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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40277 ***
+
+[Illustration: BAH, THE LITTLE INDIAN WEAVER]
+
+
+
+
+_The_ LITTLE
+INDIAN WEAVER
+
+BY
+MADELINE BRANDEIS
+
+_Producer of the Motion Pictures_
+
+"The Little Indian Weaver"
+"The Wee Scotch Piper"
+"The Little Dutch Tulip Girl"
+"The Little Swiss Wood-Carver"
+
+Distributed by Pathè Exchange, Inc., New York City
+
+_Photographic Illustrations by the Author_
+
+GROSSET & DUNLAP
+
+PUBLISHERS      NEW YORK
+
+_by arrangement with the A. Flanagan Company_
+
+
+_COPYRIGHT, 1928, BY A. FLANAGAN COMPANY_
+
+PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
+
+
+
+
+     To every child of every land,
+     Little sister, little brother,
+     As in this book your lives unfold,
+     May you learn to love each other.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+    Chapter I                 Page
+
+The Corn Ear Doll                9
+
+    Chapter II
+
+Something Terrible Happens      32
+
+    Chapter III
+
+At the Trading Post             43
+
+    Chapter IV
+
+The Prayer Stick                62
+
+    Chapter V
+
+At Bah's Hogan                  75
+
+    Chapter VI
+
+Billy Starts His Story          88
+
+    Chapter VII
+
+All About the Indians          101
+
+    Chapter VIII
+
+Who Wins the Radio?            119
+
+
+[Illustration: BAH AND CORNELIA]
+
+
+
+
+The Little Indian Weaver
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE CORN EAR DOLL
+
+
+How would you like to have a doll made from a corn ear? That is the
+only kind of doll that Bah ever thought of having. Bah was only five
+years old and she had never been away from her home, so of course she
+couldn't know very much.
+
+But she knew a bit about weaving blankets, and she was learning more
+each day from her mother, who made beautiful ones and sold them.
+
+You see, Bah and her mother were American Indians, and they belonged
+to the Navajo tribe. Their home was on the Navajo Reservation in
+Arizona, and they called it an Indian village. But if you went there
+you would not think it very much of a village in comparison to the
+villages you know.
+
+As a matter of fact, all you could see was a row of funny little round
+houses, looking very much like large beehives, put together with mud
+and sticks and called hogans. A street of hogans in each of which lived
+a whole family of Indians, a few goats and sheep, a stray dog or two,
+an Indian woman sitting outside her hogan weaving a blanket, perhaps a
+child running with a dog--this, then, was a Navajo village.
+
+[Illustration: THE LITTLE INDIAN WEAVER]
+
+How different from your villages with their smooth stone buildings,
+their stores and gasoline stations, and pretty shrub-covered bungalows!
+
+Most Indian women have many babies, and the whole family lives
+together in one room which is the living room, bedroom, kitchen and
+dining room all rolled into one. In the top of the hogan is a hole, so
+that the smoke from the cooking fire in the middle of the room can go
+out.
+
+Bah did not spend much time in her hogan. No sooner was she up in the
+morning than she was outside gathering sticks for the breakfast fire.
+From the time she put her little brown face outside the hogan door,
+bright and early in the morning, until nightfall when she cuddled down
+in her warm Navajo blanket, she was out in the air--and the air is so
+fresh out there in the desert; so much fresher than it is in the big
+smoky cities.
+
+Bah was a bright-eyed, healthy little girl, and the way she dressed
+will sound queer to you, for her clothes were made just like her
+mother's. On rainy days you have no doubt "dressed up" in mother's
+clothes and thought it quite a lark. But when the game was over, how
+glad you were to come back to your own little dresses and short socks.
+
+But Bah had always dressed in the same way--and that is, in a long full
+cotton skirt, a calico waist with long sleeves, and many strings of
+bright beads about her neck. Her hair was long, black and shiny, and
+her mother tied it up in a knot at the back of her neck with a white
+cloth.
+
+Every morning Bah had a lesson in weaving, just as you have a drawing
+lesson or a sewing lesson. Her father had made her a tiny loom which
+stood outside the hogan door next to her mother's big loom.
+
+The morning when Bah planned the corn ear doll she was in the midst of
+her weaving lesson. Mother's fingers were flying in and out, and Bah's
+fingers were slow--oh, so slow, but her mind was not. Her mind was at
+work on a doll. She had once seen the picture of a doll, a real one. It
+was such a lovely doll! She wanted to cuddle it. How she would love to
+hug a doll close to her and rock it to sleep!
+
+The corn was ripe in the field which was not far away. After the lesson
+she would pick an ear of corn, dry it nicely and dress it in a wee
+Indian blanket. She would make some beads for its neck. She would stick
+in two black beads for eyes. She would--
+
+"Bah! you do not heed the lesson!"
+
+It was Mother. And Mother was scolding. There were few times in Bah's
+life when she could remember Mother having been cross. Bah was at once
+attentive.
+
+"I am sorry, Ma Shima (my mother)," she said, in the Navajo language.
+"I was dreaming of something sweet."
+
+"It is bad medicine to dream when one is awake, Bah," said Mother.
+"You will never learn to weave--and a Navajo woman who cannot weave
+blankets is indeed a useless one."
+
+Bah hung her head in shame. But Mother laughed.
+
+"Do not look that way, my little one, but try now to make the little
+pattern which I teach you."
+
+Bah did try. She had to rip out several rows of bad weaving caused by
+her dreams of her corn ear doll. But not once, until the lesson was
+over, did Bah think again of the doll.
+
+The weaving lesson was at last over, and Bah ran quickly to the
+cornfield, where she began to look eagerly for a proper ear of corn
+with which to make a proper Indian doll.
+
+As she was looking through the many waving stalks, she thought she
+heard her name being called. But was it her name, and was it being
+called? It sounded more like singing than like calling--and Mother did
+not sing.
+
+     "Bah, Bah, Black Sheep
+     Have you any wool?"
+
+This is what Bah heard.
+
+She stopped in her search and looked around. There, a few yards away,
+was some one coming towards her on a pony. Bah's first thought was to
+run. She did not want to meet a stranger. So few came here to her home,
+where the only people the little girl ever saw were Mother, Father,
+and the few Indians who lived nearby.
+
+White people were mysterious to Bah, and yet she often wondered about
+the white children and how they played and worked and what they did all
+day in school. Bah would go to school next year--to the big new school
+just built on the Reservation for Indian children. White people built
+it, and so it must be like the white children's school. Sometimes she
+longed to go--and other times she was just a little bit afraid.
+
+     "Yes, sir, yes, sir,
+     Three bags full."
+
+The pony which Bah had seen from a distance was now standing beside
+her, and she could see the rider, although he could not see her, for
+she had hidden and was crouching between the cornstalks.
+
+[Illustration: BAH'S HOME]
+
+The rider was a very small person--a boy--a white boy. Bah really
+didn't feel as though he should be classified as white, for his skin
+was a mixture of orange and brown--orange where the sun had burned him,
+and over that a pattern of vivid brown freckles. Bah had never before
+seen anything like him, and it is no wonder that the timid little
+Indian hid herself.
+
+The speckled boy took off his large cowboy hat and wiped his hot brow
+with a cowboy's handkerchief.
+
+"Gee, it's hot, Peanuts," he said aloud to the pony. "And I'd like to
+know the way back--but looks as if we're lost."
+
+Peanuts was presumably bored, for he let his head sink slowly, closed
+his eyes and patiently waited for the next move. None came.
+
+Bah, in her hiding place, was as dumb, if not as bored, as Peanuts. She
+was tense with excitement, which obviously Peanuts was not, and did not
+take her eyes from the boy's face. His every move very much interested
+her. Here, then, was a white boy. He must be white, for he was not an
+Indian and he spoke English.
+
+Bah understood English, and of that she was very proud. Her mother and
+father had always traded with the white man, so they had learned to
+speak English, and had wisely taught their little girl. Now how much
+easier it would be for Bah when she started to school.
