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diff --git a/22420.txt b/22420.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c78c993 --- /dev/null +++ b/22420.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5254 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Book of Nature Myths, by Florence Holbrook + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Book of Nature Myths + +Author: Florence Holbrook + +Release Date: August 27, 2007 [EBook #22420] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOOK OF NATURE MYTHS *** + + + + +Produced by Jason Isbell, Josephine Paolucci and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. + + + + + + + +[Illustration: FROM THE WIGWAM OF THE GREAT SPIRIT (page 2)] + + + + +THE BOOK OF NATURE MYTHS + +BY FLORENCE HOLBROOK + +PRINCIPAL OF FORESTVILLE SCHOOL, CHICAGO + +[Illustration: Publishers Stamp] + +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + +BOSTON . NEW YORK . CHICAGO . DALLAS SAN FRANCISCO + +The Riverside Press Cambridge + +Children's Room + + + COPYRIGHT 1902 BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. + ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + + + The Riverside Press + CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS + PRINTED IN THE U.S.A + + + + +PREFACE. + + +In preparing the Book of Nature Myths the desire has been to make a +second reader which would be adapted to the child's interest, ability, +and progress. + +The subject-matter is of permanent value, culled from the folk-lore of +the primitive races; the vocabulary, based upon that of the Hiawatha +Primer, is increased gradually, and the new words and phrases will add +to the child's power of expression. The naive explanations of the +phenomena of nature given by the primitive races appeal to the child's +wonder about the same phenomena, and he is pleased and interested. These +myths will gratify the child's desire for complete stories, and their +intrinsic merit makes them valuable for oral reproduction. + +The stories have been adapted to youthful minds from myths contained in +the works of many students of folk-lore whose scholarship is undisputed. +Special acknowledgment is due Miss Eva March Tappan for her valuable +assistance in the final revision of the text. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + +THE STORY OF THE FIRST HUMMING-BIRD. + + Part I. The Great Fire-mountain 1 + + Part II. The Frolic of the Flames 4 + + Part III. The Bird of Flame 7 + +THE STORY OF THE FIRST BUTTERFLIES 10 + +THE STORY OF THE FIRST WOODPECKER 13 + +WHY THE WOODPECKER'S HEAD IS RED 15 + +WHY THE CAT ALWAYS FALLS UPON HER FEET 19 + +WHY THE SWALLOW'S TAIL IS FORKED 23 + +WHY THE WHITE HARES HAVE BLACK EARS 28 + +WHY THE MAGPIE'S NEST IS NOT WELL BUILT 31 + +WHY THE RAVEN'S FEATHERS ARE BLACK 34 + +HOW FIRE WAS BROUGHT TO THE INDIANS. + + Part I. Seizing the Firebrand 36 + + Part II. The Firebrand in the Forest 40 + + Part III. The Firebrand in the Pond 41 + +HOW THE QUAIL BECAME A SNIPE 43 + +WHY THE SERPENT SHEDS HIS SKIN 47 + +WHY THE DOVE IS TIMID 50 + +WHY THE PARROT REPEATS THE WORDS OF MEN 52 + +THE STORY OF THE FIRST MOCKING-BIRD 56 + +WHY THE TAIL OF THE FOX HAS A WHITE TIP 60 + +THE STORY OF THE FIRST FROGS 64 + +WHY THE RABBIT IS TIMID 68 + +WHY THE PEETWEET CRIES FOR RAIN 70 + +WHY THE BEAR HAS A SHORT TAIL 72 + +WHY THE WREN FLIES CLOSE TO THE EARTH 76 + +WHY THE HOOFS OF THE DEER ARE SPLIT 79 + +THE STORY OF THE FIRST GRASSHOPPER 83 + +THE STORY OF THE ORIOLE 86 + +WHY THE PEACOCK'S TAIL HAS A HUNDRED EYES 89 + +THE STORY OF THE BEES AND THE FLIES 93 + +THE STORY OF THE FIRST MOLES 96 + +THE STORY OF THE FIRST ANTS 98 + +THE FACE OF THE MANITO 103 + +THE STORY OF THE FIRST DIAMONDS 107 + +THE STORY OF THE FIRST PEARLS 111 + +THE STORY OF THE FIRST EMERALDS 114 + +WHY THE EVERGREEN TREES NEVER LOSE THEIR LEAVES 118 + +WHY THE ASPEN LEAVES TREMBLE 122 + +HOW THE BLOSSOMS CAME TO THE HEATHER 125 + +HOW FLAX WAS GIVEN TO MEN 128 + +WHY THE JUNIPER HAS BERRIES 133 + +WHY THE SEA IS SALT 135 + +THE STORY OF THE FIRST WHITEFISH 138 + +WAS IT THE FIRST TURTLE? 142 + +WHY THE CROCODILE HAS A WIDE MOUTH 145 + +THE STORY OF THE PICTURE ON THE VASE 150 + +WHY THE WATER IN RIVERS IS NEVER STILL 155 + +HOW THE RAVEN HELPED MEN 160 + +THE STORY OF THE EARTH AND SKY 165 + +HOW SUMMER CAME TO THE EARTH. + + Part I. 169 + + Part II. 172 + +THE STORY OF THE FIRST SNOWDROPS 175 + +WHY THE FACE OF THE MOON IS WHITE 179 + +WHY ALL MEN LOVE THE MOON 184 + +WHY THERE IS A HARE IN THE MOON 188 + +THE CHILDREN IN THE MOON 193 + +WHY THERE IS A MAN IN THE MOON 197 + +THE TWIN STARS 200 + +THE LANTERN AND THE FAN 204 + +VOCABULARY 211 + + + + +THE BOOK OF NATURE MYTHS. + + + + +THE STORY OF THE FIRST HUMMING-BIRD. + + +PART I. THE GREAT FIRE-MOUNTAIN. + +Long, long ago, when the earth was very young, two hunters were +traveling through the forest. They had been on the track of a deer for +many days, and they were now far away from the village where they lived. +The sun went down and night came on. It was dark and gloomy, but over in +the western sky there came a bright light. + +"It is the moon," said one. + +"No," said the other. "We have watched many and many a night to see the +great, round moon rise above the trees. That is not the moon. Is it the +northern lights?" + +"No, the northern lights are not like this, and it is not a comet. What +can it be?" + +It is no wonder that the hunters were afraid, for the flames flared red +over the sky like a wigwam on fire. Thick, blue smoke floated above the +flames and hid the shining stars. + +"Do the flames and smoke come from the wigwam of the Great Spirit?" +asked one. + +"I fear that he is angry with his children, and that the flames are his +fiery war-clubs," whispered the other. No sleep came to their eyes. All +night long they watched and wondered, and waited in terror for the +morning. + +When morning came, the two hunters were still watching the sky. Little +by little they saw that there was a high mountain in the west where the +light had been, and above the mountain floated a dark blue smoke. +"Come," said one, "we will go and see what it is." + +They walked and walked till they came close to the mountain, and then +they saw fire shining through the seams of the rocks. "It is a mountain +of fire," one whispered. "Shall we go on?" "We will," said the other, +and they went higher and higher up the mountain. At last they stood upon +its highest point. "Now we know the secret," they cried. "Our people +will be glad when they hear this." + +Swiftly they went home through the forest to their own village. "We have +found a wonder," they cried. "We have found the home of the Fire Spirit. +We know where she keeps her flames to help the Great Spirit and his +children. It is a mountain of fire. Blue smoke rises above it night and +day, for its heart is a fiery sea, and on the sea the red flames leap +and dance. Come with us to the wonderful mountain of fire." + +The people of the village had been cold in the winter nights, and they +cried, "O brothers, your words are good. We will move our lodges to the +foot of the magic mountain. We can light our wigwam fires from its +flames, and we shall not fear that we shall perish in the long, cold +nights of winter." + +So the Indians went to live at the foot of the fire-mountain, and when +the cold nights came, they said, "We are not cold, for the Spirit of +Fire is our good friend, and she keeps her people from perishing." + + +PART II. THE FROLIC OF THE FLAMES. + +For many and many a moon the people of the village lived at the foot of +the great fire-mountain. On summer evenings, the children watched the +light, and when a child asked, "Father, what makes it?" the father said, +"That is the home of the Great Spirit of Fire, who is our good friend." +Then all in the little village went to sleep and lay safely on their +beds till the coming of the morning. + +But one night when all the people in the village were asleep, the flames +in the mountain had a great frolic. They danced upon the sea of fire as +warriors dance the war-dance. They seized great rocks and threw them at +the sky. The smoke above them hid the stars; the mountain throbbed and +trembled. Higher and still higher sprang the dancing flames. At last, +they leaped clear above the highest point of the mountain and started +down it in a river of red fire. Then the gentle Spirit of Fire called, +"Come back, my flames, come back again! The people in the village will +not know that you are in a frolic, and they will be afraid." + +[Illustration] + +The flames did not heed her words, and the river of fire ran on and on, +straight down the mountain. The flowers in its pathway perished. It +leaped upon great trees and bore them to the earth. It drove the birds +from their nests, and they fluttered about in the thick smoke. It hunted +the wild creatures of the forest from the thickets where they hid, and +they fled before it in terror. + +At last, one of the warriors in the village awoke. The thick smoke was +in his nostrils. In his ears was the war-cry of the flames. He sprang to +the door of his lodge and saw the fiery river leaping down the mountain. +"My people, my people," he cried, "the flames are upon us!" With cries +of fear the people in the village fled far away into the forest, and the +flames feasted upon the homes they loved. + +The two hunters went to look upon the mountain, and when they came back, +they said sadly, "There are no flowers on the mountain. Not a bird-song +did we hear. Not a living creature did we see. It is all dark and +gloomy. We know the fire is there, for the blue smoke still floats up to +the sky, but the mountain will never again be our friend." + + +PART III. THE BIRD OF FLAME + +When the Great Spirit saw the work of the flames, he was very angry. +"The fires of this mountain must perish," he said. "No longer shall its +red flames light the midnight sky." + +The mountain trembled with fear at the angry words of the Great Spirit. +"O father of all fire and light," cried the Fire Spirit, "I know that +the flames have been cruel. They killed the beautiful flowers and drove +your children from their homes, but for many, many moons they heeded my +words and were good and gentle. They drove the frost and cold of winter +from the wigwams of the village. The little children laughed to see +their red light in the sky. The hearts of your people will be sad, if +the flames must perish from the earth." + +The Great Spirit listened to the words of the gentle Spirit of Fire, but +he answered, "The fires must perish. They have been cruel to my people, +and the little children will fear them now; but because the children +once loved them, the beautiful colors of the flames shall still live to +make glad the hearts of all who look upon them." + +Then the Great Spirit struck the mountain with his magic war-club. The +smoke above it faded away; its fires grew cold and dead. In its dark and +gloomy heart only one little flame still trembled. It looked like a +star. How beautiful it was! + +The Great Spirit looked upon the little flame. He saw that it was +beautiful and gentle, and he loved it. "The fires of the mountain must +perish," he said, "but you little, gentle flame, shall have wings and +fly far away from the cruel fires, and all my children will love you as +I do." Swiftly the little thing rose above the mountain and flew away in +the sunshine. The light of the flames was still on its head; their +marvelous colors were on its wings. + +[Illustration] + +So from the mountain's heart of fire sprang the first humming-bird. It +is the bird of flame, for it has all the beauty of the colors of the +flame, but it is gentle, and every child in all the earth loves it and +is glad to see it fluttering over the flowers. + + + + +THE STORY OF THE FIRST BUTTERFLIES. + + +The Great Spirit thought, "By and by I will make men, but first I will +make a home for them. It shall be very bright and beautiful. There shall +be mountains and prairies and forests, and about it all shall be the +blue waters of the sea." + +As the Great Spirit had thought, so he did. He gave the earth a soft +cloak of green. He made the prairies beautiful with flowers. The forests +were bright with birds of many colors, and the sea was the home of +wonderful sea-creatures. "My children will love the prairies, the +forests, and the seas," he thought, "but the mountains look dark and +cold. They are very dear to me, but how shall I make my children go to +them and so learn to love them?" + +Long the Great Spirit thought about the mountains. At last, he made many +little shining stones. Some were red, some blue, some green, some +yellow, and some were shining with all the lovely colors of the +beautiful rainbow. "All my children will love what is beautiful," he +thought, "and if I hide the bright stones in the seams of the rocks of +the mountains, men will come to find them, and they will learn to love +my mountains." + +When the stones were made and the Great Spirit looked upon their beauty, +he said, "I will not hide you all away in the seams of the rocks. Some +of you shall be out in the sunshine, so that the little children who +cannot go to the mountains shall see your colors." Then the southwind +came by, and as he went, he sang softly of forests flecked with light +and shadow, of birds and their nests in the leafy trees. He sang of long +summer days and the music of waters beating upon the shore. He sang of +the moonlight and the starlight. All the wonders of the night, all the +beauty of the morning, were in his song. + +"Dear southwind," said the Great Spirit "here are some beautiful things +for you to bear away with, you to your summer home. You will love them, +and all the little children will love them." At these words of the Great +Spirit, all the stones before him stirred with life and lifted +themselves on many-colored wings. They fluttered away in the sunshine, +and the southwind sang to them as they went. + +[Illustration] + +So it was that the first butterflies came from a beautiful thought of +the Great Spirit, and in their wings were all the colors of the shining +stones that he did not wish to hide away. + + + + +THE STORY OF THE FIRST WOODPECKER. + + +In the days of long ago the Great Spirit came down from the sky and +talked with men. Once as he went up and down the earth, he came to the +wigwam of a woman. He went into the wigwam and sat down by the fire, but +he looked like an old man, and the woman did not know who he was. + +"I have fasted for many days," said the Great Spirit to the woman. "Will +you give me some food?" The woman made a very little cake and put it on +the fire. "You can have this cake," she said, "if you will wait for it +to bake." "I will wait," he said. + +When the cake was baked, the woman stood and looked at it. She thought, +"It is very large. I thought it was small. I will not give him so large +a cake as that." So she put it away and made a small one. "If you will +wait, I will give you this when it is baked," she said, and the Great +Spirit said, "I will wait." + +When that cake was baked, it was larger than the first one. "It is so +large that I will keep it for a feast," she thought. So she said to her +guest, "I will not give you this cake, but if you will wait, I will make +you another one." "I will wait," said the Great Spirit again. + +Then the woman made another cake. It was still smaller than the others +had been at first, but when she went to the fire for it, she found it +the largest of all. She did not know that the Great Spirit's magic had +made each cake larger, and she thought, "This is a marvel, but I will +not give away the largest cake of all." So she said to her guest, "I +have no food for you. Go to the forest and look there for your food. You +can find it in the bark of the trees, if you will." + +The Great Spirit was angry when he heard the words of the woman. He rose +up from where he sat and threw back his cloak. "A woman must be good and +gentle," he said, "and you are cruel. You shall no longer be a woman and +live in a wigwam. You shall go out into the forest and hunt for your +food in the bark of trees." + +The Great Spirit stamped his foot on the earth, and the woman grew +smaller and smaller. Wings started from her body and feathers grew upon +her. With a loud cry she rose from the earth and flew away to the +forest. + +And to this day all woodpeckers live in the forest and hunt for their +food in the bark of trees. + + + + +WHY THE WOODPECKER'S HEAD IS RED. + + +One day the woodpecker said to the Great Spirit, "Men do not like me. I +wish they did." + +The Great Spirit said, "If you wish men to love you, you must be good to +them and help them. Then they will call you their friend." + +"How can a little bird help a man?" asked the woodpecker. + +"If one wishes to help, the day will come when he can help," said the +Great Spirit. The day did come, and this story shows how a little bird +helped a strong warrior. + +There was once a cruel magician who lived in a gloomy wigwam beside the +Black-Sea-Water. He did not like flowers, and they did not blossom in +his pathway. He did not like birds, and they did not sing in the trees +above him. The breath of his nostrils was fatal to all life. North, +south, east, and west he blew the deadly fever that killed the women and +the little children. + +"Can I help them?" thought a brave warrior, and he said, "I will find +the magician, and see if death will not come to him as he has made it +come to others. I will go straightway to his home." + +For many days the brave warrior was in his canoe traveling across the +Black-Sea-Water. At last he saw the gloomy wigwam of the cruel magician. +He shot an arrow at the door and called, "Come out, O coward! You have +killed women and children with your fatal breath, but you cannot kill a +warrior. Come out and fight, if you are not afraid." + +The cruel magician laughed loud and long. "One breath of fever," he +said, "and you will fall to the earth." The warrior shot again, and then +the magician was angry. He did not laugh, but he came straight out of +his gloomy lodge, and as he came, he blew the fever all about him. + +Then was seen the greatest fight that the sun had ever looked upon. The +brave warrior shot his flint-tipped arrows, but the magician had on his +magic cloak, and the arrows could not wound him. He blew from his +nostrils the deadly breath of fever, but the heart of the warrior was so +strong that the fever could not kill him. + +At last the brave warrior had but three arrows in his quiver. "What +shall I do?" he said sadly. "My arrows are good and my aim is good, but +no arrow can go through the magic cloak." + +"Come on, come on," called the magician. "You are the man who wished to +fight. Come on." Then a woodpecker in a tree above the brave warrior +said softly, "Aim your arrow at his head, O warrior! Do not shoot at +his heart, but at the crest of feathers on his head. He can be wounded +there, but not in his heart." + +The warrior was not so proud that he could not listen to a little bird. +The magician bent to lift a stone, and an arrow flew from the warrior's +bow. It buzzed and stung like a wasp. It came so close to the crest of +feathers that the magician trembled with terror. Before he could run, +another arrow came, and this one struck him right on his crest. His +heart grew cold with fear. "Death has struck me," he cried. + +"Your cruel life is over," said the warrior. "People shall no longer +fear your fatal breath." Then he said to the woodpecker, "Little bird, +you have been a good friend to me, and I will do all that I can for +you." He put some of the red blood of the magician upon the little +creature's head. It made the crest of feathers there as red as flame. +"Whenever a man looks upon you," said the warrior, "he will say, 'That +bird is our friend. He helped to kill the cruel magician.'" + +The little woodpecker was very proud of his red crest because it showed +that he was the friend of man, and all his children to this day are as +proud as he was. + +[Illustration] + + + + +WHY THE CAT ALWAYS FALLS UPON HER FEET. + + +Some magicians are cruel, but others are gentle and good to all the +creatures of the earth. One of these good magicians was one day +traveling in a great forest. The sun rose high in the heavens, and he +lay down at the foot of a tree. Soft, green moss grew all about him. The +sun shining through the leaves made flecks of light and shadow upon the +earth. He heard the song of the bird and the lazy buzz of the wasp. The +wind rustled the leafy boughs above him. All the music of the forest +lulled him to slumber, and he closed his eyes. + +As the magician lay asleep, a great serpent came softly from the +thicket. It lifted high its shining crest and saw the man at the foot of +the tree. "I will kill him!" it hissed. "I could have eaten that cat +last night if he had not called, 'Watch, little cat, watch!' I will kill +him, I will kill him!" + +Closer and closer the deadly serpent moved. The magician stirred in his +sleep. "Watch, little cat, watch!" he said softly. The serpent drew +back, but the magician's eyes were shut, and it went closer. It hissed +its war-cry. The sleeping magician did not move. The serpent was upon +him--no, far up in the high branches of the tree above his head the +little cat lay hidden. She had seen the serpent when it came from the +thicket. + +[Illustration: SHE LEAPED DOWN UPON THE SERPENT] + +She watched it as it went closer and closer to the sleeping man, and she +heard it hiss its war-cry. The little cat's body quivered with anger and +with fear, for she was so little and the serpent was so big. "The +magician was very good to me," she thought, and she leaped down upon the +serpent. + +Oh, how angry the serpent was! It hissed, and the flames shot from its +eyes. It struck wildly at the brave little cat, but now the cat had no +fear. Again and again she leaped upon the serpent's head, and at last +the creature lay dead beside the sleeping man whom it had wished to +kill. + +When the magician awoke, the little cat lay on the earth, and not far +away was the dead serpent. He knew at once what the cat had done, and he +said, "Little cat, what can I do to show you honor for your brave fight? +Your eyes are quick to see, and your ears are quick to hear. You can run +very swiftly. I know what I can do for you. You shall be known over the +earth as the friend of man, and you shall always have a home in the +home of man. And one thing more, little cat: you leaped from the high +tree to kill the deadly serpent, and now as long as you live, you shall +leap where you will, and you shall always fall upon your feet." + + + + +WHY THE SWALLOW'S TAIL