tter
to their father. They did so. The result was such as might have been
anticipated. The father, being satisfied of the infidelity of his wife,
watched a suitable occasion, when she was separated from the children,
that they might not have their feelings excited, and with a single blow
of his war-club dispatched her. He then buried her under the ashes of
his fire, took down the lodge, and removed, with his two sons, to a
distant position.

But the spirit of the woman haunted the children, who were now grown up
to the estate of young men. She appeared to them as they returned from
hunting in the evening. They were also terrified in their dreams, which
they attributed to her. She harassed their imaginations wherever they
went. Life became a scene of perpetual terrors. They resolved, together
with their father, to leave the country, and commenced a journey toward
the south. After travelling many days along the shores of Lake Superior,
they passed around a high promontory of rock where a large river issued
out of the lake, and soon after came to a place called Pauwateeg.[90]

They had no sooner come in sight of these falls, than they beheld the
skull of the woman rolling along the beach. They were in the utmost
fear, and knew not how to elude her. At this moment one of them looked
out, and saw a stately crane sitting on a rock in the middle of the
rapids. They called out to the bird, "See, grandfather, we are
persecuted by a spirit. Come and take us across the falls, so that we
may escape her."

This crane was a bird of extraordinary size and great age. When first
descried by the two sons, he sat in a state of stupor, in the midst of
the most violent eddies. When he heard himself addressed, he stretched
forth his neck with great deliberation, and lifting himself by his
wings, flew across to their assistance. "Be careful," said the crane,
"that you do not touch the back part of my head. It is sore, and should
you press against it, I shall not be able to avoid throwing you both
into the rapids." They were, however, attentive on this point, and were
safely landed on the south shore of the river.

The crane then resumed his former position in the rapids. But the skull
now cried out, "Come, my grandfather, and carry me over, for I have
lost my children, and am sorely distressed." The aged bird flew to her
assistance. He carefully repeated the injunction that she must by no
means touch the back part of his head, which had b