"I am not, good man," answered Ko-ko, carried away by the magical shoes,
"I assure you." But ere he could finish his avowal, the moccasins had
hurried him out of sight.

"At any rate, I shall soon be home at this speed," said Ko-koor to
himself.

The moccasins seemed to know his thoughts; for just then they gave a
sudden leap, slipped away from his feet, and left the Owl flat upon his
back! while they glided home by themselves, to the lodge of Onwee
Bahmondang, where they belonged.

A party of hunters passing that way after several days, found Ko-ko
sitting among the bushes, looking greatly bewildered; and when they
inquired of him how he had succeeded with the wicked father at the
lodge, he answered that he had demolished the whole establishment, but
that his name was not Ko-ko, but Onwee Bahmondang; saying which, he ran
away into the woods, and was never seen more.

XVII.

HE OF THE LITTLE SHELL.

Once upon a time, all the people of a certain country had died,
excepting two helpless children, a baby boy and a little girl.

When their parents died, these children were asleep. The little girl,
who was the elder, was the first to awake. She looked around her, but
seeing nobody beside her little brother, who lay smiling in his dreams,
she quietly resumed her bed.

At the end of ten days her brother moved, without opening his eyes.

At the end of ten days more he changed his position, lying on the other
side, and in this way he kept on sleeping for a long time; and pleasant,
too, must have been his dreams, for his little sister never looked at
him that he was not quite a little heaven of smiles and flashing lights,
which beamed about his head and filled the lodge with a strange
splendor.

The girl soon grew to be a woman, but the boy increased in stature very
slowly. It was a long time before he could even creep, and he was well
advanced in years before he could stand alone. When he was able to
walk, his sister made him a little bow and arrows, and hung around his
neck a small shell, saying:

"You shall be called Dais Imid, or He of the Little Shell."

Every day he would go out with his little bow, shooting at the small
birds. The first bird he killed was a tom-tit. His sister was highly
pleased when he took it to her. She carefully prepared and stuffed it,
and put it away for him.

The next day he killed a red squirrel. His sister preserved this, too.
The third day he killed a partridge, and t