IS FORKED. + + +This is the story of how the swallow's tail came to be forked. + +One day the Great Spirit asked all the animals that he had made to come +to his lodge. Those that could fly came first: the robin, the bluebird, +the owl, the butterfly, the wasp, and the firefly. Behind them came the +chicken, fluttering its wings and trying hard to keep up. Then came the +deer, the squirrel, the serpent, the cat, and the rabbit. Last of all +came the bear, the beaver, and the hedgehog. Every one traveled as +swiftly as he could, for each wished to hear the words of the Great +Spirit. + +"I have called you together," said the Great Spirit, "because I often +hear you scold and fret. What do you wish me to do for you? How can I +help you?" + +"I do not like to hunt so long for my food," said the bear. + +"I do not like to build nests," said the bluebird. + +"I do not like to live in the water," said the beaver. + +"And I do not like to live in a tree," said the squirrel. + +At last man stood erect before the Great Spirit and said, "O Great +Father, the serpent feasts upon my blood. Will you not give him some +other food?" + +"And why?" asked the Great Spirit. + +"Because I am the first of all the creatures you have made," answered +man proudly. + +Then every animal in the lodge was angry to hear the words of man. The +squirrel chattered, the wasp buzzed, the owl hooted, and the serpent +hissed. + +"Hush, be still," said the Great Spirit. "You are, O man, the first of +my creatures, but I am the father of all. Each one has his rights, and +the serpent must have his food. Mosquito, you are a great traveler. Now +fly away and find what creature's blood is best for the serpent. Do you +all come back in a year and a day." + +The animals straightway went to their homes. Some went to the river, +some to the forest, and some to the prairie, to wait for the day when +they must meet at the lodge of the Great Spirit. + +The mosquito traveled over the earth and stung every creature that he +met to find whose blood was the best for the serpent. On his way back to +the lodge of the Great Spirit he looked up into the sky, and there was +the swallow. + +"Good-day, swallow," called the mosquito. + +"I am glad to see you, my friend," sang the swallow. "Are you going to +the lodge of the Great Spirit? And have you found out whose blood is +best for the serpent?" + +"The blood of man," answered the mosquito. + +The mosquito did not like man, but the swallow had always been his +friend. "What can I do to help man?" he thought. "Oh, I know what I can +do." Then he asked the mosquito, "Whose blood did you say?" + +"Man's blood," said the mosquito; "that is best." + +"_This_ is best," said the swallow, and he tore out the mosquito's +tongue. + +The mosquito buzzed angrily and went quickly to the Great Spirit. + +"All the animals are here," said the Great Spirit. "They are waiting to +hear whose blood is best for the serpent." + +The mosquito tried to answer, "The blood of man," but he could not say a +word. He could make no sound but "Kss-ksss-ksssss!" + +"What do you say?" + +"Kss-ksss-ksssss!" buzzed the mosquito angrily. + +All the creatures wondered. Then said the swallow:-- + +"Great Father, the mosquito is timid and cannot answer you. I met him +before we came, and he told me whose blood it was." + +"Then let us know at once," said the Great Spirit. + +[Illustration] + +"It is the blood of the frog," answered the swallow quickly. "Is it not +so, friend mosquito?" + +"Kss-ksss-ksssss!" hissed the angry mosquito. + +"The serpent shall have the frog's blood," said the Great Spirit. "Man +shall be his food no longer." + +Now the serpent was angry with the swallow, for he did not like frog's +blood. As the swallow flew near him, he seized him by the tail and tore +away a little of it. This is why the swallow's tail is forked, and it is +why man always looks upon the swallow as his friend. + + + + +WHY THE WHITE HARES HAVE BLACK EARS. + + +In the forest there is a beautiful spirit. All the beasts and all the +birds are dear to him, and he likes to have them gentle and good. One +morning he saw some of his little white hares fighting one another, and +each trying to seize the best of the food. + +"Oh, my selfish little hares," he said sadly, "why do you fight and try +to seize the best of everything for yourselves? Why do you not live in +love together?" + +"Tell us a story and we will be good," cried the hares. + +Then the spirit of the forest was glad. "I will tell you a story of how +you first came to live on the green earth with the other animals," he +said, "and why it is that you are white, and the other hares are not." + +Then the little hares came close about the spirit of the forest, and sat +very still to hear the story. + +"Away up above the stars," the gentle spirit began, "the sky children +were all together one snowy day. They threw snowflakes at one another, +and some of the snowflakes fell from the sky. They came down swiftly +between the stars and among the branches of the trees. At last they lay +on the green earth. They were the first that had ever come to the earth, +and no one knew what they were. The swallow asked, 'What are they?' and +the butterfly answered, 'I do not know.' The spirit of the sky was +listening, and he said, 'We call them snowflakes.' + +"'I never heard of snowflakes. Are they birds or beasts?' asked the +butterfly. + +"'They are snowflakes,' answered the spirit of the sky, 'but they are +magic snowflakes. Watch them closely.' + +"The swallow and the butterfly watched. Every snowflake showed two +bright eyes, then two long ears, then some soft feet, and there were the +whitest, softest little hares that were ever seen." + +"Were we the little white hares?" asked the listeners. + +"You were the little white hares," answered the spirit, "and if you are +gentle and good, you will always be white." + +The hares were not gentle and good; they were fretful, and before long +they were scolding and fighting again. The gentle spirit was angry. "I +must get a firebrand and beat them with it," he said, "for they must +learn to be good." + +So the hares were beaten with the firebrand till their ears were black +as night. Their bodies were still white, but if the spirit hears them +scolding and fighting again, it may be that we shall see their bodies as +black as their ears. + + + + +WHY THE MAGPIE'S NEST IS NOT WELL BUILT. + + +A long time ago all the birds met together to talk about building nests. + +"Every Indian has a wigwam," said the robin, "and every bird needs a +home." + +"Indians have no feathers," said the owl, "and so they are cold without +wigwams. We have feathers." + +"I keep warm by flying swiftly," said the swallow. + +"And I keep warm by fluttering my wings," said the humming-bird. + +"By and by we shall have our little ones," said the robin. "They will +have no feathers on their wings, so they cannot fly or flutter; and they +will be cold. How shall we keep them warm if we have no nests?" + +Then all the birds said, "We will build nests so that our little ones +will be warm." + +The birds went to work. One brought twigs, one brought moss, and one +brought leaves. They sang together merrily, for they thought of the +little ones that would some time come to live in the warm nests. + +Now the magpie was lazy, and she sat still and watched the others at +their work. + +"Come and build your nest in the reeds and rushes," cried one bird, but +the magpie said "No." + +"My nest is on the branch of a tree," called another, "and it rocks like +a child's cradle. Come and build beside it," but the magpie said "No." + +Before long all the birds but the magpie had their nests built. The +magpie cried, "I do not know how to build a nest. Will you not help me?" + +The other birds were sorry for her and answered, "We will teach you." +The black-bird said, "Put the twigs on this bough;" the robin said, "Put +the leaves between the twigs;" and the humming-bird said, "Put this soft +green moss over it all." + +[Illustration] + +"I do not know how," cried the magpie. + +"We are teaching you," said the other birds. But the magpie was lazy, +and she thought, "If I do not learn, they will build a nest for me." + +The other birds talked together. "She does not wish to learn," they +said, "and we will not help her any longer." So they went away from her. + +Then the magpie was sorry. "Come back," she called, "and I will learn." +But by this time the other birds had eggs in their nests, and they were +busy taking care of them, and had no time to teach the lazy magpie. This +is why the magpie's nest is not well built. + + + + +WHY THE RAVEN'S FEATHERS ARE BLACK. + + +Long, long ago the raven's feathers were white as snow. He was a +beautiful bird, but the other birds did not like him because he was a +thief. When they saw him coming, they would hide away the things that +they cared for most, but in some marvelous way he always found them and +took them to his nest in the pine-tree. + +One morning the raven heard a little bird singing merrily in a thicket. +The leaves of the trees were dark green, and the little bird's yellow +feathers looked like sunshine among them. + +"I will have that bird," said the raven, and he seized the trembling +little thing. + +The yellow bird fluttered and cried, "Help, help! Will no one come and +help me!" + +The other birds happened to be far away, and not one heard her cries. +"The raven will kill me," she called. "Help, help!" + +Now hidden in the bark of a tree was a wood-worm. + +"I am only a wood-worm," he said to himself, "and I cannot fly like a +bird, but the yellow bird has been good to me, and I will do what I can +to help her." + +When the sun set, the raven went to sleep. Then the wood-worm made his +way softly up the pine-tree to the raven's nest, and bound his feet +together with grass and pieces of birch-bark. + +"Fly away," whispered the wood-worm softly to the little yellow bird, +"and come to see me by and by. I must teach the raven not to be cruel to +the other birds." + +The little yellow bird flew away, and the wood-worm brought twigs, and +moss, and birch-bark, and grass, and put them around the tree. Then he +set them all on fire. Up the great pine-tree went the flames, leaping +from bough to bough. + +"Fire! fire!" cried the raven. "Come and help me! My nest is on fire!" + +The other birds were not sorry to see him flutter. "He is a thief," said +they. "Let him be in the fire." + +By and by the fire burned the grass and the pieces of birch-bark that +fastened his feet together, and the raven flew away. He was not burned, +but he could no longer be proud of his shining white feathers, for the +smoke had made every one of them as black as night. + + + + +HOW FIRE WAS BROUGHT TO THE INDIANS. + + +PART I. SEIZING THE FIREBRAND. + +Oh, it was so cold! The wind blew the leaves about on the ground. The +frost spirit hid on the north side of every tree, and stung every animal +of the forest that came near. Then the snow fell till the ground was +white. Through the snowflakes one could see the sun, but the sun looked +cold, for it was not a clear, bright yellow. It was almost as white as +the moon. + +The Indians drew their cloaks more and more closely around them, for +they had no fire. + +"How shall we get fire?" they asked, but no one answered. + +All the fire on earth was in the wigwam of two old women who did not +like the Indians. + +"They shall not have it," said the old women, and they watched night and +day so that no one could get a firebrand. + +At last a young Indian said to the others, "No man can get fire. Let us +ask the animals to help us." + +"What beast or what bird can get fire when the two old women are +watching it?" the others cried. + +"The bear might get it." + +"No, he cannot run swiftly." + +"The deer can run." + +"His antlers would not go through the door of the wigwam." + +"The raven can go through the door." + +"It was smoke that made the raven's feathers black, and now he always +keeps away from the fire." + +"The serpent has not been in the smoke." + +"No, but he is not our friend, and he will not do anything for us." + +"Then I will ask the wolf," said the young man. "He can run, he has no +antlers, and he has not been in the smoke." + +So the young man went to the wolf and called, "Friend wolf, if you will +get us a firebrand, I will give you some food every day." + +"I will get it," said the wolf. "Go to the home of the old women and +hide behind a tree; and when you hear me cough three times, give a loud +war-cry." + +Close by the village of the Indians was a pond. In the pond was a frog, +and near the pond lived a squirrel, a bat, a bear, and a deer. The wolf +cried, "Frog, hide in the rushes across the pond. Squirrel, go to the +bushes beside the path that runs from the pond to the wigwam of the two +old women. Bat, go into the shadow and sleep if you like, but do not +close both eyes. Bear, do not stir from behind this great rock till you +are told. Deer, keep still as a mountain till something happens." + +The wolf then went to the wigwam of the two old women. He coughed at the +door, and at last they said, "Wolf, you may come in to the fire." + +[Illustration] + +The wolf went into the wigwam. He coughed three times, and the Indian +gave a war-cry. The two old women ran out quickly into the forest to +see what had happened, and the wolf ran away with a firebrand from the +fire. + + +PART II. THE FIREBRAND IN THE FOREST. + +When the two women saw that the wolf had the firebrand, they were very +angry, and straightway they ran after him. + +"Catch it and run!" cried the wolf, and he threw it to the deer. The +deer caught it and ran. + +"Catch it and run!" cried the deer, and he threw it to the bear. The +bear caught it and ran. + +"Catch it and fly!" cried the bear, and he threw it to the bat. The bat +caught it and flew. + +"Catch it and run!" cried the bat, and he threw it to the squirrel. The +squirrel caught it and ran. + +"Oh, serpent," called the two old women, "you are no friend to the +Indians. Help us. Get the firebrand away from the squirrel." + +As the squirrel ran swiftly over the ground, the serpent sprang up and +tried to seize the firebrand. He did not get it, but the smoke went into +the squirrel's nostrils and made him cough. He would not let go of the +firebrand, but ran and ran till he could throw it to the frog. + +When the frog was running away with it, then the squirrel for the first +time thought of himself, and he found that his beautiful bushy tail was +no longer straight, for the fire had curled it up over his back. + +"Do not be sorry," called the young Indian across the pond. "Whenever an +Indian boy sees a squirrel with his tail curled up over his back, he +will throw him a nut." + + +PART III. THE FIREBRAND IN THE POND. + +All this time the firebrand was burning, and the frog was going to the +pond as fast as he could. The old women were running after him, and when +he came to the water, one of them caught him by the tail. + +"I have caught him!" she called. + +"Do not let him go!" cried the other. + +"No, I will not," said the first; but she did let him go, for the little +frog tore himself away and dived into the water. His tail was still in +the woman's hand, but the firebrand was safe, and he made his way +swiftly across the pond. + +"Here it is," said the frog. + +"Where?" asked the young Indian. Then the frog coughed, and out of his +mouth came the firebrand. It was small, for it had been burning all this +time, but it set fire to the leaves and twigs, and soon the Indians were +warm again. They sang and they danced about the flames. + +At first the frog was sad, because he was sorry to lose his tail; but +before long he was as merry as the people who were dancing, for the +young Indian said, "Little frog, you have been a good friend to us, and +as long as we live on the earth, we will never throw a stone at a frog +that has no tail." + + + + +HOW THE QUAIL BECAME A SNIPE. + + +"It is lonely living in this great tree far away from the other birds," +said the owl to herself. "I will get some one to come and live with me. +The quail has many children, and I will ask her for one of them." + +The owl went to the quail and said, "Will you let me have one of your +children to come and live with me?" + +"Live with you? No," answered the quail. "I would as soon let my child +live with the serpent. You are hidden in the tree all day long, and when +it is dark, you come down like a thief and catch little animals that are +fast asleep in their nests. You shall never have one of my children." + +"I _will_ have one," thought the owl. + +She waited till the night had come. It was dark and gloomy, for the moon +was not to be seen, and not a star twinkled in the sky. Not a leaf +stirred, and not a ripple was on the pond. The owl crept up to the +quail's home as softly as she could. The young birds were chattering +together, and she listened to their talk. + +"My mother is gone a long time," said one. "It is lonely, and I am +afraid." + +"What is there to be afraid of?" asked another. "You are a little +coward. Shut your eyes and go to sleep. See me! I am not afraid, if it +is dark and gloomy. Oh, oh!" cried the boaster, for the owl had seized +him and was carrying him away from home and his little brothers. + +When the mother quail came home, she asked, "Where is your brother?" The +little quails did not know. All they could say was that something had +seized him in the darkness and taken him away. + +"It crept up to the nest in the dark," said one. + +"And oh, mother, never, never go away from us again!" cried another. "Do +not leave us at home all alone." + +"But, my dear little ones," the mother said, "how could you have any +food if I never went away from our home?" + +The mother quail was very sad, and she would have been still more +sorrowful if she had known what was happening to her little son far away +in the owl's nest. The cruel owl had pulled and pulled on the quail's +bill and legs, till they were so long that his mother would not have +known him. + +One night the mole came to the quail and said, "Your little son is in +the owl's nest." + +"How do you know?" asked the quail. + +"I cannot see very well," answered the mole, "but I heard him call, and +I know that he is there." + +"How shall I get him away from the owl?" the quail asked the mole. + +"The owl crept up to your home in the dark," said the mole, "but you +must go to her nest at sunrise when the light shines in her eyes and she +cannot see you." + +At sunrise the quail crept up to the owl's nest and carried away her +dear little son to his old home. As the light grew brighter, she saw +what had happened to him. His bill and his legs were so long that he +did not look like her son. + +"He is not like our brother," said the other little quails. + +"That is because the cruel owl that carried him away has pulled his bill +and his legs," answered the mother sorrowfully. "You must be very good +to him." + +But the other little quails were not good to him. They laughed at him, +and the quail with the long bill and legs was never again merry and glad +with them. Before long he ran away and hid among the great reeds that +stand in the water and on the shores of the pond. + +"I will not be called quail," he said to himself, "for quails never have +long bills and legs. I will have a new name, and it shall be snipe. I +like the sound of that name." + +So it was that the bird whose name was once quail came to be called +snipe. His children live among the reeds of the pond, and they, too, are +called snipes. + + + + +WHY THE SERPENT SHEDS HIS SKIN. + + +The serpent is the grandfather of the owl, and once upon a time if the +owl needed help, she would say, "My grandfather will come and help me," +but now he never comes to her. This story tells why. + +When the owl carried away the little quail, she went to the serpent and +said, "Grandfather, you will not tell the quail that I have her son, +will you?" + +"No," answered the serpent, "I will keep your secret. I will not whisper +it to any one." So when the mother quail asked all the animals, "Can you +tell me who has carried away my little son?" the serpent answered, "I +have been sound asleep. How could I know?" + +After the quail had become a snipe and had gone to live in the marsh +among the reeds, the cruel owl looked everywhere for him, and at last +she saw him standing beside a great stone in the water. + +She went to the serpent and said, "Grandfather, will you do something +for me?" + +"I will," hissed the serpent softly, "What is it?" + +"Only to take a drink of water," answered the owl. "Come and drink all +the water in the marsh, and then I can catch the quail that I made into +a snipe." + +The serpent drank and drank, but still there was water in the marsh. + +"Why do you not drink faster?" cried the owl. "I shall never get the +snipe." + +The serpent drank till he could drink no more, and still the water stood +in the marsh. The owl could not see well by day, and the serpent could +not see above the reeds and rushes, so they did not know that the water +from the pond was coming into the marsh faster than the serpent could +drink it. + +Still the serpent drank, and at last his skin burst. + +"Oh," he cried, "my skin has burst. Help me to fasten it together." + +"My skin never bursts," said the owl. "If you will drink the water from +the marsh, I will help you, but I will not fasten any skin together till +I get that snipe." + +The serpent had done all that he could to help the owl, and now he was +angry. He was afraid, too, for he did not know what would happen to him, +and he lay on the ground trembling and quivering. It was not long before +his old skin fell off, and then he saw that under it was a beautiful new +one, all bright and shining. He sheds his old skin every year now, but +never again has he done anything to help the owl. + +[Illustration] + + + + +WHY THE DOVE IS TIMID. + + +A spirit called the manito always watches over the Indians. He is glad +when they are brave, but if they are cowardly, he is angry. + +One day when the manito was walking under the pine-trees, he heard a cry +of terror in the forest. + +"What is that?" said he. "Can it be that any of my Indian children are +afraid?" + +As he stood listening, an Indian boy came running from the thicket, +crying in fear. + +"What are you afraid of?" asked the manito. + +"My mother told me to go into the forest with my bow and arrows and +shoot some animal for food," said the boy. + +"That is what all Indian boys must do," said the manito. "Why do you not +do as she said?" + +"Oh, the great bear is in the forest, and I am afraid of him!" + +"Afraid of Hoots?" asked the manito. "An Indian