+
+But her knowledge did not help her at the moment when she looked up
+from her cornstalk hiding place into the face of a live white boy.
+Indeed she had even decided to run away, and was crawling noiselessly
+through the corn.
+
+     "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep,"
+
+again the boy began to sing as he started to turn away. Bah stopped
+crawling. He did sing her name. He wanted her to come back. Maybe she
+could help him find his way. And Oh! the pony was stepping all over the
+corn. Didn't he know better than to do that?
+
+The cornstalks rustled. The pony jumped to the side, and the boy turned
+in his saddle and saw Bah standing.
+
+"Oh, hello!" he said and turned back--the pony trampling upon a
+beautiful stalk of corn. "I didn't see you before. Where were you?"
+
+Bah couldn't speak. She tried ever so hard, but the English words she
+knew so well would not come.
+
+The boy jumped down from his pony and went up to her. There was a smile
+on his face and as he came closer she saw that his eyes were as blue as
+the sky. That part of him was pretty, thought Bah, even if his skin was
+not--and the smile was friendly. So she gained courage.
+
+"You call my name?" she ventured.
+
+The boy looked puzzled.
+
+"No," he said, "I don't know your name, but I'm glad I've found you."
+
+Again he smiled, and this time Bah smiled too.
+
+"My name Bah," she said, "and you say 'Bah, Bah, back skip'--I think
+you call me come back to you."
+
+When it suddenly dawned upon the boy what she meant he opened his mouth
+very wide indeed and laughed so hard that Bah again began to be afraid.
+But he stopped suddenly, realizing perhaps that he had frightened her,
+and said:
+
+"Oh, no. That is a song we sing about 'black sheep' that goes 'bah
+bah'! I didn't know you heard me singing it."
+
+Bah looked a bit ashamed, and did not offer a reply. The boy kept on
+talking--
+
+"But, gee, where do you come from, Bah? Is your house around here?"
+
+"Yes," said Bah. "Hogan over way, Bah come to find corn in cornfield."
+
+"Oh, I see," said the boy, "for dinner, I guess."
+
+"No," replied the Indian girl, looking up into his face, "Bah make so
+pretty doll from corn ear. Will dress in blanket and beads. You ever
+see little girl's doll?"
+
+She looked so intent and innocent that the boy could not scoff at what
+would have been, among members of his own group at home, a subject
+entirely forbidden in the presence of growing gentlemen. Dolls! What
+interest had he in dolls! But as he looked into the upturned face of
+the little brown maiden, he suddenly realized that she had never heard
+of a boy's dislike for dolls; in fact, she had probably never before
+met a white boy nor seen a white doll.
+
+"Oh, yes, plenty of 'em," answered the white boy, "but never made of an
+ear of corn--"
+
+Then, seeing a shadow pass over her face he resumed gallantly, "But it
+ought to make a peach of a doll. Maybe I could help you make it."
+
+Now Bah was certain that she would like the white boy. She had never
+before had a human playmate, and the feeling was a pleasant one. But
+she remembered that her new friend was lost.
+
+"You no can find way home?" she asked.
+
+The boy laughed.
+
+"I guess you want to get rid of me," he said. Then, sobering, he
+resumed. "Yes, really, I'm lost. Peanuts and I have been wandering all
+morning. You see, we started from Tuba early and we just didn't watch
+the trails, so here we are."
+
+"Oh, Tuba," said Bah, "not so very far. I show you how to go."
+
+"But first I'll help you fix up a corn doll," said the boy. "We'll
+first have to find a good fat corn ear. Nice fat dolls are the best,
+don't you think so?"
+
+As he talked he began looking through the cornstalks, and Bah watched
+him. He finally found what he considered to be an ideal ear, and
+together the two children made it into a doll, black bead eyes,
+cornsilk hair, blanket, and all.
+
+"I have just the name for her," said the boy. "We'll call her
+'Cornelia!' Shall we?"
+
+Bah nodded happily. The name was a new one to her and she did not catch
+its meaning in relation to her beautiful new doll, but it pleased her
+nevertheless. In fact, everything about the boy pleased her, and she
+was sorry when at last he said:
+
+[Illustration: BAH AND CORNELIA]
+
+"It must be getting late. You'd better tell me how to get home. Mother
+will wonder what happened."
+
+Bah pointed out directions and the boy, thanking her, held out his hand
+and said: "You never even asked my name. Don't you want to know?"
+
+Bah drooped her head shyly as she replied: "Indian never ask name. Very
+bad manner."
+
+The white boy's eyes opened wide.
+
+"That's funny," he said. "Then how do you get to know people's names?"
+
+"When one people like other people, they tell name. No ask," said Bah
+seriously.
+
+"Oh, then I'll tell you quick 'cause I like you. My name's Billy."
+
+Bah did not reply, but stood watching Billy as he swung himself onto
+his pony. Then, when he was seated and smiled down at her, she smiled
+up sweetly and said:
+
+"We have cow named Billy."
+
+[Illustration: BILLY]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+SOMETHING TERRIBLE HAPPENS
+
+
+For days Bah's chief delight was her new corn ear doll. She kept it
+with her constantly. It went to bed with her, sat at meals with her,
+and watched the daily weaving lesson.
+
+But one day a terrible thing happened. She was sitting by her mother's
+side outside the hogan, her little fingers flying through the strings
+of her loom, and one eye watching Mother's more experienced fingers as
+they made a beautiful new pattern.
+
+Cornelia had been carefully dressed in her blanket, her beads hung
+about her neck and fondly kissed by her devoted parent, and was now
+lying at Bah's feet while the little girl worked hard at her lesson.
+
+[Illustration: THE WEAVING LESSON]
+
+"Pull your wool tighter, Bah," said Mother, in Navajo.
+
+Bah's fingers and tongue worked together. Children's tongues have a
+habit of moving with whatever else is in motion.
+
+And as Bah worked, some sheep came wandering in from the field. They
+were tame sheep and often nosed about the hogan for a bit of human
+company or food, as the case might be, and this morning I fear the
+reason was food.
+
+Father sheep was very large and therefore hungrier than the rest. His
+hunger made him bold. But Bah was a particular friend of his, and I
+doubt whether even his appetite could have driven him to do what he did
+that morning, had he been able to guess the great sorrow he was to
+cause.
+
+"You have left out a stitch, my child, and there will be a hole in the
+work."
+
+Bah's fingers stopped and so did her tongue.
+
+"Oh dear, must I do that all over again, Mother?" she asked.
+
+"If you wish to weave perfectly so that you may some day sell your
+work, then you must learn to rip and go over many times."
+
+Ripping is deadly work, as everyone who has ever ripped knows. And Bah
+was not as interested in ripping as she had been in making her pattern.
+So her thoughts naturally turned to her precious Cornelia lying at her
+feet.
+
+Her eyes turned at the same time, and horror upon horrors, what did
+she see? The big black sheep was there chewing contentedly, but
+Cornelia was gone. The little blanket was there--so were the beads and
+some of the cornsilk hair. But Cornelia was gone. The sheep went on
+chewing and couldn't understand why Bah did not caress him as usual.
+
+"Bah, do pay attention to your work!"
+
+Mother was annoyed. Bah turned around and Mother saw a very sad sight.
+She saw before her another mother--a stricken little mother whose child
+had just provided a meal for a hungry animal. She rocked an empty
+blanket back and forth, and the tears were beginning to gather. Mother
+understood what had happened, and now her voice sounded soft and kind.
+
+[Illustration: "GO AWAY, MR. SHEEP!"]
+
+"Poor Bah! Your doll is gone!"
+
+The little girl was crying as she continued to hug the empty blanket.
+
+"Do not cry, my little one," said Mother. "Are there not many more corn
+ears in the field?"
+
+"Yes, my Mother," sobbed the child, "but no more Cornelias!"
