Update for 76997HEADmain

37 files changed, 5351 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6833f05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+* text=auto
+*.txt text
+*.md text
diff --git a/76997-0.txt b/76997-0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..35434bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,1934 @@
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76997 ***
+
+
+
+
+
+WIGWAM WONDER TALES
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: “There will be no living with him,” said the crow]
+
+
+
+
+ WIGWAM
+ WONDER TALES
+
+ BY
+ WILLIAM THOMPSON
+
+ ILLUSTRATED BY
+ CARLE MICHEL BOOG
+
+ NEW YORK
+ CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
+ 1919
+
+
+
+
+ COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY
+ CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
+
+ Published September, 1919
+
+ [Illustration: Publisher’s colophon]
+
+
+
+
+DEDICATION
+
+
+This book is affectionately dedicated to H. T., who for ten years
+has been my constant companion. We have travelled together from the
+Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. Have climbed glaciers of Alaska
+and shivered in the fogs of Newfoundland. Have rocked in the crafts of
+the North Sea fishermen. Have looked from the Phœnician ruins of Eze
+to the island of Corsica. Have enjoyed the nature smiles of southern
+Europe from Italy to Setubal, the ancient Cetubriga of the Romans. Have
+strolled along the highways and byways of Germany, Holland, France,
+Belgium, Moresnet, Italy, and romped together in the cork-groves of
+Portugal and the olive-groves of Spain. We have shared the same room
+in spooky inns along the trails of Don Quixote in La Mancha, and have
+ridden fourth-class with a first-class ticket hundreds of kilometres
+... because dogs were not allowed in first-class compartments on
+European railways.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                      PAGE
+
+ THE GIANT BUTTERFLY AND THE MOUSE       1
+
+ WACTU, THE ANIMAL PAINTER              15
+
+ ALITOCI AND THE GIANT BIRDS            28
+
+ NIONA AND THE MOON MAN                 40
+
+ WHY DOGS DO NOT TALK                   56
+
+ MR. FISH AND YONI                      68
+
+ FIRE BOY AND WATER BOY                 92
+
+ OLD SPOT AND THE CUPIDS               107
+
+ THE UNDERWATER PEOPLE                 129
+
+ WATC’ AGIC KILLS THE TALKING-BIRDS    144
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+ “There will be no living with him,” said the crow    _Frontispiece_
+
+                                                                PAGE
+
+ Every one laughed. What a joke! This tiny
+ mouse offering to release the sun!                                5
+
+ “Come down,” said Ayas. “I wish to discuss a
+ business offer with you”                                          9
+
+ Over their heads they heard a little voice calling,
+ “They fit perfectly”                                             13
+
+ This he did, much to the amazement of the beaver                 17
+
+ Wactu waited patiently for the color-sprites to dance
+ on the snow and lakes                                            21
+
+ On and on the frightened old man was carried                     29
+
+ Down the big tree he lowered himself                             33
+
+ The birds walked off in another direction                        37
+
+ “Niona, you are so, so beautiful”                                41
+
+ Niona felt herself being drawn up and up                         47
+
+ “I’m coming!”                                                    53
+
+ So Nudi and his dog, Happy, would wander off to
+ the mountains                                                    57
+
+ One day, trailing a bear, Happy told all she knew of
+ Neti’s romance                                                   61
+
+ “Yes,” said Tiki, “she has told that which she should
+ not.”                                                            65
+
+ There he found a strange and very large fish splashing
+ and floundering                                                  73
+
+ “My! how fast we are going!”                                     83
+
+ “Mr. Fish! Mr. Fish!” called Yoni                                89
+
+ “We have brought a goose and caribou tongues, and
+ we will share them with you”                                     97
+
+ Looking up to her he waved his hand and smiled                  101
+
+ He sat without discomfort in the midst of the flames            105
+
+ “You’ve got a fine catch this morning”                          113
+
+ It was but the work of a few seconds and all was over           121
+
+ “How really clever Old Spot is”                                 125
+
+ They suddenly saw a man passing along in the dusk               131
+
+ “Do ha-s tei-ul tuk,” which means “Do not kill me”              137
+
+ He looked up and saw a giant frog standing on his left
+ foot                                                            141
+
+ Once there was a man who wandered all over the
+ earth                                                           145
+
+ “My good brother, what have you on your back?”                  149
+
+ And he began to sing in a harsh voice                           153
+
+
+
+
+WIGWAM WONDER TALES
+
+
+
+
+THE GIANT BUTTERFLY AND THE MOUSE
+
+
+When Ayas was a small child, hardly able to walk, he would try to catch
+the sunbeams that played with his fingers and toes. Onitu, an old woman
+who had noticed his efforts, smiled and said: “He will be a sun-catcher
+some day; in all truth, Ayas will be a sun-catcher.”
+
+Of course, the people did not know the meaning of her strange remark,
+and looked serious.
+
+Ayas grew to be a man, and travelled the long, lonely trails of
+the forest in search for game. One day, being very tired, as it was
+oppressively warm, he lay down to sleep. During his slumber something
+that passed scorched his leather coat. This made him very angry, for
+upon the coat he had worked long days with needle and thread, putting
+many colored beads in fantastic design. As he arose, his coat fell from
+his back, and the thread holding the beads parted, scattering them upon
+the ground.
+
+“I’ll find out my enemy!” declared Ayas, so loud that the animals of
+the forest became frightened and ran to their holes, or scampered away
+in many directions.
+
+Unstringing his bow, lashed many times around with caribou sinew, he
+made a snare across the road, and over the spot where he had been
+sleeping. Then he went home.
+
+The next day the sun did not rise, or the next, and the medicine-men
+were consulted; but they were as much mystified as the people, who met
+in their lodges, many of them too frightened to speak. “Had the Great
+Spirit deserted his people? Was this the end of all things?”
+
+Ayas’ sister, who suspected her brother had been up to some mischief,
+went to him and said: “What have you been doing that the sun does not
+give light?”
+
+He replied: “I set a snare the other day; I will go and see if I have
+caught anything.”
+
+So he went back to the wood where he had set his snares, and the nearer
+he approached the hotter it became. When he arrived at the opening of
+the trail he saw he had snared the sun. He tried to release it, but it
+would not keep still, jumping up and down so fast Ayas could not grasp
+the snares.
+
+“Keep still!” he cried, but his command was of no avail. So he called
+all the animals from near and far to help him; but it was so hot they
+dared not approach, fearing their fur would be scorched, and as winter
+was drawing near, they would not risk that which kept them warm.
+
+A wee ground-mouse was looking on from his tiny hole under a great
+ant-hill that had been deserted. He called to Ayas and said: “Go to the
+giant butterfly who makes wings over there in the dead pine. If he will
+agree to make for me a pair of wings and guarantee a good fit that I
+may fly back should the sun take me with him, I’ll release it.”
+
+Every one laughed. What a joke! This tiny mouse offering to release the
+sun when the great animals of the forest dare not attempt it! A lynx,
+just ready to spring at the silly little creature, was prevented from
+doing so by Ayas, who gave him a stroke across his snout. This is the
+reason the lynx has such a short nose.
+
+[Illustration: Every one laughed. What a joke! This tiny mouse offering
+to release the sun!]
+
+Ayas looked at the ant-hill. How large it was, and how small the
+beings that had made it. “Perhaps the mouse can do as it agrees,” he
+thought.
+
+It was so hot the grass began to scorch, and leaves became seared.
+Something must be done.
+
+“Go to the butterfly and tell him I wish to speak to him,” Ayas
+demanded of the mouse.
+
+“He will not come and scorch his wings. He has the finest pair in all
+the lands about here,” answered the mouse.
+
+Ayas thought the mouse was right; so he started off for the wing
+factory. When he got near the old tree he called, and slowly, from a
+great hole in the trunk peered the face of Mr. Butterfly.
+
+“Come down,” said Ayas. “I wish to discuss a business offer with you.”
+The great winged creature slowly drew himself out of the hole, and
+spreading his wings, glided to the earth. He was so enormous Ayas was
+but a tiny being compared to him.
+
+[Illustration: “Come down,” said Ayas. “I wish to discuss a business
+offer with you”]
+
+“The sun has become entangled in my snare,” said Ayas, “and a young and
+very tiny mouse promises that he will release it if you will furnish
+him with a pair of wings. The fit must be guaranteed as well as the
+quality, as he may be required to make a long journey, and must be
+assured they will stand the strain; and in addition, they must be made
+of material that will be able to withstand great heat.”
+
+“What will be my compensation?” asked Mr. Butterfly.
+
+“What do you expect?” asked Ayas.
+
+“That is not the way I bargain,” replied Mr. Butterfly. “What is it
+worth to you?”
+
+Ayas thought a moment. Knowing that if the sun was not released,
+soon all the hunting-grounds would be destroyed by fire, he decided to
+make a good offer, so he said: “I’ll give you five portions of clover
+honey, two hundred fresh wild roses, and build a long ladder to your
+hole, that you may not need to fly when you grow old.”
+
+This appealed to Mr. Butterfly, for his wing joints did not work as
+smoothly as when he was younger.
+
+“Throw in a measure of goose oil and it’s a bargain,” said he.
+
+“Very well,” said Ayas. “Have you any wings in stock that will fit?”
+
+“I cannot tell without seeing your friend; bring him here and upon your
+return I’ll have a few pairs ready for a try-on.”
+
+So Ayas went back and told the mouse he had fixed up the matter, so
+they returned together, the mouse in the pouch of Ayas’ coat. Many
+wings were tried on, and finally little Johnny Mouse selected a pair
+that seemed satisfactory, although not bigger than the wings of a
+sparrow.
+
+“Go up the tree and fly down,” said Mr. Butterfly, and up crawled
+the mouse until he had gone so far they could not see him. Over their
+heads they heard a little voice calling, “They fit perfectly. My! this
+is wonderful!” And down glided the wee mouse in little circles to the
+ground.
+
+[Illustration: Over their heads they heard a little voice calling,
+“They fit perfectly”]
+
+“Now to keep my promise,” said he, flying around Ayas’ head and
+settling on his right shoulder.
+
+Saying good-afternoon to Mr. Butterfly, who was to call for his
+supplies the following day, Ayas and the mouse returned to the
+struggling sun. Going to the strings of sinew, the mouse began to gnaw,
+and very soon, one after another of the strands holding the sun parted.
+With one great effort, it burst the remaining bonds and started again
+on its path of day, giving light to all the world.
+
+If it had not been for the mouse the sun would have remained a
+prisoner, and there would have been no day. If it had not been for the
+sun, bats would have always remained mice.
+
+
+
+
+WACTU, THE ANIMAL PAINTER
+
+
+As long as the birds could remember, Wactu had lived among them. This
+was a very long time ago, and before the rays of the sun had penetrated
+the deep mist that surrounded the earth. It was only now and then that
+the people living in the lowlands could see the golden shafts of light
+tipping the great mountain-tops as they stood like mighty gods, covered
+with garments of snow. The snows, melting slowly, formed lakes high up
+in the mountain valleys, and across the great glaciers and fields of
+ice all the colors of the painter’s palette passed like a pageant of
+beauty among the mountain peaks.
+
+For ever so long Wactu had stripped the white birches that he called
+the “white ghosts of the forest” of their bark and made baskets of it,
+for what reason the magpie and owl had been very much perplexed to know.
+
+One morning a large timber-wolf called to discuss a matter of
+importance with Wactu, who was the King of the Kingdom of Animals, and
+master of the woodlands.
+
+“I’m growing very tired of so much sameness of color among my
+subjects,” he said to the wolf. “It’s always black or white. Why don’t
+you go up the mountain and bathe in the lake and roll on the snows, and
+become beautiful of color? See!” pointing to the rays of light piercing
+the mist, “See! Is that not more fair than your gray costume?”
+
+But old wolf only grunted an indifferent acknowledgment, for he had
+little sentiment for anything but his appetite. His indifference caused
+Wactu to ejaculate: “You are the most acrimonious of all my people.
+Go bring me a young beaver, and mind you do not devour him before he
+serves my purpose.”
+
+Wactu had decided upon a plan by which there was to be a change of
+fashion among his subjects, and he began preparations then and there.
+
+Old wolf returned with a young whimpering beaver-cub, crying at the top
+of his voice, for Mr. Wolf had not been over-careful in handling the
+youth, who, being accustomed to the tender solicitude of fond parents,
+did not understand the rougher ways of one who at any moment was liable
+to devour him. Wactu instructed the wolf to hold Young Beaver tight as
+he wanted to pluck a few hairs from his back and tail. This he did,
+much to the amazement of the beaver, who, though crying lustily, was
+more frightened than hurt.
+
+[Illustration: This he did, much to the amazement of the beaver]
+
+“Take him back to his mother,” demanded Wactu, “and mind your appetite
+does not prompt you to rashness, for I may want you to bring him to me
+again.” So Mr. Wolf disappeared in the wood.
+
+Wactu always had his suspicions that Mr. Wolf feasted on Young Beaver,
+for when he needed more hair for his brushes, he always looked
+carefully for the places he had plucked, but could not find them; so he
+of course knew that Mr. Wolf had not brought him the same animal. As
+Mr. Wolf had served him well he never made any reference to the matter.
+
+For many days that followed Wactu made journeys to the mountains,
+and waited patiently for the color-sprites to dance on the snow
+and lakes; and as they appeared, he caught them and thrust them
+into his baskets. There were red, blue, green, orange, and yellow
+sprites--indeed, all the colors of the rainbow. Several times one end
+of the arch dipped into the waters of the lakes, and as Wactu knew the
+spirits of his departed friends formed the beautiful colors, he was
+careful not to capture them, so waited for the rainbow to pass before
+collecting material for his interesting undertaking.
+
+[Illustration: Wactu waited patiently for the color-sprites to dance on
+the snow and lakes]
+
+When Wactu returned to his lodge, the owls, eagles, and hawks would go
+far out on the limbs of the tall trees so that he could not hear them,
+and discuss the state of his mind, for they had “never seen him do
+such strange things before.” Once or twice they flew down, unbeknown
+to their master, and lifted the baskets, but, finding them very light,
+they were convinced that they contained nothing that would do them harm.
+
+Being King of the Kingdom of Animals and Birds, Wactu knew the
+language of all his people; so one morning, while he was tying up the
+beaver hairs and making brushes of different sizes--some with long
+handles and some with short--he called the skylark, the long-eared
+owl, the raven, the sparrow-hawk, the cuckoo, the chaffinch, the gray
+wag-tail, the spotted flycatcher, the crested titmouse, the woodpecker,
+the robin, the nightingale, the blackbird, the crow, and all the other
+feathered people of his empire, and said:
+
+“My good people, it will be many thousands of years before the mists
+and clouds surrounding this great world are dispersed by the goddess of
+the sun. It is my purpose to hasten the work of Nature, by painting all
+of my people in the colors of the rainbow. Could you bathe in the rays
+of the sun, I would be saved all my trouble. You would then be like a
+queen on her throne, arrayed in all the glories of color. Who will be
+the first to change his or her plain garment for one of beauty? I have
+collected all the colors to complete Nature’s works.”
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+“I will,” called Mr. Peacock, as Wactu reached for his colors, and
+placed them beside him in rows.
+
+“Step right up and I will begin,” said Wactu in a pleased tone. So the
+peacock, with his long flowing tail trailing behind him, his head bowed
+in an embarrassed, coy way, approached Wactu, who, after placing him in
+a position most convenient, began to apply the mystical tints that were
+to make Mr. Peacock the most vain and conceited of all featherdom.
+
+Beginning at the head, he painted the neck, wings, and body. When the
+tail was to be renovated, he had to stand up and go around, as it was
+so long. Once or twice he stepped on it. The peacock winced though it
+did not hurt him at all.
+
+“There will be no living with him,” said the crow as he noticed the
+peacock straighten up and throw his head back in a haughty manner.
+
+“Right you are,” said the raven.
+
+“Such arrogance,” said the wren, loud enough for Mr. Peacock to hear.
+
+Wactu, having completed his toilet, asked him to step off a bit so
+that he could see if the colors had run. This he did ’midst expressions
+of admiration from some, and, Wactu was sorry to know, suppressed jeers
+of others.
+
+“Me next,” said Miss Robin Redbreast as she surveyed the plain, soiled
+whiteness of her clothing.
+
+“Get on my knee,” said Wactu in a gentle voice, for she was very small
+and timid. “What colors for you, Miss Robin?”
+
+“Red on my breast, and for the others, those that will not soil easily.”
+
+In the meantime, Mr. Peacock, who had always heretofore mingled with
+his people on an equal social footing, had strutted away, and was
+standing alone in self-satisfied admiration, his beautiful tail spread
+like a giant fan. The humming-bird afterward told his mate he heard him
+say, “I am more beautiful than the sun,” and Mrs. Humming-Bird replied,
+“I really believe he thinks it is so.”
+
+One by one the birds were bedecked with new garments. The old fogies
+like the raven, crow, and blackbirds said, “None of it for us,” and
+went away quite satisfied with their old clothes.
+
+There were many animals who had come out of mere idle curiosity,
+standing about wondering what would happen to them if old Wactu did not
+use up all of his colors. Mr. Porcupine felt quite confident that the
+royal decorator would not insist upon any reform in _his_ apparel, no
+matter what changes he made in the others.
+
+
+
+
+ALITOCI AND THE GIANT BIRDS
+
+
+Alitoci, a beaver chief, who had become too old to work, spent most of
+his time when the weather was not too cold along the rivers, fishing.
+He had three dogs that helped him in winter, but in summer they did no
+work, though they must eat; so Alitoci fished for them.
+
+One day he was sitting by a dark water-hole full of fish, saying to
+himself: “Here shall I get plenty of food for my faithful dogs.”
+
+So he fished until he had caught all he could carry. As he was not
+strong, he had but few. He climbed up the bank to return home.
+
+It was growing dark, and as his head was bowed from age, he could
+not see a great bird hovering over him. This bird was enormous in
+size, and its wings spread like the limbs of a large tree. Suddenly it
+swooped upon him, and took him up toward the clouds that were piled in
+the heavens like great banks of snow. On and on the frightened old man
+was carried. Still remembering his faithful dogs, he held on to his
+strings of fish until his hands were so tired he had to let them fall
+to the earth, many thousands of feet below.