boy must never be +afraid." + +"But Hoots will eat me, I know he will," cried the boy. "Boo-hoo, +boo-hoo!" + +"A boy must be brave," said the manito, "and I will not have a coward +among my Indians. You are too timid ever to be a warrior, and so you +shall be a bird. Whenever Indian boys look at you, they will say, 'There +is the boy who was afraid of Hoots.'" + +The boy's cloak of deerskin fell off, and feathers came out all over his +body. His feet were no longer like a boy's feet, they were like the feet +of a bird. His bow and arrows fell upon the grass, for he had no longer +any hands with which to hold them. He tried to call to his mother, but +the only sound he could make was "Hoo, hoo!" + +"Now you are a dove," said the manito, "and a dove you shall be as long +as you live. You shall always be known as the most timid of birds." + +Again the dove that had once been a boy tried to call, but he only said, +"Hoo, hoo!" + +"That is the only sound you will ever make," said the manito, "and when +the other boys hear it, they will say, 'Listen! He was afraid of Hoots, +the bear, and that is why he says Hoo, hoo!'" + + + + +WHY THE PARROT REPEATS THE WORDS OF MEN. + + +In the olden times when the earth was young, all the birds knew the +language of men and could talk with them. Everybody liked the parrot, +because he always told things as they were, and they called him the bird +that tells the truth. + +This bird that always told the truth lived with a man who was a thief, +and one night the man killed another man's ox and hid its flesh. + +When the other man came to look for it in the morning, he asked the +thief, "Have you seen my ox?" + +"No, I have not seen it," said the man. + +"Is that the truth?" the owner asked. + +"Yes, it is. I have not seen the ox," repeated the man. + +"Ask the parrot," said one of the villagers. "He always tells the +truth." + +"O bird of truth," said they to the parrot, "did this man kill an ox and +hide its flesh?" + +"Yes, he did," answered the parrot. + +The thief knew well that the villagers would punish him the next day, if +he could not make them think that the parrot did not always tell the +truth. + +"I have it," he said to himself at last. "I know what I can do." + +When night came he put a great jar over the parrot. Then he poured water +upon the jar and struck it many times with a tough piece of oak. This he +did half the night. Then he went to bed and was soon fast asleep. + +In the morning the men came to punish him. + +"How do you know that I killed the ox?" he asked. + +"Because the bird of truth says that you did," they answered. + +"The bird of truth!" he cried. "That parrot is no bird of truth. He will +not tell the truth even about what happened last night. Ask him if the +moon was shining." + +"Did the moon shine last night?" the men asked. + +"No," answered the parrot. "There was no moon, for the rain fell, and +there was a great storm in the heavens. I heard the thunder half the +night." + +"This bird has always told the truth before," said the villagers, "but +there was no storm last night and the moon was bright. What shall we do +to punish the parrot?" they asked the thief. + +"I think we will no longer let him live in our homes," answered the +thief. + +"Yes," said the others, "he must fly away to the forest, and even when +there is a storm, he can no longer come to our homes, because we know +now that he is a bird of a lying tongue." + +[Illustration: "THIS BIRD HAS ALWAYS TOLD THE TRUTH"] + +So the parrot flew away sorrowfully into the lonely forest. He met a +mocking-bird and told him what had happened. + +"Why did you not repeat men's words as I do?" asked the mocking-bird. +"Men always think their own words are good." + +"But the man's words were not true," said the parrot. + +"That is nothing," replied the mocking-bird, laughing. "Say what they +say, and they will think you are a wonderful bird." + +"Yes, I see," said the parrot thoughtfully, "and I will never again be +punished for telling the truth. I will only repeat the words of others." + + + + +THE STORY OF THE FIRST MOCKING-BIRD. + + +Far away in the forest there once lived the most cruel man on all the +earth. He did not like the Indians, and he said to himself, "Some day I +will be ruler of them all." Then he thought, "There are many brave +warriors among the Indians, and I must first put them to death." + +He was cunning as well as cruel, and he soon found a way to kill the +warriors. He built some wigwams and made fires before them as if people +lived in each one. + +One day a hunter on his way home heard a baby crying in one of the +wigwams. He went in, but he never came out again. Another day a hunter +heard a child laughing. He went in, but he never came out again. So it +was day after day. One hunter heard a woman talking, and went to see who +it was; another heard a man calling to people in the other wigwams, and +went to see who they were; and no one who once went into a wigwam ever +came out. + +One young brave had heard the voices, but he feared there was magic +about them, and so he had never gone into the wigwams; but when he saw +that his friends did not come back, he went to the wigwams and called, +"Where are all the people that I have heard talk and laugh?" + +"Talk and laugh," said the cunning man mockingly. + +"Where are they? Do you know?" cried the brave, and the cunning man +called, "Do you know?" and laughed. + +"Whose voices have I heard?" + +"Have I heard?" mocked the cunning man. + +"I heard a baby cry." + +"Cry," said the cunning man. + +"Who is with you?" + +"You." + +Then the young brave was angry. He ran into the first wigwam, and there +he found the man who had cried like a baby and talked in a voice like a +woman's and made all the other sounds. The brave caught him by the leg +and threw him down upon the earth. + +"It was you who cried and talked and laughed," he said. "I heard your +voice and now you are going to be punished for killing our braves. Where +is my brother, and where are our friends?" + +"How do I know?" cried the man. "Ask the sun or the moon or the fire if +you will, but do not ask me;" and all the time he was trying to pull the +young brave into the flames. + +"I will ask the fire," said the brave. "Fire, you are a good friend to +us Indians. What has this cruel man done with our warriors?" + +The fire had no voice, so it could not answer, but it sprang as far away +from the hunter as it could, and there where the flames had been he saw +two stone arrowheads. + +"I know who owned the two arrowheads," said the brave. "You have thrown +my friends into your fire. Now I will do to you what you have done to +them." + +He threw the cunning man into the fire. His head burst into two pieces, +and from between them a bird flew forth. Its voice was loud and clear, +but it had no song of its own. It could only mock the songs of other +birds, and that is why it is called the mocking-bird. + + + + +WHY THE TAIL OF THE FOX HAS A WHITE TIP. + + +"I must have a boy to watch my sheep and my cows," thought an old woman, +and so she went out to look for a boy. She looked first in the fields +and then in the forest, but nowhere could she find a boy. As she was +walking down the path to her home, she met a bear. + +"Where are you going?" asked the bear. + +"I am looking for a boy to watch my cows and my sheep," she answered. + +"Will you have me?" + +"Yes, if you know how to call my animals gently." + +"Ugh, ugh," called the bear. He tried to call softly, but he had always +growled before, and now he could do nothing but growl. + +"No, no," said the old woman, "your voice is too loud. Every cow in the +field would run, and every sheep would hide, if you should growl like +that. I will not have you." + +Then the old woman went on till she met a wolf. + +"Where are you going, grandmother?" he asked. + +"I am looking for a boy to watch my cows and my sheep," she answered. + +"Will you have me?" asked the wolf. + +"Yes," she said, "if you know how to call my animals gently." + +"Ho-y, ho-y," called the wolf. + +"Your voice is too high," said the old woman. "My cows and my sheep +would tremble whenever they heard it. I will not have you." + +Then the old woman went on till she met a fox. + +"I am so glad to meet you," said the fox. "Where are you going this +bright morning?" + +"I am going home now," she said, "for I cannot find a boy to watch my +cows and my sheep. The bear growls and the wolf calls in too high a +voice. I do not know what I can do, for I am too old to watch cows and +sheep." + +"Oh, no," said the cunning fox, "you are not old, but any one as +beautiful as you must not watch sheep in the fields. I shall be very +glad to do the work for you if you will let me." + +"I know that my sheep will like you," said she. + +"And I know that I shall like them dearly," said the fox. + +"Can you call them gently, Mr. Fox?" she asked. + +"Del-dal-halow, del-dal-halow," called the fox, in so gentle a voice +that it was like a whisper. + +"That is good, Mr. Fox," said the old woman. "Come home with me, and I +will take you to the fields where my animals go." + +Each day one of the cows or one of the sheep was gone when the fox came +home at night. "Mr. Fox, where is my cow?" the old woman would ask, or, +"Mr. Fox, where is my sheep?" and the fox would answer with a sorrowful +look, "The bear came out of the woods, and he has eaten it," or, "The +wolf came running through the fields, and he has eaten it." + +The old woman was sorry to lose her sheep and her cows, but she thought, +"Mr. Fox must be even more sorry than I. I will go out to the field and +carry him a drink of cream." + +[Illustration] + +She went to the field, and there stood the fox with the body of a sheep, +for it was he who had killed and eaten every one that was gone. When he +saw the old woman coming, he started to run away. + +"You cruel, cunning fox!" she cried. + +She had nothing to throw at him but the cream, so she threw that. It +struck the tip of his tail, and from that day to this, the tip of the +fox's tail has been as white as cream. + + + + +THE STORY OF THE FIRST FROG. + + +Once upon a time there was a man who had two children, a boy and a girl, +whom he treated cruelly. The boy and the girl talked together one day, +and the boy, Wah-wah-hoo, said to his sister, "Dear little sister, are +you happy with our father?" + +"No," answered the girl, whose name was Hah-hah. "He scolds me and beats +me, and I can never please him." + +"He was angry with me this morning," said the boy, "and he beat me till +the blood came. See there!" + +"Let us run away," said Hah-hah. "The beasts and the birds will be good +to us. They really love us, and we can be very happy together." + +That night the two children ran away from their cruel father. They went +far into the forest, and at last they found a wigwam in which no one +lived. + +When the father found that Wah-wah-hoo and his sister were gone, he was +very unhappy. He went out into the forest to see if he could find them. +"If they would only come again," he said aloud, "I would do everything I +could to please them." + +"Do you think he tells the truth?" asked the wolf. + +"I do not know," answered the mosquito. "He never treated them well when +they were with him." + +"Wolf," called the father, "will you tell me where my children are?" + +Wah-wah-hoo had once told the wolf when a man was coming to shoot him, +and so the wolf would not tell where they were. + +"Mosquito," said the father, "where are my children?" + +Hah-hah had once helped the mosquito to go home when the wind was too +strong for him, and so the mosquito would not tell. + +For a long time Wah-wah-hoo and his sister were really happy in the +forest, for there was no one to scold them and to beat them, but at last +there was a cold, cold winter. All the earth was covered with snow. The +animals had gone, and Wah-wah-hoo could find no food. Death came and +bore away the gentle Hah-hah. Wah-wah-hoo sat alone in the gloomy wigwam +wailing for his sister. Then in his sadness he threw himself down from a +high mountain and was killed. + +All this time the father had been looking for his children, and at last +he saw his son lying at the foot of the mountain. Then he too wailed and +cried aloud, for he was really sorry that he had treated them so +cruelly. He was a magician, and he could make his son live, but he could +not make him a boy again. + +"You shall be a frog," said he, "and you shall make your home in the +marsh with the reeds and the rushes. There you shall wail as loud as you +will for your sister, and once every moon I will come and wail for her +with you. I was cruel to you and to her, and so I must live alone in my +gloomy wigwam." + +Every summer night one can hear the frog in the marsh wailing for his +dear sister Hah-hah. Sometimes a louder voice is heard, and that is the +voice of the father wailing because he was so cruel. + +[Illustration] + + + + +WHY THE RABBIT IS TIMID. + + +One night the moon looked down from the sky upon the people on the earth +and said to herself, "How sorrowful they look! I wish I knew what +troubles them. The stars and I are never sad, and I do not see why men +should be troubled." She listened closely, and she heard the people say, +"How happy we should be if death never came to us. Death is always +before us." + +The path of the moon lies across the sky, and she could not leave it to +go to the earth, but she called the white rabbit and said, "Rabbit, +should you be afraid to go down to the earth?" + +"No," answered the rabbit, "I am not afraid." + +"The people on the earth are troubled because death is before them. Now +will you go to them and whisper, 'The moon dies every night. You can see +it go down into the darkness, but when another night comes, then the +moon rises again,'--can you remember to tell them that?" + +"Yes," said the rabbit, "I will remember." + +"Say this," said the moon: "'The moon dies, but the moon rises again, +and so will you.'" + +The rabbit was so glad to go to the earth that he danced and leaped and +sprang and frolicked, but when he tried to tell the people what the moon +had said, he could not remember, and he said, "The moon says that she +dies and will not rise again, and so you will die and will not rise +again." + +The moon saw that the people were still troubled, and she called the +rabbit and asked what he had said to them. + +"I said that as you die and do not rise, so they too will die and not +rise," said the rabbit. + +"You did not try to remember, and you must be punished," said the moon, +and she fired an arrow tipped with flint at the rabbit. + +The arrow struck the rabbit's lip and split it. From that time every +rabbit has had a split lip. The rabbit was afraid of the moon, and he +was afraid of the people on the earth. He had been brave before, but now +he is the most timid of animals, for he is afraid of everything and +everybody. + + + + +WHY THE PEETWEET CRIES FOR RAIN. + + +"Come to me, every bird that flies," said the Great Father. "There is +work to be done that only my birds can do." + +The birds were happy that they could do something to please the Great +Father, for they remembered how good he had always been to them. They +flew to him eagerly to ask what they should do for him. "O Great +Father," they sang all together, "tell us what we can do for you." + +"The waters that I have made know not where to go," said the Father. +"Some should go to the seas, some should go to the lakes in the hollows +among the mountains, and some should make rivers that will dance over +the rocks and through the fields on their way to the sea." + +"And can even as small a bird as I show them where to go?" asked the +sparrow eagerly. + +"Yes," said the Father, "even my little humming-bird can help me." + +Every bird that flies had come to the Father, but the peetweet had come +last because he was lazy. + +"I do not really wish to fly all over the earth," said he, "to show the +waters where to go." + +"Oh, I wish I were a bird," said a butterfly. "I should be so glad to do +something for the Father." + +But the peetweet went on, "I should think the lakes could find their way +into the hollows of the mountains by themselves." + +The Father heard the lazy peetweet, and he said, "Do you not wish to +show the waters where to go?" + +"They never showed me where to go," said the lazy bird. "I am not +thirsty. Let whoever is thirsty and needs the water help the lakes and +rivers." + +The other birds all stood still in wonder. "He will be punished," they +whispered. + +"Yes, he must be punished," said the Father sadly. Then said he to the +lazy peetweet, "Never again shall you drink of the water that is in +river or lake. When you are thirsty, you must look for a hollow in the +rock where the rain has fallen, and there only shall you drink." + +That is why the peetweet flies over river and lake, but ever cries +eagerly, "Peet-weet, peet-weet!" for that is his word for "Rain, rain!" + + + + +WHY THE BEAR HAS A SHORT TAIL. + + +One cold morning when the fox was coming up the road with some fish, he +met the bear. + +"Good-morning, Mr. Fox," said the bear. + +"Good-morning, Mr. Bear," said the fox. "The morning is brighter because +I have met you." + +"Those are very good fish, Mr. Fox," said the bear. "I have not eaten +such fish for many a day. Where do you find them?" + +"I have been fishing, Mr. Bear," answered the fox. + +"If I could catch such fish as those, I should like to go fishing, but I +do not know how to fish." + +"It would be very easy for you to learn, Mr. Bear," said the fox. "You +are so big and strong that you can do anything." + +"Will you teach me, Mr. Fox?" asked the bear. + +"I would not tell everybody, but you are such a good friend that I will +teach you. Come to this pond, and I will show you how to fish through +the ice." + +So the fox and the bear went to the frozen pond, and the fox showed the +bear how to make a hole in the ice. + +"That is easy for you," said the fox, "but many an animal could not have +made that hole. Now comes the secret. You must put your tail down into +the water and keep it there. That is not easy, and not every animal +could do it, for the water is very cold; but you are a learned animal, +Mr. Bear, and you know that the secret of catching fish is to keep your +tail in the water a long time. Then when you pull it up, you will pull +with it as many fish as I have." + +The bear put his tail down into the water, and the fox went away. The +sun rose high in the heavens, and still the bear sat with his tail +through the hole in the ice. Sunset came, but still the bear sat with +his tail through the hole in the ice, for he thought, "When an animal is +really learned, he will not fear a little cold." + +It began to be dark, and the bear said, "Now I will pull the fish out of +the water. How good they will be!" He pulled and pulled, but not a fish +came out. Worse than that, not all of his tail came out, for the end of +it was frozen fast to the ice. + +[Illustration] + +He went slowly down the road, growling angrily, "I wish I could find +that fox;" but the cunning fox was curled up in his warm nest, and +whenever he thought of the bear he laughed. + + + + +WHY THE WREN FLIES CLOSE TO THE EARTH. + + +One day when the birds were all together, one of them said, "I have been +watching men, and I saw that they had a king. Let us too have a king." + +"Why?" asked the others. + +"Oh, I do not know, but men have one." + +"Which bird shall it be? How shall we choose a king?" + +"Let us choose the bird that flies farthest," said one. + +"No, the bird that flies most swiftly." + +"The most beautiful bird." + +"The bird that sings best." + +"The strongest bird." + +The owl sat a little way off on a great oak-tree. He said nothing, but +he looked so wise that all the birds cried, "Let us ask the owl to +choose for us." + +"The bird that flies highest should be our king," said the owl with a +wiser look than before, and the others said, "Yes, we will choose the +bird that flies highest." + +The wren is very small, but she cried even more eagerly than the others, +"Let us choose the bird that flies highest," for she said to herself, +"They think the owl is wise, but I am wiser than he, and I know which +bird can fly highest." + +Then the birds tried their wings. They flew high, high up above the +earth, but one by one they had to come back to their homes. It was soon +seen which could fly highest, for when all the others had come back, +there was the eagle rising higher and higher. + +"The eagle is our king," cried the birds on the earth, and the eagle +gave a loud cry of happiness. But look! A little bird had been hidden in +the feathers on the eagle's back, and when the eagle had gone as high as +he could, the wren flew up from his back still higher. + +"Now which bird is king?" cried the wren. "The one that flew highest +should be king, and I flew highest." + +The eagle was angry, but not a word did he say, and the two birds came +down to the earth together. + +"I am the king," said the wren, "for I flew higher than the eagle." The +other birds did not know which of the two to choose. At last they went +to the oak-tree and asked the owl. He looked to the east, the west, the +south, and the north, and then he said, "The wren did not fly at all, +for she was carried on the eagle's back. The eagle is king, for he not +only flew highest, but carried the wren on his back." + +"Good, good!" cried the other birds. "The owl is the wisest bird that +flies. We will do as he says, and the eagle shall be our king." The wren +crept away. She thought she was wise before, but now she is really wise, +for she always flies close to the earth, and never tries to do what she +cannot. + + + + +WHY THE HOOFS OF THE DEER ARE SPLIT. + + +The manito of the Indians taught them how to do many things. He told +them how to build wigwams, and how to hunt and to fish. He showed them +how to make jars in which to keep food and water. When little children +came to be with them, it was the manito who said, "See, this is the way +to make soft, warm cradles for the babies." + +The good spirit often comes down from his happy home in the sky to watch +the Indians at their work. When each man does as well as he can, the +manito is pleased, but if an Indian is lazy or wicked, the spirit is +angry, and the Indian is always punished in one way or another. + +One day when the manito was walking in the forest, he said to himself, +"Everything is good and happy. The green leaves are whispering merrily +together, the waves are lapping on the shore and laughing, the squirrels +are chattering and laying up their food for winter. Everything loves +me, and the colors of the flowers are