Note 47 — FICTION (continued 3)

The next morning the old man and the boy, putting their bows, arrows, and fur robes into the canoe, started across the lake. The boy was seated in front and the old man, who paddled, in the stern. In the evening they came in sight of a low island, and without landing they fastened their canoe to the bullrushes that grew around the shore. “How can we sleep here? Is it safe? Are there not things in the water that might kill us?” were some of the anxious queries of the boy. “Oh!” said the old man, “there are fish in the water, and there are in the world evil things reaching from the bottom of the water up to the home of the Master of Life.”47 “If the wind blows we shall be carried off into the lake,” said the boy. “Oh, no! we are safe,” said the old man. So both lay down and soon fell asleep.