"When Nanahboozhoo at length got his hand free and came down he found
nothing left of his feast but the skull of the bear. He was very angry, not
only at the wolves that had eaten his feast but also at the trees that had
held him, the great Nanahboozhoo, in so tight a grip. As the wolves had run
away he could not, at present, punish them, but he resolved that he would
so punish these great birch trees that they would never give him such a
squeeze again. So he prepared a great whip and with it he severely thrashed
the trees. Up to this time the birch had been the most beautiful of trees.
Its great trunk was of the purest white, without any blemish or blotch upon
it. But ever since the thrashing Nanahboozhoo gave it it has had to carry
the marks of that terrible whipping; and that is why the white birch tree
is so covered with scars.

"When Nanahboozhoo had ceased thrashing the trees he found himself so very
hungry that he resolved to eat the brains that were in the head of the
bear, that had been overlooked by the wolves. However, he found the skull
very hard. So he transformed himself into a little snake, and in this way
got inside of the bear's skull and enjoyed his feast. In fact he enjoyed it
too much, for when he was through with his eating he could not get out of
the skull, he was so full. However, he was able to roll along, skull and
all, but as he could not see where he was going he bumped along in a very
erratic manner until at length he tumbled into a big lake and sank at first
deep down under the waves.

"When he came up to the surface he just put a part of the head of the bear
out of the water, as does the bear when swimming. Then he listened
intently. It was not long before Nanahboozhoo heard voices saying:

"'Look! There is a bear swimming. Let us kill him."