+
+And that was final. Never again could Bah go back to the cornfield.
+Never again! How could Mother even have suggested such a thing! Didn't
+she know that Cornelia, since the day of her birth, had been different
+from all other ears of corn?
+
+Why, Cornelia was a doll--she and Billy had decided that--and the rest
+were vegetables! Oh, didn't Mother understand? Perhaps Mother did, for
+her next remark showed it.
+
+"One day, Bah, when I went to the Trading Post near Tuba I saw a most
+beautiful doll. She was an Indian baby--a papoose--and she was strapped
+upon the prettiest little laced baby cradle you ever saw. She was
+dressed in a bright blanket and she had real hair and such lovely beads
+around her neck."
+
+A smile was trying to chase away the tears on the face of the little
+mother as she listened to her own mother's recital of something too
+wonderful to imagine. She said sorrowfully: "Some white child will buy
+her, and how happy she will be. Ah, how I should like to have her."
+
+Mother said: "And so you shall, if you will work to have her."
+
+Bah's eyes asked the question: "How?" and her mother went on: "You
+know, Bah, that Mother sells or trades blankets, and that Father sells
+or trades his beautiful silver and matrix jewelry to the Trading Post.
+We do this so that we may have, in return, things which we want and
+need. Now, you want and need a little doll. Why not sell your work? Bah
+must weave a little blanket and take it to the store where they will
+perhaps trade with you for the papoose doll."
+
+"Do you really think they will, Ma Shima?" asked Bah as if she could
+hardly believe it, and she wiped away her tears.
+
+[Illustration: HOW BAH LONGED FOR THE PAPOOSE DOLL!]
+
+"Yes, I do," answered Mother. "But your blanket must be well made and
+of a pretty pattern--else they will not take it, for they, in turn,
+must sell it to the tourists."
+
+"Then I shall make the most beautiful blanket which has ever been
+made," laughed Bah, now thoroughly interested in her new task with its
+wonderful object.
+
+She worked all through the morning on her little blanket, with happy
+thoughts of a real-haired Indian doll flying through her mind as her
+fingers flew through her work. It was not until she heard Mother
+grinding the corn for lunch that she looked up, and not until then that
+she thought again of the morning's sorrow. But then she did think of
+it, and her parents wondered why she could not eat her corn bread.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+AT THE TRADING POST
+
+
+Billy's mother and father had come to Arizona for a special reason.
+Billy's father was a writer, and he had come for information on the
+Navajo Indians for a new book he was writing. Every day he would go to
+the Indian villages, sit among the big chiefs and medicine men (who are
+the wise ones among the Indians and are supposed to work charms which
+cure the sick) and he would jot down in his notebook many things which
+they told him.
+
+Billy went with his father the first few days, but he didn't care much
+for the way they sat around and did nothing but talk. Billy was a very
+active boy and he soon grew tired of listening to the droning voices of
+the Indian men, and the scratching of Father's pencil. At last he told
+Father how it was, and Father laughed.
+
+"I thought you were going to write, too, Billy," he said. "You'll never
+find out about the Indians if you don't take the trouble to listen--and
+then you'll never win that composition contest you've been dreaming
+about."
+
+It was true that Billy, since he had left New York, had dreamed of
+nothing else but the composition contest. Many of his friends at home
+were already struggling with their compositions, for the prize was
+worth striving for--a wonderful radio set, the very latest model.
+
+[Illustration: "I TRADE MY BLANKET FOR PAPOOSE DOLL!"]
+
+And how the others had envied him, for he was to go to Arizona and
+live among the Indians where he would be sure to learn so much of
+interest and send in a true account of the lives of American Indians.
+The contest was open to any composition dealing with children of any
+particular race or country, and was to reveal their habits and customs.
+
+"Oh! You'll win it easily, Bill," his chum had said. "Indians are such
+interesting people, and you'll find out all about them if you stick to
+your dad."
+
+And Billy had been fired with ambition, when he had left, and when he
+had first arrived. But the novelty of the idea was gradually wearing
+off and he seemed to like far more to gallop over the country on his
+pony, Peanuts, than to glean knowledge. Especially since his meeting
+with Bah did he look forward each morning to his ride. And each day he
+tried to find the Indian girl and went many times to the cornfield. But
+she was never there and, try as he might, Billy could not find her
+village.
+
+Father did not wait for Billy to answer him, but said: "Well, old man,
+I can see the radio set gradually taking wings and broadcasting itself!
+You'll never win it this way, you know--and you'd have a good chance,
+too, if you'd come along and listen to some of the old fellows I'm
+chumming with each day."
+
+"Oh, I'll come along tomorrow, Dad," said Billy carelessly. "Today I'm
+going to the Trading Post and see the Indian stuff there."
+
+"Well, do as you like, Son," said his father, "but don't be annoyed if
+you don't win the contest."
+
+"I'll write something yet, Dad, you'll see."
+
+Peanuts and Billy found themselves at the Trading Post in the heat of
+the day. Billy tied the pony in the shade and went into the store. It
+was filled with a mixed assortment of objects. On one side of the room
+were groceries, pots and pans, cigarettes, in fact a little bit of
+everything necessary for housekeeping. On the other side were the
+Indian curios--silver and matrix jewelry, beautifully fashioned with
+blue stones set in, handsome Navajo blankets hanging on the wall,
+pottery of all kinds, and beads, beads, beads.
+
+Billy wandered about the store and he thought of his mother, and how
+she would like something to take home as a souvenir. The beads looked
+hopeful, as he could carry them, while a pottery jar or blanket would
+be big and heavy. Taking from his pocket his two dollars and some few
+cents, he selected the string of beads which looked most likely.
+
+One string in particular very much pleased him. It was delicately made,
+but looked simple enough to be within reach of his two dollars. The
+shop-keeper was chewing tobacco in the corner. He was a white man made
+brown by the Arizona sun and wind.
+
+"How much is this string?" asked Billy, holding it up for the man to
+see.
+
+"That one's fifty dollars!"
+
+"Fifty what?" asked Billy, dazed.
+
+"Fifty dollars, Son," repeated the man, "and that's one of the
+cheapest."
+
+"Gee whiz," sighed Billy. "I'm out with my two an' a quarter!"
+
+"Yes," smiled the man. "No one knows how much work the Injuns put into
+that stuff. It's all handmade, and their tools ain't so good either, so
+it takes 'em a long time. But they sure know how to make 'em."
+
+"You bet they do," said Billy--and just then his eye fell on a doll, a
+papoose it was, with a blanket and a string of beads. He thought of
+Cornelia and smiled to himself. How Bah would open her eyes if she
+could see this one!
+
+As he was thinking about her, he suddenly decided to try once more to
+find her. Maybe this storekeeper knew where the village was. He
+asked--the storekeeper knew of several not far away.
+
+"The Indians come in every day with things to trade. It's funny how
+they like plain stuff like beans and salt and will trade beautiful
+jewelry and blankets for just plain sacks of food. But we try and
+treat 'em fair. It would be easy though to cheat 'em. They don't know
+how valuable their stuff is."
+
+"But you don't!" said Billy.
+
+"No, we don't. Indians are honest, and white men should treat 'em
+honestly!"
+
+"That's right," said Billy, thinking of the only Indian he ever knew,
+and deciding to be off in search of her home.
+
+As he stepped out of the door he saw a small figure trudging along
+towards the Trading Post with what looked like a small blanket thrown
+over her arm. As she came closer he recognized Bah and ran to meet
+her.
+
+"Gee, I'm glad to see you, Bah," he cried. "Do you know I've been
+looking for you ever since the day we made Cornelia. Do you remember?"
+
+Bah was smiling happily, but upon mention of that name her face fell.
+
+"Why, what's the matter, Bah? Wasn't she a good doll?"
+
+"Cornelia ate up!" said Bah, slowly.
+
+"Ate up what?" asked Billy.
