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diff --git a/40277-0.txt b/40277-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..75f0ef4 --- /dev/null +++ b/40277-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1690 @@ +*** 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 *** |