Note 23 — Chapter II · MYTHS AND FOLK-LORE OF THE TIMAGAMI OJIBWA.

One day Wemicus said to his son-in-law, “We’d better make two canoes of birch-bark, one for you and one for me. We’d better get bark.” So they started off for birch-bark. They cut a tree almost through and Wemicus said to his son-in-law, “You sit on that side and I’ll sit on this.” He wanted the tree to fall on him and kill him. Wemicus said, “You say, ‘Fall on my father-in-law,’ and I’ll say, ‘Fall on my son-in-law’, and whoever says it too slowly or makes a mistake will be the one on whom it will fall.” But Wemicus made the first mistake, and the tree fell on him and crushed him. However, Wemicus was a manitu23 and was not hurt. They went home with the bark and made the two canoes. After they were made, Wemicus said to his son-in-law, “Well, we’ll have a race in our two canoes, a sailing race.” Wemicus made a big bark sail, but the man did not make any, as he was afraid of upsetting. They started the race. Wemicus went very fast and the man called after him, “Oh, you are beating me.” He kept on fooling and encouraging Wemicus, until the wind upset Wemicus’ canoe and that was the end of Wemicus. When the man sailed over the spot where Wemicus had upset, he saw a big pike (ki·nų′je) there, into which Wemicus had been transformed when the canoe upset. This is the origin of the pike.