brighter when I lay my hand upon +them." + +Then the manito heard a strange sound. "I have not often heard that," +said he. "I do not like it. Some one in the forest has wicked thoughts +in his heart." + +Beside a great rock he saw a man with a knife. + +"What are you doing with the knife?" asked the manito. + +"I am throwing it away," answered the man. + +"Tell me the truth," said the manito. + +"I am sharpening it," replied the man. + +"That is strange," said the manito, "You have food in your wigwam. Why +should you sharpen a knife?" + +The man could not help telling the truth to the manito, and so he +answered, but greatly against his will, "I am sharpening the knife to +kill the wicked animals." + +"Which animal is wicked?" asked the manito. "Which one does you harm?" + +[Illustration: THE KNIFE ONLY WENT IN DEEPER] + +"Not one does me harm," said the man, "but I do not like them. I will +make them afraid of me, and I will kill them." + +"You are a cruel, wicked man," said the manito. "The animals have done +you no harm, and you do not need them for food. You shall no longer be a +man. You shall be a deer, and be afraid of every man in the forest." + +The knife fell from the man's hand and struck his foot. He leaped and +stamped, but the knife only went in deeper. He cried aloud, but his +voice sounded strange. His hands were no longer hands, but feet. Antlers +grew from his head, and his whole body was not that of a man, but that +of a deer. He runs in the forest as he will, but whenever he sees a man, +he is afraid. His hoofs are split because the knife that he had made so +sharp fell upon his foot when he was a man; and whenever he looks at +them, he has to remember that it was his own wickedness which made him a +deer. + + + + +THE STORY OF THE FIRST GRASSHOPPER. + + +In a country that is far away there once lived a young man called +Tithonus. He was strong and beautiful. Light of heart and light of foot, +he hunted the deer or danced and sang the livelong day. Every one who +saw him loved him, but the one that loved him most was a goddess named +Aurora. + +Every goddess had her own work, but the work of Aurora was most +beautiful of all, for she was the goddess of the morning. It was she who +went out to meet the sun and to light up his pathway. She watched over +the flowers, and whenever they saw her coming, their colors grew +brighter. She loved everything beautiful, and that is why she loved +Tithonus. + +"Many a year have I roamed through this country," she said to herself, +"but never have I seen such bright blue eyes as those. O fairest of +youths," she cried, "who are you? Some name should be yours that sounds +like the wind in the pine trees, or like the song of a bird among the +first blossoms." + +The young man fell upon his knees before her. "I know well," said he, +"that you are no maiden of the earth. You are a goddess come down to us +from the skies. I am but a hunter, and I roam through the forest looking +for deer." + +"Come with me, fairest of hunters," said Aurora. "Come with me to the +home of my father. You shall live among my brothers and hunt with them, +or go with me at the first brightness of the morning to carry light and +gladness to the flowers." + +So it was that Tithonus went away from his own country and his own home +to live in the home of Aurora. + +For a long time they were happy together, but one day Aurora said, +"Tithonus, I am a goddess, and so I am immortal, but some day death will +bear you away from me. I will ask the father of the gods that you too +may be immortal." + +Then Aurora went to the king of the gods and begged that he would make +Tithonus immortal. + +"Sometimes people are not pleased even when I have given them what they +ask," replied the king, "so think well before you speak." + +"I have only one wish," said Aurora, "and it is that Tithonus, the +fairest of youths, shall be immortal." + +"You have your wish," said the king of the gods, and again Tithonus and +Aurora roamed happily together through forest and field. + +One day Tithonus asked, "My Aurora, why is it that I cannot look +straight into your eyes as once I did?" Another day he said, "My Aurora, +why is it that I cannot put my hand in yours as once I did?" + +Then the goddess wept sorrowfully. "The king of the gods gave me what I +asked for," she wailed, "and I begged that you should be immortal. I did +not remember to ask that you should be always young." + +Everyday Tithonus grew older and smaller. "I am no longer happy in your +father's home," he said, "with your brothers who are as beautiful and as +strong as I was when I first saw you. Let me go back to my own country. +Let me be a bird or an insect and live in the fields where we first +roamed together. Let me go, dearest goddess." + +"You shall do as you will," replied Aurora sadly. "You shall be a +grasshopper, and whenever I hear the grasshopper's clear, merry song, I +shall remember the happy days when we were together." + + + + +THE STORY OF THE ORIOLE. + + +The king of the north once said to himself, "I am master of the country +of ice and snow, but what is that if I cannot be ruler of the land of +sunshine and flowers? I am no king if I fear the king of the south. The +northwind shall bear my icy breath. Bird and beast shall quiver and +tremble with cold. I myself will call in the voice of the thunder, and +this ruler of the south, his king of summer, shall yield to my power." + +The land of the south was ever bright and sunny, but all at once the sky +grew dark, and the sun hid himself in fear. Black storm-clouds came from +the north. An icy wind blew over the mountains. It wrestled with the +trees of the southland, and even the oaks could not stand against its +power. Their roots were tough and strong, but they had to yield, and the +fallen trees lay on the earth and wailed in sorrow as the cruel +storm-wind and rain beat upon them. The thunder growled in the hollows +of the mountains, and in the fearful gloom came the white fire of the +forked lightning, flaring through the clouds. + +"We shall perish," cried the animals of the sunny south. "The arrows of +the lightning are aimed at us. O dear ruler of the southland, must we +yield to the cruel master of the north?" + +"My king," said a little buzzing voice, "may I go out and fight the +wicked master of the storm-wind?" + +The thunder was still for a moment, and a mocking laugh was heard from +among the clouds, for it was a little hornet that had asked to go out +and meet the power of the ruler of the north. + +"Dear king, may I go?" repeated the hornet. + +"Yes, you may go," said the king of the south, and the little insect +went out alone, and bravely stung the master of the storm-wind. + +The king of the north struck at him with a war-club, but the hornet only +flew above his head and stung him again. The hornet was too small to be +struck by the arrows of the lightning. He stung again and again, and at +last the king of the north went back to his own country, and drove +before him the thunder and lightning and rain and the black storm-clouds +and the icy wind. + +"Brave little hornet," said the king of the south, "tell me what I can +do for you. You shall have whatever you ask." + +Then said the little hornet, "My king, on all the earth no one loves me. +I do not wish to harm people, but they fear my sting, and they will not +let me live beside their homes. Will you make men love me?" + +"Little hornet," said the king gently, "you shall no longer be a +stinging insect feared by men. You shall be a bright and happy oriole, +and when men see you, they will say, 'See the beautiful oriole. I shall +be glad if he will build his nest on our trees.'" + +So the hornet is now an oriole, a bird that is loved by every one. His +nest looks like that of a hornet because he learned how to build his +home before he became an oriole. + + + + +WHY THE PEACOCK'S TAIL HAS A HUNDRED EYES. + + +Juno, queen of the gods, had the fairest cow that any one ever saw. She +was creamy white, and her eyes were of as soft and bright a blue as +those of any maiden in the world. Juno and the king of the gods often +played tricks on each other, and Juno knew well that the king would try +to get her cow. There was a watchman named Argus, and one would think +that he could see all that was going on in the world, for he had a +hundred eyes, and no one had ever seen them all asleep at once, so Queen +Juno gave to Argus the work of watching the white cow. + +The king of the gods knew what she had done, and he laughed to himself +and said, "I will play a trick on Juno, and I will have the white cow." +He sent for Mercury and whispered in his ear, "Mercury, go to the green +field where Argus watches the cream-white cow and get her for me." + +Mercury was always happy when he could play a trick on any one, and he +set out gladly for the field where Argus watched the cream-white cow +with every one of his hundred eyes. + +Now Mercury could tell merry stories of all that was done in the world. +He could sing, too, and the music of his voice had lulled many a god to +sleep. Argus knew that, but he had been alone a long time, and he +thought, "What harm is there in listening to his merry chatter? I have a +hundred eyes, and even if half of them were asleep, the others could +easily keep watch of one cow." So he gladly hailed Mercury and said, "I +have been alone in this field a long, long time, but you have roamed +about as you would. Will you not sing to me, and tell me what has +happened in the world? You would be glad to hear stories and music if +you had nothing to do but watch a cow, even if it was the cow of a +queen." + +So Mercury sang and told stories. Some of the songs were merry, and some +were sad. The watchman closed one eye, then another and another, but +there were two eyes that would not close for all the sad songs and all +the merry ones. Then Mercury drew forth a hollow reed that he had +brought from the river and began to play on it. It was a magic reed, and +as he played, one could hear the water rippling gently on the shore and +the breath of the wind in the pine-trees; one could see the lilies +bending their heads as the dusk came on, and the stars twinkling softly +in the summer sky. + +It is no wonder that Argus closed one eye and then the other. Every one +of his hundred eyes was fast asleep, and Mercury went away to the king +of the gods with the cream-white cow. + +[Illustration] + +Juno had so often played tricks on the king that he was happy because he +had played this one on her, but Juno was angry, and she said to Argus, +"You are a strange watchman. You have a hundred eyes, and you could not +keep even one of them from falling asleep. My peacock is wiser than you, +for he knows when any one is looking at him. I will put every one of +your eyes in the tail of the peacock." And to-day, whoever looks at the +peacock can count in his tail the hundred eyes that once belonged to +Argus. + + + + +THE STORY OF THE BEES AND THE FLIES. + + +There were once two tribes of little people who lived near together. +They were not at all alike, for one of the tribes looked for food and +carried it away to put it up safely for winter, while the other played +and sang and danced all day long. + +"Come and play with us," said the lazy people, but the busy workers +answered, "No, come and work with us. Winter will soon be here. Snow and +ice will be everywhere, and if we do not put up food now we shall have +none for the cold, stormy days." + +So the busy people brought honey from the flowers, but the lazy people +kept on playing. They laughed together and whispered to one another, +"See those busy workers! They will have food for two tribes, and they +will give us some. Let us go and dance." + +While the summer lasted, one tribe worked and the other played. When +winter came, the busy workers were sorry for their friends and said, +"Let us give them some of our honey." So the people who played had as +much food as if they, too, had brought honey from the flowers. + +Another summer was coming, and the workers said, "If we should make our +home near the lilies that give us honey, it would be easier to get our +food." So the workers flew away, but the lazy people played and danced +as they had done before while their friends were near, for they thought, +"Oh, they will come back and bring us some honey." + +By and by the cold came, but the lazy people had nothing to eat, and the +workers did not come with food. The manito had said to them, "Dear +little workers, you shall no longer walk from flower to flower. I will +give you wings, and you shall be bees. Whenever men hear a gentle +humming, they will say, 'Those are the busy bees, and their wings were +given them because they were wise and good.'" + +[Illustration] + +To the other tribe the manito said, "You shall be flies, and you, too, +shall have wings; but while the workers fly from flower to flower and +eat the yellow honey, you shall have for your food only what has been +thrown away. When men hear your buzzing, they will say, 'It is good that +the flies have wings, because we can drive them away from us the more +quickly.'" + + + + +THE STORY OF THE FIRST MOLES. + + +A rich man and a poor man once owned a field together. The rich man +owned the northern half, and the poor man owned the southern half. Each +man sowed his ground with seed. The warm days came, the gentle rain +fell, and the seed in the poor man's half of the field sprang up and put +forth leaves. The seed in the rich man's half all died in the ground. + +The rich man was selfish and wicked. He said, "The southern half of the +field is mine," but the poor man replied, "No, the southern half is +mine, for that is where I sowed my seed." + +The rich man had a son who was as wicked as himself. This boy whispered, +"Father, tell him to come in the morning. I know how we can keep the +land." So the rich man said, "Come in the morning, and we shall soon see +whose land this is." + +At night the rich man and his son pulled up some bushes that grew beside +the field, and the son hid in the hole where their roots had been. + +Morning came, and many people went to the field with the rich man. The +poor man was sorrowful, for he feared that he would lose his ground. + +"Now we shall see," said the rich man boastfully, and he called aloud, +"Whose ground is this?" + +"This is the ground of the rich man," answered a voice from the hole. + +"How shall I ever get food for my children!" cried the poor man. + +Then another voice was heard. It was that of the spirit of the fields, +and it said, "The southern half of the field is the poor man's, and the +northern half shall be his too." + +The rich man would have run away, but the voice called, "Wait. Look +where the bushes once stood. The boy in the hole and his wicked father +shall hide in the darkness as long as they live, and never again shall +they see the light of the sun." + +This is the story of the first moles, and this is why the mole never +comes to the light of day. + + + + +THE STORY OF THE FIRST ANTS. + + +"This jar is full of smoked flesh," said one voice. + +"This has fish, this is full of honey, and that one is almost running +over with oil," said another voice. "We shall have all that we need to +eat for many days to come." + +These are the words that a villager coming home from his work heard his +mother and his sister say. + +"They have often played tricks on me," he said to himself, "and now I +will play one on them." So he went into the house and said, "Mother, I +have found that I have a wonderful sense of smell, and by its help I can +find whatever is hidden away." + +"That is a marvelous story," cried the sister. + +"If you can tell me what is in these jars," said his mother, "I shall +think you are really a magician. What is it now?" + +"This is flesh, this fish, this honey, and this jar is full of oil," +said the man. + +"I never heard of such a marvel in all my life," cried the mother; and +in the morning she called her friends and said, "Only think what a +wonderful sense of smell my son has! He told me what was in these jars +when they were closed." + +It was not long before the people all through the country heard of the +wonderful man, and one day word came that the king wished to see him at +once. + +The man was afraid, for he did not know what would happen to him, and he +was still more afraid when the king said, "A pearl is lost that I had in +my hand last night. They say you can find things that are lost. Find my +pearl, or your head will he lost." + +The poor man went out into the forest. "Oh, how I wish I had not tried +to play tricks," he wailed. "Then this sharp sorrow, this dire trouble, +would not have come upon me." + +"Please, please do not tell the king," said two voices in the shadow of +the trees. + +"Who are you?" asked the man. + +"Oh, you must know us well," said a man coming out into the light. "My +name is Sharp, and that man behind the tree is named Dire, but please do +not tell the king. We will give you the pearl; here it is. You called +our names, and we saw that you knew us. Oh, I wish I had not been a +thief!" + +The man gave the pearl to the king, and went home wishing that no one +would ever talk to him again of his sense of smell. + +In three days word came from the queen that he must come to her at once. +She thought his power was only a trick, and to catch him she had put a +cat into a bag and the bag into a box. + +When the man came, she asked sharply, "What is in this box? Tell me the +truth, or off will go your head." + +[Illustration: A WONDERFUL SENSE OF SMELL] + +"What shall I do?" thought the man, "Dire death is upon me." He did not +remember that he was before the queen, and he repeated half aloud an old +saying, "The bagged cat soon dies." + +"What is that?" cried the queen. + +"The bagged cat soon dies," repeated the man in great terror. + +"You are a marvelous man," said the queen. "There is really a bag in the +box and a cat in the bag, but no one besides myself knew it." + +"He is not a man; he is a god," cried the people, "and he must be in the +sky and live among the gods;" so they threw him up to the sky. His hand +was full of earth, and when the earth fell back, it was no longer earth, +but a handful of ants. Ants have a wonderful sense of smell, and it is +because they fell from the hand of this man who was thrown up into the +sky to live among the gods. + + + + +THE FACE OF THE MANITO. + + +Many years ago the manito of the Indians lived in the sun. Every morning +the wise men of the tribe went to the top of a mountain, and as the sun +rose in the east, they sang, "We praise thee, O sun! From thee come fire +and light. Be good to us, be good to us." + +After the warm days of the summer had come, the sun was so bright that +the Indians said to their wise men, "When you go to the mountain top, +ask the manito to show us his face in a softer, gentler light." + +Then the wise men went to the mountain top, and this is what they said: +"O great manito, we are but children before you, and we have no power to +bear the brightness of your face. Look down upon us here on the earth +with a gentler, softer light, that we may ever gaze upon you and show +you all love and all honor." + +The bright sun moved slowly toward the south. The people were afraid +that the manito was angry with them, but when the moon rose they were +no longer sad, for from the moon the loving face of the manito was +looking down upon them. + +Night after night the people gazed at the gentle face, but at last a +night came when the moon was not seen in the sky. The wise men went +sorrowfully to the mountain top. "O manito," they said, "we are never +happy when we cannot gaze into your face. Will you not show it to your +children?" + +The moon did not rise, and the people were sad, but when morning came, +there was the loving face of the manito showing clearly in the rocks at +the top of the mountain. + +Again they were happy, but when dark clouds hid the gentle face, the +wise men went to the foot of the mountain and called sadly, "O manito, +we can no longer see your face." + +The clouds grew darker and fell like a cloak over the mountain, the +trees trembled in the wind, the forked lightning shot across the sky, +and the thunder called aloud. + +"It is the anger of the manito," cried the people. "The heavens are +falling," they whispered, and they hid their faces in fear. + +Morning came, the storm had gone, and the sky was clear. Tremblingly the +people looked up toward the mountain top for the face of the manito. It +was not there, but after they had long gazed in sorrow, a wise man +cried, "There it is, where no cloud will hide it from us." In the storm +the rocks had fallen from the mountain top. They were halfway down the +mountain side, and in them could be seen the face of the manito. + +Then the people cried, "Praise to the good manito! His loving face will +look down upon us from the mountain side forever-more." + +For a long time all went well, but at last trouble came, for they heard +that a great tribe were on the war-path coming to kill them. "Help us, +dear manito," they cried but there was no help. The warriors came nearer +and nearer. Their war-cry was heard, "O manito," called the people, +"help us, help us!" A voice from the mountain answered, "My children, be +not afraid." The war-cry was still, and when the people looked, for the +warriors, they were nowhere to be seen. The people gazed all around, and +at last one of the wise men cried, "There they are, there they are!" + +They were at the foot of the mountain, but the people no longer feared +them, for now they were not warriors but rocks. To keep from harm those +whom he loved, the manito had made the warriors into stone. They stood +at the foot of the mountain, and to-day, if you should go to that +far-away country, you could see the rocks that were once warriors, and +above them, halfway up the mountain side, you could see the face of the +manito. + + + + +THE STORY OF THE FIRST DIAMONDS. + + +The chief of an Indian tribe had two sons whom he loved very dearly. +This chief was at war with another tribe, and one dark night two of his +enemies crept softly through the trees till they came to where the two +boys lay sound asleep. The warriors caught the younger boy up gently, +and carried him far away from his home and his friends. + +When the chief woke, he cried, "Where is my son? My enemies have been +here and have stolen him." + +All the Indians in the tribe started out in search of the boy. They +roamed the forest through and through, but the stolen child could not be +found. + +The chief mourned for his son, and when the time of his death drew near, +he said to his wife, "Moneta, my tribe