+
+"Sheep--big one--"
+
+"Gee, what an appetite she must have had!" laughed Billy. But seeing
+that his friend was taking the conversation seriously he stopped
+laughing and asked: "What do you mean?"
+
+"Big sheep come--very hungry. Eat up Cornelia!"
+
+"Aw, that is too bad!" said Billy.
+
+But now it was Bah's turn to smile. She held out her blanket and said:
+"You see Bah's blanket. Bah come to trade blanket for doll in Trading
+Post. So pretty doll, Ma Shima said!"
+
+Billy remembered the papoose doll and was delighted to think that it
+would really belong to his friend.
+
+"That's great," he said. "May I go along with you while you trade? I
+never saw anyone trade and I'd like to watch you."
+
+"Me never trade before," said the Indian girl softly, and it seemed to
+Billy that her voice trembled.
+
+"Poor little kid," he said to himself. "She's scared stiff!"
+
+He went into the store with Bah and watched her as she walked up to the
+man in the corner and handed him the blanket. Then she pointed to the
+doll--but she said nothing. The man took the blanket and examined it.
+He knew immediately what she wanted.
+
+He understood Indians. And as he looked at the blanket a smile passed
+over his face, and Billy noticed for the first time that the blanket
+was far from perfect.
+
+There was a hole in it, and some of the threads were sticking out. Oh,
+it was not a very well made blanket when one compared it with the works
+of art hanging on the wall.
+
+As the man smiled to himself Billy's anger rose. Wasn't she only a
+little girl? How could they expect her to weave as well as the women
+did? It was wonderful that she could do that well! Why, he didn't know
+a girl at home who could even start to weave a blanket like that. He
+felt his fists clenching together as he watched the man's face. At last
+the man spoke. He spoke only two words as he handed Bah her blanket.
+
+"No trade."
+
+The Indian girl looked at him for a moment, and Billy saw two small
+lakes in her eyes. She did not wait for them to overflow, but ran out
+of the store, holding her little blanket tight.
+
+Billy came to himself after she had flown through the door, and made a
+start as though to follow her. But he stopped and turned.
+
+[Illustration: "PRETTY PAPOOSE DOLL."]
+
+"How much is that doll, mister?" he asked abruptly.
+
+"That doll's two an' a half, Son."
+
+"Well, I'll give you two twenty-five for her, an' that's all," said a
+voice that Billy could hardly believe was his own, so big and manly did
+it sound.
+
+The man looked at him for a moment and then evidently seeing something
+he liked in the boy's eyes, said:
+
+"All right, sonny. It's yours. And you can bet that Indian kid will
+never forget you!"
+
+Without another word the boy paid his money, took the doll which the
+man wrapped for him, and departed.
+
+Outside the Post, when Billy mounted his pony, his thought was,
+naturally, to go to Bah and deliver the doll. The distress which he had
+seen in the eyes of his little friend made him realize just what a
+disappointment she had had.
+
+But, alas, Billy knew no more of Bah's whereabouts than he had known
+before seeing her at the Trading Post. The man had said that there were
+three or four small Indian villages nearby, but the question was in
+which one did Bah live? He jumped down again from his pony and ran into
+the store: "Say, Mister, do you know where that little girl lives?" he
+asked.
+
+"No," came the answer. "I never saw her before. The old folks seldom
+bring their kids when they come to trade. Anyway not into the Post.
+They leave 'em outside most times to watch the burro."
+
+So a period of searching began for Billy. That day he visited one of
+the villages. He looked at each hogan for Bah, and asked the Indians he
+met, but she did not live there. They all shook their heads and grunted
+when he asked:
+
+"Bah, little girl, live here?"
+
+It was very discouraging because he couldn't tell whether they had even
+understood him. It grew late and he had to hurry home for fear of
+worrying his parents.
+
+The next day he started out early, determined to try the other
+villages, and he left a puzzled father, who remarked to his wife as the
+boy disappeared on a fast gallop:
+
+[Illustration: BILLY RIDING THROUGH THE INDIAN VILLAGE]
+
+"Bill isn't taking the interest in the Indians I had hoped he would."
+
+But Mother smiled wisely.
+
+"He's getting brown and strong, though," she answered, "and that's
+better."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE PRAYER STICK
+
+
+Bah was making a prayer stick. The prayer stick is an old custom among
+the Indians, and every Indian child knows about it. But Bah had never
+wanted anything badly enough to try the charm. Now, it was the only
+thing left for her to do.
+
+She took the branch of a tree, a straight branch which she cleaned, and
+then she took the feather of an eagle. She tied the feather to the end
+of the stick with a bit of wool from her loom. She wrapped the wool
+around and around, and when the feather was secure in place she made a
+hole in the ground and put the other end of the stick into the hole.
+The stick stood up straight and the feather on top of it waved slightly
+in the breeze.
+
+[Illustration: THE PRAYER STICK]
+
+Bah stood over her handiwork, raised her two arms skyward and prayed:
+"Oh, Prayer Stick," she chanted in Navajo, "please take my prayer to
+the sky on this eagle's feather! My prayer is for a doll!"
+
+Now, you may think that Bah was idol-worshipping--that she didn't know
+better than to pray to a stick and a feather! But this was not the
+case. She knew very well that it was the Great Father who saw and heard
+all, but her ancestors had all used the eagle feather to convey to the
+Great Father their prayers and to tell Him their needs.
+
+It was only a method of reaching her God. When her people wanted the
+rain to fall they danced the great Eagle Dance for rain, and the Great
+Father saw and understood. This prayer of Bah's was only her way of
+asking what you would no doubt ask with your eyes closed and your hands
+folded together.
+
+She did not know that she was being watched. As she started her prayer,
+Billy had approached the hogan. His first thought had been to call to
+her, but somehow he had felt that what she was doing was not to be
+interrupted, so he stopped.
+
+It was not his intention to listen secretly to something he had no
+right to hear. But as he stopped, she prayed so loudly that he could
+not help hearing and, anyway, she did not seem to care for she went on
+and on, regardless of the fact that she was out in broad daylight, in
+front of her hogan, and anyone might pass before her door.
+
+The prayer was repeated, and it was not until she had recited it many
+times that she lowered her arms and with them her gaze from the
+heavens, and beheld the white boy standing a few yards away. He stood
+holding his pony's bridle with one hand, and the other hand was behind
+his back. He looked at her questioningly and then at the Prayer Stick,
+whose feather was waving back and forth. Bah smiled and said: "I make
+this prayer stick to pray for doll."
+
+[Illustration: "THEN BAH GIVE IT TO YOU."]
+
+It was hard for the boy to grasp her meaning, for he knew so little
+about the Indians and their queer customs. However, he smiled back at
+her and, keeping his hand behind him, asked: "Where is the blanket you
+made, Bah?"
+
+"You like to see?" she questioned sweetly.
+
+"Yes, please," said Billy.
+
+Bah went towards the hogan and took from a nail the blanket she had
+failed to sell. It was hanging on the outside wall of the hogan, a
+proof that it was appreciated here if not at the Trading Post. Bah
+brought it over and held it up for Billy to see.
+
+"You like?" she asked innocently, cocking her head on one side like a
+little sparrow.
+
+"I like very much, Bah," answered Billy eagerly. "I like to--"
+
+Bah did not allow him to finish his sentence, but, starting to drape
+the blanket about his shoulders, she smilingly said: "Then Bah give to
+you!"
+
+The boy stood amazed while the little Indian girl patted the blanket
+into place on his shoulders. She was giving him the blanket which she
+had tried so hard to trade. It was really spoiling everything for him.
+He had hoped to make quite a dramatic scene out of the trade, and the
+doll was to be a genuine surprise. Now it looked as though Bah had
+forgotten the doll and even the blanket, for she gave it up so easily
+and was standing in front of him smiling sweetly.
+
+"I'll trade you something for the blanket, Bah," he began.
+
+"Oh, no--Bah give--no trade!"
