44 GLOOSCAP AND OTHER STORIES

together. Before they went away they always said, “Take care of the wigwams while we are away and do just as you please—except for one thing. On no account touch that large stone near the pine tree, for, if you do, great trouble will come upon you.”

For a time the maidens were careful to obey their husbands, and they did not go near the stone. But at last they began to wonder and wonder what could be under that stone. Every day they grew more eager to know. The older sister was more prudent and firm than the younger and would never touch the stone; but the younger at last said, “I shall lift that stone, and peep underneath, no matter what comes of it.”

So, one day, when the two hunters were in the forest, the younger sister went to the stone, and lifted it—and looked underneath. She started back with a scream at the sight. For she found that they were up above the sky! Their husbands had carried them up into the star world while they slept.

The stone covered a hole like a trap door; far below she saw the world upon which she had once lived, and the village, and the home of her childhood.

The older sister heard the scream, and ran to the stone. She, too, looked down through the hole in the roof of the world. Then they