+
+[Illustration: On and on the frightened old man was carried]
+
+His coat was old and he could hear the sinew giving under his weight,
+for though aged, he was still a heavy man, and there was a great strain
+on the coat.
+
+The old man could see only the wings of the giant bird as they went up
+and down, slowly, in flight.
+
+“Where are you taking me?” said he in great terror; but the bird did
+not reply.
+
+After a long journey over rivers and mountains, he was dropped into a
+large nest that rested on the limbs of a dead tree. The bird said to
+his young ones, who seemed very much frightened: “Take good care of
+the old man; I will go for food.” So the bird departed to seek young
+animals like the rabbit, ermine, and small fox, as his children were
+too young to eat the larger game.
+
+When it was growing light, for the morning dawned while the father bird
+was away, the mother returned. She was not quite so large and strong
+as her husband, but she also was big enough to carry a man for miles
+through the air.
+
+“How does it happen that you smell of a man?” she asked her children.
+
+“We should smell of a man when father brought one here for us,” the
+young ones said in chorus, without meaning to deceive their mother.
+
+They were so large, although very young birds, that they could
+easily hide the man under their wings, and their mother did not know he
+was there, which was well for the old man, for she would have eaten him
+had she known the truth.
+
+The old man trembled so that it shook the birds, and the mother,
+thinking them ill, said: “Why do you shake so; are you not well?”
+
+“Oh, yes,” they replied, “we are very well indeed.”
+
+She seemed satisfied.
+
+The old man thought of his poor dogs who were waiting for food, and of
+the fish he had lost after working so hard to catch them. The fear for
+his own safety worried him, too, but greatest of all his troubles was
+the weight of the birds sitting on him, and the added weight of the
+mother caused him still more distress. When the sun came up he was sure
+he would be seen.
+
+As the sun rose higher and higher, one by one the birds fell asleep.
+“Now is my chance,” thought the old man, lame and out of breath. So out
+of the nest he crawled and down the big tree he lowered himself. He
+waited at times to hear if there was any chattering in the nest, but
+heard none, so he went on and reached the ground in safety.
+
+[Illustration: Down the big tree he lowered himself]
+
+“Now,” thought the old man, “if I should try to return home they might
+wake up and find me gone and follow me, and take me back to the nest.”
+
+He began to collect knots and dry wood which he piled at the foot
+of the tree. After heaping them as high as he could reach, he gathered
+dry blades of grass which he put under the pile of wood. Then striking
+together two pieces of flint which he took from his pocket, he lighted
+the grass and this lighted the fagots. The flames ran higher and higher
+until they set fire to the nest. The wings of the birds were burned,
+and they fell to the ground. They tried to fly, but could not. The old
+man walked as fast as he could, and hid behind a tree. The birds walked
+off in another direction. They did not suffer as only their feathers
+were burned.
+
+[Illustration: The birds walked off in another direction]
+
+And this is the way it came about that great birds like the ostrich,
+the emu, and the auk, though having feathers and wings, cannot fly.
+
+Thus were the birds punished for trying to prevent the old man from
+returning and feeding his hungry dogs, who had always served their
+master so faithfully.
+
+
+
+
+NIONA AND THE MOON MAN
+
+
+There once lived on the shores of the beautiful Lake Athabasca an
+Indian chief whose name was Wyani, and his two daughters, Wiona and
+Niona.
+
+Wiona helped her father cure the moose and caribou skins, and put the
+fish to dry on racks in the sun, for food for the dogs during the
+winter.
+
+Niona, the younger daughter, was very beautiful. She would sit by the
+lake where she could see her reflection, and arrange her hair, putting
+in her tresses large eagle feathers and wild flowers. She would make to
+adorn her feet beautiful moccasins of white deer-skin decorated with
+beads and many colored silks, and would say to herself: “Niona, you are
+so, so beautiful.”
+
+[Illustration: “Niona, you are so, so beautiful”]
+
+Then she would glance at her pretty feet, and her slippers beaded in
+wild roses and big leaves, and sigh, saying to herself: “How fortunate
+to be so beautiful.”
+
+When her father would call to her to help him, she would say, “Oh,
+father! Do it yourself!” or call to Wiona to help her father. Sometimes
+she would say: “I must make myself beautiful like the sun.”
+
+A young Cree brave would come to visit her. He was a great hunter and
+feared no man. One day while he was sitting near her when she was
+adorning herself, she leaned too far over the water to admire her
+reflection, and fell into the lake. He pulled her out, saying: “If you
+were not so vain this would not have happened.”
+
+“Do not scold me,” Niona said, as she caught her breath and shook the
+water from her dress.
+
+“You are very beautiful, but you are also very selfish,” said the young
+man.
+
+“All who are very beautiful are selfish,” Niona replied.
+
+“That is not so,” said the Indian.
+
+“Old Father Bear and Mother Lynx and Brother Fox tell me I am
+beautiful; even the birds, more beautiful than I am, say I am
+beautiful. Are they not proud of their plumage? Why should I not be!”
+exclaimed the maiden.
+
+“You are very beautiful,” the young Indian repeated, “but you are not
+kind to your father; and your sister is very tired. Why do you not
+consider them? They are both very good to you.”
+
+“I have no time. I must make myself like the sun; the beauty of
+everything comes from the sun, and I must be like her. She paints the
+clouds and rainbow and flowers and water--everything. I am the child
+of the sun and gather the beautiful things of color that I may adorn
+myself. You also think me beautiful. That is pleasing to me. I know
+myself that I am beautiful.”
+
+“Yes, but beauty is not everything,” he replied.
+
+“Do not scold me. You would not like me if I were like the Old Man in
+the Moon.”
+
+“I should like you better if you were helpful, and considerate of those
+who love and serve you; and mind, you better not let the Moon Man hear
+you speak slightingly of him or he may ‘make medicine.’”[1]
+
+  [1] The Shaman of the Indian and Eskimo of Greenland, North America
+      and Siberia are supposed to have supernatural power. The exercise
+      of this power is called “making medicine.”
+
+“Shoot an arrow at the Moon Man,” said Niona. “Who’s afraid of him!”
+
+Suddenly it became very dark, and the moon seemed to draw nearer to the
+earth.
+
+“Save me! Save me!” cried Niona, but her companion had disappeared.
+
+Niona thought, “How silly it was to be afraid of the old dead moon,”
+and cried out in defiance:
+
+    “Boil the moon; save your passion;
+      Boil your lazy head,
+    Hiding thus in idle fashion
+      In your starry bed.”
+
+The Old Man in the Moon seemed to frown and to come closer and closer.
+Niona felt herself being drawn up and up; faster and faster she seemed
+to fly until the light of the camp-fires could no longer be seen. The
+stars grew larger and brighter and Niona began to feel very cold. Up
+and up she went until she could see the earth but dimly, and only as a
+round ball. Suddenly she stopped, and a voice said: “This is the end of
+your journey. You must live here. You thought only of yourself, of your
+beauty. Your time you spent in idleness. You did no good for any one.
+This is your punishment.”
+
+[Illustration: Niona felt herself being drawn up and up]
+
+Niona looked around. There were no flowers, or lakes, no trees, no
+people. There were only mountains of dead rocks, craters of extinct
+volcanoes, and deep-sea beds, but no water.
+
+“What a terrible place,” thought Niona, without speaking.
+
+“Yes,” said the Old Man of the Moon, “it is so. We once had all, but
+age came upon us, as it has now come to you.”
+
+“To me?” cried Niona.
+
+“Yes, to you,” he replied. “Look into the Grotto of Shadows yonder.”
+
+Niona walked to a deep cave and looked down. There she saw reflected
+the face of an old woman, older than any she had ever seen on earth.
+
+“Horrors!” she cried, “How can I escape this awful fate?”
+
+“There is but one way,” said the Moon Man. “Come with me.”
+
+They ascended a high mountain and looked afar to the “City of Good
+Works.” One end of a rainbow rested in a great square of the city, and
+people, bejewelled and wearing beautiful costumes, were dancing around
+it. There was music, such as Niona had never heard in the woods, and
+great gardens with flowers bursting into bloom, and birds of wondrous
+plumage, too numerous to imagine.
+
+“This,” said the Moon Man, “is the abode of contentment.”
+
+“Oh! How can I get there?” cried Niona.
+
+“There is but one way,” he answered as she looked in wonderment. “You
+must go back to earth and there seek out those who need help and
+comfort; be kind to the aged, and share your blessings with those who
+most need them. If you promise to do this, you may return.”
+
+“I promise, I promise!” cried Niona, “When may I go?”
+
+“At once,” answered the Moon Man, taking a great bow and an arrow that
+was so long its head rested on a mountain miles away. On the other
+end was a little compartment, lighted with many colored lights, and
+containing chairs and a table which was set with the most dainty fruits
+and cakes.
+
+“Get in, hold tight, and keep your promise.” As he spoke he touched her
+lightly on the shoulder, and she began at once to regain her youth and
+beauty.
+
+She stepped into the fairy car.
+
+“Remember your promise,” said the Moon Man sternly. “Are you ready?”
+
+“Yes,” replied Niona.
+
+Before she could say more, she found herself flying toward earth;
+nearer and nearer she flew. Soon a light appeared, then another and
+another. Soon she could see the great lake, then her old father who was
+sitting outside his lodge. He was crying, “Niona, Niona, come back!”
+
+“I’m coming!” she called, as the great arrow plunged into the earth,
+stopping just in time so Niona could step out and be welcomed by her
+father.
+
+[Illustration: “I’m coming!”]
+
+“I’ve come to help you gather wood, and to fish, and to sew
+caribou-skins, and make snares, and cure the moose-skins, and to hunt,
+and to draw water.”
+
+He looked up and smiled, he had grown very old.
+
+“Where are your fine clothes?” he asked.
+
+Niona looked down at her feet, and behold! she was in rags!
+
+“I shall not need them now, good father. I have come to serve you.”
+
+For many moons she had been faithful to her promise made to the Man
+in the Moon, when, one day, there came from the forest, a handsome
+brave, with a deer slung over his shoulder--not the Indian she had
+admired before her strange journey, but one nobler and taller. Walking
+toward the old man he said: “You have a beautiful daughter. May I wed
+her when the moon is full?”
+
+“She is a good daughter, and may do as she thinks best,” replied the
+chief.
+
+Niona grew to love the young Indian, and they were married and devoted
+their lives to her father as long as he lived. They lived to be very
+old, beloved by their tribe for their good works. When they died they
+were mourned by all who knew them. It is said they are now living in
+the beautiful City of the Rainbow.
+
+
+
+
+WHY DOGS DO NOT TALK
+
+
+At the foot of a mountain, with his daughter Neti and his dog, lived
+Nudi, an Indian whose wife had left him. He was fond of both, but of
+the two he loved his dog more dearly as she gave to him affection and
+obedience.
+
+At the time the incidents of this story happened all dogs could talk.
+Then language was very primitive, but as the dog has for nearly all
+time been a friend of man and his companion, each learned the language
+of the other, as does man when associating with a people speaking
+another language.
+
+The dog, being also the most sociable of all animals, learned that
+man could hunt with more skill when in quest of food, and before he
+became his companion, would follow on his trail and devour the meat
+discarded by him. When the dog found man a kindly being, he would join
+in the hunt, each finding the other helpful. Man found the dog had
+more highly developed the instinct for location, and that his sense of
+smell and his hearing were more acute, combining also the pleasure he
+enjoyed in associating with man rather than with his own kind. So man
+and dog became fast and enduring friends, and as some one has said of
+the latter, “the most intimate and companionable comrade for man of all
+the kingdom of animals.”
+
+So Nudi and his dog, Happy, would wander off to the mountains in
+search of game, and fish the waters for trout so plentiful in the dark,
+winding streams that came down with such a rush from the upper reaches
+of the mighty mountain that Nudi called “The Giant.”
+
+[Illustration: So Nudi and his dog, Happy, would wander off to the
+mountains]
+
+Sometimes they would have much to say, sometimes little. Happy would
+always consider the moods of Nudi--if he was not disposed to talk, she
+would run along beside him if the path was wide, and if not, follow at
+his heels in silence.
+
+There was something Happy had for a long time wanted to tell Nudi,
+about his daughter, but she would always hesitate, for she felt that
+perhaps it would not be right as it was natural for all creatures to
+love some one. Neti was very beautiful; she had many young braves who
+admired her, and she was very fond of their wooing, as she was also
+fond of the pretty trinkets they would bestow upon her. But the youth
+Neti liked the most, her father did not favor, so, unknown to him,
+she would go for long walks with her lover, and Happy knew, as she
+had followed them, that he had kissed her and said to her words of
+affection which Neti liked, even though she blushed and had taken her
+hand from his.
+
+One day, trailing a bear, Happy told all she knew of Neti’s romance.
+This vexed the father, so he threatened not to allow Neti to go
+more than twenty paces from the lodge, and to take from her all the
+baubles she had received from her admirers, this being the most severe
+punishment he could inflict. He also went to Tiki, the Shaman of the
+tribe, and asked him to make medicine and bring upon the lover some
+evil.
+
+[Illustration: One day, trailing a bear, Happy told all she knew of
+Neti’s romance]
+
+“No,” said the Shaman, “It is not upon the young brave, but upon your
+dog that I shall bring punishment.”
+
+“No, no!” said Nudi, “My dog is my friend. You shall not bring upon her
+any misfortune!”
+
+“Yes,” said Tiki, “she has told that which she should not. We cannot
+ourselves judge of another’s affection. We must choose according to the
+dictates of our own hearts.”
+
+[Illustration: “Yes,” said Tiki, “she has told that which she should
+not.”]
+
+So the Medicine Man used his powers so that dogs could never talk
+again; but left them the capacity to understand the language of all
+mankind. Though he took from all dogs the power of speech, he left to
+them fidelity, patience, and affection, and made them so nearly human
+that many who have loved them mourn their loss almost as much as one
+of their own kind. For has not the dog much of human intelligence with
+none of man’s conceit, hypocrisy or ingratitude? Does he not cling to
+his master no matter how humble may be his lot or how spare may be his
+meal? He will even forgive those who abuse and neglect him. No matter
+what may be the adversity that befalls those around him, he is still
+their loyal, clinging friend.
+
+What an object-lesson is this patient, trusting creature that
+shares man’s companionship, a companionship that if broken by the loss
+of the master, has sometimes ended in the death of man’s best and
+truest friend.
+
+
+
+
+MR. FISH AND YONI
+
+
+Yoni, an old Indian, had lost his wife by death, so, to the custom of
+his people, he covered her body with birch-bark, and wrapped it in a
+large moose-skin. Then, with the help of his friends, he put the body
+on a platform high up in the boughs of a tall, young spruce-tree.
+
+He then cut his hair very short, as a sign of mourning, and began to
+think how alone he would be during the long winter days.
+
+The frost had come and touched the trees and bush, and the beautiful
+colors that the artist of Nature was painting upon them, just a little
+while before Nature destroyed the picture, began to appear in places
+here and there, all over the land. The fine birds that sang to Yoni,
+and the plain little wrens he loved best were leaving, one by one,
+to wing their ways to the Southland where the sun is always warm and
+smiling, and Jack Frost and his bearded old relation Father Winter are
+unknown.
+
+Yoni had been very happy during the many years of his life. He was a
+good hunter, so of deer meat and fish he always had a plentiful supply.
+But his age, even with all the pleasant memories of the years gone by,
+meant to him in his solitude only sorrow and loneliness. He would have
+been glad if his wife, many years younger than he, could have lived to
+help him in his old age, but this was not to be.
+
+He would sit outside his lodge, and watch the beavers working on their
+dam just across the river, and recall how he had told his wife, Noimi,
+who was very pretty in his eyes, that there was no one to compare with
+her in all the graces and virtues, that she must not go for wood when
+the nights were cold; and if she did, he would call her back and insist
+that she go into the tipi and sit by the fire, and if she wished, she
+could sew on the skins that would keep them warm during the winter.
+
+He would waken at night, and out of the silence would come, from far
+across the lonely hills, the barking of the great timber-wolves,
+sounding like big dogs. Sometimes a stealthy bear would come with
+its cubs and tear down his fish-racks, and carry off the fish he had
+dressed and was drying for the winter. In the morning he would go out
+to see what damage they had done. He would never get angry, saying in
+a low voice: “Let them eat. It’s very bad to be hungry.” Then he would
+smile at their destruction, and with thin, trembling hands, try to
+straighten the poles.
+
+Twice a day he would pull up his nets that were made of willow fibre.
+Sometimes there were many fish, and sometimes only a few--but he never
+complained, for there were always enough for his needs now that he
+was all alone--having not even a dog. The preceding fall he had had
+two, but one had wandered away and he had given the other to Moni,
+his friend, who lived just around the bend of the river, and who was
+busy hauling wood for his winter fires, so did not come to visit him
+so often as in summer. Moni was growing old also, and his children had
+left him, all but a daughter, and she was blind, and not much help.
+
+One morning before it was very light, old Yoni heard a terrific
+splashing in the water above the place he tied his canoe. He had heard
+the connie or pike making a great rumpus when trying to catch a frog,
+but the splashing increased, so Yoni started for the shore as fast as
+his poor old legs could go. There he found a strange and very large
+fish splashing and floundering, and the more he floundered the more he
+became entangled in Yoni’s net, and the only one he had.
+
+[Illustration: There he found a strange and very large fish splashing
+and floundering]
+
+When the fish saw Yoni he called: “Come quickly and release me. I’m
+afraid I shall die. Come! I feel so strange.”
+
+Yoni made no effort to untangle the monster, who was just twenty-five
+feet long to an inch.
+
+“Oh!” thought Yoni, “You are a fine catch; you’ll be food for me all
+winter and much to spare; this I can barter with Moni for my winter’s
+wood.” And Yoni was pleased and smiled, and this he did not do very
+often.
+
+The more the creature struggled, the more and the tighter the net held
+him.
+
+“Hurry!” called the fish, not knowing what Yoni had been thinking
+about. Then he became perfectly still, and looking up at Yoni in a very
+appealing way said: “You are an old man. Get me out of this tangle and
+I will reward you.”
+
+“How?” said Yoni, becoming very much interested to have an affair with
+a fish that could talk.
+
+“There are many places and people,” said the fish, “along these great
+river ways that you have never seen.”