+
+It was settled. Billy could see that by the look in her eyes. He
+brought forth his package.
+
+"Then Billy will give Bah this," he exclaimed, holding out the bundle
+to her. Solemnly Bah looked into his face. Her eyes seemed to ask many
+questions but she said nothing. Billy understood. He tore the string,
+undid the package, and the girl's eyes never left his face. It was as
+though she had guessed what was there. She looked down and beheld in
+his hands--the doll!
+
+Her mouth opened and she formed only the word "Oh"--Billy put the
+papoose doll into her arms. Slowly and solemnly she kissed it. Then,
+turning quickly she ran to her mother who was weaving in the
+accustomed place--
+
+"Ma Shima, oh, Ma Shima! The papoose doll! She is mine. The Great
+Father has sent her!"
+
+[Illustration: "AND BILLY GIVE BAH THIS."]
+
+It was all in Navajo and Billy did not understand. He watched her as
+she sat down beside her mother and held up her new treasure. He heard
+her mother emit sounds, though he could hardly see her lips moving. Had
+he been able to understand Navajo he would have heard some very sweet
+and happy words.
+
+Then Bah's mother looked over at Billy. She beckoned him to come and he
+came. Her black, beady eyes followed him until he stood before her. He
+did not know what to think of the smile she gave him. Was it friendly,
+or was she mocking him?
+
+Billy had never before met an Indian woman, and he was puzzled by the
+black eyes so deep and mysterious. Billy found himself staring, and
+was suddenly aware of himself standing before a lady with his hat on.
+He doffed his sombrero and in doing so he smiled. Bah's mother smiled
+back, and said in a musical voice, "Sit down."
+
+[Illustration: BAH AND THE PAPOOSE DOLL]
+
+He sat beside her. Bah was on her other side, absorbed in her doll.
+Billy smiled into the face of the Indian woman and she put her arm
+about him and said:
+
+"White boy good friend to Indian!"
+
+[Illustration: "WHITE BOY GOOD FRIEND TO INDIAN!"]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+AT BAH'S HOGAN
+
+
+"Why do you call her 'Bah?' Is it because she watches the sheep?"
+
+Billy was asking many questions of Bah's mother and he found her
+anxious and ready to answer him. She had already told him her name,
+which showed that she liked him, and Billy was pleased. He wanted to
+hear many things about this family, especially about his little friend,
+Bah.
+
+Her mother shook her head. "No, not why. I tell you story why we call
+her Bah." And this is what Bah's Mother told Billy:
+
+Many Indians name their babies in this way: Soon after the baby is
+born, the mother straps it to the baby cradle and goes to the door of
+her hogan--what she first sees as she looks out upon the world, is what
+she calls her newborn. If she sees a running deer--then the baby is
+called "Running Deer." If her first glance falls upon a lazy bull,
+resting himself, the baby will bear the name of "Sitting Bull."
+
+[Illustration: WHEN BAH WAS A PAPOOSE]
+
+Then, there is another way of naming the Indian baby, and this is the
+way Bah was named. When she was a wee papoose, her mother would make
+the bread and set her down beside the stone oven where she could watch
+from her baby cradle. As you perhaps know, the Indian baby cradle is
+very plain, and simply made. It is only a board upon which the baby is
+strapped until he is able to walk. The Indians have some very good
+reasons for doing this. They wish to train children to be
+uncomfortable and not to cry.
+
+Strapped as they are to this board, they are only able to move their
+hands and must lie straight and stiff. This is also the reason why all
+Indians are so straight. Then the Indian mother's mind is at rest, when
+she can have her baby securely tied in the cradle, strapped to her
+back, or if she puts him down any place she knows that he is safe. She
+can hang him on the wall while she works, which was what Bah's mother
+did when she made the bread.
+
+Now, bread in Navajo is "Bah," and this is how they make it. First,
+they take some corn and put it into a hollow stone. With another stone
+they smash the corn until it is fine. They then mix it with water,
+knead it and flatten it into small flat cakes which look like pancakes.
+It then goes into the big stone oven, which is always out of doors, and
+when it is cooked it is taken out and placed on a cool stone.
+
+At this point Bah, who you see was at that time only a papoose, would
+cry and reach out her little hands for some "Bah". As soon as Mother
+would put a crisp piece into her little hand she would stop crying and
+chew on it contentedly. So they called her "Bah" because she cried for
+bread.
+
+"So your name is 'Bread!' That's a nice name. And I'm so hungry that I
+could eat you now!" said Billy, rising to his feet and making a
+pretense at biting.
+
+[Illustration: BAH GETS HER NAME]
+
+Bah laughed and hid her face behind the new doll. Mother chuckled to
+herself, as Indians do when they are amused. Then she said: "I make
+some real 'Bah' for you."
+
+"Oh, that would be fine!" said the boy.
+
+Then, realizing that he had practically asked for it, he hung his head
+and added: "But don't do it if it's too much trouble."
+
+The remark seemed to amuse the Indian woman, for she chuckled again as
+she arose, but she did not answer him. Instead, she began to prepare
+for the making of the bread.
+
+Billy watched the process with great interest, and ate with even more
+interest when it was finished. The Bah was delicious, he thought.
+
+It tasted like--no, it didn't taste like anything Billy had ever eaten
+before.
+
+After having done justice to the new food, the boy was shown in and
+about the hogan by his little friend. She took him to her "play hogan."
+It was made for her by her father and was just like the one they lived
+in, except that it was only large enough for one child to fit into.
+
+"We could have lots of fun here, Bah. I'd like to come again and play
+with you. May I?" Billy asked.
+
+"Yes, come much," answered Bah happily.
+
+"And we'll play that I'm an Indian Chief and you are the Indian Mother,
+and the doll--oh, we haven't named the doll yet, have we?" said Billy.
+
+"No, doll no name yet," said Bah.
+
+"Well, let's see, how shall we do it?" Billy mused. "Suppose you come
+out of your play hogan and look around. The first thing you see will be
+what we'll name her."
+
+"Yes, I do," said Bah--and obediently she entered the small hogan.
+
+"Now come out, but close your eyes," called Billy.
+
+Out came the little girl, holding her papoose doll. She stood, with
+closed eyes, in the door of her hogan, and waited for further
+instructions.
+
+"Open your eyes!" called the boy, "and tell me what you see!"
+
+Bah's eyes opened slowly, dramatically. Her head was raised and as she
+looked she saw a bluebird in a tree. Billy followed her gaze and saw
+what she did.
+
+[Illustration: NAMING THE PAPOOSE DOLL]
+
+"How lucky!" thought he, "Now the child will have a beautiful name!"
+
+But Bah looked down at her baby and smilingly said: "Bah name you
+'Doli'."
+
+Billy was horribly disappointed. "Oh, listen, Bah. Don't do that! Why
+every girl calls a doll 'dolly.' That's common--name her 'Bluebird.'
+You saw one, didn't you?"
+
+Bah was still smiling as she said: "Yes, I see and I name papoose
+'Bluebird' in Navajo--that is 'Doli'."
+
+A grin spread from one of Billy's ears to the other. "That's the time
+you fooled me!" said he.
+
+They were laughing over Bah's joke when they saw some one coming
+towards them. "My father come home," cried Bah, and ran to meet him.
+
+As he came nearer Billy saw that he was very tall and very straight.
+He wore white trousers tied below the knees with red ribbons, a sash
+about his waist, and many beads hanging from his neck. His hair was
+long and tied in the back, much the same as Bah's, with a white cloth.
+
+He came over and held out his hand to Billy. He said: "I hear you good
+to little Bah. Me Bah's father."
+
+Billy was thrilled to shake the hand of such a fine big Indian, and to
+find that he was treating him as a friend.
+
+"He Big Chief," said Bah proudly.
