e."

So he commenced his fast. Seven days he ate no food, and quenched his
thirst with only the dew which lay upon the mountain-laurel. Upon the
morning of the eighth day he began his task. "There ought to be a vast
number of fishes," said he, "and of different sizes, for each must
feed upon the other and smaller." So he called into existence all the
fishes that people the waters. Then he said to the quadrupeds and
four-footed beasts, to worms and snakes, and every thing else which
are not fishes, "Be, for you ought to be;" and they were. So the earth
became peopled and inhabited. All were called into existence then,
and in that manner, except the Chepewyans, and they had their origin
ages after, from the loins of a dog; which was performed thus:

There was among the Crees a man, whose upper lip was split, displaying
the upper teeth to every one that saw him; he was not a courageous
man, but feared every thing in the shape of danger; even the cry of
beasts and the singing of birds, and the growl of the bear, and the
song of the bittern, alarmed him. He was very fond of dogs, and
possessed the power of transforming them into the shape of men, though
he was without the power to make them continue in that shape for a
longer period than that between sun and sun. He could make a wolf-dog
step into the form of a handsome hunter; he could clothe an old cur
with the skin of a very wise _powwow_. After his charm was spoken over
a spaniel sneaking with his tail between his legs, you would see, in
his stead, a white man doing the very same mean act of cowardice, with
his back upon his enemy. A hoity-toity little she-puppy would become
in a twinkling a very pretty girl; and an ugly old snarling she-wolf,
a crabbed and sour old squaw. But, when the sun arose, the handsome
hunter became again the wolf-dog; and the very wise powwow, the old
cur; and the white man running from his enemy, the spaniel sneaking
off with his tail between his legs; and the very pretty girl, the
hoity-toity little she-puppy; and the crabbed and sour old squaw, the
ugly and snarling old she wolf-dog. He would have been very glad to
have made them retain the form of human beings, but he possessed not
the power. At last, he bethought himself of the mighty Bird of Ages,
who dwelt among the lofty peaks of the Mountain of Thunders. To this
bird he repaired, and telling him what he had come for, he received
the command to go to the Lake of the Woods, and bring the