shall have no chief until my boy +is found and taken from our enemies. Let our oldest son go forth in +search of his brother, and until he has brought back the little one, do +you rule my people." + +Moneta ruled the people wisely and kindly. When the older son was a man +she said to him, "My son, go forth and search for your brother, whom I +have mourned these many years. Every day I shall watch for you, and +every night I shall build a fire on the mountain top." + +"Do not mourn, mother," said the young man. "You will not build the fire +many nights on the mountain top, for I shall soon find my brother and +bring him back to you." + +He went forth bravely, but he did not come back. His mother went every +night to the mountain top, and when she was so old that she could no +longer walk, the young men of the tribe bore her up the mountain side in +their strong arms, so that with her own trembling hand she could light +the fire. + +One night there was a great storm. Even the brave warriors were afraid, +but Moneta had no fear, for out of the storm a gentle voice had come to +her that said, "Moneta, your sons are coming home to you." + +[Illustration] + +"Once more I must build the fire on the mountain top," she cried. The +young men trembled with fear, but they bore her to the top of the +mountain. + +"Leave me here alone," she said. "I hear a voice. It is the voice of my +son, and he is calling, 'Mother, mother.' Come to me, come, my boys." + +Coming slowly up the mountain in the storm was the older son. The +younger had died on the road home, and he lay dead in the arms of his +brother. + +In the morning the men of the tribe went to the mountain top in search +of Moneta and her sons. They were nowhere to be seen, but where the +tears of the lonely mother had fallen, there was a brightness that had +never been seen before. The tears were shining in the sunlight as if +each one of them was itself a little sun. Indeed, they were no longer +tears, but diamonds. + +The dearest thing in all the world is the tear of mother-love, and that +is why the tears were made into diamonds, the stones that are brightest +and clearest of all the stones on the earth. + + + + +THE STORY OF THE FIRST PEARLS. + + +There was once a man named Runoia, and when he walked along the pathways +of the forest, the children would say shyly to one another, "Look, there +is the man who always hears music." + +It was really true that wherever he went he could hear sweet music. +There are some kinds of music that every one can hear, but Runoia heard +sweet sounds where others heard nothing. When the lilies sang their +evening song to the stars, he could hear it, and when the mother tree +whispered "Good-night" to the little green leaves, he heard the music of +her whisper, though other men heard not a sound. + +He was sorry for those other men, and he said to himself, "I will make a +harp, and then even if they cannot hear all the kinds of music, they +will hear the sweet voice of the harp." + +This must have been a magic harp, for if one else touched it, no sound +was heard, but when Runoia touched the strings, the trees bent down +their branches to listen, the little blossoms put their heads out shyly, +and even the wind was hushed. All kinds of beasts and birds came about +him as he played, and the sun and the moon stood still in the heavens to +hear the wonderful music. All these beautiful things happened whenever +Runoia touched the strings. + +Sometimes Runoia's music was sad. Then the sun and the moon hid their +faces behind the clouds, the wind sang mournfully, and the lilies bent +low their snow-white blossoms. + +One day Runoia roamed far away till he came to the shores of the great +sea. The sun had set, darkness hid the sky and the water, not a star was +to be seen. Not a sound was heard but the wailing of the sea. No friend +was near. "I have no friends," he said. He laid his hand upon his harp, +and of themselves the strings gave forth sweet sounds, at first softly +and shyly. Then the sounds grew louder, and soon the world was full of +music, such as even Runoia had never heard before, for it was the music +of the gods. "It is really true," he said to himself softly. "My harp is +giving me music to drive away my sadness." + +[Illustration] + +He listened, and the harp played more and more sweetly. "He who has a +harp has one true friend. He who loves music is loved by the gods," so +the harp sang to him. + +Tears came into Runoia's eyes, but they were tears of happiness, not of +sadness, for he was no longer lonely. A gentle voice called, "Runoia, +come to the home of the gods." + +As darkness fell over the sea, Runoia's friends went to look for him. He +was gone, but where he had stood listening happily to the music of the +gods, there on the fair white sand was the harp, and all around it lay +beautiful pearls, shining softly in the moonlight, for every tear of +happiness was now a pearl. + + + + +THE STORY OF THE FIRST EMERALDS. + + +In the days of long ago there was a time when there were no emeralds on +the earth. Men knew where to find other precious stones. They could get +pearls and diamonds, but no one had ever seen an emerald, because the +emeralds were hidden away in the bed of the sea, far down below the +waves. + +The king of India had many precious things, and he was always eager to +get others. One day a stranger stood before his door, and when the king +came out he cried, "O king, you have much that is precious. Do you wish +to have the most beautiful thing in earth, air, or water?" + +"Yes, in truth," said the king. "What is it?" + +"It is a vase made of an emerald stone," answered the stranger. + +"And what is an emerald stone?" asked the king. + +"It is a stone that no one on earth has ever seen," said the stranger. +"It is greener than the waves of the sea or the leaves of the forest." + +"Where is the wonderful vase?" cried the king eagerly. + +"Where the waves of the sea never roll," was the answer, but when the +king was about to ask where that was, the stranger had gone. + +The king asked his three wise men where it was that the waves of the sea +never rolled. One said, "In the forest;" another said, "On the +mountain;" and the last said, "In the sea where the water is deepest." + +The king thought a long time about these answers of the wise men. At +last he said: "If the emerald vase had been in the forest or on the +mountain, it would have been found long before now. I think it is in the +deepest water of the sea." + +This king of India was a great magician. He went to the sea, and there +he sang many a magical song, for he said to himself, "I have no diver +who can go to the bed of the sea, but often magic will do what a diver +cannot." + +The king of the world under the water owned the beautiful vase, but when +he heard the songs, he knew that he must give it up. "Take it," he said +to the spirits that live in the deepest water. "Bear it to the king of +India. The spirits of the air will try to take it from you, but see that +it goes safely to the king whose magic has called it from the sea." + +The spirits of the sea rose from the waves bearing the precious vase. + +"It is ours, it is ours," cried the spirits of the air. "The king of +India shall never have it." The spirits of the air and the spirits of +the water fought together. "What a fearful storm!" cried the people on +the earth. "See how the lightning shoots across the sky, and hear the +thunder roll from mountain to mountain!" They hid themselves in terror, +but it was no storm, it was only the spirits fighting for the emerald +vase. + +One of the spirits of the air bore it at last far up above the top of +the highest mountain. "It is mine," he cried. "Never," said a spirit of +the water, and he caught it and threw it angrily against the rocky top +of the mountain. It fell in hundreds of pieces. + +There was no vase like it in the east or the west, the north or the +south, and so the king of India never had an emerald vase; but from the +pieces of the vase that was thrown against the mountain came all the +emeralds that are now on the earth. + + + + +WHY THE EVERGREEN TREES NEVER LOSE THEIR LEAVES. + + +Winter was coming, and the birds had flown far to the south, where the +air was warm and they could find berries to eat. One little bird had +broken its wing and could not fly with the others. It was alone in the +cold world of frost and snow. The forest looked warm, and it made its +way to the trees as well as it could, to ask for help. + +First it came to a birch-tree. "Beautiful birch-tree," it said, "my wing +is broken, and my friends have flown away. May I live among your +branches till they come back to me?" + +"No, indeed," answered the birch-tree, drawing her fair green leaves +away. "We of the great forest have our own birds to help. I can do +nothing for you." + +"The birch is not very strong," said the little bird to itself, "and it +might be that she could not hold me easily. I will ask the oak." So the +bird said, "Great oak-tree, you are so strong, will you not let me live +on your boughs till my friends come back in the springtime?" + +"In the springtime!" cried the oak. "That is a long way off. How do I +know what you might do in all that time? Birds are always looking for +something to eat, and you might even eat up some of my acorns." + +"It may be that the willow will be kind to me," thought the bird, and it +said, "Gentle willow, my wing is broken, and I could not fly to the +south with the other birds. May I live on your branches till the +springtime?" + +The willow did not look gentle then, for she drew herself up proudly and +said, "Indeed, I do not know you, and we willows never talk to people +whom we do not know. Very likely there are trees somewhere that will +take in strange birds. Leave me at once." + +The poor little bird did not know what to do. Its wing was not yet +strong, but it began to fly away as well as it could. Before it had +gone far, a voice was heard. "Little bird," it said, "where are you +going?" + +"Indeed, I do not know," answered the bird sadly. "I am very cold." + +"Come right here, then," said the friendly spruce-tree, for it was her +voice that had called. "You shall live on my warmest branch all winter +if you choose." + +"Will you really let me?" asked the little bird eagerly. + +"Indeed, I will," answered the kind-hearted spruce-tree. "If your +friends have flown away, it is time for the trees to help you. Here is +the branch where my leaves are thickest and softest." + +"My branches are not very thick," said the friendly pine-tree, "but I am +big and strong, and I can keep the north wind from you and the spruce." + +"I can help too," said a little juniper-tree. "I can give you berries +all winter long, and every bird knows that juniper berries are good." + +[Illustration] + +So the spruce gave the lonely little bird a home, the pine kept the cold +north wind away from it, and the juniper gave it berries to eat. + +The other trees looked on and talked together wisely. + +"I would not have strange birds on my boughs," said the birch. + +"I shall not give my acorns away for any one," said the oak. + +"I never have anything to do with strangers," said the willow, and the +three trees drew their leaves closely about them. + +In the morning all those shining green leaves lay on the ground, for a +cold north wind had come in the night, and every leaf that it touched +fell from the tree. + +"May I touch every leaf in the forest?" asked the wind in its frolic. + +"No," said the frost king. "The trees that have been kind to the little +bird with the broken wing may keep their leaves." + +This is why the leaves of the spruce, the pine, and the juniper are +always green. + + + + +WHY THE ASPEN LEAVES TREMBLE. + + +"It is very strange," whispered one reed to another, "that the queen bee +never guides her swarm to the aspen-tree." + +"Indeed, it _is_ strange," said the other. "The oak and the willow often +have swarms, but I never saw one on the aspen. What can be the reason?" + +"The queen bee cannot bear the aspen," said the first. "Very likely she +has some good reason for despising it. I do not think that an insect as +wise as she would despise a tree without any reason. Many wicked things +happen that no one knows." + +The reeds did not think that any one could hear what they said, but both +the willow and the aspen heard every word. The aspen was so angry that +it trembled from root to tip. "I'll soon see why that proud queen bee +despises me," it said. "She shall guide a swarm to my branches or"-- + +"Oh, I would not care for what those reeds say," the willow-tree broke +in. "They are the greatest chatterers in the world. They are always +whispering together, and they always have something unkind to say." + +The aspen-tree was too angry to be still, and it called out to the +reeds, "You are only lazy whisperers. I do not care what you say. I +despise both you and your queen bee. The honey that those bees make is +not good to eat. I would not have it a anywhere near me." + +"Hush, hush," whispered the willow timidly. "The reeds will repeat every +word that you say." + +"I do not care if they do," said the aspen. "I despise both them and the +bees." + +The reeds did whisper the angry words of the aspen to the queen bee, and +she said, "I was going to guide my swarm to the aspen, but now I will +drive the tree out of the forest. Come, my bees, come." + +Then the bees flew by hundreds upon the aspen. They stung every leaf and +every twig through and through. The tree was driven from the forest, +over the prairie, over the river, over the fields; and still the angry +bees flew after it and stung it again and again. When they had come to +the rocky places, they left it and flew back to the land of flowers. The +aspen never came back. Its bright green leaves had grown white through +fear, and from that day to this they have trembled as they did when the +bees were stinging them and driving the tree from the forest. + + + + +HOW THE BLOSSOMS CAME TO THE HEATHER. + + +Only a little while after the earth was made, the trees and plants came +to live on it. They were happy and contented. The lily was glad because +her flowers were white. The rose was glad because her flowers were red. +The violet was happy because, however shyly she might hide herself away, +some one would come to look for her and praise her fragrance. The daisy +was happiest of all because every child in the world loved her. + +The trees and plants chose homes for themselves. The oak said, "I will +live in the broad fields and by the roads, and travelers may sit in my +shadow." "I shall be contented on the waters of the pond," said the +water-lily. "And I am contented in the sunny fields," said the daisy. +"My fragrance shall rise from beside some mossy stone," said the violet. +Each plant chose its home where it would be most happy and contented. + +There was one little plant, however, that had not said a word and had +not chosen a home. This plant was the heather. She had not the sweet +fragrance of the violet, and the children did not love her as they did +the daisy. The reason was that no blossoms had been given to her, and +she was too shy to ask for any. + +"I wish there was some one who would be glad to see me," she said; but +she was a brave little plant, and she did her best to be contented and +to look bright and green. + +One day she heard the mountain say, "Dear plants, will you not come to +my rocks and cover them with your brightness and beauty? In the winter +they are cold, and in the summer they are stung by the sunshine. Will +you not come and cover them?" + +"I cannot leave the pond," cried the water-lily. + +"I cannot leave the moss," said the violet. + +"I cannot leave the green fields," said the daisy. + +The little heather was really trembling with eagerness. "If the great, +beautiful mountain would only let me come!" she thought, and at last she +whispered very softly and shyly, "Please, dear mountain, will you let me +come? I have not any blossoms like the others, but I will try to keep +the wind and the sun away from you." + +"Let you?" cried the mountain. "I shall be contented and happy if a dear +little plant like you will only come to me." + +The heather soon covered the rocky mountain side with her bright green, +and the mountain called proudly to the other plants, "See how beautiful +my little heather is!" The others replied, "Yes, she is bright and +green, but she has no blossoms." + +Then a sweet, gentle voice was heard saying, "Blossoms you shall have, +little heather. You shall have many and many a flower, because you have +loved the lonely mountain, and have done all that you could to please +him and make him happy." Even before the sweet voice was still, the +little heather was bright with many blossoms, and blossoms she has had +from that day to this. + + + + +HOW FLAX WAS GIVEN TO MEN. + + +"You have been on the mountain a long time," said the wife of the +hunter. + +"Yes, wife, and I have seen the most marvelous sight in all the world," +replied the hunter. + +"What was that?" + +"I came to a place on the mountain where I had been many and many a time +before, but a great hole had been made in the rock, and through the hole +I saw--oh, wife, it was indeed a wonderful sight!" + +"But what was it, my hunter?" + +"There was a great hall, all shining and sparkling with precious +stones. There were diamonds and pearls and emeralds, more than we could +put into our little house, and among all the beautiful colors sat a +woman who was fairer than they. Her maidens were around her, and the +hall was as bright with their beauty as it was with the stones. One was +playing on a harp, one was singing, and others were dancing as lightly +and merrily as a sunbeam on a blossom. The woman was even more beautiful +than the maidens, and, wife, as soon as I saw her I thought that she was +no mortal woman." + +"Did you not fall on your knees and ask her to be good to us?" + +"Yes, wife, and straightway she said: 'Rise, my friend. I have a gift +for you. Choose what you will to carry to your wife as a gift from +Holda.'" + +"Did you choose pearls or diamonds?" + +"I looked about the place, and it was all so sparkling that I closed my +eyes. 'Choose your gift,' she said. I looked into her face, and then I +knew that it was indeed the goddess Holda, queen of the sky. When I +looked at her, I could not think of precious stones, for her eyes were +more sparkling than diamonds, and I said: 'O goddess Holda, there is no +gift in all your magic hall that I would so gladly bear away to my home +as the little blue flower in your lily-white hand.'" + +"Well!" cried the wife, "and when you might have had half the pearls and +emeralds in the place, you chose a little faded blue flower! I did think +you were a wiser man." + +"The goddess said I had chosen well," said the hunter. "She gave me the +flower and the seed of it, and she said, 'When the springtime comes, +plant the seed, and in the summer I myself will come and teach you what +to do with the plant.'" + +In the spring the little seeds were put into the ground. Soon the green +leaves came up; then many little blue flowers, as blue as the sky, +lifted up their heads in the warm sunshine of summer. No one on the +earth knew how to spin or to weave, but on the brightest, sunniest day +of the summer, the goddess Holda came down from the mountain to the +little house. + +[Illustration: "SHE GAVE ME THE FLOWER"] + +"Can you spin flax?" she asked of the wife. + +"Indeed, no," said the wife. + +"Can you weave linen?" + +"Indeed, no." + +"Then I will teach you how to spin and to weave," said the good goddess. +"The little blue flower is the flax. It is my own flower, and I love the +sight of it." + +So the goddess sat in the home of the hunter and his wife and taught +them how to spin flax and weave linen. When the wife saw the piece of +linen on the grass, growing whiter and whiter the longer the sun shone +upon it, she said to her husband, "Indeed, my hunter, the linen is +fairer than the pearls, and I should rather have the beautiful white +thing that is on the grass in the sunshine than all the diamonds in the +hall of the goddess." + + + + +WHY THE JUNIPER HAS BERRIES. + + +Three cranberries once lived together in a meadow. They were sisters, +but they did not look alike, for one was white, and one was red, and one +was green. Winter came, and the wind blew cold. "I wish we lived nearer +the wigwam," said the white cranberry timidly. "I am afraid that Hoots, +the bear, will come. What should we do?" + +"The women in the wigwam are afraid as well as we," the red cranberry +said. "I heard them say they wished the men would come back from the +hunt." + +"We might hide in the woods," the green cranberry whispered. + +"But the bear will come down the path through the woods," replied the +white cranberry. + +"I think our own meadow is the best place," the red cranberry said. "I +shall not go away from the meadow. I shall hide here in the moss." + +"I am so white," the white cranberry wailed, "that I know Hoots would +see me. I shall hide in the hominy. That is as white as I." + +"I cannot hide in the hominy," said the green cranberry, "but I have a +good friend in the woods. I am going to ask the juniper-tree to hide me. +Will you not go with me?" But the red cranberry thought it best to stay +in the moss, and the white cranberry thought it best to hide in the +hominy, so the green cranberry had to go alone to the friendly +juniper-tree. + +By and by a growling was heard, and soon Hoots himself came in sight. He +walked over and over the red cranberry that lay hidden in the moss. Then +he went to the wigwam. There stood the hominy, and in it was the white +cranberry, trembling so she could not keep still. + +"Ugh, ugh, what good hominy!" said Hoots, and in the twinkling of an eye +he had eaten it up, white cranberry and all. + +Now the red cranberry was dead, and the white cranberry was dead, but +the little green cranberry that went to the juniper-tree had hidden +away in the thick branches, and Hoots did not find her. She was so happy +with the kind-hearted tree that she never left it, and that is the +reason why the juniper-tree has berries. + + + + +WHY THE SEA IS SALT. + + +Frothi, king of the Northland, owned some magic millstones. Other +millstones grind corn, but these would grind out whatever the owner +wished, if he knew how to move them. Frothi tried and tried, but they +would not stir. + +"Oh, if I could only move the millstones," he cried, "I would grind out +so many good things for my people. They should all be happy and rich." + +One day King Frothi was told that two strange women were begging at the +gate to see him. + +"Let