So two
young men took a canoe and went forth to see what this might be. And
when they came to the edge of the rock, which was about a foot high,
there lay Mikchich sunning himself; but seeing them coming to take him,
he only said, "Good-by," and rolled over plump into the water, where he
is living to this day. In memory whereof all turtles, when they see any
one coming, tip-tilt themselves over into the water at once.
And Turtle lived happily with his wife, and she had a babe. New it
happened in after-days that Glooskap came to see his uncle, and the
child cried. "Dost thou know what he says?" exclaimed the Master.
"Truly, not I," answered Mikchich, "unless it be the language of the
Mu-se-gisk (P., Spirits of the Air), which no man knoweth." "Well," replied
Glooskap, "he is talking of eggs, for he says '_Hoo-wah! hoo-wah_!'
which methinks is much the same as '_Waw-wun, waw-wun_.' And
this in Passamaquoddy means egg." "But where are there any?" asked
Mikchich. Then Glooskap bade him seek in the sand, and he found many,
and admired and marveled over them greatly; and in memory of this, and
to glorify this jest of Glooskap, the Turtle layeth eggs even to this
day.
* * * * *
The great Glooskap was a right valiant smoker; in all the world was no
man who loved a pipe of good tobacco so much as he.
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