been abandoned, they used to present
her, after each hunt, with the fat of the animals mixed with their blood.
One day that they wanted to fool her, they mixed pieces of rotten wood
with blood and offered the whole to her, saying: “ Grandmother’, fry this
fat mixed with blood which we give you as is our wont.” The old
woman did as she was bid, but she soon detected the fraud, upon which
she exclaimed: “Passa! ya’tth’génuhti /®> Oh! may you be translated
up to the sky!” For she was indeed very angry.

Now it came to pass that a short time afterwards their sister-dog
scented a herd of caribou. They set at once in pursuit of the game. Far,
very far away they ran on the tracks of their sister-dog, and yet they
could not catch up with her. The more they advanced, the higher up
they were going. At length, after a very long chase, one of the three
thought of sitting down to rest awhile. Looking back, he discovered
that they had reached the sky, and then he was terrified indeed. He

1 Raz, a primary root, means all that.

2In the Déné legends, the old women are always addressed as grandmothers.

8 Archaic form of words in the Lower Carrier dialect. Passa! has no modern equivalent
and is expressive of spite and rage.