them come in," he said, and the were brought before him. + +"We have come from a land that is far away," they said. + +"What can I do for you?" asked the king. + +"We have come to do something for you," answered the women. + +"There is only one thing that I wish for," said the king, "and that is +to make the magic millstones grind, but you cannot do that." + +"Why not?" asked the women. "That is just what we have come to do. That +is why we stood at your gate and begged to speak to you." + +Then the king was a happy man indeed. "Bring in the millstones," he +called. "Quick, quick! Do not wait." The millstones were brought in, and +the women asked, "What shall we grind for you?" + +"Grind gold and happiness and rest for my people," cried the king +gladly. + +The women touched the magic millstones, and how they did grind! "Gold +and happiness and rest for the people," said the women to one another. +"Those are good wishes." + +The gold was so bright and yellow that King Frothi could not bear to let +it go out of his sight. "Grind more," he said to the women. "Grind +faster. Why did you come to my gate if you did not wish to grind?" + +"We are so weary," said the women. "Will you not let us rest?" + +"You may rest for as long a time as it needs to say 'Frothi,'" cried the +king, "and no longer. Now you have rested. Grind away. No one should be +weary who is grinding out yellow gold." + +"He is a wicked king," said the women. "We will grind for him no more. +Mill, grind out hundreds and hundreds of strong warriors to fight Frothi +and punish him for his cruel words." + +The millstones ground faster and faster. Hundreds of warriors sprang +out, and they killed Frothi and all his men. + +"Now I shall be king," cried the strongest of the warriors. He put the +two women and the magic millstones on a ship to go to a far-away land. +"Grind, grind," he called to the women. + +"But we are so weary. Please let us rest," they begged. + +"Rest? No. Grind on, grind on. Grind salt, if you can grind nothing +else." + +Night came and the weary women were still grinding. "Will you not let us +rest?" they asked. + +"No," cried the cruel warrior. "Keep grinding, even if the ship goes to +the bottom of the sea." The women ground, and it was not long before the +ship really did go to the bottom, and carried the cruel warrior with it. +There at the bottom of the sea are the two millstones still grinding +salt, for there is no one to say that they must grind no longer. That is +why the sea is salt. + + + + +THE STORY OF THE FIRST WHITEFISH. + + +One day a crane was sitting on a rock far out in the water, when he +heard a voice say, "Grandfather Crane, Grandfather Crane, please come +and carry us across the lake." It was the voice of a child, and when the +crane had come to the shore, he saw two little boys holding each other's +hands and crying bitterly. + +"Why do you cry?" asked the crane, "and why do you wish to go across the +lake, away from your home and friends?" + +"We have no friends," said the little boys, crying more bitterly than +ever. "We have no father and no mother, and a cruel witch troubles us. +She tries all the time to do us harm, and we are going to run away where +she can never find us." + +"I will carry you over the lake," said the crane. "Hold on well, but do +not touch the back of my head, for if you do, you will fall into the +water and go to the bottom of the lake. Will you obey me?" + +"Yes, indeed, we will obey," they said. "We will not touch your head. +But please come quickly and go as fast as you can. We surely heard the +voice of the witch in the woods." + +It really was the witch, and she was saying over and over to herself, "I +will catch them, and I will punish them so that they will never run away +from me again. They will obey me after I have caught them." + +The crane bore the two little boys gently to the other shore, and when +he came back, there stood the witch. + +"Dear, gentle crane," she said, "you are so good to every one. Will you +carry me over the lake? My two dear children are lost in the woods, and +I have cried bitterly for them all day long." + +[Illustration] + +The spirit of the lake had told the crane to carry across the lake +every one that asked to be taken over; so he said, "Yes, I will carry +you across. Hold on well, but do not touch the back of my head, for if +you do, you will fall into the water and go to the bottom of the lake. +Will you obey me?" + +"Yes, indeed, I will," said the witch; but she thought, "He would not be +so timid about letting me touch the back of his head if he were not +afraid of my magic. I will put my hand on his head, and then he will +always be in my power." So when they were far out over the lake, she put +her hand on the crane's head, and before she could say "Oh!" she was at +the bottom of the lake. + +"You shall never live in the light again," said the crane, "for you have +done no good on earth. You shall be a whitefish, and you shall be food +for the Indians as long as they eat fish." + + + + +WAS IT THE FIRST TURTLE? + + +Once upon a time there was a great fight between two tribes of Indians. +It was so fierce that the river ran red with blood, and the war-cries +were so loud and angry that the animals of the forest ran away in +terror. The warriors fought all day long, and when it began to grow +dark, all the men on one side had been killed but two warriors, one of +whom was known as Turtle. In those days there were no such animals as +turtles in the ponds and rivers, and no one knew why he was called by +that name. At last Turtle's friend was struck by an arrow and fell to +the ground. + +"Now yield!" cried the enemies. + +"Friend," said Turtle, "are you dead?" + +"No," said his friend. + +"Then I will fight on," said Turtle, and he called out, "Give life again +to the warriors whom you have killed with your wicked arrows, and then I +will yield, but never before. Come on, cowards that you are! You are +afraid of me. You do not dare to come!" + +Then his enemies said, "We will all shoot our arrows at once, and some +one of them will be sure to kill him." They made ready to fire, but +Turtle, too, made ready. He had two thick shields, and he put one over +his back and one over his breast. Then he called to his fierce enemies, +"Are you not ready? Come on, fierce warriors! Shoot your arrows through +my breast if you can." + +The warriors all shot, but not an arrow struck Turtle, for the two +shields covered his breast and his back, and whenever an arrow buzzed +through the air, he drew in his head and his arms between the shields, +and so he was not harmed. "Why do you not aim at me?" he cried. "Are you +shooting at the mountain, or at the sun and the moon? Good fighters you +are, indeed! Try again." + +His enemies shot once more, and this time an arrow killed the wounded +friend as he lay on the ground. When Turtle cried, "Friend, are you +living?" there was no answer. + +"My friend is dead," said Turtle. "I will fight no more." + +"He has yielded," cried his enemies. + +"He has not," said Turtle, and with one great leap he sprang into the +river. His enemies did not dare to spring after him. + +"Those long arms of his would pull us to the bottom," they said; "but we +will watch till he comes up, and then we shall be sure of him." + +They were not so sure as they thought, for he did not come up, and all +that they could see in the water was a strange creature unlike anything +that had been there before. + +"It has arms and a head," said one. + +"And it pulls them out of sight just as Turtle did," said another. + +"It has a shield over its back and one over its breast, as Turtle had," +said the first. Then all the warriors were so eager to watch the strange +animal that they no longer remembered the fight. They crowded up to the +shore of the river. + +"It is not Turtle," cried one. + +"It _is_ Turtle," declared another. + +"It is so like him that I do not care to go into the water as long as it +is in sight," said still another. + +"But if this is not Turtle, where is he?" they all asked, and not one of +the wise men of their tribe could answer. + + + + +WHY THE CROCODILE HAS A WIDE MOUTH. + + +"Come to my kingdom whenever you will," said the goddess of the water to +the king of the land. "My waves will be calm, and my animals will be +gentle. They will be as good to your children as if they were my own. +Nothing in all my kingdom will do you harm." + +The goddess went back to her home in the sea, and the king walked to the +shore of the river and stood gazing upon the beautiful water. Beside him +walked his youngest son. + +"Father," asked the boy, "would the goddess be angry if I went into the +water to swim?" + +"No," answered the father. "She says that nothing in all her wide +kingdom will do us harm. The water-animals will be kind, and the waves +will be calm." + +The boy went into the water. He could swim as easily as a fish, and he +went from shore to shore, sometimes talking with the fishes, sometimes +getting a bright piece of stone to carry to his father. Suddenly +something caught him by the foot and dragged him down, down, through the +deep, dark water. "Oh, father!" he cried, but his father had gone away +from the shore, and the strange creature, whatever it was, dragged the +boy down to the very bottom of the river. + +The river was full of sorrow for what the creature had done, and it +lifted the boy gently and bore him to the feet of the goddess. His eyes +were closed and his face was white, for he was dead. Great tears came +from the eyes of the goddess when she looked at him. "I did not think +any of my animals would do such a cruel thing," she said. "His father +shall never know it, for the boy shall not remember what has happened." + +Then she laid her warm hand upon his head, and whispered some words of +magic into his ear. "Open your eyes," she called, and soon they were +wide open. "You went in to swim," said the goddess. "Did the water +please you?" + +"Yes, surely." + +"Were the water-animals kind to you?" + +"Yes, surely," answered the boy, for the magic words had kept him from +remembering anything about the strange creature that had dragged him to +the bottom of the river. + +The boy went home to his father, and as soon as he was out of sight, the +goddess called to the water-animals, "Come one, come all, come little, +come great." + +"It is the voice of the goddess," said the water-animals, and they all +began to swim toward her as fast as they could. + +When they were together before her, she said, "One of you has been cruel +and wicked. One of you has dragged to the bottom of the river the son of +my friend, the king of the land, but I have carried him safely to shore, +and now he is in his home. When he comes again, will you watch over him +wherever in the wide, wide water he may wish to go?" + +"Yes!" "Yes!" "Yes!" cried the water-animals. + +"Water," asked the goddess, "will you be calm and still when the son of +my friend is my guest?" + +"Gladly," answered the water. + +Suddenly the goddess caught sight of the crocodile hiding behind the +other animals. "Will you be kind to the boy and keep harm away from +him?" she asked. + +[Illustration: "THE MOUTH THAT WILL NOT OPEN MUST BE MADE TO OPEN"] + +Now it was the crocodile that had dragged the boy to the bottom of the +river. He wished to say, "Yes," but he did not dare to open his mouth +for fear of saying, "I did it, I did it," so he said not a word. The +goddess cried, "Did you drag the king's son to the bottom of the river?" +Still the crocodile dared not open his mouth for fear of saying, "I did +it, I did it." Then the goddess was angry. She drew her long sword, and +saying, "The mouth that will not open when it should must be made to +open," she struck the crocodile's mouth with the sword. "Oh, look!" +cried the other animals. The crocodile's mouth had opened; there was no +question about _that_, for it had split open so far that he was afraid +he should never be able to keep it closed. + + + + +THE STORY OF THE PICTURE ON THE VASE. + + +On some of the beautiful vases that are made in Japan there is a picture +of a goddess changing a dragon into an island. When the children of +Japan say, "Mother, tell us a story about the picture," this is what the +mother says:-- + +"Long, long ago there was a goddess of the sea who loved the people of +Japan. She often came out of the water at sunset, and while all the +bright colors were in the sky, she would sit on a high rock that +overlooked the water and tell stories to the children. Such wonderful +stories as they were! She used to tell them all about the strange fishes +that swim in and out among the rocks and the mosses, and about the fair +maidens that live deep down in the sea far under the waves. The children +would ask, 'Are there no children in the sea? Why do they never come out +to play with us?' The goddess would answer, 'Some time they will come, +if you only keep on wishing for them. What children really wish for they +will surely have some day.' + +"Then the goddess would sing to the children, and her voice was so sweet +that the evening star would stand still in the sky to listen to her +song. 'Please show us how the water rises and falls,' the children would +beg, and she would hold up a magic stone that she had and say, 'Water, +rise!' Then the waves would come in faster and faster all about the +rock. When she laid down the stone and said, 'Water, fall!' the waves +would be still, and the water would roll back quickly to the deep sea. +She was goddess of the storm as well as of the sea, and sometimes the +children would say, 'Dear goddess, please make us a storm.' She never +said no to what they asked, and so the rain would fall, the lightning +flare, and the thunder roll. The rain would fall all about them, but the +goddess did not let it come near them. They were never afraid of the +lightning, for it was far above their heads, and they knew that the +goddess would not let it come down. + +"Those were happy times, but there is something more to tell that is not +pleasant. One of the goddess's sea-animals was a dragon, that often used +to play in the water near the shore. The children never thought of being +afraid of any of the sea-animals, but one day the cruel dragon seized a +little child in his mouth, and in a moment he had eaten it. There was +sadness over the land of Japan. There were tears and sorrowful wailing. +'O goddess,' the people cried, 'come to us! Punish the wicked dragon!' + +[Illustration] + +"The goddess was angry that one of her creatures should have dared to +harm the little child, and she called aloud, 'Dragon, come to me.' The +dragon came in a moment, for he did not dare to stay away. Then said the +goddess, 'You shall never again play merrily in the water with the +happy sea-animals. You shall be a rocky island. There shall be trees and +plants on you, and before many years have gone, people will no longer +remember that you were once an animal.' + +"The dragon found that he could no longer move about as he had done, for +he was changing into rock. Trees and plants grew on his back. He was an +island, and when people looked at it, they said, 'That island was once a +wicked dragon.' The children of the sea and the children of the land +often went to the island, and there they had very happy times together." + +This is the story that the mothers tell to their children when they look +at the vases and see the picture of the goddess changing a dragon into +an island. But when the children say, "Mother, where is the island? +Cannot we go to it and play with the sea-children?" the mother answers, +"Oh, this was all a long, long time ago, and no one can tell now where +the island was." + + + + +WHY THE WATER IN RIVERS IS NEVER STILL. + + +All kinds of strange things came to pass in the days of long ago, but +perhaps the strangest of all was that the nurses who cared for little +children were not women, but brooks and rivers. The children and the +brooks ran about together, and the brooks and rivers never said, "It is +time to go to bed," for they liked to play as well as the children, and +perhaps a little better. Sometimes the brooks ran first and the children +followed. Sometimes the children ran first and the brooks followed. Of +course, if any animal came near that would hurt the children, the brook +or river in whose care they were left flowed quickly around them, so +that they stood on an island and were safe from all harm. + +Two little boys lived in those days who were sons of the king. When the +children were old enough to run about, the king called the rivers and +brooks to come before him. They came gladly, for they felt sure that +something pleasant would happen, and they waited so quietly that no one +would have thought they were so full of frolic. + +"I have called you," said the king, "to give you the care of my two +little sons. They like so well to run about that one nurse will not be +enough to care for them, and of course it will be pleasanter for them to +have many playmates. So I felt that it would be better to ask every +river and every brook to see that they are not hurt or lost." + +"We shall have the king's sons for our playmates!" whispered the rivers. +"Nothing so pleasant ever happened to us before." + +But the king went on, "If you keep my boys safely and well, and follow +them so closely that they are not lost, then I will give you whatever +gift you wish; but if I find that you have forgotten them one moment and +they are lost or hurt, then you will be punished as no river was ever +punished before." + +The rivers and even the most frolicsome little brooks were again quiet +for a moment. Then they all cried together, "O king, we will be good. +There were never better nurses than we will be to your sons." + +At first all went well, and the playmates had the merriest times that +could be thought of. Then came a day when the sunshine was very warm, +but the boys ran faster and farther than boys had ever run in the world +before, and even the brooks could not keep up with them. The rivers had +never been weary before, but when this warm day came, one river after +another had some reason for being quiet. One complained, "I have +followed the boys farther than any other river." "Perhaps you have," +said another, "but I have been up and down and round and round till I +have forgotten how it seems to be quiet." Another declared, "I have run +about long enough, and I shall run no more." A little brook said, "If I +were a great river, perhaps I could run farther," and a great river +replied, "If I were a little brook, of course I could run farther." + +So they talked, and the day passed. Night came before they knew it, and +they could not find the boys. + +"Where are my sons?" cried the king. + +"Indeed, we do not know," answered the brooks and rivers in great fear, +and each one looked at the others. + +"You have lost my children," said the king, "and if you do not find +them, you shall be punished. Go and search for them." + +"Please help us," the rivers begged of the trees and plants, and +everything that had life began to search for the lost boys. "Perhaps +they are under ground," thought the trees, and they sent their roots +down into the earth. "Perhaps they are in the east," cried one animal, +and he went to the east. "They may be on the mountain," said one plant, +and so it climbed to the very top of the mountain. "They may be in the +village," said another, and so that one crept up close to the homes of +men. + +Many years passed. The king was almost broken-hearted, but he knew it +was of no use to search longer, so he called very sadly, "Search no +longer. Let each plant and animal make its home where it is. The little +plant that has crept up the mountain shall live on the mountain top, and +the roots of the trees shall stay under ground. The rivers"--Then the +king stopped, and the rivers trembled. They knew that they would be +punished, but what would the punishment be? The king looked at them. "As +for you, rivers and brooks," he declared, "it was your work to watch my +boys. The plants and trees shall find rest and live happily in their +homes, but you shall ever search for my lost boys, and you shall never +have a home." + +So from that day to this the rivers have gone on looking for the lost +children. They never stop, and some of them are so troubled that they +flow first one way and then the other. + + + + +HOW THE RAVEN HELPED MEN. + + +The raven and the eagle were cousins, and they were almost always +friendly, but whenever they talked together about men, they quarreled. + +"Men are lazy," declared the eagle. "There is no use in trying to help +them. The more one does for them, the less they do for themselves." + +"You fly so high," said the raven, "that you cannot see how hard men +work. I think that we birds, who know so much more than they, ought to +help them." + +"They do not work," cried the eagle. "What have they to do, I should +like to know? They walk about on the ground, and their food grows close +by their nests. If they had to fly through the air as we do, and get +their food wherever they could, they might talk about working hard." + +"That is just why we ought to help them," replied the raven. "They +cannot mount up into the air as we do. They cannot see anything very +well unless it is near them, and if they had to run and catch their +food, they would surely die of hunger. They are poor, weak creatures, +and there is not a humming-bird that does not know many things that they +never heard of." + +"You are a poor, weak bird, if you think you can teach men. When they +feel hunger, they will eat, and they do not know how to do anything +else. Just look at them! They ought to be going to sleep, and they do +not know enough to do even that." + +"How can they know that it is night, when they have no sun and no moon +to tell them when it is day and when it is night?" + +"They would not go to sleep even if they had two moons," said the eagle; +"and you are no true cousin of mine if you do not let them alone." + +So the two birds quarreled. Almost every time they met, they quarreled +about men, and at last, whenever the eagle began to mount into the air, +the raven went near the earth. + +Now the eagle had a pretty daughter. She and the raven were good +friends, and they never quarreled about men. One day the pretty daughter +said, "Cousin Raven, are you too weak to fly as high as you used to do?" + +"I never was less weak," declared the raven. + +"Almost every day you keep on the ground. Can you not mount into the +air?" + +"Of course I can," answered the raven. + +"There are some strange things in my father's lodge," said the pretty +daughter, "and I do not know what they