At last the river froze so hard and solid, that the bird’s wing was frozen fast into the ice and he could not pull it out. Then the husband killed the wicked bird, and plucking one of the long feathers from its wing for a charm, took his wife safely home without any further trouble.
They brought the old grandmother and the little girl to live with them, and they were all happy the whole winter long with the meat of the big bird for food.
THE TREACHEROUS CROW AND HIS COUSIN, THE MINK
Long ago, a crow and a mink lived together. The crow called the mink his cousin. They made a little cabin where there was a sand bar and willows. In summer time when the weather was fine they played together on the sand bar, which was bigger than any sand pile any children ever had.
One day they saw some dead salmon on the beach, and the tracks of a brown bear.
The crow said to the mink, his cousin, “What shall we do if that brown bear comes around here?”
The mink answered, “We cannot catch that bear. He is bigger and stronger than we are. He will kill us.”
Then the crow laughed, “Haw, haw! I know how to kill that bear; it is easy. Cousin, you will go inside the dead salmon, and I will put it in the bear’s track.”
“O no!” said the mink. “I am afraid. You go yourself into the salmon.”
But the crow was boss. “I do not wish to go into the salmon,” said he. “You go yourself. I am bigger than you, and I have wings. I will put you into the salmon, and I will put the salmon in the bear’s track, and don’t you move one bit, even if you are scared. I will tell you what to do. If the bear comes, keep very still. If he opens his mouth to bite, you just jump down his throat, and go in as far as you can. Bite him hard inside, and then he will drop dead.”
The mink was terribly afraid, but the crow said, “I will help you. When the bear drops dead, I will run out of my hiding-place, and cut a little door in his side with my knife, and you will jump out. If you do that, we will live well and have lots of meat to eat all winter.”
The poor mink looked very sad indeed, but did not dare to refuse to do what the crow told him.
“All right,” said the mink, “I will do it, but I know that I shall die.”
The crow went to work to prepare the big fish. He skinned it nicely, and when it was ready, put his cousin, the mink, inside of it, and laid it where the bear track was.