+
+"Oh, are you a Big Chief?" asked the boy. A thought began to flicker
+through his mind. He would surprise his father--his father who was
+hobnobbing daily with Big Chiefs and Medicine Men, and who thought
+Billy was wasting his time.
+
+He wouldn't say a word to Father, but he'd begin tonight and he'd write
+a story, all about Bah, her mother and her father, the Big Chief. He'd
+come back again tomorrow and learn more from them, for hadn't Bah said
+"Come much"--which meant he was welcome.
+
+"Well, I have had such a good time with Bah--Mr.-a-a"
+
+"My name 'Fighting Bull,'" said the brave (as Indian men are called).
+
+"I know why you're called Fighting Bull," said Billy, sagely. "One time
+when you were little your Mother must have seen a bull fight!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+BILLY STARTS HIS STORY
+
+
+The next morning found Billy fully dressed and ready to leave before
+his parents were even awake. He could hardly wait for them to be astir
+and as soon as he heard his mother's step in her room he knocked at the
+door. Mother opened it and stood amazed.
+
+"Why, Billy--at this hour! What do you mean?"
+
+"I'm going out, Mother, and I didn't want to leave before you were
+awake."
+
+"But, dear, you can't go so early, and without your breakfast."
+
+"Oh, that's all right. Peanuts and I will go to the Trading Post and
+get breakfast. You see, Mother, I have to--"
+
+Just then there came a growl from within the room. It came from Father.
+
+"What is the commotion? And at such an hour! Billy, what's the
+excitement?"
+
+"Nothing, Father--only it's such a fine morning and I want a ride."
+
+"Let him go, Mother. He is only keeping me from my hard-earned rest.
+When one works one needs sleep. Billy will never need it!"
+
+Billy was sharp enough to understand his father's words and, smiling
+shrewdly to himself, he clutched a paper which reposed in his pocket,
+but he only called out, "Goodby, Father."
+
+His mother kissed him with the parting words: "Do be careful, Billy,
+and don't go too far."
+
+"No further than usual, Mother," answered Billy.
+
+And then, afraid that Mother might ask something, he ran off, waving
+his hand and sighing a deep sigh of relief.
+
+Billy had spent some restless hours during the night, thinking about
+the story he was to write. As he was only a little boy and couldn't
+write very well, and as this was his very first story, he was a little
+bit afraid of the results.
+
+But the determination to surprise Father and Mother had grown within
+him ever since the idea had come to him yesterday at Bah's home. Father
+thought Billy couldn't do it! Well, he'd show him! He'd listen while
+Mrs. Fighting Bull told him things, and hadn't he already learned lots
+about them?
+
+[Illustration: BAH'S MOTHER WEAVING NAVAJO BLANKET]
+
+In fact, he'd started his story! He'd started it with a poem (at least
+he thought it a poem) and that is what he clutched in his pocket when
+Father chided him. He was going to show it to Bah and her mother.
+
+He was going to ask them what they thought of it and he was going to
+tell them all about the contest, and how he'd planned to win the radio
+without telling his parents!
+
+How astonished they'd be, and how Father would stare when he saw the
+radio arrive with his son's name engraved thereon--
+
+"Winner of Composition Contest."
+
+His dreams accompanied Billy all the way to the Trading Post. There he
+had a hurried breakfast of milk and crackers, allowed Peanuts to graze
+a bit in the clover, and after buying some funny chocolates in the
+forms of objects, animals, birds and fishes which he thought would
+amuse Bah, he was off in search of his new-made friends--and
+information.
+
+[Illustration: BAH'S FATHER STRETCHING A SKIN]
+
+Upon arriving at the hogan he found Bah's mother already seated at her
+loom. Fighting Bull was stretching a goat's skin outside the hogan
+door.
+
+After greeting the Indians, Billy looked around for Bah. She was
+nowhere to be seen.
+
+"Where's Bah?" he asked of her mother. The woman shook her head, the
+usual amused smile playing over her features. "Not here."
+
+The Indians had not seemed particularly pleased to see him, he thought,
+and his heart was beginning to sink. But then Bah's mother pointed
+towards the play hogan. "Over there. She play mother and papoose.
+See?"
+
+With these words, Mrs. Fighting Bull laughed out loud, a sort of
+chuckle it was, but nevertheless she did laugh, and Billy felt
+reassured. He looked and saw Bah.
+
+She was emerging from her play hogan, and there was something on her
+back. He couldn't tell what it was, but as she approached he saw that
+it was a large board with a blanket strapped around it. Something was
+in the blanket, and that something was heavy, too, for Bah was
+obviously weighted down.
+
+"What's that?" asked Billy, puzzled.
+
+"That my papoose," laughed Bah, and turning her back towards Billy he
+saw, strapped cozily to the papoose cradle, a baby sheep! It was
+bleating, "Baa, Baa--"
+
+[Illustration: BAH'S PAPOOSE]
+
+"He knows your name," laughed Billy, stroking the small woolly head.
+
+Bah sat down with her burden on her back and Billy sat beside her. The
+Indian mother continued to smile to herself as she went on weaving.
+
+"Me glad you come," said Bah, smiling her friendly smile.
+
+"Are you?" questioned Billy. "I couldn't wait to get here. You know,
+I've started to write a story--a real story like Father writes. It's
+going to be all about you!"
+
+"Me?" the little girl pointed to herself. She realized that this was
+something important, for the white boy was excited and although the
+affair was very vague to her, she mustered up the enthusiasm necessary.
+
+"I've written a poem to start it with. Want to hear it?"
+
+"Oh, yes," Bah's eyes grew big. Just what a poem was didn't matter. It
+was important to know that Billy had written one. So he read--
+
+     "Bah, Bah Indian girl,
+     Have you any bread?
+     Yes sir, yes sir,
+     That's what I was fed.
+     When I was a papoose
+     I cried to my ma,
+     So she gave me bread,
+     And now my name is 'Bah'!"
+
+There was a loud explosion from the corner where Mrs. Fighting Bull was
+weaving. Billy's face grew red. Mrs. Fighting Bull was laughing at him.
+Oh, now he knew he must have done something wrong!
+
+The Indian woman composed herself and beckoning the boy over, she
+said: "You write good words. Tell me more."
+
+Billy had a great deal to learn about Indians; he was beginning to
+realize that. Evidently Bah's mother was kindly disposed towards him
+but she had a queer way of laughing at everything, which was hard for
+Billy to understand.
+
+Still, he thought, it was better to laugh at everything than to be
+cross and angry. Mrs. Fighting Bull was a jolly woman, that was all,
+and Billy moved up close to her and smiled up into her face.
+
+"Gee, I'm glad you like it. I thought, when you laughed, you were
+making fun of me. You see, I never wrote anything before, and this
+story has just got to be good, because----"
+
+And then he told Bah and her mother of his desire to win the contest
+and the prize attached to it.
+
+"You like I tell you more?" asked the Indian woman.
+
+"That's just what I'd like to have you do, if you would," answered the
+boy writer.
+
+"Well, I tell you."
+
+With no more ado, Mrs. Fighting Bull started talking as Billy sat and
+listened to her words.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+ALL ABOUT THE INDIANS
+
+
+The Navajo Indians live in hogans. That, you already have heard--and
+you know what a hogan looks like. But all Indian tribes do not use the
+same kind of dwelling places.
+
+The Pueblo, Hopi and other peaceful tribes live in what are called
+pueblos. They are houses built of adobe and they are built to resemble
+a child's stone blocks when he has piled one on top of the other. To
+reach the top of a pueblo one must climb the ladders which are set up
+against the outside of the building.
+
+The Pueblo villages are different from the Navajo villages. They are
+composed of long rows of these pinkish adobe block houses, and the
+Indian tribes who live therein are, as I have said, peaceful.
+
+Can you imagine why, being as they are of a peaceful nature, these
+tribes build as they do? It is so that they can be protected from
+warlike tribes, in their many storied houses. Then, too, the tribes
+which build pueblos do not wander, as the warlike tribes do. The
+pueblos are stationary, and they are built to be permanent homes. They
+are built, mainly, by the women and children, who do all the manual
+work--while the men often sit at home weaving garments and knitting
+stockings.
