story of a hunter

there were two men living in a camp with two women and the rest of the band. on a cold day in winter one of the men said he was going to track a moose, and left on his snowshoes. he said he would be back by night. he was gone all day and by night he had not returned, so his wife began to think that possibly he had shot a moose, but, as he had taken his axe with him, he might have cut himself in some way. they waited until morning and then, taking up his trail, they tracked him to where he had shot a moose and farther on to where he had skinned it. the meat was there but the skin was gone. looking around they saw a fire not far off. when they reached the fire they discovered that the hunter had rolled himself up in the green hide to sleep, and during the night it had frozen around him and he had been unable to get out. they thawed out the skin and all went back to camp.

from frank g. speck, myths and folk-lore of the timiskaming algonquin and timagami ojibwa, canada geological survey, memoir 71, ottawa, 1915.

painting by robert bateman, winter sunset - moose.