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At last their canoe was blown onto a beach and they were glad, but not
for long.
Looking for the tracks of animals, they saw some huge footprints which
they knew must be those of a giant. They were afraid and hid in the
bushes. As they crouched low, a big arrow thudded into the ground close
beside them.
Then a huge giant came toward them. A caribou hung from his belt, but
the man was so big that it looked like a rabbit. He told them that he
did not hurt people and he like to be a friend to little people, who
seemed to the giant to be so helpless.
He asked the two lost Indians to come home with him, and since they had
no food and their weapons had been lost in the storm at sea, they were
glad to go with him. An evil Windigo spirit came to the lodge of the
giant and told the two men that the giant had other men hidden away in
the forest because he like to eat them.
The Windigo pretended to be a friend, but he was the one who wanted the
men because he was an eater of people. The Windigo became very angry
when the giant would not give him the two men, and finally the giant
became angry too. He took a big stick and turned over a big bowl with
it.
A strange animal which the Indians had never seen before lay on the
floor, looking up at them. It looked like a wolf to them, but the giant
called the animal 'Dog.' The giant told him to kill the evil Windigo
spirit. The beast sprang to its feet, shook himself, and started to
grow, and grow, and grow. The more he shook himself, the more he grew
and the fiercer he became. He sprang at the Windigo and killed him; then
the dog grew smaller and smaller and crept under the bowl.
The giant saw that the Indians were much surprised and please with Dog
and said that he would give it to them, though it was his pet. He told
the men that he would command Dog to take them home. They had no idea
how this could be done, though they had seen that the giant was a maker
of magic, but they thanked the friendly giant for his great gift. The
giant took the men and the dog to the seashore and gave the dog a
command. At once it began to grow bigger and bigger, until it was nearly
as big as a horse.
The giant put the two men onto the back of the dog and told them to hold
on very tightly. As Dog ran into the sea, he grew still bigger and when
the water was deep enough he started to swim strongly away from the
shore.
After a very long time, the two Ojibwa began to see a part of the
seacoast which they knew, and soon the dog headed for shore. As he
neared the beach, he became smaller and smaller so that the Indians had
to swim for the last part of their journey.
The dog left them close to their lodges and disappeared into the forest.
When the men told their tribe of their adventure, the people though that
the men were speaking falsely. "Show us even the little mystery animal,
Dog, and we shall believe you," a chief said.
A few moons came and went and then, one morning while the tribe slept,
the dog returned to the two men. It allowed them to pet it and took food
from their hands. The tribe was very much surprised to see this new
creature. It stayed with the tribe.
That, as the Indians tell, was how the first dog came to the earth.
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