+
+[Illustration: THE PIPE OF PEACE]
+
+The tepees are the abode of warlike Indians, such as the Sioux,
+Apaches, etc. They wander and so they build temporary dwellings which,
+at a moment's notice, may be transported quickly and easily from one
+location to another.
+
+In the East there are other Indian tribes, and also in Canada. Then, in
+Mexico, the Indians build straw huts.
+
+There are hundreds of tribes of Indians and each tribe has a different
+language. That is why the sign language came into existence. It is used
+when a member of one tribe meets a member of another tribe. They cannot
+understand each other's language, so they talk with their hands.
+
+When the Indian chiefs gather they smoke the pipe of peace. This is
+usually done to celebrate some victory, or upon the occasion of a visit
+from a member of another tribe.
+
+The men sit around a fire in a circle and pass the long pipe from one
+to the other. As each man receives it he utters a sound or nods his
+head, proceeds to take a puff, and passes it to his neighbor. It is all
+done silently and quietly, but there is a wealth of meaning in this
+very solemn performance.
+
+[Illustration: THE FIRE MAKER]
+
+The Indians, in older days, made fire entirely by friction. By the
+rubbing together of two pieces of wood, most of the tribes caused fire
+to appear--but some had elaborate devices made of wood and string. The
+Navajos used a thin pole which they twirled around by using a string
+tied to a stick.
+
+Today, the Indians use matches just as we do, but most families still
+keep their fire-makers.
+
+The Navajos do not use feathers and do not make chiefs by crowning
+them. But many of the other tribes create their chiefs by placing the
+crown of tall feathers, which you have often seen in pictures, upon the
+head of the "brave," and saying "I make you 'Big Chief Flying Eagle,'"
+or whatever the name may be.
+
+[Illustration: CROWNING A BIG CHIEF]
+
+The eagle is much venerated by the Indians. We have seen how Bah used a
+prayer stick made of an eagle feather.
+
+In the Eagle Dance, the dancer paints his body red, black and white,
+and wears a dance skirt and bonnet of eagle feathers.
+
+The dance is performed as a ceremonial, mostly as a plea for rain. The
+dancers imitate almost every movement of the great eagle. They soar,
+they hover as an eagle would hover over the fields. They spread their
+wings and move about in a great circle.
+
+This and the Sun Dance are the two most important and interesting
+dances of the Indians; the Sun Dance is performed in the spring,
+celebrating the return of the growing season, and the growth of the
+corn.
+
+"Oh, I hope I can remember all that," sighed Billy, when Mrs. Fighting
+Bull finished talking.
+
+She turned to her weaving without answering him, and he turned to Bah,
+saying: "Come, Bah! Let us play over at your hogan and you pretend to
+make me a Big Chief!"
+
+"Yes, come," said Bah, rising.
+
+They started over to their play house. From out the play hogan Bah
+pulled forth some Navajo blankets and then they both set to work to
+make a feather crown. Having no feathers (the Navajos not using them)
+they made their crown of branches.
+
+It was a large and weighty object when they finished with it and Billy
+was, indeed, a queer sight when Bah placed it upon his head. The big
+blanket was wrapped about him, and from beneath the crown peered his
+freckled face. With all due ceremony Bah raised her eyes to heaven and
+chanted: "I make you Big Chief Spots-In-The-Face!"
+
+It was a very serious moment for them. Billy had become a chief, and
+his next move was to propose the smoking of the pipe of peace. From his
+pocket Billy pulled a chocolate pipe. It was done up in silver paper.
+Bah was impressed as he carefully unwrapped and handed it to her.
+
+"You smoke first," he said.
+
+She took it in her hands and putting it to her mouth pretended to draw
+in the smoke. She handed it to Billy, but he proceeded to bite out a
+piece, much to the astonishment of his playmate, who stared at him in
+wonderment.
+
+[Illustration: BAH AND BILLY SMOKE THE PIPE OF PEACE]
+
+"You do that, too, Bah, it's good," Billy mumbled with his mouth full.
+
+Bah shrank back. "No, me no eat pipe, me smoke!"
+
+Billy couldn't help laughing.
+
+"Oh, but this isn't a real pipe--it's chocolate!"
+
+Still Bah was reluctant to try.
+
+"Well," said Billy, digging into his pocket for the rest of the candy.
+"Here's another, the same--only it's not in the shape of a pipe. Try
+it."
+
+Bah took the candy and looked at it.
+
+"Fish!" she gasped and dropped it.
+
+"Well, what's the matter with that?" asked Billy, greatly disturbed by
+her evident horror.
+
+"Bah no eat fish. No Navajo eat fish!" "Tell me why," said Billy, now
+amused and interested.
+
+Bah did not answer, but pointed over to her mother. She hung her head
+shyly. Billy didn't like to press her, so, dragging his blanket, and
+with his crown over one ear, he stumbled over to the loom and stood
+before Mrs. Fighting Bull with the query: "Why don't Navajos like
+fish?"
+
+Mrs. Fighting Bull did not smile, for once, and replied: "Not because
+no like! No eat because ancestors once turned into fish. If Navajo eat
+fish, he eat ancestor!"
+
+Satisfied with this explanation, Billy thanked her and trotted back to
+his friend. "I understand now, Bah," he said. "But you see this isn't a
+real fish, it's candy! You try."
+
+He held it up to her, but he could see how she shrank from the thought
+of eating anything that was even the shape of fish. So he picked out a
+bird and gave it to her. After she had sampled the chocolate she was
+delighted to finish the whole piece, and when that was eaten, she said:
+"Now me smoke pipe of peace."
+
+"Yes," said Billy, "and this time you'll eat a piece of the pipe, won't
+you?"
+
+He laughed loudly at his own joke, but Bah was too absorbed in her new
+found game. When Billy reached for the pipe, expecting to receive it
+for his turn, he saw that the little girl had put the whole pipe into
+her mouth and was munching the chocolate, her cheeks puffed out and a
+twinkle in her eye! Billy stared in surprise.
+
+"Why, Bah, you bad girl. You ate up all the pipe!"
+
+But they soon found another game to replace the "Peace Pipe" and played
+together happily until it was time for Billy to go home.
+
+Before leaving he remembered that he had not thanked the Indian woman
+for telling him so much of interest. He ran back to where she was
+sitting, and, drawing from his pocket the chocolate candies, he offered
+them to her, saying: "Thanks so much for your nice story. Won't you
+have some candy?"
+
+She took some and smiled at him. Then she said: "Write nice story about
+Indians. All white men no think Indians good."
+
+Billy was puzzled for a moment to know what she meant. Then it dawned
+upon him that the Indians were often spoken of as cruel and savage.
+Well, he'd "tell the world" in his story that this family was kind and
+civilized. He said: "Oh, yes, I'll say everything I think about you,
+and that will be good!"
+
+Then, suddenly bethinking himself of a word he'd once heard, he asked:
+"Isn't an Indian woman called a 'Squaw'?"
+
+Bah's mother shook her head and a slight frown--the first Billy had
+seen--appeared between her eyes.
+
+[Illustration: THE "SQUAWKER"]
+
+"No. Indian woman no like to be called Squaw! Not very nice! In
+reservation she fight when man call that!"
+
+"Well, I'll remember and never use the word 'Squaw' again," promised
+Billy.
+
+Just then an Indian mother appeared in the doorway of her hogan. The
+papoose upon her back was crying loudly, and Billy looked roguishly at
+Mrs. Fighting Bull and asked: "Is the baby called a 'Squawker'?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+WHO WINS THE RADIO?
+
+
+For many days Billy worked diligently at his composition. He took care
+to do his writing away from home, as he cherished the thought of
+surprising Mother and Father.