are. They are not good to eat, +and I do not see what else they are good for. Will you come and see +them?" + +"I will go wherever you ask me," declared the raven. + +The eagle's lodge was far up on the top of a high mountain, but the two +birds were soon there, and the pretty daughter showed the raven the +strange things. He knew what they were, and he said to himself, "Men +shall have them, and by and by they will be no less wise than the +birds." Then he asked, "Has your father a magic cloak?" + +[Illustration] + +"Yes," answered the pretty daughter. + +"May I put it on?" + +"Yes, surely." + +When the raven had once put on the magic cloak, he seized the strange +things and put them under it. Then he called, "I will come again soon, +my pretty little cousin, and tell you all about the people on the +earth." + +The things under his cloak were strange indeed, for one was the sun, and +one was the moon. There were hundreds of bright stars, and there were +brooks and rivers and waterfalls. Best of all, there was the precious +gift of fire. The raven put the sun high up in the heavens, and fastened +the moon and stars in their places. He let the brooks run down the sides +of the mountains, and he hid the fire away in the rocks. + +After a while men found all these precious gifts. They knew when it was +night and when it was day, and they learned how to use fire. They cannot +mount into the air like the eagle, but in some things they are almost as +wise as the birds. + + + + +THE STORY OF THE EARTH AND THE SKY. + + +The sky used to be very close to the earth, and of course the earth had +no sunshine. Trees did not grow, flowers did not blossom, and water was +not clear and bright. The earth did not know that there was any other +way of living, and so she did not complain. + +By and by the sky and the earth had a son who was called the Shining +One. When he was small, he had a dream, and he told it to the earth. +"Mother Earth," he said, "I had a dream, and it was that the sky was far +up above us. There was a bright light, and it made you more radiant than +I ever saw you. What could the light have been?" + +"I do not know, my Shining One," she answered, "for there is nothing but +the earth and the sky." + +After a long, long time, the Shining One was fully grown. Then he said +to the sky, "Father Sky, will you not go higher up, that there may be +light and warmth on the earth?" + +"There is no 'higher up,'" declared the sky. "There is only just here." + +Then the Shining One raised the sky till he rested on the mountain +peaks. + +"Oh! oh!" cried the sky. "They hurt. The peaks are sharp and rough. You +are an unkind, cruel son." + +"In my dreams you were still higher up," replied the Shining One, and he +raised the sky still higher. + +"Oh! oh!" complained the sky, "I can hardly see the peaks. I will stay +on the rough rocks." + +"You were far above the rocks in my dream," replied the Shining One. + +Then when the sky was raised far above the earth and no longer touched +even the peaks, a great change came over the earth. She, too, had +thought the Shining One unkind, and she had said, "Shining One, it was +only a dream. Why should you change the sky and the earth? Why not let +them stay as they were before you had the dream?" + +"O Mother Earth," he said, "I wish you could see the radiant change that +has come to pass. The air is full of light and warmth and fragrance. You +yourself are more beautiful than you were even in my dream. Listen and +hear the song of the birds. See the flowers blossoming in every field, +and even covering the rough peaks of the mountains. Should you be glad +if I had let all things stay as they were? Was I unkind to make you so +much more lovely than you were?" + +Before the earth could answer, the sky began to complain. "You have +spread over earth a new cloak of green, and of course she is beautiful +with all her flowers and birds, but here am I, raised far above the +mountain peaks. I have no cloak, nor have I flowers and birds. Shining +One, give me a cloak." + +"That will I do, and most gladly," replied the Shining One, and he +spread a soft cloak of dark blue over the sky, and in it many a star +sparkled and twinkled. + +"That is very well in the night," said the heavens, "but it is not good +in the daytime, it is too gloomy. Give me another cloak for the day." +Then the Shining One spread a light blue cloak over the sky for the +daytime, and at last the sky was as beautiful as the earth. + +Now both sky and earth were contented. "I did not know that the earth +was so radiant," said the sky. "I did not know that the sky was so +beautiful," said the earth. "I will send a message to tell her how +lovely she is," thought the sky, and he dropped down a gentle little +rain. + +"I, too, will send a message," thought the earth, "and the clouds shall +carry it for me." That is why there is often a light cloud rising from +the earth in the morning. It is carrying a good-morning message from the +beautiful earth to the sky. + + + + +HOW SUMMER CAME TO THE EARTH. + + +PART I. + +There was once a boy on the earth who was old enough to have a bow and +arrows, but who had never seen a summer. He had no idea how it would +look to have leaves on the trees, for he had never seen any such things. +As for the songs of birds, he may have heard them in his dreams, but he +never heard them when he was not asleep. If any one had asked, "Do you +not like to walk on the soft grass?" he would have answered, "What is +grass? I never saw any." + +The reason why this boy had never heard of summer was because there had +never been a summer on the earth. Far to the north the earth was covered +with thick ice, and even farther south, where the boy lived, the ground +was rarely free from ice and snow. + +The boy's father was called the fisher. He taught his little son to +hunt, and made him a bow like his own, only smaller. The boy was proud +of his arrows, and was always happy when he went out to hunt. He had +often shot a lynx, and once or twice he had shot a wolverine. Sometimes +it chanced that he found nothing to shoot, and then he was not happy, +for he realized how cold it was. His fingers ached, and his feet ached, +and the end of his nose ached. "Oh, if I could only carry the wigwam +fire about with me!" he cried, for he had no idea of any other warmth +than that which came from the fire. + +Now it chanced that Adjidaumo, the squirrel, was on a tree over the +boy's head, and he heard this cry. He dropped a piece of ice upon the +end of the boy's little red nose, and the boy bent his bow. Then he +realized who it was, and he cried, "O Adjidaumo, you are warm. You have +no fingers to ache with the cold. I am warm just twice a day, once in +the morning and once at night." + +"Boys do not know much," replied Adjidaumo, dancing lightly on the +topmost bough. "The end of _my_ nose is warm, and I have no fingers like +yours to be cold, but if I had chanced to have any, I have an idea that +would have kept them warm." + +"What is an idea?" asked the boy. + +"An idea is something that is better than a fire," replied the squirrel, +"for you can carry an idea about with you, and you have to leave the +fire at home. A lynx has an idea sometimes, and a wolverine has one +sometimes, but a squirrel has one twice as often as a boy." + +The poor boy was too cold to be angry, and he begged, "Adjidaumo, if +there is any way for me to keep warm, will you not tell me what it is? A +lynx would be more kind to me than you are, and I am sure a wolverine +would tell me." + +Adjidaumo had rarely been cold, but when he realized how cold the boy +was, he was sorry for him, and he said, "All you have to do is to go +home and cry. When your father says, 'Why do you cry?' answer nothing +but 'Boo-hoo, boo-hoo, boo-hoo! Get me summer, get me summer!'" + +Now this boy rarely cried, but his hands and feet were so very cold that +he thought he would do as the squirrel had told him, and he started for +home. As soon as he reached the wigwam, he threw himself down upon the +ground and cried. He cried so hard that his tears made a river that ran +out of the wigwam door. It was a frozen river, of course, but when the +fisher saw it, he knew it was made of the tears of his little son. "What +are you crying for?" he asked, but all the boy answered was "Boo-hoo, +boo-hoo! Get me summer, father, get me summer!" + +"Summer," repeated the fisher thoughtfully. "It is not easy to get +summer, but I will find it if I can." + + +PART II. + +The fisher made a great feast for the animals that he thought could help +him to find summer. The otter, the lynx, the badger, and the wolverine +came. After they had eaten, the hunter told them what he wished to do, +and they all set out to find summer. + +For many days they traveled, and at last they came to a high mountain +upon whose summit the sky seemed to rest. + +"That is where summer is," declared the badger. "All we have to do is to +climb to the summit and take it from the heavens." So they all climbed +and climbed, till it seemed as if they would never reach the top. After +a long time they were on the very highest summit, but the heavens were +above them. + +"We cannot reach it," said the fisher. + +"Let us try," said the lynx. + +"I will try first," said the otter. So the otter sprang up with all his +might, but he could not touch the heavens. He rolled down the side of +the mountain, and then he ran home. The badger tried, and the beaver +tried, and the lynx tried, but not one of them could leap far enough to +reach the heavens. "Now I will try," said the wolverine. "I am not +going to climb away up here for nothing." The fisher watched most +eagerly, for he thought, "There's my boy at home crying, and what shall +I do if I cannot get the summer for him?" + +The wolverine leaped farther than any wolverine ever leaped before, and +he went where no animal on the earth had ever been before, for he went +straight through the floor of the heavens. Of course the fisher +followed, and there they were in a more lovely place than any one on the +earth had ever dreamed of, for they were in the land of summer, and +summer had never come to the earth. + +The soft, warm air went down through the hole in the floor and spread +over the earth. Birds flew down, singing happily as they flew, and all +kinds of flowers that are on the earth to-day made their way through the +hole as fast as they could, for they knew all about the little boy in +the wigwam who was wishing that summer would come. + +Now there were people in the heavens, and when they found that summer +was going down to the earth through the hole in the floor, they cried +out to the Great Spirit, "Take summer away from him, take it away from +him!" and they shot their arrows at the fisher and the wolverine. The +wolverine dropped through the hole, but the fisher was not quick enough, +and he could not get away. + +The Great Spirit said, "The heavens have the summer all the year, but +the earth shall have summer half the year. I shall close the hole in the +floor so the fisher cannot go down to earth again, but I will make him +into a fish and give him a place in the heavens." + +When the Indians look up at the sky, they see a fish in the stars, and +they say, "That is the good fisher who gave us the beautiful summer." + + + + +THE STORY OF THE FIRST SNOWDROPS. + + +An old man sat alone in his house. It Was full of shadows; it was dark +and gloomy. The old man cared nothing for the shadows or the darkness, +for he was thinking of all the mighty deeds that he had done. "There is +no one else in the world," he muttered, "who has done such deeds as I," +and he counted them over aloud. A sound outside of the house interrupted +him. "What can it be?" he said to himself. "How dares anything interrupt +me? I have told all things to be still. It sounds like the rippling of +waters, and I have told the waters to be quiet in their beds. There it +is again. It is like the singing of birds, and I have sent the birds far +away to the south." + +Some one opened the door and came in. It was a youth with sunny curls +and rosy face. + +"Who said you might come in?" muttered the old man. + +"Did not you?" asked the youth, with a merry little laugh. "I am really +afraid that I came without asking. You see, every one is glad to see me +and"-- + +"I am not," interrupted the old man. + +"I have heard rumors of your great deeds," said the youth, "and I came +to see whether the tales are true." + +"The deeds are more true than the tales," muttered the old man, "for the +tales are never great enough. No one can count the wonderful things I +have done." + +"And what are they?" asked the young man gravely, but with a merry +little twinkle in his eyes that would have made one think of the waves +sparkling in the sunlight. "Let us see whether you or I can tell the +greatest tale." + +"I can breathe upon a river and turn it to ice," said the old man. + +"I can breathe upon the ice and turn it to a river," said the youth. + +"I can say to water, 'Stand still,' and it will not dare to stir." + +"I can say, 'Stand no longer,' and it will go running and chattering +down the mountain side." + +"I shake my white head," said the old man, "and snow covers the earth." + +"I shake my curls," said the young man, "and the air sparkles with +sunshine. In a moment the snow is gone." + +"I say to the birds, 'Sing no more. Leave me,' and they spread their +wings and fly far away." + +"I say, 'Little birds, come back,' and in a moment they are back again +and singing their sweetest songs to me." + +"No one can count the leaves," said the old man, "but whether I shake +the trees with my icy touch, or whether I turn my cold breath upon them, +they fall to the ground with fear and trembling. Are there any rumors of +my deeds as great as that?" + +The young man answered gravely, but with a laugh in his voice, "I never +saw any leaves falling to the ground, for when I appear, they are all +fair and green and trembling with the gladness of my coming." + +So the two talked all night long. As morning came near, the old man +appeared weary, but the youth grew merrier. The sunlight brightened, and +the youth turned to the open door. The trees were full of birds, and +when they saw him, they sang, "O beautiful spring! glad are we to look +again upon your face." + +"My own dear birds!" cried spring. He turned to say good-by, but the old +man was gone, and where he had stood were only snowflakes. But were they +snowflakes? He looked again. They were little white snowdrops, the first +flowers of spring, the only flowers that can remember the winter. + + + + +WHY THE FACE OF THE MOON IS WHITE. + + +An Indian chief had a fair young daughter. One day the wind came to him +and said, "Great chief, I love your daughter, and she loves me. Will you +give her to me to be my wife?" + +"No," answered the chief. + +The next day the maiden herself went to the chief and said, "Father, I +love the wind. Will you let me go with him to his lodge and be his +wife?" + +"No," declared the chief, "I will not. When the wind was a child, he +often came into my wigwam through some tiny hole, and try as I would to +make my fire, he always put it out. He knows neither how to fight nor +how to hunt, and you shall not be his wife." + +Then the chief hid his daughter in a thick grove of dark spruces. "The +wind might see her in a pine," he thought, "but he will never catch +sight of her in a grove of spruces." + +Now the wind could make himself invisible if he chose, and all the time +that the chief was talking, the wind was close beside him listening to +every word. When the next night came, the wind ran round and round the +grove of spruces until he discovered a tiny place where he could get in. +When he came out, the maiden was with him. He did not dare to go near +the Indians to live, for he was afraid that the chief would come and +take her away from him; so he built a new lodge far to the north-ward. +To that lodge he carried the maiden, and she became his wife. + +Neither the wind nor his young wife had thought that the chief could +ever find them, but he searched and searched, and at last he came to +their lodge. The wind hid his wife and made himself invisible, but the +father struck all about with his great war-club, and a hard blow fell +upon the head of the wind. He knew no more of what the chief was doing. + +When he came to himself, he discovered that his wife was gone, and he +set out in search of her. He roamed about wildly in the forest, and at +last he saw her in a canoe with her father on the Big-Sea-Water. "Come +with me," he called. She became as white as snow, but she could not see +the wind, because after the blow upon his head he had forgotten how to +make himself visible. + +He was so angry with the chief that he blew with all his might upon the +tiny canoe. "Let it tip over," he thought. "I can carry my wife safely +to land." The canoe did tip over, and both the chief and his daughter +fell into the water. "Come, dear wife," cried the wind. "Here is my +hand." He did not remember that he was invisible, and that she could not +see his hand. That is why she fell down, down, through the deep water to +the bottom of the lake. The chief, too, lost his life, for the wind did +not try to help him. + +When the wind discovered that his wife was gone from him, he became +almost wild with sorrow. "The wind never blew so sadly before," said the +people in the wigwams. + +[Illustration: "HERE IS MY HAND"] + +The Great Spirit was sorry that the chief's daughter had fallen into the +water and lost her life, and the next night he bore her up to the stars +and gave her a home in the moon. There she lives again, but her face is +white, as it was when she fell from the canoe. On moonlight nights she +always looks down upon the earth, searching for the wind, for she does +not know that he is invisible. The wind does not know that far away in +the moon is the white face of his lost wife, and so he roams through the +forest and wanders about the rocks and the mountains, but never thinks +of looking up to the moon. + + + + +WHY ALL MEN LOVE THE MOON. + + +Thunder and Lightning were going to give a feast. It was to be a most +delightful banquet, for all the good things that could be imagined were +to be brought from every corner of the world. + +For many days before the feast these good things were coming. The birds +flew up with what they could find in the cold air of the north and the +warm air of the south. The fishes came from the east and from the west +with what they could find in the cold water or in the warm water. As for +what grew on the earth, there was no end to the luxuries that came every +morning and every evening. Squirrels brought nuts, crows brought corn, +the ants brought sweet things of many kinds. Food that was rich and rare +came from India and Japan. The butterflies and the humming-birds were to +arrange the flowers, the peacocks and the orioles promised to help make +the place beautiful, and the waves and the brooks agreed to make their +most charming music. + +Thunder and Lightning were talking about whom to invite, and they +questioned whether to ask the sun, the moon, and the wind. These three +were children of the star mother. + +"The star mother has been so kind to us that I suppose we ought to +invite her children," said Thunder. + +"The moon is charming, but the sun and the wind are rough and wild. If I +were the star mother, I would keep them in a corner all day, and they +should stay there all night, too, if they did not promise to be gentle," +said Lightning. + +"We must invite them," replied Thunder, with what sounded much like a +little growl, "but it would be delightful if they would agree to stay +away, all but the moon." + +That is why the sun and wind were invited as well as the moon. When the +invitation came, the two brothers said to their little sister, "You are +too small to go to a feast, but perhaps they asked you because they were +going to ask us." + +"Star mother, I think I will stay at home," said the moon tearfully. + +"No, little moon," replied the star mother; "go to the feast with the +other children." + +So the three children went to the feast, and the star mother waited for +them to come home. + +When they came, she asked, "What did you bring for me?" The hands of the +sun were full of good things, but he said, "I brought only what I am +going to eat myself," and he sat down in a corner with his back to the +others, and went on eating. + +"Did you bring anything for me?" she asked the wind. + +"I brought some good things halfway home, and then I was weary of +carrying them," answered the wind, "so I have eaten them." + +"I should never have imagined that you would be so selfish," said the +star mother sadly, and she asked the little moon, "My daughter, did you +bring anything for me?" + +"Yes, star mother," answered the little moon, and she gave her mother +more good things than any one had ever seen in their home before. There +were rare luxuries that the fishes and the birds had brought. There were +rich colors that the peacocks and orioles had promised, and there was +even some of the charming music that the waves and brooks had agreed to +make. + +The star mother praised the little maiden. Then she looked at her two +boys. She was sad, for she knew that they must be punished for their +selfishness. "Sun," said she, "you wish to turn your back on all, and +your punishment shall be that when the warm days of summer have come, +all men will turn their backs on you." To the wind she said, "Wind, you +thought of no one but yourself. When the storm is coming and you are +afraid and fly before it, no one shall think of you. All men shall close +their doors against you and fasten them." Then to her little daughter +she said, "My little moon, you were unselfish and thoughtful. You shall +always be bright and beautiful, and men shall love you and praise you +whenever they look upon your gentle, kindly face." + +This is why men hide from the sun and the wind, but never from the moon. + + + + +WHY THERE IS A HARE IN THE MOON. + + +Many strange things happened long ago, and one of them was that a hare, +a monkey, and a fox agreed to live together. They talked about their +plan a long time. Then the hare said, "I promise to help the monkey and +the fox." The monkey declared, "I promise to help the fox and the hare." +The fox said, "I promise to help the hare and the monkey." They shook +hands, or rather shook paws. There was something else to which they +agreed, and that was that they would kill no living creature. + +The manito was much pleased when he heard of this plan, but he said to +himself, "I should like to make sure that what I have heard is