+
+“Yes,” said Yoni, becoming more interested. “The Yellow Knife, the Dog
+Rib, the Cree and many tribes far away to the North.”
+
+“I know their language,” said the fish. “Release me and I will take you
+where you will be among friends, and to those who will honor your old
+age. As you know, the rivers are long with many rapids that would upset
+your old canoe, and crush it on the rocks. Many of the portages are
+high hills, and many too rough and stony for your feet.”
+
+“This is all very well in words,” said Yoni, “but you may be like
+many of the fur-traders who do not always speak words that are to be
+depended upon.”
+
+Although the net was very tight about the neck of the fish, he managed
+to smile.
+
+“Ah” said he, “fish who talk never are known to speak untruths. Release
+me, and I will prove to you my gratitude by taking you anywhere you
+wish to go.”
+
+So Yoni, convinced that he was talking to a truthful fish, waded
+slowly arm deep in the water, and cut the tangled strands holding his
+new-found friend.
+
+“Just a moment,” said the fish after the last strand binding his gills
+had been severed, and he straightened out to see if his tail and fins
+were in working order, “I’ll swim out a little way to see if everything
+is right for our journey.” So far from shore and nearly to the middle
+of the stream the fish swam.
+
+“He’ll never come back,” thought Yoni, “and my net is in shreds.”
+
+Far out, and out of sight the monster had gone. At first Yoni thought
+he would never believe the promise of a talking-fish again, but knowing
+he had saved the creature’s life, he thought he might keep faith with
+one who had so truly befriended him. Just as Yoni was really losing
+faith, the fish rose to the surface far out in midstream.
+
+“I’m coming,” he called. “There are a few scales missing, but otherwise
+I’m all right for a long swim.”
+
+Yoni was glad his confidence was justified, although he did begin to
+think the story was fishy, like others where fish were concerned.
+
+“Wade out to the rock,” called the fish. “I’ll swim alongside; you get
+on my back and then we’ll be off for anywhere.”
+
+So Yoni with some difficulty waded to the rock, and climbed upon it
+just as the fish rose alongside. Yoni got aboard, straddling the huge
+back as if he were riding a horse just as he had once done before he
+grew so old.
+
+“Where shall we go, and what is your name?” asked the fish.
+
+“Yoni,” replied the old Indian, “What is yours?”
+
+“Piscatori,” answered the huge creature.
+
+“What a strange name,” said Yoni, “I am afraid I cannot remember it. My
+memory is not so good as it was years ago.”
+
+“That’s not important,” replied the fish. “Just call me Mr. Fish. I’ll
+understand.”
+
+Yoni thought that was best, so he asked the fish to turn around and go
+down the river to a place where he had set his snares and traps the
+year before. So Mr. Fish turned around and began to swim so fast it
+took Yoni’s breath almost away.
+
+“Not so fast, Mr. Fish,” called Yoni. “I’m afraid I’ll slip off.”
+
+“Oh, no!” said Mr. Fish. “Hold onto my front fin. Look out you don’t
+prick your fingers, the points are sharp. If you get cold, lift up the
+fin, step down, and you’ll find a cosy room just large enough to hold
+you comfortably.”
+
+So Yoni, being just a little chilly, with some difficulty raised the
+fin, and to his great joy and surprise he found such a cosy little
+place like a little room, with the floor and sides covered with the
+most beautifully colored scales--just as if they had stolen the tints
+from an Arctic rainbow or from the inside of a beautiful shell. And it
+was so warm, and Mr. Fish said, “Quite waterproof.”
+
+Yoni had not been so really contented for many years. He sat upon a
+strange little seat, so soft and warm, and looking around he found to
+his great astonishment that each scale formed a little window through
+which he could look out. Mr. Fish was passing through the deepest part
+of the river, and Yoni could see so many strange water things, fish of
+many colors and shapes, turtles, eels, frogs, rocks with very beautiful
+clinging vines in which fish of many kinds were hiding. Yoni was in a
+maze of wonderment that was broken by the movement of Mr. Fish, who
+was pointing for the bank. Yoni looked out and recognized the place as
+the one at which he had camped many years before, and just across the
+river where the old elm was still standing, was the spot where he had
+first met Noimi, who afterward became his wife. This made him sad, but
+he felt better when he realized he had found a new friend and a very
+agreeable companion. Though he had not felt bold enough to ask, he
+thought Mr. Fish was much older than he himself was.
+
+The fish swam to a great tree that had fallen into the water, due to
+the underwash of a swiftly flowing river and the grinding ice that cuts
+the banks in the spring.
+
+“Get off here,” said Mr. Fish; and Yoni raised the fin and stepped out
+on the tree, and then climbed the steep bank. Mr. Fish, seeing how
+infirm the old man was, moved a little, then backing up, raised his
+strong tail and gave Yoni a gentle push.
+
+“That is a great help,” said Yoni. Mr. Fish made no reply. He was
+thinking how unfortunate it was to be old, and of the “Tree of Youth”
+that grew where the waters of the Slave River flowed into the great
+lake of the same name.
+
+Mr. Fish waited patiently for the old man to return from his
+wanderings, and when he did, his eyes were red from weeping.
+
+“Cheer up,” said Mr. Fish, “we are going on a long journey. To go by
+canoe would take five or six days. If the water is not low, I can do it
+before sundown.”
+
+“Good for you,” said Yoni, having great confidence in Mr. Fish as a
+means of transport.
+
+Mr. Fish smiled. “I’ll give the old fellow the greatest surprise of his
+life,” said he to himself as he swished his tail to the right and to
+the left with the power of a great propeller.
+
+“My! how fast we are going,” said Yoni aloud; and he told Mr. Fish so,
+but he was too busy dodging rocks and sunken timber to have answered
+even had he heard Yoni.
+
+[Illustration: “My! how fast we are going!”]
+
+On Mr. Fish swam, cutting the corners of the river, winding his
+way between sunken ledges, leaping great rapids in which many a
+trapper’s scow had been crushed, as the little crosses on the graves
+on the banks can testify--struggling over shallow water, getting fast
+on sand-bars covered with wreckage from the great forests, held by
+boulders in narrow ways and pushing through with his muscular tail and
+wiggles--then down into deep water where things looked black and spooky
+to Yoni. For hours, fast and slow, the great physical being worked like
+a mighty engine.
+
+“What will become of me?” thought Yoni, “if anything happens to Mr.
+Fish?”
+
+As the sun was falling and the shadows were dying in the water, the
+craft of flesh pulled to the bank, and Yoni, a bit cramped from being
+so long in one position, got on the back of Mr. Fish and looked around
+to survey his surroundings.
+
+“We’ll remain here to-night,” said the fish, as he wiped the
+perspiration from his kind face.
+
+“You must be very tired,” observed Yoni.
+
+“Oh, no!” answered Mr. Fish. “It’s a bit strenuous when one has a cargo
+aboard, to get over dry land when one is accustomed to a water route.
+Going back you’d better take your time--that is if I don’t go back with
+you.”
+
+Yoni looked worried.
+
+“Why have you brought me so far from home?” he asked.
+
+“Don’t ask silly questions,” replied Mr. Fish. “On the bank yonder
+you’ll find some leaves and fagots. I’d help you if I could, but it
+makes me very short of wind to be out of water very long, so you will
+have to excuse me. Collect an armful, build a fire under the tree with
+the leaves all aflame with the ‘Fire of Youth’--that one” pointing with
+his fin. “There are berries enough on the hill for your supper. I’ll
+sleep in the black hole over there. It’s near the shore.”
+
+Yoni went about gathering leaves and small sticks which he placed near
+the tree, as there were many spots showing little piles of ashes where
+fires had been built before. While he was standing under the strange
+tree, a leaf would now and again fall--it seemed to him, all aflame.
+One touched his forehead and fell to the ground. He stooped to pick it
+up, but just as his fingers touched it, it disappeared.
+
+“What can be the meaning of this?” said Yoni to himself, and then he
+remembered Mr. Fish having said something about the “Fire of Youth.” A
+strange desire to sleep came over him, and all night he slept, dreaming
+strange dreams of fairies and places and people.
+
+The sunshine chased away a gray dawn and shone straight in Yoni’s
+face. He turned to get away from the glare, and in turning he felt
+so strange that he partly awakened. Becoming wide-awake, he gripped
+the grass and leaves with a vigor long forgotten. He looked at his
+hands. They again had the appearance of youth. His limbs were hard and
+muscular. Looking down, he discovered he was wearing a beautifully
+embroidered suit of moose-skin made for him by Noimi many years before.
+Looking up, he saw that the tree under which he had fallen asleep was
+now bare of all foliage, and not a leaf was to be seen on the ground.
+Everything seemed strange to him.
+
+“Mr. Fish! Mr. Fish!” called Yoni in a voice so strong it almost
+frightened him. “Where are you, Mr. Fish?”
+
+[Illustration: “Mr. Fish! Mr. Fish!” called Yoni]
+
+Mr. Fish was so tired on account of his long journey, that Yoni had to
+call many times. At last the vibrations of Yoni’s voice touched the
+ear of the fish, and he awoke, moved his tail, blew the water, and
+swam slowly to the bank. Of course, he knew what had happened when he
+saw the young man on the shore. He smiled so hard that three scales
+loosened by the struggle of the day before fell off, and went sailing
+and sinking down-stream.
+
+“Good morning! ... and good-by! Long life and always happy days to
+you. Seek Noimi in the lodge just over the hill. I’m off for the sea.”
+
+Yoni called frantically, but Mr. Fish had gone so fast and far, he
+could not hear. He would not have come back if he had, having given to
+the old man “Youth,” some say, the most beautiful and precious of all
+things.
+
+
+
+
+FIRE BOY AND WATER BOY
+
+
+As long as the oldest Indians could remember, the Fire and Water Boys
+had lived along the shores of the great lake called Athabasca. They
+never seemed to grow any older; sometimes they were very good and
+very helpful--sometimes, very annoying and often destructive. When
+the Indians grew tired of their pranks and tried to punish them, many
+strange things would happen.
+
+Far off the shore of Chipewyan lies an island, beautifully wooded and
+shaped very like a lady’s hat. On this island, alone, for nearly fifty
+years had lived Ani, who seldom spoke to any one, nor did she ever go
+to the mainland to enter into the festivities of the other Indians
+living in the vicinity of the settlement comprising two old Hudson’s
+Bay forts, a store of the company that traded with the Indians, a log
+church and a few straggling huts that fringed the woodlands on one side
+and the lake on the other. In winter the Indians trapped and hunted
+for the many valuable fur animals that roamed the desolate parts of
+this great northern wilderness, and in the spring and summer fished for
+their winter supply for their dogs that helped them drag the game from
+the woods, often many miles from the settlement.
+
+The women made white and colored moccasins of the most beautiful
+designs, adorned with porcupine quills dyed in many colors, some of the
+strands being almost as fine as a hair. These were braided and twisted
+with silk cords also of many colors, making a charming adornment
+for the feet, even of a queen. Because the Indian women were not
+industrious, there were but few made, and these were all bought by the
+trappers, so people of the Southland never saw them.
+
+Far beyond the island on which Ani had made her home so long, was
+another smaller one where Ani’s lover, a very handsome Beaver Indian,
+had lived more than forty years before. He had gone on a long trail for
+moose and caribou and had never returned; and every morning at dawn,
+and in the evening at sunset Ani would take a wild flower that her
+lover had given her, and which she had kept in a squirrel-skin bag, and
+go to the edge of the lake when the sun made a path of gold away across
+to the far shore, and call in her feeble voice to the Great Spirit to
+send back her brown-eyed boy of so many dead years of long ago. But he
+never came, and her heart grew more sad as the years passed. There were
+so many reasons why she wanted him--her tipi needed repairing, it was
+hard for her to cut wood, the path to the lake was stony and sometimes
+she would bruise her feet and groan; but there was no one to hear or to
+help her. She would not leave the island, fearing if she did her lover
+would return and would not be able to find her.
+
+One morning she heard the paddle of a canoe, and thinking perhaps he
+had come, she threw down her pan in which she was frying a portion of
+rabbit that she had snared two days before, and slowly crawled to the
+opening of her tipi and looked out; but it was not he--only two boys
+who were pointing their canoe directly to the path leading to her camp.
+
+“Hello, Granny Ani!” called the boy plying the bow paddle, but Ani was
+so disappointed she made only a grunt as a reply.
+
+“Hello!” they called again.
+
+Ani made no answer, standing with a worried look.
+
+“Get some fagots,” called the boy in the bow. “We have brought a goose
+and caribou tongues, and we will share them with you.”
+
+[Illustration: “We have brought a goose and caribou tongues, and we
+will share them with you”]
+
+Ani seemed pleased and went for an armful of dry branches--she had not
+eaten goose for so long, and caribou tongue she had almost forgotten.
+She was so slow the boys went to help her, and gathered for her a fine
+lot of branches, dry and just the right size to make a quick and hot
+fire. The goose was prepared and strung on a birch branch, as also were
+the tongues, just close enough to the fagots to roast without burning.
+
+“I have no tinder,” said Ani.
+
+“Never mind,” said the boy with the bright, flashing eyes, and with the
+tip of his finger he touched the branches, at which they burst into
+flame, much to the astonishment of Ani.
+
+“Spirits,” thought she, “I’ll not go too near them.”
+
+“Get a gourd,” demanded the other boy in a tone Ani did not like--but
+she obeyed, and brought a fine big one hanging on long strings of
+caribou sinew. She handed it to the boy, and as soon as he had taken
+it, it filled to overflowing with clear, cool water.
+
+“You are children of the Evil Spirit,” said Ani, looking first at one
+and then at the other, and then at the fire.
+
+This remark made the boys laugh.
+
+The goose and tongues were by this time nicely browned, and the edge
+of the fire had spread to a pile of dry leaves. This was put out by
+a gesture of the hand of the boy who had so mysteriously filled the
+gourd. But this Ani had not noticed as she was now anxious to know if
+the boys would make a fair division of the food, as she was growing
+very hungry.
+
+[Illustration: Looking up to her he waved his hand and smiled]
+
+The first boy reached out and tore from the goose a leg dripping
+with rich juice while the other lad took from the stick a dainty
+tongue, and began eating. Ani waited for them to invite her to join in
+the feast, but they did not. This so offended her that she seized the
+nearest boy (who made no resistance) by the hair of the head, and led
+him to the water, pushing him into a deep hole where he sank to the
+bottom. Looking up to her he waved his hand, and smiled, making strange
+faces at the astonished old woman who was too startled to speak. Then
+going back to her tipi, she collected a large armful of leaves and
+piled bundle after bundle of branches until they mounted as high as she
+could reach. Then she went to the other boy with her pipe, pretending
+she wanted to smoke, and asked him to light it, which he did. Then she
+put the fire from her pipe on the ground beneath the great pile and
+blew until a flame burst out, the fire leaping high. Quickly seizing
+the boy, she dragged him to the pile and pushed him into the burning
+mass. He also did not resist, but sat without discomfort in the midst
+of the flames until the fire had burned itself out. Then he shook the
+ashes from his clothing and walked back to his friend who had returned
+from the river, and they finished their meal together.
+
+[Illustration: He sat without discomfort in the midst of the flames]
+
+“Where is the old lady?” asked the boy whom Ani had tried to burn,
+and they went in search, finding her sitting behind an old hut that
+had been deserted before she came to live on the island. She was very
+much worried by their coming, and told them so; but they only smiled,
+and told her she was to have all the goose and the caribou tongues that
+remained, and that they, who were the incarnation of fire and water,
+the elements she needed most, had been sent to her by the spirit of her
+lover to hunt, to make her fire, cook her food, and to water the island
+so berries and herbs would grow--and to do all that fire and water
+could do for her in her old age.
+
+The old Indians who knew Ani said the boys served her in every way
+as long as she lived, and that she was never so happy as when they were
+with her; and some said her young lover came back, and they journeyed
+together to the far-off land that the white man called heaven.
+
+
+
+
+OLD SPOT AND THE CUPIDS
+
+
+Arachnida, or “Spotted Spider,” the name given him by his neighbor
+Yuti, who lived at the edge of the trail not far from the bear’s den,
+had grown so large, and his legs so long that his snare was no longer
+strong enough to bear his weight. Once in a while he would go back to
+it, make a few extra turns, spin stronger strands, and try it out; but
+it was no use, down it came every time he tried. After repairing it, he
+would say to himself, “Never again.” Then he would go back to the dark
+cave in the ledge that for many years had been the home of his friend,
+Bruin, who had wandered away, and had never returned. Nor did any one
+know of his whereabouts.
+
+Old Spot, though having really no claims by right of possession to
+Bruin’s premises, felt he was not trespassing. He had always been on
+the most intimate terms with him, and had served him in many ways,
+recalling how often he had nursed him when Black Bear had feasted,
+not wisely, but too well in the garden of Yuti, who had cultivated a
+well-ordered patch bordering the woodland near his lodge.
+
+Yuti suspected Bruin--in fact had seen him leaving the patch where the
+corn grew several nights before he had gone away; but being on friendly
+terms with Spot, who was very devoted to Bruin, he never made any
+complaint, feeling it was better to live in accord with his neighbors
+rather than to plant the seed of hostility. “Bruin was hungry, so let
+him eat. The sun and rain will cause more corn to grow.” This is what
+Yuti would say.
+
+Old Spot had always lived alone, weaving his snare in the most likely
+place for his prey, just at the beginning of the trail as it entered
+the wood, and in good view of his apartment in the ledge. His spinners
+and spinnerets had the reputation of making the strongest silk thread
+in that vicinity.
+
+Of course, Spot was proud of this, but he was getting on in years--some
+of his twelve eyes were losing focus, and he sometimes felt, though
+not always, with Bruin away and Yuti not as sociable as he would have
+liked him to be, that life did not have much attraction for him. His
+mandibles did not serve him with the same dexterity that they had
+possessed when he was younger, when he tried to seize his prey and
+squeeze it: this depressed him. There were also symptoms of rheumatism
+in two or three of his many legs, causing troublesome and disagreeable
+pains; and having many legs and long ones, the chances were that his
+suffering would be much more serious than if they had been fewer and
+shorter.
+
+Knowing that these symptoms without doubt meant the approach of age,
+he became very blue at times, and for days would not stir from his
+quarters to see if his snare held any food for him.