+
+Then, too, he had conceived another idea. It happened to pop into his
+head one evening when he was returning from Bah's home. It was such a
+good idea that he wondered he hadn't thought of it before.
+
+And so, as I have said, he worked, and no one but Peanuts knew what he
+was doing, and Peanuts was sworn to secrecy. As he would prepare to
+leave his secluded spot out on the prairie where he did his writing,
+Billy would say to Peanuts: "Now, we'll never say a word! We'll keep
+this to ourselves, won't we?"
+
+[Illustration: FOR DAYS BILLY WORKED ON HIS STORY]
+
+And Peanuts was most agreeable. Why not? The days had been pleasure
+since his master had decided to allow him to graze all day long instead
+of asking him to gallop over the plains. Yes, indeed, the plan suited
+Peanuts down to the ground (where, by the way, he constantly kept his
+nose.)
+
+Billy's nose was buried in his writing and he chewed the pencil as
+steadily as Peanuts chewed the dry nourishment he found. But at last
+the task was over, the manuscript sent in to the magazine, and Billy
+was again paying his respects to the Fighting Bull family. Peanuts was
+the only regretful one when the story was finished, and sent away.
+Billy sighed a sigh of relief and the first day that he put in an
+appearance at the hogan, Bah squealed with joy to see him returning.
+
+Many happy days ensued, in which the Indian girl showed the boy new
+games and ways of playing which she, little lonely one, had devised by
+herself.
+
+Each evening Billy would come home with the same question on his lips:
+"Has my magazine arrived?"
+
+But New York is a long way from Arizona, and it was many weeks before
+the magazine, in which the winning story was to appear, at last came.
+
+It was one evening after Billy had had a particularly exciting day
+chasing buffaloes (in the form of tame sheep) with Bah, that he came
+home to find his magazine awaiting him. It had not been opened and was
+lying on his little desk. It was addressed to him--and inside it
+was--maybe--his story! He longed to find out, but he couldn't move his
+fingers to open the wrapper.
+
+He suddenly grew hot all over and realized then how he longed to see
+that story inside those covers. If he had been an Indian instead of a
+white boy he would have made a prayer stick and prayed via the eagle
+feather to the Great Father.
+
+The next morning Father and Mother found Billy curled up in a big chair
+in the living room poring over his magazine. They could not see his
+face.
+
+Father took up his paper, but before starting to read he remarked:
+"Who's the lucky winner of the radio, Son?"
+
+Billy did not answer, but arose from his chair and brought the magazine
+over, to Father. Father glanced at the page with a wicked smile, and
+remarked: "Needless to say, it wasn't a chap named William!"
+
+Billy, his head drooping, left the room, and Mother felt sorry for him.
+So did Father. In fact I think Father was sorry for what he had said,
+as he got up and called him back.
+
+It was then that Billy told Father what he had done--all about it from
+the first day that the idea had occurred to him until the moment when
+he had, with trembling fingers, opened the magazine and found....
+
+"You're a good boy, Bill," said Father, "and I've been wronging you."
+
+Mother was about to make a fuss over him, so, allowing her only time
+enough for one kiss, he grabbed his hat. Then with the parting words,
+"I'm going to see the Fighting Bulls--goodbye," he made a dash for the
+door.
+
+"Some day maybe you'll take me, Bill," called Father after him, "I'd
+like to meet the Fighting Bulls, and their calf. She must be a smart
+little kid!"
+
+Then the parents looked at each other and Mother's eyes were just a
+little bit dewy. She smiled and shook her finger at Father: "I know
+another Fighting Bull," she said.
+
+"Yes, dear," said Father humbly, "and he has a splendid and plucky
+little calf!"
+
+At the hogan there was much excitement. As Peanuts came galloping down
+the village "street" his rider saw a most unusual sight.
+
+Chief Fighting Bull, his wife and small daughter were all grouped about
+an object which seemed to be attracting them. So much did it attract
+them that they were talking in Navajo faster and louder than Billy had
+ever heard them talk.
+
+The boy jumped down from his pony and walked up to the family circle.
+He saw that the object of their interest was a large wooden express
+box, and written across it were the words:
+
+"Bah, The Little Indian Weaver,
+  Daughter of Chief Fighting Bull,
+    Navajo Reservation, near Tuba, Arizona."
+
+[Illustration: "IS IT FOR ME?"]
+
+"This came today," said the Chief to Billy, and Bah held up an envelope
+which she clutched in her hand.
+
+"And see--letter to Bah."
+
+Billy asked: "Why don't you open it?"
+
+"Yes, will do," replied the girl. At the same time as Bah and Billy
+were opening the letter, the Chief, aided by his wife, was opening the
+large box.
+
+"You read letter for me, please," smiled Bah.
+
+Billy took the letter--but just then the box was opened and inside it
+the astonished family beheld a radio!
+
+"What this?" asked Fighting Bull.
+
+Said Billy wisely: "It's a radio--you know, you can listen to music
+and everything. It's lots of fun. Come on, we'll fix it up!"
+
+[Illustration: "WITHOUT YOU I COULDN'T HAVE WRITTEN IT."]
+
+With Billy's instructions the Chief set up the radio. It was a portable
+set and as soon as they attached the aerial and Billy turned the dials
+the sound of fine music began to float on the air.
+
+"Alive!" shrieked Bah, turned on her heels, and fled!
+
+Billy, still holding the unopened letter, ran after her. He found her
+hidden in a thicket and brought her back to her parents, who stood
+transfixed before the radio, which was still sending forth music.
+
+"Don't be afraid, Bah," said Billy. "It's not this box making the
+noise. The music comes through the air from a big city!"
+
+The Chief and his wife were almost as impressed as Bah, but they did
+not show their feelings. They could only stand and stare while Billy,
+holding on to Bah with one hand for fear that she would run away
+again, read the following letter:
+
+     "Dear Little Bah:
+
+     Your story 'The Little Indian Weaver,' written by yourself
+     about yourself, has won the Composition Contest. The prize,
+     a radio, we are sending you today. It was a great pleasure
+     to receive such a charming little story from a real Indian
+     girl. The white children who read it will, we are sure,
+     enjoy it, and learn a great deal from you. Thank you, and we
+     hope you will like the radio!
+
+                         The Children's Magazine."
+
+"But--but," said Bah, "I not write story!"
+
+Billy put his arm around her shoulders and smiling down at her said:
+"No, but I sent it in your name because if it hadn't been for you and
+your mother and father I never could have written it!"
+
+[Illustration: "I PUT INDIAN FLAG ON MY SINGING BOX."]
+
+As the strains of music floated through the air, attracting the sheep
+from the prairie, two dreamy children sat beside the radio, which was
+perched on the top of a packing box, and listened eagerly.
+
+[Illustration: THE WHITE CHILD LOVES HIS INDIAN FRIENDS]
+
+Bah had outgrown her fear of the "Singing Box" as she called the radio,
+and each day she and Billy would enjoy songs and music from the
+city--strange sounds, some of them, to the little Indian girl.
+
+But to Billy it had become a greater joy than he ever had anticipated
+to watch her rapture with the new toy.
+
+One day he found a stick with feathers stuck on top of the radio, and
+he asked her what it meant.
+
+"Bah put flag on Singing Box. That is Indian flag!"
+
+Billy never ceased learning about the Indians, their customs and their
+interesting ways.
+
+Perhaps the Fighting Bulls also were learning. They learned what many
+Indians do not know--that the white child loves his brother--the first
+American.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes
+
+Page 85: Possibly missing "second" before "time" in the sentence:
+  "That's the time you fooled me!" said he.
+
+Page 90: Retained "Goodby" but possibly a typo for "goodbye."
+  (he only called out, "Goodby, Father.")
+
+Page 123: Retained "poring" but possibly a typo for "pouring."
+  (Billy curled up in a big chair in the living room poring over his)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Little Indian Weaver, by Madeline Brandeis
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40277 ***