The Sable and the Black Cat
went in a stone canoe to a place where they make maple sugar. In this
journey they were lost, and separated from each other. Sable in his
wanderings came to a peculiarly shaped wigwam. He went in and found
within a large Snake. The Snake said he was glad the Sable had come,
as he was very hungry. The Snake told him to go into the woods and get
a straight stick, so that when he pierced him he would not tear open
his entrails. Sable then went out and sang in a loud voice a song
which he hoped his brother the Black Cat would hear and come to his
aid.[10] The Black Cat heard him and came to him. Then the Sable told
the Black Cat the trouble he was in, and how the Snake was going to
kill him. The Black Cat told Sable not to be afraid, but that he would
kill the big Snake. He told him that he would lie down behind the
trunk of a hemlock tree which had fallen, and that Sable should search
out a stick that was very crooked, obeying the commands of the big
Snake. When he had found a stick, he should carry it to the Snake, who
would complain that the stick was not straight enough. The Black Cat
instructed Sable to reply that he would straighten it in the fire,
holding it there until the steam came out of the end.[11] While the
Snake was watching the process of straightening the stick and the exit
of the steam, Black Cat told Sable that he should strike the Snake
over the head. The Sable sought out the most crooked stick he could
find, and then returned to the wigwam where the Snake was. The Snake
said the stick was too crooked. The Sable replied, "I can straighten
it," and held it in the fire.[12] When it was hot he struck the Snake
on the head and blinded him.[13] The Snake then followed the Sable,
and, as he passed over the hemlock trunk, Black Cat killed him, and
they cut him in small fragments. Black Cat and Sable called all the
animals and birds to the feast; the caribous, wild horses, and swift
animals and birds were first to arrive at the feast. The Turtle was
the last, and got only the blood. Then the Black Cat and Sable
returned home to Cooloo, whose wife was Pookjinsquess. She thought she
would like to have for her husband Black Cat if she could get rid of
Cooloo. But Black Cat offended Pookjinsquess and made her angry. To
make way with him she invited him to go with her for gulls' eggs. She
took him across the water in a canoe to an island which was very
distant. There they filled baskets wi