+
+For two days and as many nights he slept with his long slender legs
+wrapped about him. The fall was coming on and he would often wake
+himself by chilly shudders, the nights being very, very cold. On the
+morning of the third day he was wakened by a strange noise. The sound
+came from the direction of his snare, but knowing that the young fox
+and the lynx made noises like real babies he paid little heed. Changing
+his position because three of his hind legs had gotten tangled, he
+settled again for another sleep of a day or two. Again the sounds like
+those of a crying child disturbed him, and again he said to himself:
+
+“It’s only a young thing that has strayed from its mother.”
+
+Before he had finished thinking, the cries became louder and more
+appealing; so Spot, being of a kindly nature, though age had hardened
+him as it does so many, decided to investigate.
+
+He had been in one position so long that his legs, or a half-dozen of
+them, refused to work as he would like to have had them; but being very
+hungry from his long fast, he drew himself together, and with a big
+effort and a bigger grunt, stood up, stretched himself, and walked to
+the entrance to his den.
+
+Just as he poked his face out Yuti, who was gathering fagots to make a
+fire to roast a fat rabbit he had snared the night before, called out:
+
+“You’ve got a fine catch this morning.”
+
+[Illustration: “You’ve got a fine catch this morning”]
+
+Spot did not answer. Turning in the direction of his snare that was
+stretched from either side of the trail, attached to as fine a pair
+of white birches as ever plumed a wood, he beheld two creatures with
+great, tapering wings, beating and struggling for freedom, making at
+the same time, wee, shrill cries that caused Spot to hurry his pace.
+
+His first thought was for the safety of his snare.
+
+“Here’s a pretty mess,” thought he. “How shall I ever repair it?”
+
+All the time Spot was hobbling toward the strange, struggling things,
+their cries increased. They were real heart-piercing cries. The more
+they shrieked the more they struggled, and alas, poor Spot’s snare was
+being torn to ribbons.
+
+The cries were so terrifying that Spot was just a bit frightened, but
+having been always very courageous, he rather resented the feeling of
+timidity, and, quickening his steps, he approached the destroyers and
+the destroyed.
+
+“Bears and beetles!” ejaculated Spot, “What have I caught this time?”
+
+Fast in the lashings of his great web a brace of Cupids were beating
+their splendid wings vigorously against his snare. As he came near they
+cried more lustily.
+
+“Where does so much sound come from?” thought Spot, looking at their
+rosy, plump little bodies.
+
+Seeing Spot approaching them, they cried all the louder; but observing
+his venerable and kindly face, they suddenly became quiet, waiting to
+see what was to be their fate.
+
+“Well, my children,” said Spot in a gentle tone, “you’ve made a pretty
+kettle of fish of my only means of securing food. Where did you come
+from, and what are your names?”
+
+“Get us out of this tangle and we’ll tell you all about it,” said the
+Cupids in chorus.
+
+Old Spot gathered the end of a long strand of spider silk that was
+floating with the wind, and began to wind.
+
+“Hurry!” said one of the little prisoners. Spot hurried as fast as he
+could, but the faster he worked his spinner the oftener he broke the
+thread.
+
+“Be patient,” said Spot, “The more haste the less speed.”
+
+“Yes, but I’m cramped,” said the Cupid who was bound tighter than his
+mate, as he struggled to free himself. Part of the great web fastened
+to the birches began to sag from the weight of the chubby little
+victims.
+
+“Have a heart,” commanded Spot in a sterner voice than before. “There
+will be nothing left of my trap if you don’t keep quiet.”
+
+“But you are so slow,” observed the one with four dimples on his hand.
+
+At last the sticky threads were tightly bound on Spot’s spinners, and
+the poor tired little chubs, being free, stood up, slowly moving their
+wings that had been so ruffled and mussed by old Spot’s food-catcher.
+
+“You asked our names and where we came from,” straightening out their
+wings and adjusting a few shaggy feathers.
+
+“Yes,” said Spot, scratching his head with his hindermost leg in
+meditation.
+
+“Cupid is our name. We have no home.”
+
+“No home?” echoed Spot. “What is your other name?”
+
+“We have no other name, it’s just Cupid.”
+
+“That’s news to me,” said Spot thoughtfully, adding:
+
+“Aye, aye! You’re the little chaps that make a lot of trouble in the
+world. I’ve heard of you very often.”
+
+“Yes, and a lot of happiness,” they replied timidly, in a voice not
+bigger than a wren’s.
+
+Again the little fellows flapped their splendid wings, that were
+gradually getting back to their original form.
+
+“Not quite so much breeze; I’m very sensitive to drafts,” pled Spot,
+eyeing the pair with a feeling of pity.
+
+“No father or mother? Poor kiddies,” thought he.
+
+“You have always been alone?”
+
+“Always,” they replied.
+
+“Have you nothing to wear to keep you warm?”
+
+“Nope,” they replied, shivering just a little, seeing old Spot was
+being moved to sympathy.
+
+“We’ll see about that,” he said. “Come over to my house, and I’ll build
+a fire for you.” So over they all went to Spot’s den.
+
+“What a delightful place,” said the Cupids, looking around.
+
+“You like it, do you?” said Spot.
+
+“It’s very cosy,” said they as they entered the den, and cuddled in
+one corner where the leaves had blown in as if to make a comfortable
+bed for them.
+
+“Would you like to make your home with me?”
+
+They looked at each other with an expression of pleasure, each
+anticipating the reply of the other to be “Yes.”
+
+“Would you let us?”
+
+Spot did not reply, he was so deep in thought. “What delightful little
+things to have around,” he almost said aloud.
+
+“Would you let us?” they repeated.
+
+“I’d be glad to have you,” trying not to express too much emotion, as
+he was pleased beyond all measure at the thought of having them for his
+companions.
+
+“What shall we do about our wings; they are so terribly in the way,” as
+they tried to adjust them so they would not scrape the rough wall of
+the cave.
+
+“If you want them clipped my friend Yuti can attend to that,” said Spot.
+
+“Would it hurt?” they asked.
+
+“I think not.”
+
+“All right; can we have it done now?”
+
+“We’ll go and see if Yuti is at home,” replied Spot, looking in the
+direction of Yuti’s moose-skin lodge.
+
+Over they went across the cleared land, where they found Yuti mending
+his moccasins.
+
+“I’ve a job for you,” called Spot, as Yuti looked up very much
+bewildered at the sight that to him was startling.
+
+“I’ve a little job for you, Yuti,” repeated Spot. “Get your tomahawk
+and clip the wings of my little friends.”
+
+Yuti looked at Spot and then at the Cupids. “What a strange request,”
+he thought.
+
+Then Spot took Yuti aside and told him about his strange experience,
+and Yuti only smiled, saying nothing.
+
+Going to his lodge he got his tomahawk and led the party to an old
+oak stump. Then taking the Cupid standing nearest to him, he gently led
+him to the stump and placed his wing upon it. With one stroke off it
+came.
+
+“My! that was easy,” said his interested companion, looking to see if
+it hurt.
+
+“Now the other,” said Yuti, and Cupid turned around.
+
+Down came the strong arm of Yuti, and off came the other wing.
+
+“What a relief,” sighed the little fellow, now free of his troublesome
+appendages. The other Cupid moved toward the stump. It was but the work
+of a few seconds and all was over.
+
+[Illustration: It was but the work of a few seconds and all was over]
+
+Reaching up and each taking one of Yuti’s hands in his, the tiny
+fellows thanked him; then the little party started back to the den.
+
+On their arrival the conversation became more general and less
+constrained, all becoming better acquainted.
+
+“Something must be done about your clothing; we are liable to have snow
+any day,” said Spot, in a tone burdened with solicitude, for spiders
+have the reputation of being kind to their young and those they like,
+even though the lady-spider sometimes devours her husband in a fit of
+anger.
+
+“Let’s go down to the snare and see how much there is left of it,” he
+continued. “If it can’t be repaired I’ll have to weave another, for
+clothing you must have.” After surveying the mass of tangled threads,
+they decided it would be best to make a new web.
+
+For days Spot worked upon it. Then he began the patterns for the
+suits. Up and down, under and over, he wove, warp and woof, doubling it
+and twisting the threads so that the garments would be warm; drawing
+close and tight the strands that formed the strange little affairs to
+be worn by his Cupids--perhaps the only Cupids that ever wore clothes.
+
+They would sit in admiration. “How really clever old Spot is,” they
+remarked.
+
+[Illustration: “How really clever Old Spot is”]
+
+As the wonder garments neared completion, he added pockets, and made
+openings through which the little wings that were left could pass.
+
+Realizing how good he was to them, they decided to be very helpful and
+to serve him in every way possible as long as he lived, which was to be
+for a very long time. When strangers passed and saw the little things
+sitting close to Spot, some would ask: “How is it that their wings are
+so small?”
+
+Then Spot would smile and say: “The reason Cupids have no wings is
+because--they do not want them.” And then Spot would look at the Cupids
+and the Cupids would look at Spot, and they would giggle; but Spot
+would look serious. Of course, the strangers did not understand the
+cause of their merriment.
+
+Sometimes when Spot put the Cupids to bed, and covered and tucked
+them in with sweet grasses and scented moss flowers to keep them warm,
+he would sit beside them when the tree-toad whistled his night song,
+and wonder if they had their large wings again, whether they would fly
+away, and leave him all alone.
+
+
+
+
+THE UNDERWATER PEOPLE
+
+
+One evening in the fall of the year, far-away in the North, on the
+shores of a great lake, there were sitting around the camp-fire a party
+of Beaver Indians. The winter had already set in, for the ice comes
+early, and it is very cold when the sun has gone to rest.
+
+Hocini, the oldest man of the party, had fallen asleep. Around the
+moose-skin tents were scattered bits of wood, dried fish hung on racks,
+and five dogs, used in winter for drawing moose and caribou, were
+sleeping as near as they dared to be, to the warm fire, for the Indians
+are very cruel to their dogs, who really are very good to work so hard
+for masters who do not allow them to get near enough to the fire to
+warm themselves. The hoot owls had begun to make their strange noises
+and open their big, round eyes, for night was their day, and they must
+hunt food when they could see best, which was in the dark.
+
+Away on the far-flung reaches of the hills the wolf began to cry
+and moan. He is a big animal of grayish color, sometimes seven and a
+half feet from the tip of his tail to his nose-end. Many say he came
+originally from Siberia when there was a land crossing from Alaska to
+Siberia, and that his great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers and
+many of his relations way back in the years of long ago came to visit
+our Northland, and liked it so much they did not return to the land of
+their birth. That land is now divided from Alaska by the waters that
+flow from the Arctic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, so if he did ever want
+to go back to visit his relations in Siberia, he would have to swim,
+for no craft that go to Siberia for furs would care to have him for a
+passenger as he has a bad disposition, and cannot be depended upon when
+he is hungry.
+
+While the Indians were sitting by the fire they suddenly saw a man
+passing along in the dusk. He was carrying on his back a strange
+blanket which was sewn with caribou sinew for thread, as the Indians
+had no cotton thread. It was made of dozens and dozens of muskrat
+skins covered with fish-scales all sorted as to color and size, and
+the lining was made of many, many squirrel-skins also covered with
+fish-scales, which were also well matched for color, making a beautiful
+and very warm water-proof covering for his body.
+
+[Illustration: They suddenly saw a man passing along in the dusk]
+
+“Where are you going and what are you going to do?” asked an old man of
+the tribe.
+
+“I’m going to become a young man again,” he replied.
+
+“How will you do that?” asked another old person.
+
+“We will go with you,” said one of the party, “for we like youth, for
+then we can hunt the beaver and moose in far-away mountains.”
+
+“Do as you please,” the stranger replied indifferently.
+
+“Let us go,” said a young brave to two of his brothers-in-law, and they
+got up and went to their tents to get their bows and quivers and long
+hunting moccasins, for it had rained in the morning, and the ground was
+not yet dry.
+
+The stranger called to them, “Hurry!” and seemed out of sorts; but the
+Indians paid no attention to his mood and smiled at his haste.
+
+After saying good-by to their people, they joined the stranger and
+walked through a dark wood until they came to a lake shore. Suddenly
+the strange man who had been walking ahead of them, said: “Xwui!” and
+went through a hole in the ice to the bottom of the deep lake where his
+wife and many children were awaiting him. He did not greet his wife as
+though he was fond of her, and to one of his children he said roughly:
+
+“Tell the men on the shore to do as I have done.”
+
+So the three men went to the hole through which the stranger had gone,
+and dove to the bottom. Then they walked to a settlement on the sands
+of the lake where there were many tents made of all kinds of skins--of
+moose, caribou, white deer, muskrat, lynx, beaver, and many skins the
+Indians had never seen before--and around the tents, walking about,
+were many people, who did not look at them.
+
+The children of the strange Underwater Man would take bits of tough
+grass and make fish snares. Then they would wait for a big fish to
+come swimming along, swishing his tail and looking many ways with his
+strange eyes. The children would hold out the snare, saying, “To nai,”
+which means “fish” in the beaver language. Then the fish would swim
+into the snare and be caught, and would say, as he wriggled to free
+himself, “Do ha-s tei-ul tuk,” which means, “Do not kill me.” Then the
+children would take the fish to their mother, and she would cook it on
+hot stones that lay near a spring of boiling water that came from the
+bed of the lake.
+
+[Illustration: “Do ha-s tei-ul tuk,” which means “Do not kill me”]
+
+The stranger called to the three men to come to his tent and eat. They
+did so, and he shared the fish with them.
+
+Suddenly some one stepped on the foot of the man who had asked his
+brothers-in-law to go with the stranger. He looked up, and saw a giant
+frog standing on his left foot. He could not believe his own eyes, for
+he had never seen a frog so large. The frog said to him:
+
+“I was once a man like yourself, but years ago, while picking
+berries on the shore of the lake, I fell into the water and became a
+frog. I have the secret, and if you wish to become a frog who can live
+both on land and in the water, which has its advantages, I will tell
+you where you can get some wonderful berries, red and sweet. Eat of
+them and lie down on the bottom of the lake, and after you have been
+sound asleep you will awake and be as you see me.”
+
+[Illustration: He looked up and saw a giant frog standing on his left
+foot]
+
+The man who owned the beautiful blanket was angered that the frog had
+given the secret to them, and said: “I do not like it that the minds of
+your people are so intent on us.”
+
+As the visitors were growing very short of breath from being so long
+under water, they said: “We will return to our people, but must go in a
+canoe as the water is making us ill.” So the Underwater Man loaned them
+an old canoe.
+
+“Take care how you use my canoe, for it is not very good,” he called to
+them in a warning way. They paddled nearly to the shore. Then the canoe
+melted away. The men swam for the land, but when they reached it one
+was missing. The other two believed that their brother was dead, but as
+they sat on a big rock they saw his head appear and reappear, and once
+when his head was above water he called:
+
+“I am held by the frog. Help me!” So the two swam out, but when they
+came near to the man he said:
+
+“Go back; I am free, the frog has gone!”
+
+The men swam ashore and stood up. When they looked again they saw a
+great jack-fish--they could not see their brother. The jack-fish swam
+toward them and walked on its tail upon the shore. Like magic it turned
+into a man, and they all returned to the camp, to tell the wonders of
+their adventure.
+
+Suddenly the old man who had gone to sleep began to groan and cry
+out. His wife, who was also very old, said: “Hocini, my husband, is
+dreaming.” The old man then woke up and said in a frightened way: “The
+frog, the frog. Where is he?” and his wife said:
+
+“Poor old man, the frog is in the lake,” and Hocini said: “I have been
+dreaming again,” and his wife said “Yes,” and laughed, and so did the
+old man.
+
+
+
+
+WATC’ AGIC KILLS THE TALKING-BIRDS
+
+
+Once there was a man who wandered all over the earth. He had as his
+companions many kinds of birds who could not, or would not, talk
+or sing without his consent. He was a man who talked little but
+thought much, and noises worried him, especially the noises made by
+talking-birds like the parrot and the magpie.
+
+[Illustration: Once there was a man who wandered all over the earth]
+
+In his wanderings he would meet many kinds of people who did not
+like him, because when they spoke to him he would only say “Yes” or
+“No” to any questions they would ask. Of course, his attitude toward
+all he met made them angry, and when he visited the villages the second
+time, many of the Indians threatened to kill him. The places in which
+he thought he would be in the most danger he would go around and not
+show himself or his bird companions, for he was very kind to them, and
+they held him in great respect, although he had told them he would
+surely rid himself of their company if they should talk so loud that
+his enemies could hear them. They also feared him, for many times had
+they seen the way he had treated other birds, and they knew what his
+mission was.
+
+One day, after a long walk, they came to the foot of a high hill.
+Around the hill and coming from afar, they could see great numbers of
+birds.
+
+“This,” said the man, “is the ‘City of Birds,’ and no man dare go among
+them. If he should, they would pick his eyes out. Many times have I
+heard my father tell of his band of beavers who went among them, and of
+their fate.”
+
+“Let us go!” spoke up a great eagle. “I will defend you. My parents’
+nest was on yonder mountain, and I have many relations living among
+them.”
+
+“As you will,” said the man, “but let us wait until night falls and
+they are asleep.”
+
+The eagle had been talking matters over with his companions, and they
+all, with the exception of a few of the smaller birds, decided to go,
+happen what might. So at dusk they started.
+
+The road was long and dusty, and many times they had to wait for the
+vain birds to clean their plumage and arrange their feathers, but it
+was better so, because many of the older birds of the City of Birds
+had not returned to their nests. The man, although impatient, thought
+they might have been discovered if this cause for their delay had not
+happened.
+
+As they approached the city, a night-hawk who was just going to
+work, gave a wild scream. This caused a great awakening in the town,
+and all the birds went to the public square in alarm.
+
+The eagle said “Go on.” So the party boldly went among the crowd.
+Some, I can assure you, were very much frightened; but they had great
+confidence that some of the relations of the eagle would be living, and
+would no doubt befriend them.
+
+When the mayor of the town, a great pelican, saw the strange bundle the
+man carried on his back, he said: “My good brother, what have you on
+your back?”
+
+[Illustration: “My good brother, what have you on your back?”]
+
+“They are my songs,” the man replied.
+
+“Ah!” said the mayor, “sing them, and I will have my troupe of dancing
+flamingoes keep time to your songs.”
