rful story, which he knew, telling how Nanahboozhoo
helped the elks to conquer the moose.

When there is a disposition to surrender we are easily conquered. So it was
with Souwanas on this occasion. The children in their love for their friend
pleaded so importunately that a good cup of tea was prepared for and much
enjoyed by him before he began his story, his interested auditors as close
as possible around him.

"Once when Nanahboozhoo was journeying through the country," said Souwanas,
"he found a village of Indians who were very poor. They were called
Oomaskos, Elk people. They had nothing but the poorest of robes on their
backs, and they were nearly destitute of everything in the shape of traps,
weapons, and canoes. The village was strangely silent, for even the dogs,
that generally are around in such numbers, had disappeared. When
Nanahboozhoo saw this destitution and poverty he at once inquired the
reason, and was surprised and very angry to hear that they were great
gamblers.

"Not far off from them was another village whose people were called Mooswa,
or Moose people, and Nanahboozhoo soon found out that, while the
inhabitants of these two villages were antagonistic to each other, they
frequently met to gamble, and that the Moose people were nearly always
successful and had won from the Elk people nearly everything they
possessed. The latter were very much humiliated at Nanahboozhoo's finding
them in such a wretched condition, but they told him they were convinced
that some trickery had been practiced upon them by their opponents. They
also informed Nanahboozhoo that they would be glad if he would help them to
get back their much needed possessions.

"Nanahboozhoo promised that he would assist them on condition that after
their possessions were regained they should give up the pernicious habit of
gambling. This they unanimously promised to do. The first thing
Nanahboozhoo did was to disguise himself as a whisky-jack and fly over to
the village of the Moose people and try to discover how it was that they
had been so invariably successful when they gambled with the Elk people. It
was as he suspected. His old enemies the Anamakquis, the evil spirits that
had destroyed his brother Nahpootee, the wolf, had sent one of their number
among the Moose people, and he had enabled them to win nearly all of the
dogs, as well as other things, from the Elk people. Indeed, he himself had
generally been the one who had tossed t