]
But she ignored the question, and although they kept bothering her it was
a long time before she would give them any information at all, and that was
very little. However, she did tell them that they were more than ordinary
children and finer than other boys, but then there are lots of mothers who
say such things to their own little ones.
"As they were now big enough, she brought out of hiding a couple of bows,
and quivers full of arrows, and some magic rabbit sticks, and gave them to
the boys.
"'These were left for you by your father,' said the mother, ere he went
away, and he gave commands that they were to be given to you as soon as you
were able to use them.'
"The children were, of course, anxious to try their bows and arrows and
these magic sticks. So very soon after they had received them they resolved
to go off on a hunting expedition.
"The mother, who was anxious about them, warned them of the various
monsters in human shape, great windegoos and cannibals, that were ever
lying in wait to catch and roast and eat little boys. She also told them of
the animals that were so enormously large that they could catch them up and
swallow them as easily as a turkey does a grasshopper.
"Thus she tried to put them on their guard against the terrible foes that
had devoured so many of their people. The boys, however, were not much
frightened, and they eagerly set off on their journey.
"They were especially warned by their anxious mother not to go to the
east, as there was a narrow lake there to which many of these evil
creatures came for water, especially a great monster wolf that had devoured
many people.
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