+
+“Those who dance to my songs, and those who do not, if strangers to
+me, must keep their eyes shut when I sing,” said the man.
+
+The mayor called to the crowd that was chattering so loud his voice
+could hardly be heard. So he called again:
+
+“Do you agree, my townsmen?”
+
+He opened his mouth so wide that a great fish he had eaten for supper
+floundered out of his pouch. Before repeating his question he leaned
+over and picked it up. Again he repeated, “Do you all agree to keep
+your eyes closed when the gentleman sings?”
+
+“We will do as you desire,” many of them replied.
+
+So it was agreed. A great fountain in the middle of the square
+contained many fish both large and small. These fish were for the use
+of the mayor only, as he was getting old, and to climb the long hill
+from the river made him both tired and cross. So the man said:
+
+“Come near the fountain. My songs are of running water and brooks,
+and it will inspire me to sing them more to your pleasure.”
+
+So the crowd moved near the big basin full of water, deep and very wet.
+
+“Bring your flamingoes and I will begin,” said the man.
+
+The eagle called him aside and said: “During your song they will know
+because their eyes are shut, how dark it is for the thousands they have
+made blind.” The man did not reply, but walked close to the fountain.
+
+“Eyes shut!” he called loudly, and the people all closed their eyes and
+he began to sing in a harsh voice, for he could not sing, and disliked
+any kind of music.
+
+    “I will sing of Mayor Pelican,
+      And of his pretty daughter,--
+    And of a dashing pelican
+      Who in matrimony sought her.
+    And while I sing I’ll wring your necks,
+      And throw you in the water.”
+
+[Illustration: And he began to sing in a harsh voice]
+
+All the people smiled but kept their eyes closed, fearing he would stop
+his funny song. So he continued to wring their necks and throw them
+into the deep water of the fountain.
+
+After he had treated them all alike, he said to his companions:
+
+“We are quite safe now; let us remain here until morning, as there are
+many places of shelter and plenty of food.”
+
+So it was agreed, and they resumed their journey about dawn the
+following day.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber’s Notes
+
+
+ • Italics represented with surrounding _underscores_.
+
+ • Small caps converted to ALL CAPS.
+
+ • Duplicate half title before first chapter removed.
+
+ • Illustrations relocated close to relevant content.
+
+ • Footnote numbered and moved below the relevant paragraph.
+
+ • Obvious typographic errors silently corrected.
+
+ • Variations in hyphenation kept as in the original.
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76997 ***
diff --git a/76997-h/76997-h.htm b/76997-h/76997-h.htm
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4f0e9bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/76997-h.htm
@@ -0,0 +1,3401 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html>
+<html lang="en">
+<head>
+    <meta charset="UTF-8">
+    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
+    <title>
+      Wigwam wonder tales | Project Gutenberg
+    </title>
+    <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover">
+    <style>
+
+body { margin: 0 10%; font-family: serif; }
+
+h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {
+    text-align: center; /* all headings centered */
+    clear: both;
+}
+
+h2 { margin-top: 4em; }
+
+a { text-decoration: none; }
+
+p {
+  margin: 0 auto;
+  text-align: justify;
+  text-indent: 1.5em;
+  line-height: 1.75em;
+}
+
+p.fnote {
+  font-size: 90%;
+  text-indent: -1.7em;
+  margin: .5em auto;
+  line-height: 1.5em;
+}
+
+p.drop-cap {
+  text-indent: -0.2em;
+}
+p.drop-cap:first-letter {
+  float: left;
+  margin: 0.17em 0.1em 0em 0em;
+  font-size: 335%;
+  line-height: 0.75em;
+}
+.x-ebookmaker p.drop-cap  {
+  text-indent: 0em; /* restore default */
+}
+.x-ebookmaker p.drop-cap:first-letter {
+  float: none;
+  margin: 0;
+  font-size: 100%;
+}
+
+
+.mtq       {margin-top: .25em;}
+.mt1       {margin-top: 1em;}
+.mt1h      {margin-top: 1.5em;}
+.mt2       {margin-top: 2em;}
+.mt4       {margin-top: 4em;}
+.mt6       {margin-top: 6em;}
+.mt8       {margin-top: 8em;}
+
+.mb1h { margin-bottom: 1.5em; }
+.mb2  { margin-bottom: 2em; }
+.mb4  { margin-bottom: 4em; }
+.mb8  { margin-bottom: 8em; }
+
+.ltsp2 { letter-spacing: 0.2em; }
+.wdsp2 { word-spacing: 0.2em; }
+
+.fs80  { font-size:  80%; }
+.fs120 { font-size: 120%; }
+.fs150 { font-size: 150%; }
+.fs200 { font-size: 200%; }
+
+hr {
+    width: 33%;
+    margin-top: 2em;
+    margin-bottom: 2em;
+    margin-left: 33.5%;
+    margin-right: 33.5%;
+    clear: both;
+}
+
+hr.tb   {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%;}
+hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;}
+@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} }
+hr.full { width: 100%; margin: 0 auto; }
+
+hr.r5  {width: 5%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 47.5%; margin-right: 47.5%;}
+
+div.chapter {page-break-before: always;}
+h2.nobreak  {page-break-before: avoid;}
+
+
+table {
+    margin-left: auto;
+    margin-right: auto;
+    font-size: 90%;
+}
+table.toc, table.toi    { border-collapse: collapse; }
+table.toi {
+  margin: 1em auto;
+  width: 80%;
+  max-width: 32em;
+}
+table.toi td.tdl {
+  padding-left: 1.5em;
+  text-indent: -1.5em;
+}
+table.toi td.tdr { vertical-align: bottom; }
+table td { padding-top: .5em; }
+
+.tdl      {text-align: left;}
+.tdr      {text-align: right; padding-left: 1em; }
+
+.pagenum {
+    position: absolute;
+    left: 92%;
+    font-size: small;
+    text-align: right;
+    font-style: normal;
+    font-weight: normal;
+    font-variant: normal;
+    text-indent: 0;
+    color: gray;
+}
+
+.bbox     {border: 2px solid;}
+.title-box {
+ border: 2px solid;
+ padding: .5em;
+ max-width: 26em;
+ margin: 0 auto;
+}
+
+.center   {text-align: center; text-indent: 0; }
+.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
+.allsmcap {font-variant: small-caps; text-transform: lowercase;}
+.allcap   { text-transform: uppercase; }
+.bold { font-weight: bold; }
+
+figcaption   { font-weight: bold; font-size: 90%; }
+
+/* Images */
+
+img {
+    max-width: 100%;
+    height: auto;
+}
+img.w100 {width: 100%;}
+
+
+.figcenter {
+    margin: 1.5em auto;
+    text-align: center;
+    page-break-inside: avoid;
+    max-width: 100%;
+}
+
+
+/* Footnotes */
+.footnotes        {border: 1px dashed; margin: .75em auto; }
+
+.footnote         {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;}
+
+.footnote .label  {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;}
+
+.fnanchor {
+    vertical-align: super;
+    font-size: .8em;
+    text-decoration:
+    none;
+}
+
+/* Poetry */
+.poetry-container {display: flex; justify-content: center;}
+.poetry-container {text-align: center;}
+.poetry           {text-align: left; margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;}
+.poetry .stanza   {margin: 1em auto;}
+.poetry .verse    {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em; margin-top: .25em; }
+
+/* Transcriber's notes */
+.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA;
+    color: black;
+    font-size:small;
+    padding:0.5em;
+    margin-bottom:5em;
+    font-family:sans-serif, serif;
+}
+.transnote h2 { margin-top: 1em; }
+
+
+/* Poetry indents */
+.poetry .indent0 {text-indent: -3.0em;}
+.poetry .indent2 {text-indent: -2.0em;}
+
+
+/* Illustration classes */
+.illowp49 {width: 49%;}
+.illowp48 {width: 48%;}
+.illowp20 {width: 15%;}
+.illowp47 {width: 47%;}
+    </style>
+</head>
+<body>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76997 ***</div>
+<div class='x-ebookmaker-drop'>
+<figure class="figcenter illowp49" id="cover" style="max-width: 80.25em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Book cover">
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_i">[i]</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class='mt8 mb8'>
+<h1>
+WIGWAM WONDER TALES
+</h1>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_ii"></a><a id="Page_iii"></a><a id="Page_iv"></a>[iv]</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="i004" style="max-width: 62.5em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i004.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      “There will be no living with him,” said the crow
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_v">[v]</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class='title-box'>
+<div class='bbox'>
+
+<div class='mt2 mb2'>
+<p class="center mt1 fs200 ltsp2 bold">WIGWAM</p>
+<p class='center fs200 ltsp2 wdsp2 bold mtq'>WONDER TALES</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='full'>
+
+<div class='mt2'>
+<p class="center fs80">BY</p>
+<p class='center fs150 wdsp2'>WILLIAM THOMPSON</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class='mt6'>
+<p class="center fs80">ILLUSTRATED BY</p>
+<p class='center fs120 wdsp2 mb4'>CARLE MICHEL BOOG</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class='full'>
+
+<p class="center mt1h ltsp2 fs120">NEW YORK</p>
+<p class='center ltsp2 fs120'>CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS</p>
+<p class='center mb1h ltsp2'>1919</p>
+</div></div>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vi">[vi]</span></p>
+</div>
+
+<div class='mt8'>
+<p class='center fs80'>
+  <span class="smcap">Copyright, 1919, by</span><br>
+  CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS</p>
+
+<hr class='r5'>
+  <p class='center fs80'>
+  Published September, 1919
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class='mt8 mb2'>
+<figure class="figcenter illowp20" id="i006" style="max-width: 17.5625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i006.jpg" alt="Publisher’s colophon">
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">[vii]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="DEDICATION">
+    DEDICATION
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>This book is affectionately dedicated to H. T.,
+who for ten years has been my constant companion.
+We have travelled together from the Gulf of Mexico
+to the Arctic Ocean. Have climbed glaciers of
+Alaska and shivered in the fogs of Newfoundland.
+Have rocked in the crafts of the North Sea fishermen.
+Have looked from the Phœnician ruins of Eze to
+the island of Corsica. Have enjoyed the nature
+smiles of southern Europe from Italy to Setubal, the
+ancient Cetubriga of the Romans. Have strolled
+along the highways and byways of Germany, Holland,
+France, Belgium, Moresnet, Italy, and romped
+together in the cork-groves of Portugal and the olive-groves
+of Spain. We have shared the same room in
+spooky inns along the trails of Don Quixote in La
+Mancha, and have ridden fourth-class with a first-class
+ticket hundreds of kilometres ... because
+dogs were not allowed in first-class compartments on
+European railways.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_viii"></a><a id="Page_ix"></a>[ix]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS">
+    CONTENTS
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+<table class="toc">
+<tr>
+<th class="tdl"></th>
+<th class='tdr'><span class='allsmcap'>PAGE</span></th>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap"><a href="#THE_GIANT_BUTTERFLY_AND_THE">The Giant Butterfly and the Mouse</a></span></td>
+<td class='tdr'><a href='#Page_1'>1</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap"><a href="#WACTU_THE_ANIMAL_PAINTER">Wactu, the Animal Painter</a></span></td>
+<td class='tdr'><a href='#Page_15'>15</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap"><a href="#ALITOCI_AND_THE_GIANT_BIRDS">Alitoci and the Giant Birds</a></span></td>
+<td class='tdr'><a href='#Page_28'>28</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap"><a href="#NIONA_AND_THE_MOON_MAN">Niona and the Moon Man</a></span></td>
+<td class='tdr'><a href='#Page_40'>40</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap"><a href="#WHY_DOGS_DO_NOT_TALK">Why Dogs Do Not Talk</a></span></td>
+<td class='tdr'><a href='#Page_56'>56</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap"><a href="#MR_FISH_AND_YONI">Mr. Fish and Yoni</a></span></td>
+<td class='tdr'><a href='#Page_68'>68</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap"><a href="#FIRE_BOY_AND_WATER_BOY">Fire Boy and Water Boy</a></span></td>
+<td class='tdr'><a href='#Page_92'>92</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap"><a href="#OLD_SPOT_AND_THE_CUPIDS">Old Spot and the Cupids</a></span></td>
+<td class='tdr'><a href='#Page_107'>107</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap"><a href="#THE_UNDERWATER_PEOPLE">The Underwater People</a></span></td>
+<td class='tdr'><a href='#Page_129'>129</a></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap"><a href="#WATC_AGIC_KILLS_THE_TALKING-BIRDS">Watc’ Agic Kills the Talking-Birds</a></span></td>
+<td class='tdr'><a href='#Page_144'>144</a></td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_x"></a><a id="Page_xi"></a>[xi]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="ILLUSTRATIONS">
+    ILLUSTRATIONS
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+<table class="toi">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><a href='#i004'>“There will be no living with him,” said the crow</a></td>
+<td class='tdr'><i>Frontispiece</i></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"></td>
+<td class='tdr'><span class='allsmcap'>PAGE</span></td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><a href='#i019'>Every one laughed. What a joke! This tiny mouse offering to release the sun!</a></td>
+<td class='tdr'>5</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><a href='#i023'>“Come down,” said Ayas. “I wish to discuss a business offer with you”</a></td>
+<td class='tdr'>9</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><a href='#i027'>Over their heads they heard a little voice calling, “They fit perfectly”</a></td>
+<td class='tdr'>13</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><a href='#i031'>This he did, much to the amazement of the beaver</a></td>
+<td class='tdr'>17</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><a href='#i035'>Wactu waited patiently for the color-sprites to dance on the snow and lakes</a></td>
+<td class='tdr'>21</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><a href='#i043'>On and on the frightened old man was carried</a></td>
+<td class='tdr'>29</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><a href='#i047'>Down the big tree he lowered himself</a></td>
+<td class='tdr'>33</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><a href='#i051'>The birds walked off in another direction</a></td>
+<td class='tdr'>37</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><a href='#i055'>“Niona, you are so, so beautiful”</a></td>
+<td class='tdr'>41</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><a href='#i061'>Niona felt herself being drawn up and up</a></td>
+<td class='tdr'>47</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><a href='#i067'>“I’m coming!”</a></td>
+<td class='tdr'>53</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><a href='#i071'>So Nudi and his dog, Happy, would wander off to the mountains</a></td>
+<td class='tdr'>57</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xii">[xii]</span>
+<a href='#i075'>One day, trailing a bear, Happy told all she knew of Neti’s romance</a></td>
+<td class='tdr'>61</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><a href='#i079'>“Yes,” said Tiki, “she has told that which she should not.”</a></td>
+<td class='tdr'>65</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><a href='#i087'>There he found a strange and very large fish splashing and floundering</a></td>
+<td class='tdr'>73</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><a href='#i097'>“My! how fast we are going!”</a></td>
+<td class='tdr'>83</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><a href='#i103'>“Mr. Fish! Mr. Fish!” called Yoni</a></td>
+<td class='tdr'>89</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><a href='#i111'>“We have brought a goose and caribou tongues, and we will share them with you”</a></td>
+<td class='tdr'>97</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><a href='#i115'>Looking up to her he waved his hand and smiled</a></td>
+<td class='tdr'>101</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><a href='#i119'>He sat without discomfort in the midst of the flames</a></td>
+<td class='tdr'>105</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><a href='#i127'>“You’ve got a fine catch this morning”</a></td>
+<td class='tdr'>113</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><a href='#i135'>It was but the work of a few seconds and all was over</a></td>
+<td class='tdr'>121</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><a href='#i139'>“How really clever Old Spot is”</a></td>
+<td class='tdr'>125</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><a href='#i145'>They suddenly saw a man passing along in the dusk</a></td>
+<td class='tdr'>131</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><a href='#i151'>“Do ha-s tei-ul tuk,” which means “Do not kill me”</a></td>
+<td class='tdr'>137</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><a href='#i155'>He looked up and saw a giant frog standing on his left foot</a></td>
+<td class='tdr'>141</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><a href='#i159'>Once there was a man who wandered all over the earth</a></td>
+<td class='tdr'>145</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><a href='#i163'>“My good brother, what have you on your back?”</a></td>
+<td class='tdr'>149</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdl"><a href='#i167'>And he began to sing in a harsh voice</a></td>
+<td class='tdr'>153</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_xiii"></a><a id="Page_xiv"></a><a id="Page_1"></a>[1]</span></p>
+
+
+<p class='center fs200 bold mt4'>Wigwam Wonder Tales</p>
+</div>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_GIANT_BUTTERFLY_AND_THE">
+    THE GIANT BUTTERFLY AND THE
+    MOUSE
+  </h2>
+
+
+<p class='drop-cap'><span class='allcap'>When</span> Ayas was a small child,
+hardly able to walk, he would
+try to catch the sunbeams that played
+with his fingers and toes. Onitu, an old
+woman who had noticed his efforts, smiled
+and said: “He will be a sun-catcher some
+day; in all truth, Ayas will be a sun-catcher.”</p>
+
+<p>Of course, the people did not know the
+meaning of her strange remark, and looked
+serious.</p>
+
+<p>Ayas grew to be a man, and travelled
+the long, lonely trails of the forest in search
+for game. One day, being very tired, as
+it was oppressively warm, he lay down to
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[2]</span>
+sleep. During his slumber something that
+passed scorched his leather coat. This
+made him very angry, for upon the coat
+he had worked long days with needle and
+thread, putting many colored beads in
+fantastic design. As he arose, his coat
+fell from his back, and the thread holding
+the beads parted, scattering them upon
+the ground.</p>
+
+<p>“I’ll find out my enemy!” declared
+Ayas, so loud that the animals of the forest
+became frightened and ran to their holes,
+or scampered away in many directions.</p>
+
+<p>Unstringing his bow, lashed many times
+around with caribou sinew, he made a
+snare across the road, and over the spot
+where he had been sleeping. Then he
+went home.</p>
+
+<p>The next day the sun did not rise, or
+the next, and the medicine-men were consulted;
+but they were as much mystified
+as the people, who met in their lodges,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[3]</span>
+many of them too frightened to speak.
+“Had the Great Spirit deserted his people?
