The brothers, Big-Man and the giants

The lad cried for his elder brother, who went there at once. When the giant saw him approaching, he was glad, for he saw in him a meal. The elder brother offered to help the giant, and took the axe. He said, “That boy is very bad. He always does mean things. I will help you chop the tree, so that we may get him and eat him.” He swung the axe with great vigor; and the giant, standing a little too close by, received a cut on the brow from the back of the axe. The man said to him, “Stand farther away, I might hit you hard.” He chopped hard and wildly, swinging his axe around. He watched his chance, gave the axe a great swing, and, instead of hitting the tree, cut off the giant’s head. The brothers opened it, and many mosquitoes flew out, which were his brains. This is the reason why giants are so foolish and easily fooled, and also the reason that mosquitoes are in the world now. Had they not opened the giant’s head and let the mosquitoes out, there would be none of these insects now. The elder brother cooked the porcupine, and gave half to his brother. After this, they shared equally when eating. Now they travelled on, and always camped in new country.

They came to a region where there were no porcupines. They could not get anything to eat, and were famished. The elder brother became very hungry and very weak. At last he could travel no farther, so he camped in the snow and made a big fire. He thought he would kill his younger brother and eat him. The latter lay on the opposite side of the fire, and watched him. When the fire had been burning some time, the elder brother heard a sizzling noise on his brother’s side of the fire, and went to investigate. He found that they had lighted their fire over the frozen carcass of a buffalo that had been killed fighting, and the side of the animal was cooking. They cut it up and ate some of it, and the elder brother became stronger. The younger brother now hunted and killed some fat buffalo, the ribs and inside fat of which he carried home and fed to his brother, who ate so much that he nearly burst. The younger one said to him, “Eat some more!” but he answered, “I cannot.” The younger one said, “Eat more, be sure you have your fill. You thought of eating me.” The elder answered, “My stomach was empty, that is why I thought that way; now I am full.” They became good friends, and went on to a new locality.

One day, when travelling, they came to a porcupine’s den in the rocks. They saw Big-Man approaching, and, never having seen him before, they were afraid, and went into the porcupine-hole. Big-Man asked them to come out, saying that he would not harm them. The elder brother came out, but the younger one was afraid and staid in. Big-Man was angry because the younger brother would not trust him: so he made the rocks grow together, and thus prevented him from getting out. Big-Man told the elder lad that he wanted him to help him get back his wife, whom a giant had stolen. Big-Man had two large dogs which he used as pack-animals. They were the grizzly and the black bears. Now the giant travelled, carrying the lad under one arm; and very soon they reached a different country, where everything was of enormous size. A very large kind of beaver formerly inhabiting the world was to be found here. The beavers had hairy tails. The giant and the lad reached a large lake in which there were many beavers. Big-Man caught them in nets. He ate them, and threw away the tails. The lad hid himself, and cooked and ate one of the tails. Big-Man asked him what he was eating, and the lad told him. Big-Man said, “Put some in my mouth, I want to taste it.” When he had tasted the beaver-tails, he said, “That is the best food I ever ate,” and he told the boy to gather all the tails he had thrown away. Big-Man sent the lad out to scout. He said, “Look about and see if you can see a big lake with what looks like an island in the middle.” Big-Man was fond of the lad, and always called him “Grandson.” The lad went up on the top of a high hill and looked around. He saw what looked like an island in the middle of a lake, and returned to tell Big-Man. The latter said, “That is the giant fishing.”

Now they prepared to fight the giant. Big-Man made bow and arrows and spear, and the boy made a beaver-tooth axe. He intended to take a large beaver-tooth for the axe, but found he could not lift it, so he took a young beaver’s tooth. Big-Man told the boy to go near the lake and to bark like a dog. He said, “The giant will become frightened and run home. You follow him up, barking, and I will lay in wait for him on the trail between the lake and his house.” The fish the giant was catching in the lake were all covered with hair. When he heard what he thought was a dog barking, he put his pack of fish on his back and ran for home. When he came close enough, Big-Man fired an arrow at him; but the giant jumped aside, and the arrow missed him. Then Big-Man attacked him with the spear, but the giant evaded the thrusts. Now they seized each other and wrestled. After a long time Big-Man became weak, and called on the boy for help. The latter ran up, and, striking the giant with his beaver-tooth club, hamstrung him, and he fell down. They then killed him.

Now they went to the giant’s house. When the giantess saw them, she called out, “Why did you kill my husband?” She threw huge rocks at Big-Man, but the latter jumped aside and avoided them. The giantess stood up and put her breasts on Big-Man’s shoulders. They were so heavy, he nearly fell down. They wrestled; and the boy cut the sinews of her legs as he had her husband’s, and she fell down. They killed her and her babies and all her children. The babies were of the size of tall men. Big-Man took back his wife, and thanked the boy for his help.

The boy wanted to return to his own country and see his parents. He had been away a long time. He knew his country was far off, and he did not know where it was nor how to reach it. Big-Man knew his thoughts. He said, “I will give you one of my dogs to ride. When you get out of food, kill him and eat him; but be sure to preserve one arm-bone, and keep it close to your head when you sleep. It will be bare when you fall asleep; but when you awake, it will be clothed with meat. Thus you will always have food to eat. I shall also give you a walking-stick. When you retire, always stick it up near the head of your bed. In the morning you will find the stick pointing a certain way, which will be the direction you must follow for that day. Thus you will know your road. Some morning when you find that the stick has fallen down and is lying flat, and your bone is devoid of meat, you will know you are near your destination, and will reach home that day.” Big-Man also told him that he would not see him again, but that he would know by signs when he died. He said, “When I die or am killed, you will see the sky all red: that is my blood. You will also see rain fall: that is my tears.” Big-Man gave him his grizzly-bear dog to ride. The lad had only gone a little way when the bear began to growl and wanted to fight him. He called back to Big-Man, who changed the dogs, and gave him the black bear to ride.

He went on until he came to a country where there was no game, and became hungry. Then he killed the bear and ate it, but kept the bone, as advised. One morning when he awoke, he saw that the stick had fallen down and that there was no meat on the bone. He was glad, and he reached his parents that day. That is why black bears are much better eating than grizzly bears, and also why grizzly bears are mean sometimes and want to fight people. That is also probably why people say that bears were originally dogs.

Not long afterwards the lad saw the sky all red, and rain fell. He then knew that his friend Big-Man was dead. That is why people say now that a red sky is blood (or Big-Man’s blood); and when rain falls, it is tears (Big-Man’s tears).

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