true, and +that they are really gentle and kind to others as well as to themselves. +I will go to the forest and see how they behave toward strangers." + +The manito appeared before the three animals, but they thought he was a +hunter. "May I come into your lodge and rest?" he asked. "I am very +weary." + +All three came toward him and gave him a welcome. "Come into our lodge," +they said. "We have agreed to help one another, so we will help one +another to help you." + +"I have been hungry all day," said the manito, "but I should rather have +such a welcome than food." + +"But if you are hungry, you must have food," declared the three animals. +"If there were anything in our lodge that you would care to eat, you +might have part of it or all of it, but there is nothing here that you +would like." + +Then said the monkey, "I have a plan. I will go out into the forest and +find you some food." + +When the monkey came back, he said, "I found a tree with some fruit on +it. I climbed it and shook it, and here is the fruit. There was only a +little of it, for fruit was scarce." + +"Will you not eat part of it yourself?" asked the manito. + +"No," answered the monkey. "I had rather see you eat it, for I think you +are more hungry than I." + +The manito wished to know whether the fox and the hare would behave as +unselfishly toward him, and he said, "My good friends, the fruit was +indeed welcome, but I am still hungry." + +Then the fox said, "I will go out into the forest and see what I can +find for you." + +When the fox came back, he said, "I shook the trees, but no more fruit +fell. I could not climb the trees, for my paws are not made for +climbing, but I searched on the ground, and at last I found some hominy +that a traveler had left, and I have brought you that." + +The manito had soon eaten the hominy. He wished to know whether the hare +would behave as kindly as the others, and before long he said, "My good +friends, the hominy was indeed welcome, but I am still hungry." + +Then the hare said, "I will gladly go out into the forest and search for +food." He was gone a long time, but when he came back, he brought no +food. + +"I am very hungry," said the manito. + +"Stranger," said the hare, "if you will build a fire beside the rock, I +can give you some food." + +The manito built a fire, and the hare said, "Now I will spring from the +top of the rock upon the fire. I have heard that men eat flesh, that is +taken from the fire, and I will give you my own." + +The hare sprang from the rock, but the manito caught him in his hands +before the flame could touch him, and said, "Dear, unselfish little +hare, the monkey and the fox have welcomed me and searched the forest +through to find me food, but you have done more, for you have given me +yourself. I will take the gift, little hare, and I will carry you in my +arms up to the moon, so that every one on the earth may see you and hear +the tale of your kindness and unselfishness." + +[Illustration] + +The Indians can see a hare in the moon, and this is the story that they +tell their children about it. + + + + +THE CHILDREN IN THE MOON. + + +They had no idea where they came from. All they knew was that they lived +on the hill, and that the old man of the hill called them Jack and Jill. +They had plenty of berries to eat, and when night came, they had soft +beds of fir to sleep on. There were all kinds of animals on the hill, +and they were friendly to the two children. They could have had a most +delightful time playing all day long if it had not been for having to +carry water. + +Every morning, just as soon as the first rays of the sun could be seen +from their home, they heard the voice of the old man of the hill +calling, "Jack! Jill! Take your pail and get some water." Whenever they +were having an especially pleasant game with some of the animals, they +heard the same call, "Take your pail and get some water." It is no +wonder that Jack awoke one night when no one called and said, "Jill, did +he say we must get some water?" "I suppose so," answered Jill sleepily, +and they went out with the pail. + +The moon was shining down through the trees, and they imagined that she +was nearer than ever before. The forest was not half so lonely with her +gentle face looking down upon them. Soon they felt happier than at +first, and they played little games together, running from tree to tree. + +"We have spilled half the water," said Jill. + +"There's plenty left," said Jack, "if half _is_ spilled." + +"Do you suppose there are any children who play games whenever they like +and do not have to carry water?" + +"Plenty of them," declared Jack. + + "Jack and Jill + Went up the hill + To get a pail of water," + +sang a voice so clear that it seemed close at hand, and so soft that it +seemed far away. + +Jack started, fell, and rolled down the hillside, and Jill came tumbling +after. As for the water, what was left was spilled before Jack had +rolled over once; and before he had rolled over twice, the same voice +sang,-- + + "Jack fell down + And broke his crown, + And Jill came tumbling after." + +"It is about us," cried Jill. + +"I have not broken any crown," said Jack. + +"It is the crown of your head," declared Jill. + +"Oh!" said Jack; "but where's the water?" + +"It has gone tumbling down the hill," answered the same voice. + +"How can water go tumbling?" cried Jill. "_We_ tumbled." + +"Water tumbles too," replied the voice, "especially when it is frozen." + +"Oh!" said Jack. + +"Oh!" said Jill. + +"The stream is frozen," called the voice. + +"What stream?" asked the children together. + +"The stream that goes down the hill," answered the voice. "Did you not +know that you were bringing water to keep the stream full?" + +"No, indeed," said the children. + +"The old man of the hill is only a rock, and what you thought his voice +was only the water flowing around it." + +[Illustration] + +"Oh!" cried Jack. + +"Oh!" cried Jill. + +"The stream is frozen," said the voice, "and the earth has a cloak of +snow and ice." + +"Who are you?" asked Jill shyly. + +"Do you really not know? What a strange child you are! I am the moon, of +course. Very pleasant people live with me, and I have come to invite you +both to go home with me. Will you come?" + +The children looked up through the trees, and there was the gentle face +of the moon, looking more gentle and kind than ever. "Come," said she, +and they went very willingly. They have lived in the moon many years, +but they never again carried a pail of water for a stream. "That is the +work of the clouds and the sun," says the moon. + + + + +WHY THERE IS A MAN IN THE MOON. + + +"Goodman," said the goodwife, "you must go out into the forest and +gather sticks for the fire. To-morrow will be Sunday, and we have no +wood to burn." + +"Yes, goodwife," answered the goodman, "I will go to the forest." + +He did go to the forest, but he sat on a mossy rock and fished till it +was dark, and so he brought home no wood. "The goodwife shall not know +it," he thought. "I will go to the forest to-morrow morning and gather +sticks." + +When morning came, he crept softly out of the house when it was hardly +light, and went to the forest. Soon he had as many sticks as he could +carry, and he was starting for home when a voice called sternly, "Put +those sticks down." He looked to the right, to the left, before him, +behind him, and over his head. There was no one to be seen. + +"Put those sticks down," said the voice again. + +"Please, I do not dare to put them down," replied the goodman, trembling +with fear. "They are to burn, and my wife cannot cook the dinner without +them." + +"You will have no dinner to-day," said the voice. + +"The goodwife will not know that I did not gather them last night, and +she will let me have some dinner. I am almost sure she will," the +goodman replied. + +"You must not gather sticks to-day," said the voice more sternly than +ever. "It is Sunday. Put them down." + +"Indeed, Mr. Voice, I dare not," whispered the goodman; and afar off he +thought he heard his wife calling, "Goodman, where are you? There is no +wood to burn." + +"Will you put them down, or will you carry them forever?" cried the +voice angrily. + +"Truly, I cannot put them down, for I dare not go home without them," +answered the goodman, shaking with fear from head to foot. "The goodwife +would not like it." + +"Then carry them forever," said the voice. "You care not for Sunday, and +you shall never have another Sunday." + +The goodman could not tell how it came about, but he felt himself being +lifted, up, up, up, sticks and all, till he was in the moon. + +"Here you shall stay," said the voice sternly. "You will not keep +Sunday, and here you need not. This is the moon, and so it is always the +moon's day, or Monday, and Monday it shall be with you always. Whenever +any one looks up at the moon, he will say, 'See the man with the sticks +on his back. He was taken to the moon because he gathered wood on +Sunday.'" + +"Oh dear, oh dear," cried the goodman, "what will the goodwife say?" + + + + +THE TWIN STARS. + + +In front of the little house was a pine-tree, and every night at the +time when the children went to bed, a bright star appeared over the top +of the tree and looked in at the window. The children were brother and +sister. They were twins, and so they always had each other to play with. + +"Now go to sleep," the mother would say when she had kissed them +good-night, but it was hard to go to sleep when such a beautiful, +radiant thing was shining in at the window of the little house. + +"What do you suppose is in the star?" asked the sister. + +"I think there are daisies and honey and violets and butterflies and +bluebirds," answered the brother. + +"And I think there are roses and robins and berries and humming-birds," +said the sister. + +"There must be trees and grass too, and I am sure there are pearls and +diamonds." + +"I can almost see them now," declared the sister. "I wish we could +really see them. To-morrow let us go and find the star." + +When morning came, the star was gone, but they said, "It was just behind +the pine-tree, and so it must be on the blue mountain." The blue +mountain was a long way off, but it looked near, and the twins thought +they could walk to it in an hour. All day long they walked. They went +through the lonely woods, they crossed brooks, they climbed hills, and +still they could not find the radiant star that had looked in at their +window. The hour had come when their mother always put them to bed and +kissed them and said good-night, but now they had no mother, no +good-night kiss, and no bed. They were tired and sleepy. They heard +strange sounds in the forest, and they were frightened. "I am so tired," +the sister whispered. "I am afraid a bear will come. I wish we could see +the star." + +The sky had grown dark, and a star could be seen here and there, but it +was not their star. They went on till they could go no farther. "We will +lie down on the grass," said the brother, "and cover ourselves up with +leaves, and go to sleep." + +Tired as they were, they did not have time to go to sleep before they +heard a bear calling "Ugh! Ugh!" in the woods. They sprang up and ran +out of the woods, and just before they came to the bottom of the hill, +they saw right in front of them a beautiful little lake. They were not +frightened any more, for there in the water was something radiant and +shining. "It is our own star," said they, "and it has come down to us." +They never thought of looking up into the sky over their heads. It was +enough for them that the star was in the water and so near them. But was +it calling them? They thought so. "Come," cried the brother, "take my +hand, and we will go to the star." Then the spirit of the skies lifted +them up gently and carried them away on a beautiful cloud. + +The father and mother sat alone in the little house one evening, looking +sadly out of the window through which the twins had looked. "There is +the star that they loved," the mother said. "I have often listened to +them while they talked of it. It is rising over the pine-tree in front +of the house." They sat and watched the star. It was brighter and more +radiant than ever, and in it the father and mother saw the faces of +their lost children. "Oh, take us too, good spirit of the skies!" they +cried. The spirit heard them, and when the next evening came, close +beside the star there was another star. In that were the father and +mother, and at last they and the children were all very happy to be +together again. + + + + +THE LANTERN AND THE FAN. + + +In a Japanese village there once lived a man who had two sons. When the +sons were grown up, each brought home a wife from another village a long +distance away. The father was greatly pleased with his two +daughters-in-law, and for many months they all lived very happily +together. + +At last the two young wives asked to go home to visit their friends. +Among the Japanese the sons and the sons' wives must always obey the +father, so the two wives said, "Father-in-law, it is a long, long time +since we have seen our friends. May we go to our old home and visit +them?" The father-in-law answered, "No." After many months they asked +again, and again he answered, "No." Once more they asked. The +father-in-law thought, "They care nothing for me, or they would not wish +to leave me, but I have a plan, and I can soon know whether they love +their father-in-law or not." Then he said to the older of the two wives, +"You may go if you wish, but you must never come back unless you bring +me fire wrapped in paper." To the younger he said, "You may go if you +wish, but you must never come back unless you bring me wind wrapped in +paper." The father-in-law thought, "Now I shall find out. If they care +for me, they will search the country through till they find paper that +will hold fire and wind." + +The two young wives were so glad to visit their old friends that for +almost a month they forgot all about the gifts that they were to carry +to their father-in-law. At last, when it was time to go home, they were +greatly troubled about what they must carry with them, and they asked a +wise man where to find the strange things. "Paper that will hold fire +and wind!" he cried. "There is no such paper in Japan." The two women +asked one wise man after another, and every one declared, "There is no +such paper in Japan." What should they do? They feared they would never +see their home again. They were so sad that they left their friends and +wandered a long distance into the forest. Great tears fell from their +eyes. + +"I do not let people cry in my woods," said a voice. "My trees do not +grow well in salt water." + +The poor wives were so sorrowful that they forgot to be afraid, and the +older one said, "Can we help crying? Unless I can carry to my +father-in-law fire wrapped in paper, I can never go home." "And I," +wailed the younger, "unless I can carry wind wrapped in paper, I can +never go home. None of the wise men ever heard of such things. What +shall we do?" + +"It is easy enough to wrap fire in paper," answered the voice. "Here is +a piece of paper. Now watch." They watched, and the strangest thing in +all the world happened right before their eyes. There was no one to be +seen, but a piece of paper appeared on the ground and folded itself into +a Japanese lantern. "Now put a candle inside," said the voice, "and you +have paper holding fire. What more could you ask?" + +Then the older woman was happy, but the younger was still sad. She saw +now that fire could be carried in paper, but surely no one could carry +wind. "O dear voice," she cried, "can any one carry wind in paper?" + +"That is much easier than to carry fire," replied the voice, "for wind +does not burn holes. Watch." + +They watched eagerly. Another piece of paper came all by itself and lay +on the ground between them. There was a picture on it of a tree covered +with white blossoms. Two women stood under the tree, gathering the +blossoms. + +"The two women are yourselves," said the voice, "and the blossoms are +the gifts that the father-in-law will give you when you go home." + +"But I cannot go home," the younger wailed, "for I cannot carry wind +wrapped in paper." + +"Here is the paper, and there is always plenty of wind. Why not take +them?" + +"Indeed, I do not know how," the younger woman answered sorrowfully. + +"This way, of course," said the voice. Some long, light twigs flew to +the paper. It folded itself, over, under, together. It opened and +closed, and it waved itself before the tearful face of the younger +woman. "Does not the wind come to your face?" asked the voice, "and is +it not the fan that has brought it? The lantern carries fire wrapped in +paper, and the fan carries wind wrapped in paper." + +Then, indeed, the two young women were happy, and when they came to the +home of their father-in-law, he was as glad as they. He gave them +beautiful gifts of gold and silver, and he said, "No one ever had such +marvels before as the lantern and the fan, but in my home there are two +more precious things than these, and they are my two dear daughters." + + + + +VOCABULARY OF THE BOOK OF NATURE MYTHS. + + +NOTE.--This vocabulary is supplementary to that of THE HIAWATHA PRIMER. +Nouns and verbs which are inflected regularly are entered under but one +form. + +_Pages 1-4_ +first +humming-bird +ago +know +flames +last +people + +_Pages 4-7_ +again +fled + +_Pages 7-9_ +grew + +_Pages 10-12_ +butterflies +stones +some +would +men +could +beauty +life + +_Pages 13-15_ +woodpecker +man +cake +put +bake +large +small + +_Pages 15-19_ +magician +fever +breath +shot +fight +ever +wound +head +crest +another +blood + +_Pages 19-23_ +serpent +hissed +cat +shut +quick +always +fall + +_Pages 23-28_ +swallow +tail +forked +animals +year +meet +mosquito +whose +tore +tongue + +_Pages 28-31_ +hares +snowflakes +feet +firebrand + +_Pages 31-34_ +magpie +time +home +warm +brought +merrily +sorry +eggs +busy +taking +care +well + +_Pages 34-36_ +raven +thief +happened +wood-worm +only +himself +pieces + +_Pages 36-40_ +more +gone +get +let +any +wolf +pond +near +bat +rain +quickly + +_Pages 40, 41_ +catch +caught +tried +curled +throw + +_Pages 41, 42_ +fast +hand +soon + +_Pages 43-46_ +quail +snipe +never +crept +carrying +pulled +bill +legs +mole + +_Pages 47-49_ +sheds +grandfather +marsh +drink +drank +burst +done +off + +_Pages 50-52_ +dove +manito +brave +crying +Hoots +too +known +most + +_Pages 52-56_ +parrot +repeats +truth +ox +owner +yes +villagers +punish +next +think +jar +even +storm +thunder +mocking-bird +replied + +_Pages 56-59_ +cunning +baby +voices +owned +own +mock + +_Pages 60-64_ +fox +sheep +cows +fields +growl +should +Mr. +eaten +cream + +_Pages 64-67_ +girl +whom +treated +sister +happy +please +covered +really + +_Pages 68-70_ +troubles +lies +remember +dies +lip +split + +_Pages 70-72_ +peetweet +flies +eagerly +lakes +hollows +thirsty + +_Pages 72-75_ +short +fish +such +easy +ice +frozen +hole +worse +slowly +angrily +wish + +_Pages 76-78_ +wren +king +choose +which +wise +than +eagle +wisest + +_Pages 79-82_ +often +does +wicked +strange +knife +sharpen +harm + +_Pages 83-86_ +grasshopper +country +Tithonus +goddess +Aurora +begged +speak +roamed +fairest +immortal + +_Pages 86-89_ +oriole +power +ruler +master +yield +clouds +lightning +may +hornet + +_Pages 89-93_ +peacock +Juno +queen +world +played +tricks +Argus +hundred +Mercury +belonged + +_Pages 93-95_ +bees +tribes +while +honey + +_Pages 96-98_ +rich +poor +sowed +ground +seed +mine + +_Pages 98-102_ +ants +full +almost +house +sense +smell +pearl +lost +dire +named +bag +box +bagged + +_Pages 103-106_ +face +after +top +gaze +side +far-away + +_Pages 107-110_ +diamonds +chief +enemies +stolen +search +mourned +wife +Moneta +mother +tears +indeed + +_Pages 111-114_ +Runoia +shyly +true +sweet +kinds +harp +touched +strings +wailing + +_Pages 114-117_ +emeralds +vase +precious +air +India +roll +waves +deepest + +_Pages 118-122_ +flown +berries +broken +might +spring +willow +spruce +juniper + +_Pages 122-125_ +aspen +guides +swarm +reason +despise +both +anywhere +places + +_Pages 125-128_ +heather +plants +contented +violet +fragrance +daisy +chose + +_Pages 128-132_ +flax +sight +hall +sparkling +gift +spin +weave +linen +Holda + +_Pages 133-135_ +cranberries +meadow +cranberry +woods +hominy + +_Pages 135-138_ +salt +Frothi +millstones +grind +gate +rest +weary +ship +else +bottom + +_Pages 138-141_ +crane +hold +bitterly +witch +obey +surely +taken + +_Pages 142-145_ +Turtle +fierce +dare +ready +sure +shields +breast +arms +just +declared + +_Pages 145-150_ +crocodile +wide +mouth +kingdom +calm +swim +suddenly +dragged +open +anything +carried +sword +able + +_Pages 150-154_ +Japan +picture +changing +dragon +island +mean +used +tell +moment + +_Pages 155-159_ +pass +perhaps +brooks +better +followed +course +hurt +left +enough +felt +pleasant +quiet +playmates +forgotten +complained + +_Pages 160-164_ +cousins +quarreled +less +hard +ought +mount +hunger +weak +pretty +daughter + +_Pages 165-168_ +dream +radiant +raised +peaks +rough +unkind +stay +spread +message +dropped + +_Pages 169-172_ +idea +rarely +lynx +twice +wolverine +chanced +realized +fingers +arched +end +nose +boo-hoo + +_Pages 172-175_ +otter +badger +summit +climb +reach +floor + +_Pages 175-179_ +snowdrop +deeds +muttered +counted +outside +interrupted +rumors +whether +tales +gravely +turn +shake +appear + +_Pages 179-184_ +tiny +neither +grove +invisible +discovered +became +blow +fell +deep +try +fallen + +_Pages 184-188_ +delightful +imagined +corner +luxuries +arrange +promised +agreed +charming +suppose +stay +invite +invitation +bring + +_Pages 188-193_ +monkey +plan +shook +rather +paws +something +part +behave +toward +fruit +welcome +hungry + +_Pages 193-197_ +hill +Jack +Jill +plenty +pail +especially +game +spilled +tumbling +crown + +_Pages 197-200_ +gather +sticks +to-morrow +Sunday +dinner +burn +sternly +cook +to-day +Monday + +_Pages 200-204_ +front +window +twins +kissed +tired +way +hour +frightened +grown +ourselves + +_Pages 204-209_ +fan +lantern +distance +law +months +wives +since +visit +unless +wrapped +paper +folded +under + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Book of Nature Myths, by Florence Holbrook + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOOK OF NATURE MYTHS *** + +***** This file should be named 22420.txt or 22420.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/4/2/22420/ + +Produced by Jason Isbell, Josephine Paolucci and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one 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