+Was this the end of all things?”</p>
+
+<p>Ayas’ sister, who suspected her brother
+had been up to some mischief, went to
+him and said: “What have you been doing
+that the sun does not give light?”</p>
+
+<p>He replied: “I set a snare the other
+day; I will go and see if I have caught
+anything.”</p>
+
+<p>So he went back to the wood where he
+had set his snares, and the nearer he approached
+the hotter it became. When
+he arrived at the opening of the trail he
+saw he had snared the sun. He tried to
+release it, but it would not keep still, jumping
+up and down so fast Ayas could not
+grasp the snares.</p>
+
+<p>“Keep still!” he cried, but his command
+was of no avail. So he called all
+the animals from near and far to help him;
+but it was so hot they dared not approach,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[4]</span>
+fearing their fur would be scorched, and
+as winter was drawing near, they would
+not risk that which kept them warm.</p>
+
+<p>A wee ground-mouse was looking on
+from his tiny hole under a great ant-hill
+that had been deserted. He called to
+Ayas and said: “Go to the giant butterfly
+who makes wings over there in the dead
+pine. If he will agree to make for me a
+pair of wings and guarantee a good fit that
+I may fly back should the sun take me
+with him, I’ll release it.”</p>
+
+<p>Every one laughed. What a joke! This
+tiny mouse offering to release the sun when
+the great animals of the forest dare not
+attempt it! A lynx, just ready to spring
+at the silly little creature, was prevented
+from doing so by Ayas, who gave him a
+stroke across his snout. This is the reason
+the lynx has such a short nose.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="i019" style="max-width: 62.5em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i019.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      Every one laughed. What a joke! This tiny mouse
+    offering to release the sun!
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>Ayas looked at the ant-hill. How large
+it was, and how small the beings that had
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_5"></a><a id="Page_6"></a><a id="Page_7"></a>[7]</span>
+made it. “Perhaps the mouse can do as
+it agrees,” he thought.</p>
+
+<p>It was so hot the grass began to scorch,
+and leaves became seared. Something must
+be done.</p>
+
+<p>“Go to the butterfly and tell him I wish
+to speak to him,” Ayas demanded of the
+mouse.</p>
+
+<p>“He will not come and scorch his wings.
+He has the finest pair in all the lands about
+here,” answered the mouse.</p>
+
+<p>Ayas thought the mouse was right; so
+he started off for the wing factory. When
+he got near the old tree he called, and
+slowly, from a great hole in the trunk
+peered the face of Mr. Butterfly.</p>
+
+<p>“Come down,” said Ayas. “I wish to
+discuss a business offer with you.” The
+great winged creature slowly drew himself
+out of the hole, and spreading his wings,
+glided to the earth. He was so enormous
+Ayas was but a tiny being compared to
+him.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[8]</span></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="i023" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i023.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      “Come down,” said Ayas. “I wish to discuss a business
+    offer with you”
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>“The sun has become entangled in my
+snare,” said Ayas, “and a young and very
+tiny mouse promises that he will release
+it if you will furnish him with a pair of
+wings. The fit must be guaranteed as
+well as the quality, as he may be required
+to make a long journey, and must be assured
+they will stand the strain; and in
+addition, they must be made of material
+that will be able to withstand great heat.”</p>
+
+<p>“What will be my compensation?”
+asked Mr. Butterfly.</p>
+
+<p>“What do you expect?” asked Ayas.</p>
+
+<p>“That is not the way I bargain,” replied
+Mr. Butterfly. “What is it worth
+to you?”</p>
+
+<p>Ayas thought a moment. Knowing that
+if the sun was not released, soon all the
+hunting-grounds would be destroyed by
+fire, he decided to make a good offer, so
+he said: “I’ll give you five portions of
+clover honey, two hundred fresh wild roses,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9"></a><a id="Page_10"></a><a id="Page_11"></a>[11]</span>
+and build a long ladder to your hole, that you
+may not need to fly when you grow old.”</p>
+
+<p>This appealed to Mr. Butterfly, for his
+wing joints did not work as smoothly as
+when he was younger.</p>
+
+<p>“Throw in a measure of goose oil and
+it’s a bargain,” said he.</p>
+
+<p>“Very well,” said Ayas. “Have you
+any wings in stock that will fit?”</p>
+
+<p>“I cannot tell without seeing your friend;
+bring him here and upon your return I’ll
+have a few pairs ready for a try-on.”</p>
+
+<p>So Ayas went back and told the mouse
+he had fixed up the matter, so they returned
+together, the mouse in the pouch
+of Ayas’ coat. Many wings were tried
+on, and finally little Johnny Mouse selected
+a pair that seemed satisfactory, although
+not bigger than the wings of a sparrow.</p>
+
+<p>“Go up the tree and fly down,” said
+Mr. Butterfly, and up crawled the mouse
+until he had gone so far they could not see
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span>
+him. Over their heads they heard a little
+voice calling, “They fit perfectly. My!
+this is wonderful!” And down glided the
+wee mouse in little circles to the ground.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="i027" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i027.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      Over their heads they heard a little voice calling, “They
+    fit perfectly”
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>“Now to keep my promise,” said he,
+flying around Ayas’ head and settling on
+his right shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>Saying good-afternoon to Mr. Butterfly,
+who was to call for his supplies the following
+day, Ayas and the mouse returned to
+the struggling sun. Going to the strings
+of sinew, the mouse began to gnaw, and
+very soon, one after another of the strands
+holding the sun parted. With one great
+effort, it burst the remaining bonds and
+started again on its path of day, giving
+light to all the world.</p>
+
+<p>If it had not been for the mouse the sun
+would have remained a prisoner, and there
+would have been no day. If it had not
+been for the sun, bats would have always
+remained mice.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13"></a><a id="Page_14"></a><a id="Page_15"></a>[15]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="WACTU_THE_ANIMAL_PAINTER">
+    WACTU, THE ANIMAL PAINTER
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>As long as the birds could remember,
+Wactu had lived among them. This
+was a very long time ago, and before the
+rays of the sun had penetrated the deep
+mist that surrounded the earth. It was
+only now and then that the people living
+in the lowlands could see the golden shafts
+of light tipping the great mountain-tops
+as they stood like mighty gods, covered
+with garments of snow. The snows, melting
+slowly, formed lakes high up in the
+mountain valleys, and across the great
+glaciers and fields of ice all the colors of
+the painter’s palette passed like a pageant
+of beauty among the mountain peaks.</p>
+
+<p>For ever so long Wactu had stripped the
+white birches that he called the “white
+ghosts of the forest” of their bark and
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span>
+made baskets of it, for what reason the
+magpie and owl had been very much perplexed
+to know.</p>
+
+<p>One morning a large timber-wolf called
+to discuss a matter of importance with
+Wactu, who was the King of the Kingdom
+of Animals, and master of the woodlands.</p>
+
+<p>“I’m growing very tired of so much
+sameness of color among my subjects,”
+he said to the wolf. “It’s always black or
+white. Why don’t you go up the mountain
+and bathe in the lake and roll on the
+snows, and become beautiful of color?
+See!” pointing to the rays of light piercing
+the mist, “See! Is that not more fair than
+your gray costume?”</p>
+
+<p>But old wolf only grunted an indifferent
+acknowledgment, for he had little
+sentiment for anything but his appetite.
+His indifference caused Wactu to ejaculate:
+“You are the most acrimonious of
+all my people. Go bring me a young
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17"></a><a id="Page_18"></a><a id="Page_19"></a>[19]</span>
+beaver, and mind you do not devour him
+before he serves my purpose.”</p>
+
+<p>Wactu had decided upon a plan by
+which there was to be a change of fashion
+among his subjects, and he began preparations
+then and there.</p>
+
+<p>Old wolf returned with a young whimpering
+beaver-cub, crying at the top of
+his voice, for Mr. Wolf had not been over-careful
+in handling the youth, who, being
+accustomed to the tender solicitude of fond
+parents, did not understand the rougher
+ways of one who at any moment was liable
+to devour him. Wactu instructed the wolf
+to hold Young Beaver tight as he wanted
+to pluck a few hairs from his back and
+tail. This he did, much to the amazement
+of the beaver, who, though crying lustily,
+was more frightened than hurt.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="i031" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i031.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      This he did, much to the amazement of the beaver
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>“Take him back to his mother,” demanded
+Wactu, “and mind your appetite
+does not prompt you to rashness, for I
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span>
+may want you to bring him to me again.”
+So Mr. Wolf disappeared in the wood.</p>
+
+<p>Wactu always had his suspicions that
+Mr. Wolf feasted on Young Beaver, for
+when he needed more hair for his brushes,
+he always looked carefully for the places
+he had plucked, but could not find them;
+so he of course knew that Mr. Wolf had
+not brought him the same animal. As
+Mr. Wolf had served him well he never
+made any reference to the matter.</p>
+
+<p>For many days that followed Wactu
+made journeys to the mountains, and
+waited patiently for the color-sprites to
+dance on the snow and lakes; and as they
+appeared, he caught them and thrust them
+into his baskets. There were red, blue,
+green, orange, and yellow sprites—indeed,
+all the colors of the rainbow. Several times
+one end of the arch dipped into the waters
+of the lakes, and as Wactu knew the spirits
+of his departed friends formed the beautiful
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21"></a><a id="Page_22"></a><a id="Page_23"></a>[23]</span>
+colors, he was careful not to capture them,
+so waited for the rainbow to pass before
+collecting material for his interesting undertaking.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="i035" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i035.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      Wactu waited patiently for the color-sprites to dance on
+    the snow and lakes
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>When Wactu returned to his lodge, the
+owls, eagles, and hawks would go far out
+on the limbs of the tall trees so that he
+could not hear them, and discuss the state
+of his mind, for they had “never seen him
+do such strange things before.” Once or
+twice they flew down, unbeknown to their
+master, and lifted the baskets, but, finding
+them very light, they were convinced that
+they contained nothing that would do
+them harm.</p>
+
+<p>Being King of the Kingdom of Animals
+and Birds, Wactu knew the language of
+all his people; so one morning, while he
+was tying up the beaver hairs and making
+brushes of different sizes—some with long
+handles and some with short—he called
+the skylark, the long-eared owl, the raven,
+the sparrow-hawk, the cuckoo, the chaffinch,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span>
+the gray wag-tail, the spotted
+flycatcher, the crested titmouse, the woodpecker,
+the robin, the nightingale, the
+blackbird, the crow, and all the other
+feathered people of his empire, and said:</p>
+
+<p>“My good people, it will be many thousands
+of years before the mists and clouds
+surrounding this great world are dispersed
+by the goddess of the sun. It is my purpose
+to hasten the work of Nature, by
+painting all of my people in the colors of
+the rainbow. Could you bathe in the rays
+of the sun, I would be saved all my trouble.
+You would then be like a queen on her
+throne, arrayed in all the glories of color.
+Who will be the first to change his or her
+plain garment for one of beauty? I have
+collected all the colors to complete Nature’s
+works.”</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>“I will,” called Mr. Peacock, as Wactu
+reached for his colors, and placed them beside
+him in rows.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span></p>
+
+<p>“Step right up and I will begin,” said
+Wactu in a pleased tone. So the peacock,
+with his long flowing tail trailing behind
+him, his head bowed in an embarrassed,
+coy way, approached Wactu, who, after
+placing him in a position most convenient,
+began to apply the mystical tints that were
+to make Mr. Peacock the most vain and
+conceited of all featherdom.</p>
+
+<p>Beginning at the head, he painted the
+neck, wings, and body. When the tail
+was to be renovated, he had to stand up
+and go around, as it was so long. Once
+or twice he stepped on it. The peacock
+winced though it did not hurt him at all.</p>
+
+<p>“There will be no living with him,”
+said the crow as he noticed the peacock
+straighten up and throw his head back
+in a haughty manner.</p>
+
+<p>“Right you are,” said the raven.</p>
+
+<p>“Such arrogance,” said the wren, loud
+enough for Mr. Peacock to hear.</p>
+
+<p>Wactu, having completed his toilet,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span>
+asked him to step off a bit so that he could
+see if the colors had run. This he did
+’midst expressions of admiration from some,
+and, Wactu was sorry to know, suppressed
+jeers of others.</p>
+
+<p>“Me next,” said Miss Robin Redbreast
+as she surveyed the plain, soiled whiteness
+of her clothing.</p>
+
+<p>“Get on my knee,” said Wactu in a
+gentle voice, for she was very small and
+timid. “What colors for you, Miss
+Robin?”</p>
+
+<p>“Red on my breast, and for the others,
+those that will not soil easily.”</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, Mr. Peacock, who had
+always heretofore mingled with his people
+on an equal social footing, had strutted
+away, and was standing alone in self-satisfied
+admiration, his beautiful tail spread
+like a giant fan. The humming-bird afterward
+told his mate he heard him say, “I
+am more beautiful than the sun,” and Mrs.
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span>
+Humming-Bird replied, “I really believe
+he thinks it is so.”</p>
+
+<p>One by one the birds were bedecked with
+new garments. The old fogies like the
+raven, crow, and blackbirds said, “None
+of it for us,” and went away quite satisfied
+with their old clothes.</p>
+
+<p>There were many animals who had come
+out of mere idle curiosity, standing about
+wondering what would happen to them if
+old Wactu did not use up all of his colors.
+Mr. Porcupine felt quite confident that
+the royal decorator would not insist upon
+any reform in <i>his</i> apparel, no matter what
+changes he made in the others.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="ALITOCI_AND_THE_GIANT_BIRDS">
+    ALITOCI AND THE GIANT BIRDS
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>Alitoci, a beaver chief, who had
+become too old to work, spent most
+of his time when the weather was not too
+cold along the rivers, fishing. He had
+three dogs that helped him in winter, but
+in summer they did no work, though they
+must eat; so Alitoci fished for them.</p>
+
+<p>One day he was sitting by a dark water-hole
+full of fish, saying to himself: “Here
+shall I get plenty of food for my faithful
+dogs.”</p>
+
+<p>So he fished until he had caught all he
+could carry. As he was not strong, he
+had but few. He climbed up the bank
+to return home.</p>
+
+<p>It was growing dark, and as his head
+was bowed from age, he could not see a
+great bird hovering over him. This bird
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29"></a><a id="Page_30"></a><a id="Page_31"></a>[31]</span>
+was enormous in size, and its wings spread
+like the limbs of a large tree. Suddenly
+it swooped upon him, and took him up
+toward the clouds that were piled in the
+heavens like great banks of snow. On
+and on the frightened old man was carried.
+Still remembering his faithful dogs, he
+held on to his strings of fish until his hands
+were so tired he had to let them fall to
+the earth, many thousands of feet below.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="i043" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i043.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      On and on the frightened old man was carried
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>His coat was old and he could hear the
+sinew giving under his weight, for though
+aged, he was still a heavy man, and there
+was a great strain on the coat.</p>
+
+<p>The old man could see only the wings
+of the giant bird as they went up and down,
+slowly, in flight.</p>
+
+<p>“Where are you taking me?” said he
+in great terror; but the bird did not reply.</p>
+
+<p>After a long journey over rivers and
+mountains, he was dropped into a large
+nest that rested on the limbs of a dead
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[32]</span>
+tree. The bird said to his young ones, who
+seemed very much frightened: “Take good
+care of the old man; I will go for food.”
+So the bird departed to seek young animals
+like the rabbit, ermine, and small fox, as
+his children were too young to eat the
+larger game.</p>
+
+<p>When it was growing light, for the morning
+dawned while the father bird was away,
+the mother returned. She was not quite
+so large and strong as her husband, but
+she also was big enough to carry a man
+for miles through the air.</p>
+
+<p>“How does it happen that you smell of
+a man?” she asked her children.</p>
+
+<p>“We should smell of a man when father
+brought one here for us,” the young ones
+said in chorus, without meaning to deceive
+their mother.</p>
+
+<p>They were so large, although very young
+birds, that they could easily hide the man
+under their wings, and their mother did
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33"></a><a id="Page_34"></a><a id="Page_35"></a>[35]</span>
+not know he was there, which was well
+for the old man, for she would have eaten
+him had she known the truth.</p>
+
+<p>The old man trembled so that it shook
+the birds, and the mother, thinking them
+ill, said: “Why do you shake so; are you
+not well?”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, yes,” they replied, “we are very
+well indeed.”</p>
+
+<p>She seemed satisfied.</p>
+
+<p>The old man thought of his poor dogs
+who were waiting for food, and of the fish
+he had lost after working so hard to catch
+them. The fear for his own safety worried
+him, too, but greatest of all his troubles
+was the weight of the birds sitting on him,
+and the added weight of the mother caused
+him still more distress. When the sun
+came up he was sure he would be seen.</p>
+
+<p>As the sun rose higher and higher, one
+by one the birds fell asleep. “Now is my
+chance,” thought the old man, lame and
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span>
+out of breath. So out of the nest he crawled
+and down the big tree he lowered himself.
+He waited at times to hear if there was
+any chattering in the nest, but heard none,
+so he went on and reached the ground in
+safety.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp47" id="i047" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i047.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      Down the big tree he lowered himself
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>“Now,” thought the old man, “if I
+should try to return home they might
+wake up and find me gone and follow me,
+and take me back to the nest.”</p>
+
+<p>He began to collect knots and dry wood
+which he piled at the foot of the tree. After
+heaping them as high as he could reach,
+he gathered dry blades of grass which he
+put under the pile of wood. Then striking
+together two pieces of flint which he took
+from his pocket, he lighted the grass and
+this lighted the fagots. The flames ran
+higher and higher until they set fire to
+the nest. The wings of the birds were
+burned, and they fell to the ground. They
+tried to fly, but could not. The old man
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37"></a><a id="Page_38"></a><a id="Page_39"></a>[39]</span>
+walked as fast as he could, and hid behind
+a tree. The birds walked off in another
+direction. They did not suffer as only
+their feathers were burned.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp47" id="i051" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i051.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      The birds walked off in another direction
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>And this is the way it came about that
+great birds like the ostrich, the emu, and
+the auk, though having feathers and wings,
+cannot fly.</p>
+
+<p>Thus were the birds punished for trying
+to prevent the old man from returning
+and feeding his hungry dogs, who had
+always served their master so faithfully.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="NIONA_AND_THE_MOON_MAN">
+    NIONA AND THE MOON MAN
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>There once lived on the shores of the
+beautiful Lake Athabasca an Indian
+chief whose name was Wyani, and his two
+daughters, Wiona and Niona.</p>
+
+<p>Wiona helped her father cure the moose
+and caribou skins, and put the fish to dry
+on racks in the sun, for food for the dogs
+during the winter.</p>
+
+<p>Niona, the younger daughter, was very
+beautiful. She would sit by the lake where
+she could see her reflection, and arrange
+her hair, putting in her tresses large eagle
+feathers and wild flowers. She would make
+to adorn her feet beautiful moccasins of
+white deer-skin decorated with beads and
+many colored silks, and would say to herself:
+“Niona, you are so, so beautiful.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp47" id="i055" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i055.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      “Niona, you are so, so beautiful”
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_42"></a><a id="Page_43"></a>[43]</span></p>
+
+<p>Then she would glance at her pretty
+feet, and her slippers beaded in wild roses
+and big leaves, and sigh, saying to herself:
+“How fortunate to be so beautiful.”</p>
+
+<p>When her father would call to her to
+help him, she would say, “Oh, father!
