ANIMAL STORIES 183 them! Now, the rock was really a magician in disguise. He had been resting after his race down the mountain, and now he was challenging the Badger and his brother to go on. The Badger and his brother fled—but in vain! They could not keep in front of the rock. On it came toward them, tearing down trees, and clearing a road for itself. They ran to a hill, but the hill could not help them; for up after them came the rock, and the Badger had time only to utter his magic words, "Noogoon ooskoodeskuck! Spare my backbone!" when the rock struck him, and rolled over him and ground him to powder. The younger brother had managed to slip out of the way, and so was uninjured. When all was still, he returned to the place where his brother had been killed. There lay the backbone un¬ injured! "What are you lying there for?" he asked of it. Without pausing to answer the brother's question, the backbone began calling the differ¬ ent parts of his body together. "What, ho! My arms, come hither! Ho! My legs, my body! Come hither!" And soon the Badger was as alive as ever. He stood up and looked around in amazement. "What have I been doing here?" he asked his brother.