+Do it yourself!” or call to Wiona to help
+her father. Sometimes she would say:
+“I must make myself beautiful like the
+sun.”</p>
+
+<p>A young Cree brave would come to visit
+her. He was a great hunter and feared
+no man. One day while he was sitting
+near her when she was adorning herself,
+she leaned too far over the water to admire
+her reflection, and fell into the lake.
+He pulled her out, saying: “If you were
+not so vain this would not have happened.”</p>
+
+<p>“Do not scold me,” Niona said, as she
+caught her breath and shook the water
+from her dress.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span></p>
+
+<p>“You are very beautiful, but you are
+also very selfish,” said the young man.</p>
+
+<p>“All who are very beautiful are selfish,”
+Niona replied.</p>
+
+<p>“That is not so,” said the Indian.</p>
+
+<p>“Old Father Bear and Mother Lynx and
+Brother Fox tell me I am beautiful; even
+the birds, more beautiful than I am, say
+I am beautiful. Are they not proud of
+their plumage? Why should I not be!”
+exclaimed the maiden.</p>
+
+<p>“You are very beautiful,” the young Indian
+repeated, “but you are not kind to
+your father; and your sister is very tired.
+Why do you not consider them? They
+are both very good to you.”</p>
+
+<p>“I have no time. I must make myself
+like the sun; the beauty of everything
+comes from the sun, and I must be like
+her. She paints the clouds and rainbow
+and flowers and water—everything. I am
+the child of the sun and gather the beautiful
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span>
+things of color that I may adorn myself.
+You also think me beautiful. That
+is pleasing to me. I know myself that I
+am beautiful.”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes, but beauty is not everything,” he
+replied.</p>
+
+<p>“Do not scold me. You would not like
+me if I were like the Old Man in the
+Moon.”</p>
+
+<p>“I should like you better if you were
+helpful, and considerate of those who love
+and serve you; and mind, you better not
+let the Moon Man hear you speak slightingly
+of him or he may ‘make medicine.’&thinsp;”&#x2060;<a id="FNanchor_1_1" href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<div class='footnotes'>
+<div class='footnote'>
+<p class='fnote'><a id="Footnote_1_1" href="#FNanchor_1_1">[1]</a> The Shaman of the Indian and Eskimo of Greenland, North America and
+Siberia are supposed to have supernatural power. The exercise of this
+power is called “making medicine.”</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>“Shoot an arrow at the Moon Man,”
+said Niona. “Who’s afraid of him!”</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly it became very dark, and the
+moon seemed to draw nearer to the earth.</p>
+
+<p>“Save me! Save me!” cried Niona,
+but her companion had disappeared.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span></p>
+
+<p>Niona thought, “How silly it was to be
+afraid of the old dead moon,” and cried
+out in defiance:</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+  <div class="poetry">
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <div class="verse indent0">“Boil the moon; save your passion;</div>
+      <div class="verse indent2">Boil your lazy head,</div>
+      <div class="verse indent0">Hiding thus in idle fashion</div>
+      <div class="verse indent2">In your starry bed.”</div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<p>The Old Man in the Moon seemed to
+frown and to come closer and closer.
+Niona felt herself being drawn up and up;
+faster and faster she seemed to fly until
+the light of the camp-fires could no longer
+be seen. The stars grew larger and brighter
+and Niona began to feel very cold. Up
+and up she went until she could see the
+earth but dimly, and only as a round ball.
+Suddenly she stopped, and a voice said:
+“This is the end of your journey. You
+must live here. You thought only of yourself,
+of your beauty. Your time you spent
+in idleness. You did no good for any one.
+This is your punishment.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp47" id="i061" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i061.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      Niona felt herself being drawn up and up
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_48"></a><a id="Page_49"></a>[49]</span></p>
+
+<p>Niona looked around. There were no
+flowers, or lakes, no trees, no people. There
+were only mountains of dead rocks, craters
+of extinct volcanoes, and deep-sea beds,
+but no water.</p>
+
+<p>“What a terrible place,” thought Niona,
+without speaking.</p>
+
+<p>“Yes,” said the Old Man of the Moon,
+“it is so. We once had all, but age came
+upon us, as it has now come to you.”</p>
+
+<p>“To me?” cried Niona.</p>
+
+<p>“Yes, to you,” he replied. “Look into
+the Grotto of Shadows yonder.”</p>
+
+<p>Niona walked to a deep cave and looked
+down. There she saw reflected the face
+of an old woman, older than any she had
+ever seen on earth.</p>
+
+<p>“Horrors!” she cried, “How can I escape
+this awful fate?”</p>
+
+<p>“There is but one way,” said the Moon
+Man. “Come with me.”</p>
+
+<p>They ascended a high mountain and
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span>
+looked afar to the “City of Good Works.”
+One end of a rainbow rested in a great
+square of the city, and people, bejewelled
+and wearing beautiful costumes, were dancing
+around it. There was music, such as
+Niona had never heard in the woods, and
+great gardens with flowers bursting into
+bloom, and birds of wondrous plumage,
+too numerous to imagine.</p>
+
+<p>“This,” said the Moon Man, “is the
+abode of contentment.”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh! How can I get there?” cried
+Niona.</p>
+
+<p>“There is but one way,” he answered
+as she looked in wonderment. “You must
+go back to earth and there seek out those
+who need help and comfort; be kind to
+the aged, and share your blessings with
+those who most need them. If you promise
+to do this, you may return.”</p>
+
+<p>“I promise, I promise!” cried Niona,
+“When may I go?”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span></p>
+
+<p>“At once,” answered the Moon Man,
+taking a great bow and an arrow that was
+so long its head rested on a mountain miles
+away. On the other end was a little compartment,
+lighted with many colored lights,
+and containing chairs and a table which was
+set with the most dainty fruits and cakes.</p>
+
+<p>“Get in, hold tight, and keep your
+promise.” As he spoke he touched her
+lightly on the shoulder, and she began at
+once to regain her youth and beauty.</p>
+
+<p>She stepped into the fairy car.</p>
+
+<p>“Remember your promise,” said the
+Moon Man sternly. “Are you ready?”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes,” replied Niona.</p>
+
+<p>Before she could say more, she found
+herself flying toward earth; nearer and
+nearer she flew. Soon a light appeared,
+then another and another. Soon she could
+see the great lake, then her old father who
+was sitting outside his lodge. He was crying,
+“Niona, Niona, come back!”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span></p>
+
+<p>“I’m coming!” she called, as the great
+arrow plunged into the earth, stopping just
+in time so Niona could step out and be
+welcomed by her father.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="i067" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i067.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      “I’m coming!”
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>“I’ve come to help you gather wood,
+and to fish, and to sew caribou-skins, and
+make snares, and cure the moose-skins, and
+to hunt, and to draw water.”</p>
+
+<p>He looked up and smiled, he had grown
+very old.</p>
+
+<p>“Where are your fine clothes?” he
+asked.</p>
+
+<p>Niona looked down at her feet, and behold!
+she was in rags!</p>
+
+<p>“I shall not need them now, good father.
+I have come to serve you.”</p>
+
+<p>For many moons she had been faithful
+to her promise made to the Man in the
+Moon, when, one day, there came from
+the forest, a handsome brave, with a deer
+slung over his shoulder—not the Indian
+she had admired before her strange journey,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_53"></a><a id="Page_54"></a><a id="Page_55"></a>[55]</span>
+but one nobler and taller. Walking toward
+the old man he said: “You have a beautiful
+daughter. May I wed her when the
+moon is full?”</p>
+
+<p>“She is a good daughter, and may do
+as she thinks best,” replied the chief.</p>
+
+<p>Niona grew to love the young Indian,
+and they were married and devoted their
+lives to her father as long as he lived. They
+lived to be very old, beloved by their tribe
+for their good works. When they died
+they were mourned by all who knew them.
+It is said they are now living in the beautiful
+City of the Rainbow.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="WHY_DOGS_DO_NOT_TALK">
+    WHY DOGS DO NOT TALK
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>At the foot of a mountain, with his
+daughter Neti and his dog, lived
+Nudi, an Indian whose wife had left him.
+He was fond of both, but of the two he
+loved his dog more dearly as she gave to
+him affection and obedience.</p>
+
+<p>At the time the incidents of this story
+happened all dogs could talk. Then language
+was very primitive, but as the dog
+has for nearly all time been a friend of
+man and his companion, each learned the
+language of the other, as does man when
+associating with a people speaking another
+language.</p>
+
+<p>The dog, being also the most sociable of
+all animals, learned that man could hunt
+with more skill when in quest of food, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_57"></a><a id="Page_58"></a><a id="Page_59"></a>[59]</span>
+before he became his companion, would
+follow on his trail and devour the meat
+discarded by him. When the dog found
+man a kindly being, he would join in the
+hunt, each finding the other helpful. Man
+found the dog had more highly developed
+the instinct for location, and that his sense
+of smell and his hearing were more acute,
+combining also the pleasure he enjoyed in
+associating with man rather than with his
+own kind. So man and dog became fast
+and enduring friends, and as some one has
+said of the latter, “the most intimate and
+companionable comrade for man of all the
+kingdom of animals.”</p>
+
+<p>So Nudi and his dog, Happy, would
+wander off to the mountains in search of
+game, and fish the waters for trout so plentiful
+in the dark, winding streams that
+came down with such a rush from the
+upper reaches of the mighty mountain that
+Nudi called “The Giant.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="i071" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i071.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      So Nudi and his dog, Happy, would wander off to the
+    mountains
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>Sometimes they would have much to
+say, sometimes little. Happy would always
+consider the moods of Nudi—if he
+was not disposed to talk, she would run
+along beside him if the path was wide,
+and if not, follow at his heels in silence.</p>
+
+<p>There was something Happy had for a
+long time wanted to tell Nudi, about his
+daughter, but she would always hesitate,
+for she felt that perhaps it would not be
+right as it was natural for all creatures to
+love some one. Neti was very beautiful;
+she had many young braves who admired
+her, and she was very fond of their wooing,
+as she was also fond of the pretty trinkets
+they would bestow upon her. But the
+youth Neti liked the most, her father did
+not favor, so, unknown to him, she would
+go for long walks with her lover, and Happy
+knew, as she had followed them, that he
+had kissed her and said to her words of
+affection which Neti liked, even though
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_61"></a><a id="Page_62"></a><a id="Page_63"></a>[63]</span>
+she blushed and had taken her hand from
+his.</p>
+
+<p>One day, trailing a bear, Happy told all
+she knew of Neti’s romance. This vexed
+the father, so he threatened not to allow
+Neti to go more than twenty paces from
+the lodge, and to take from her all the
+baubles she had received from her admirers,
+this being the most severe punishment he
+could inflict. He also went to Tiki, the
+Shaman of the tribe, and asked him to
+make medicine and bring upon the lover
+some evil.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp47" id="i075" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i075.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      One day, trailing a bear, Happy told all she knew of
+    Neti’s romance
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>“No,” said the Shaman, “It is not upon
+the young brave, but upon your dog that
+I shall bring punishment.”</p>
+
+<p>“No, no!” said Nudi, “My dog is my
+friend. You shall not bring upon her any
+misfortune!”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes,” said Tiki, “she has told that
+which she should not. We cannot ourselves
+judge of another’s affection. We must
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span>
+choose according to the dictates of our
+own hearts.”</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="i079" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i079.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      “Yes,” said Tiki, “she has told that which she should not.”
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>So the Medicine Man used his powers
+so that dogs could never talk again; but
+left them the capacity to understand the
+language of all mankind. Though he took
+from all dogs the power of speech, he left
+to them fidelity, patience, and affection,
+and made them so nearly human that many
+who have loved them mourn their loss almost
+as much as one of their own kind.
+For has not the dog much of human intelligence
+with none of man’s conceit,
+hypocrisy or ingratitude? Does he not
+cling to his master no matter how humble
+may be his lot or how spare may be his
+meal? He will even forgive those who
+abuse and neglect him. No matter what
+may be the adversity that befalls those
+around him, he is still their loyal, clinging
+friend.</p>
+
+<p>What an object-lesson is this patient,
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_65"></a><a id="Page_66"></a><a id="Page_67"></a>[67]</span>
+trusting creature that shares man’s companionship,
+a companionship that if broken
+by the loss of the master, has sometimes
+ended in the death of man’s best and truest
+friend.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="MR_FISH_AND_YONI">
+    MR. FISH AND YONI
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>Yoni, an old Indian, had lost his wife
+by death, so, to the custom of his
+people, he covered her body with birch-bark,
+and wrapped it in a large moose-skin.
+Then, with the help of his friends,
+he put the body on a platform high up in
+the boughs of a tall, young spruce-tree.</p>
+
+<p>He then cut his hair very short, as a
+sign of mourning, and began to think how
+alone he would be during the long winter
+days.</p>
+
+<p>The frost had come and touched the
+trees and bush, and the beautiful colors
+that the artist of Nature was painting
+upon them, just a little while before Nature
+destroyed the picture, began to appear
+in places here and there, all over the
+land. The fine birds that sang to Yoni,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[69]</span>
+and the plain little wrens he loved best
+were leaving, one by one, to wing their
+ways to the Southland where the sun is
+always warm and smiling, and Jack Frost
+and his bearded old relation Father Winter
+are unknown.</p>
+
+<p>Yoni had been very happy during the
+many years of his life. He was a good
+hunter, so of deer meat and fish he always
+had a plentiful supply. But his age, even
+with all the pleasant memories of the years
+gone by, meant to him in his solitude only
+sorrow and loneliness. He would have
+been glad if his wife, many years younger
+than he, could have lived to help him in
+his old age, but this was not to be.</p>
+
+<p>He would sit outside his lodge, and watch
+the beavers working on their dam just
+across the river, and recall how he had
+told his wife, Noimi, who was very pretty
+in his eyes, that there was no one to compare
+with her in all the graces and virtues,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span>
+that she must not go for wood when the
+nights were cold; and if she did, he would
+call her back and insist that she go into
+the tipi and sit by the fire, and if she wished,
+she could sew on the skins that would keep
+them warm during the winter.</p>
+
+<p>He would waken at night, and out of
+the silence would come, from far across
+the lonely hills, the barking of the great
+timber-wolves, sounding like big dogs.
+Sometimes a stealthy bear would come
+with its cubs and tear down his fish-racks,
+and carry off the fish he had dressed and
+was drying for the winter. In the morning
+he would go out to see what damage they
+had done. He would never get angry, saying
+in a low voice: “Let them eat. It’s
+very bad to be hungry.” Then he would
+smile at their destruction, and with thin,
+trembling hands, try to straighten the
+poles.</p>
+
+<p>Twice a day he would pull up his nets
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span>
+that were made of willow fibre. Sometimes
+there were many fish, and sometimes only
+a few—but he never complained, for there
+were always enough for his needs now that
+he was all alone—having not even a dog.
+The preceding fall he had had two, but
+one had wandered away and he had given
+the other to Moni, his friend, who lived
+just around the bend of the river, and who
+was busy hauling wood for his winter fires,
+so did not come to visit him so often as in
+summer. Moni was growing old also, and
+his children had left him, all but a daughter,
+and she was blind, and not much help.</p>
+
+<p>One morning before it was very light, old
+Yoni heard a terrific splashing in the water
+above the place he tied his canoe. He
+had heard the connie or pike making a
+great rumpus when trying to catch a frog,
+but the splashing increased, so Yoni started
+for the shore as fast as his poor old legs
+could go. There he found a strange and
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span>
+very large fish splashing and floundering,
+and the more he floundered the more he
+became entangled in Yoni’s net, and the
+only one he had.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="i087" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i087.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      There he found a strange and very large fish splashing
+    and floundering
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>When the fish saw Yoni he called:
+“Come quickly and release me. I’m afraid
+I shall die. Come! I feel so strange.”</p>
+
+<p>Yoni made no effort to untangle the
+monster, who was just twenty-five feet long
+to an inch.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh!” thought Yoni, “You are a fine
+catch; you’ll be food for me all winter
+and much to spare; this I can barter with
+Moni for my winter’s wood.” And Yoni
+was pleased and smiled, and this he did
+not do very often.</p>
+
+<p>The more the creature struggled, the
+more and the tighter the net held him.</p>
+
+<p>“Hurry!” called the fish, not knowing
+what Yoni had been thinking about. Then
+he became perfectly still, and looking up
+at Yoni in a very appealing way said:
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_73"></a><a id="Page_74"></a><a id="Page_75"></a>[75]</span>“You are an old man. Get me out of this
+tangle and I will reward you.”</p>
+
+<p>“How?” said Yoni, becoming very much
+interested to have an affair with a fish
+that could talk.</p>
+
+<p>“There are many places and people,”
+said the fish, “along these great river ways
+that you have never seen.”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes,” said Yoni, becoming more interested.
+“The Yellow Knife, the Dog
+Rib, the Cree and many tribes far away
+to the North.”</p>
+
+<p>“I know their language,” said the fish.
+“Release me and I will take you where
+you will be among friends, and to those
+who will honor your old age. As you know,
+the rivers are long with many rapids that
+would upset your old canoe, and crush it
+on the rocks. Many of the portages are
+high hills, and many too rough and stony
+for your feet.”</p>
+
+<p>“This is all very well in words,” said
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span>
+Yoni, “but you may be like many of the
+fur-traders who do not always speak words
+that are to be depended upon.”</p>
+
+<p>Although the net was very tight about
+the neck of the fish, he managed to smile.</p>
+
+<p>“Ah” said he, “fish who talk never are
+known to speak untruths. Release me,
+and I will prove to you my gratitude by
+taking you anywhere you wish to go.”</p>
+
+<p>So Yoni, convinced that he was talking
+to a truthful fish, waded slowly arm deep
+in the water, and cut the tangled strands
+holding his new-found friend.</p>
+
+<p>“Just a moment,” said the fish after
+the last strand binding his gills had been
+severed, and he straightened out to see if
+his tail and fins were in working order,
+“I’ll swim out a little way to see if everything
+is right for our journey.” So far
+from shore and nearly to the middle of
+the stream the fish swam.</p>
+
+<p>“He’ll never come back,” thought Yoni,
+“and my net is in shreds.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span></p>
+
+<p>Far out, and out of sight the monster
+had gone. At first Yoni thought he would
+never believe the promise of a talking-fish
+again, but knowing he had saved the creature’s
+life, he thought he might keep faith
+with one who had so truly befriended him.
+Just as Yoni was really losing faith, the
+fish rose to the surface far out in midstream.</p>
+
+<p>“I’m coming,” he called. “There are
+a few scales missing, but otherwise I’m all
+right for a long swim.”</p>
+
+<p>Yoni was glad his confidence was justified,
+although he did begin to think the
+story was fishy, like others where fish were
+concerned.</p>
+
+<p>“Wade out to the rock,” called the fish.
+“I’ll swim alongside; you get on my back
+and then we’ll be off for anywhere.”</p>
+
+<p>So Yoni with some difficulty waded to
+the rock, and climbed upon it just as the
+fish rose alongside. Yoni got aboard,
+straddling the huge back as if he were riding
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span>
+a horse just as he had once done before
+he grew so old.</p>
+
+<p>“Where shall we go, and what is your
+name?” asked the fish.</p>
+
+<p>“Yoni,” replied the old Indian, “What
+is yours?”</p>
+
+<p>“Piscatori,” answered the huge creature.</p>
+
+<p>“What a strange name,” said Yoni, “I
+am afraid I cannot remember it. My
+memory is not so good as it was years ago.”</p>
+
+<p>“That’s not important,” replied the fish.
+“Just call me Mr. Fish. I’ll understand.”</p>
+
+<p>Yoni thought that was best, so he asked
+the fish to turn around and go down the
+river to a place where he had set his snares
+and traps the year before. So Mr. Fish
+turned around and began to swim so fast
+it took Yoni’s breath almost away.</p>
+
+<p>“Not so fast, Mr. Fish,” called Yoni.
+“I’m afraid I’ll slip off.”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, no!” said Mr. Fish. “Hold onto
+my front fin. Look out you don’t prick your
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span>
+fingers, the points are sharp. If you get
+cold, lift up the fin, step down, and you’ll
+find a cosy room just large enough to hold
+you comfortably.”</p>
+
+<p>So Yoni, being just a little chilly, with
+some difficulty raised the fin, and to his
+great joy and surprise he found such a
+cosy little place like a little room, with
+the floor and sides covered with the most
+beautifully colored scales—just as if they
+had stolen the tints from an Arctic rainbow
+or from the inside of a beautiful shell.
+And it was so warm, and Mr. Fish said,
+“Quite waterproof.”</p>
+
+<p>Yoni had not been so really contented
+for many years. He sat upon a strange
+little seat, so soft and warm, and looking
+around he found to his great astonishment
+that each scale formed a little window
+through which he could look out. Mr.
+Fish was passing through the deepest part
+of the river, and Yoni could see so many
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span>
+strange water things, fish of many colors
+and shapes, turtles, eels, frogs, rocks with
+very beautiful clinging vines in which fish
+of many kinds were hiding. Yoni was in
+a maze of wonderment that was broken
+by the movement of Mr. Fish, who was
+pointing for the bank. Yoni looked out
+and recognized the place as the one at
+which he had camped many years before,
+and just across the river where the old
+elm was still standing, was the spot where
+he had first met Noimi, who afterward
+became his wife. This made him sad, but
+he felt better when he realized he had found
+a new friend and a very agreeable companion.
+Though he had not felt bold
+enough to ask, he thought Mr. Fish was
+much older than he himself was.</p>
+
+<p>The fish swam to a great tree that had
+fallen into the water, due to the underwash
+of a swiftly flowing river and the grinding
+ice that cuts the banks in the spring.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span></p>
+
+<p>“Get off here,” said Mr. Fish; and Yoni
+raised the fin and stepped out on the tree,
+and then climbed the steep bank. Mr.
+Fish, seeing how infirm the old man was,
+moved a little, then backing up, raised
+his strong tail and gave Yoni a gentle push.</p>
+
+<p>“That is a great help,” said Yoni. Mr.
+Fish made no reply. He was thinking
+how unfortunate it was to be old, and of
+the “Tree of Youth” that grew where the
+waters of the Slave River flowed into the
+great lake of the same name.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Fish waited patiently for the old
+man to return from his wanderings, and
+when he did, his eyes were red from weeping.</p>
+
+<p>“Cheer up,” said Mr. Fish, “we are
+going on a long journey. To go by canoe
+would take five or six days. If the water
+is not low, I can do it before sundown.”</p>
+
+<p>“Good for you,” said Yoni, having great
+confidence in Mr. Fish as a means of transport.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span></p>
+
+<p>Mr. Fish smiled. “I’ll give the old fellow
+the greatest surprise of his life,” said he
+to himself as he swished his tail to the right
+and to the left with the power of a great
+propeller.</p>
+
+<p>“My! how fast we are going,” said Yoni
+aloud; and he told Mr. Fish so, but he
+was too busy dodging rocks and sunken
+timber to have answered even had he heard
+Yoni.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp47" id="i097" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i097.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      “My! how fast we are going!”
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>On Mr. Fish swam, cutting the corners
+of the river, winding his way between
+sunken ledges, leaping great rapids in which
+many a trapper’s scow had been crushed,
+as the little crosses on the graves on the
+banks can testify—struggling over shallow
+water, getting fast on sand-bars covered
+with wreckage from the great forests, held
+by boulders in narrow ways and pushing
+through with his muscular tail and wiggles—then
+down into deep water where things
+looked black and spooky to Yoni. For
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_83"></a><a id="Page_84"></a><a id="Page_85"></a>[85]</span>
+hours, fast and slow, the great physical
+being worked like a mighty engine.</p>
+
+<p>“What will become of me?” thought
+Yoni, “if anything happens to Mr. Fish?”</p>
+
+<p>As the sun was falling and the shadows
+were dying in the water, the craft of flesh
+pulled to the bank, and Yoni, a bit cramped
+from being so long in one position, got on
+the back of Mr. Fish and looked around
+to survey his surroundings.</p>
+
+<p>“We’ll remain here to-night,” said the
+fish, as he wiped the perspiration from his
+kind face.</p>
+
+<p>“You must be very tired,” observed
+Yoni.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, no!” answered Mr. Fish. “It’s
+a bit strenuous when one has a cargo
+aboard, to get over dry land when one is
+accustomed to a water route. Going back
+you’d better take your time—that is if I
+don’t go back with you.”</p>
+
+<p>Yoni looked worried.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span></p>
+
+<p>“Why have you brought me so far from
+home?” he asked.</p>
+
+<p>“Don’t ask silly questions,” replied Mr.
+Fish. “On the bank yonder you’ll find
+some leaves and fagots. I’d help you if
+I could, but it makes me very short of
+wind to be out of water very long, so you
+will have to excuse me. Collect an armful,
+build a fire under the tree with the leaves
+all aflame with the ‘Fire of Youth’—that
+one” pointing with his fin. “There are
+berries enough on the hill for your supper.
+I’ll sleep in the black hole over there. It’s
+near the shore.”</p>
+
+<p>Yoni went about gathering leaves and
+small sticks which he placed near the tree,
+as there were many spots showing little
+piles of ashes where fires had been built
+before. While he was standing under the
+strange tree, a leaf would now and again
+fall—it seemed to him, all aflame. One
+touched his forehead and fell to the ground.
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span>
+He stooped to pick it up, but just as his
+fingers touched it, it disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>“What can be the meaning of this?”
+said Yoni to himself, and then he remembered
+Mr. Fish having said something
+about the “Fire of Youth.” A strange
+desire to sleep came over him, and all night
+he slept, dreaming strange dreams of fairies
+and places and people.</p>
+
+<p>The sunshine chased away a gray dawn
+and shone straight in Yoni’s face. He
+turned to get away from the glare, and in
+turning he felt so strange that he partly
+awakened. Becoming wide-awake, he
+gripped the grass and leaves with a vigor
+long forgotten. He looked at his hands.
+They again had the appearance of youth.
+His limbs were hard and muscular. Looking
+down, he discovered he was wearing
+a beautifully embroidered suit of moose-skin
+made for him by Noimi many years
+before. Looking up, he saw that the tree
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span>
+under which he had fallen asleep was now
+bare of all foliage, and not a leaf was to
+be seen on the ground. Everything seemed
+strange to him.</p>
+
+<p>“Mr. Fish! Mr. Fish!” called Yoni in
+a voice so strong it almost frightened him.
+“Where are you, Mr. Fish?”</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp47" id="i103" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i103.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      “Mr. Fish! Mr. Fish!” called Yoni
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>Mr. Fish was so tired on account of his
+long journey, that Yoni had to call many
+times. At last the vibrations of Yoni’s
+voice touched the ear of the fish, and he
+awoke, moved his tail, blew the water,
+and swam slowly to the bank. Of course,
+he knew what had happened when he saw
+the young man on the shore. He smiled
+so hard that three scales loosened by the
+struggle of the day before fell off, and went
+sailing and sinking down-stream.</p>
+
+<p>“Good morning! ... and good-by! Long
+life and always happy days to you. Seek
+Noimi in the lodge just over the hill. I’m
+off for the sea.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_89"></a><a id="Page_90"></a><a id="Page_91"></a>[91]</span></p>
+
+<p>Yoni called frantically, but Mr. Fish
+had gone so fast and far, he could not hear.
+He would not have come back if he had,
+having given to the old man “Youth,”
+some say, the most beautiful and precious
+of all things.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="FIRE_BOY_AND_WATER_BOY">
+    FIRE BOY AND WATER BOY
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>As long as the oldest Indians could remember,
+the Fire and Water Boys
+had lived along the shores of the great
+lake called Athabasca. They never seemed
+to grow any older; sometimes they were
+very good and very helpful—sometimes,
+very annoying and often destructive.
+When the Indians grew tired of their
+pranks and tried to punish them, many
+strange things would happen.</p>
+
+<p>Far off the shore of Chipewyan lies an
+island, beautifully wooded and shaped very
+like a lady’s hat. On this island, alone,
+for nearly fifty years had lived Ani, who
+seldom spoke to any one, nor did she ever
+go to the mainland to enter into the festivities
+of the other Indians living in the
+vicinity of the settlement comprising two
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span>
+old Hudson’s Bay forts, a store of the company
+that traded with the Indians, a log
+church and a few straggling huts that
+fringed the woodlands on one side and the
+lake on the other. In winter the Indians
+trapped and hunted for the many valuable
+fur animals that roamed the desolate parts
+of this great northern wilderness, and in
+the spring and summer fished for their
+winter supply for their dogs that helped
+them drag the game from the woods, often
+many miles from the settlement.</p>
+
+<p>The women made white and colored
+moccasins of the most beautiful designs,
+adorned with porcupine quills dyed in
+many colors, some of the strands being
+almost as fine as a hair. These were braided
+and twisted with silk cords also of many
+colors, making a charming adornment for
+the feet, even of a queen. Because the
+Indian women were not industrious, there
+were but few made, and these were all
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span>
+bought by the trappers, so people of the
+Southland never saw them.</p>
+
+<p>Far beyond the island on which Ani
+had made her home so long, was another
+smaller one where Ani’s lover, a very handsome
+Beaver Indian, had lived more than
+forty years before. He had gone on a long
+trail for moose and caribou and had never
+returned; and every morning at dawn,
+and in the evening at sunset Ani would
+take a wild flower that her lover had given
+her, and which she had kept in a squirrel-skin
+bag, and go to the edge of the lake
+when the sun made a path of gold away
+across to the far shore, and call in her feeble
+voice to the Great Spirit to send back her
+brown-eyed boy of so many dead years
+of long ago. But he never came, and her
+heart grew more sad as the years passed.
+There were so many reasons why she
+wanted him—her tipi needed repairing,
+it was hard for her to cut wood, the path
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span>
+to the lake was stony and sometimes she
+would bruise her feet and groan; but there
+was no one to hear or to help her. She
+would not leave the island, fearing if she
+did her lover would return and would not
+be able to find her.</p>
+
+<p>One morning she heard the paddle of
+a canoe, and thinking perhaps he had come,
+she threw down her pan in which she was
+frying a portion of rabbit that she had
+snared two days before, and slowly crawled
+to the opening of her tipi and looked out;
+but it was not he—only two boys who
+were pointing their canoe directly to the
+path leading to her camp.</p>
+
+<p>“Hello, Granny Ani!” called the boy
+plying the bow paddle, but Ani was so
+disappointed she made only a grunt as a
+reply.</p>
+
+<p>“Hello!” they called again.</p>
+
+<p>Ani made no answer, standing with a
+worried look.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span></p>
+
+<p>“Get some fagots,” called the boy in
+the bow. “We have brought a goose and
+caribou tongues, and we will share them
+with you.”</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="i111" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i111.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      “We have brought a goose and caribou tongues, and we
+    will share them with you”
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>Ani seemed pleased and went for an
+armful of dry branches—she had not eaten
+goose for so long, and caribou tongue she
+had almost forgotten. She was so slow
+the boys went to help her, and gathered
+for her a fine lot of branches, dry and just
+the right size to make a quick and hot
+fire. The goose was prepared and strung
+on a birch branch, as also were the tongues,
+just close enough to the fagots to roast
+without burning.</p>
+
+<p>“I have no tinder,” said Ani.</p>
+
+<p>“Never mind,” said the boy with the
+bright, flashing eyes, and with the tip of
+his finger he touched the branches, at which
+they burst into flame, much to the astonishment
+of Ani.</p>
+
+<p>“Spirits,” thought she, “I’ll not go too
+near them.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_97"></a><a id="Page_98"></a><a id="Page_99"></a>[99]</span></p>
+
+<p>“Get a gourd,” demanded the other
+boy in a tone Ani did not like—but she
+obeyed, and brought a fine big one hanging
+on long strings of caribou sinew. She
+handed it to the boy, and as soon as he
+had taken it, it filled to overflowing with
+clear, cool water.</p>
+
+<p>“You are children of the Evil Spirit,”
+said Ani, looking first at one and then at
+the other, and then at the fire.</p>
+
+<p>This remark made the boys laugh.</p>
+
+<p>The goose and tongues were by this
+time nicely browned, and the edge of the
+fire had spread to a pile of dry leaves. This
+was put out by a gesture of the hand of
+the boy who had so mysteriously filled the
+gourd. But this Ani had not noticed as
+she was now anxious to know if the boys
+would make a fair division of the food,
+as she was growing very hungry.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="i115" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i115.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      Looking up to her he waved his hand and smiled
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>The first boy reached out and tore from
+the goose a leg dripping with rich juice
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[100]</span>
+while the other lad took from the stick a
+dainty tongue, and began eating. Ani
+waited for them to invite her to join in the
+feast, but they did not. This so offended
+her that she seized the nearest boy (who
+made no resistance) by the hair of the
+head, and led him to the water, pushing
+him into a deep hole where he sank to the
+bottom. Looking up to her he waved his
+hand, and smiled, making strange faces at
+the astonished old woman who was too
+startled to speak. Then going back to
+her tipi, she collected a large armful of
+leaves and piled bundle after bundle of
+branches until they mounted as high as
+she could reach. Then she went to the
+other boy with her pipe, pretending she
+wanted to smoke, and asked him to light
+it, which he did. Then she put the fire
+from her pipe on the ground beneath the
+great pile and blew until a flame burst
+out, the fire leaping high. Quickly seizing
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_101"></a><a id="Page_102"></a><a id="Page_103"></a>[103]</span>
+the boy, she dragged him to the pile and
+pushed him into the burning mass. He
+also did not resist, but sat without discomfort
+in the midst of the flames until
+the fire had burned itself out. Then he
+shook the ashes from his clothing and
+walked back to his friend who had returned
+from the river, and they finished their
+meal together.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp47" id="i119" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i119.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      He sat without discomfort in the midst of the flames
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>“Where is the old lady?” asked the
+boy whom Ani had tried to burn, and they
+went in search, finding her sitting behind
+an old hut that had been deserted before
+she came to live on the island. She was
+very much worried by their coming, and
+told them so; but they only smiled, and
+told her she was to have all the goose and
+the caribou tongues that remained, and
+that they, who were the incarnation of
+fire and water, the elements she needed
+most, had been sent to her by the spirit
+of her lover to hunt, to make her fire, cook
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[104]</span>
+her food, and to water the island so berries
+and herbs would grow—and to do all that
+fire and water could do for her in her old
+age.</p>
+
+<p>The old Indians who knew Ani said the
+boys served her in every way as long as
+she lived, and that she was never so happy
+as when they were with her; and some
+said her young lover came back, and they
+journeyed together to the far-off land that
+the white man called heaven.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_105"></a><a id="Page_106"></a><a id="Page_107"></a>[107]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="OLD_SPOT_AND_THE_CUPIDS">
+    OLD SPOT AND THE CUPIDS
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>Arachnida, or “Spotted Spider,” the
+name given him by his neighbor Yuti,
+who lived at the edge of the trail not
+far from the bear’s den, had grown so
+large, and his legs so long that his snare
+was no longer strong enough to bear his
+weight. Once in a while he would go back
+to it, make a few extra turns, spin stronger
+strands, and try it out; but it was no use,
+down it came every time he tried. After
+repairing it, he would say to himself, “Never
+again.” Then he would go back to the
+dark cave in the ledge that for many years
+had been the home of his friend, Bruin,
+who had wandered away, and had never
+returned. Nor did any one know of his
+whereabouts.</p>
+
+<p>Old Spot, though having really no claims
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[108]</span>
+by right of possession to Bruin’s premises,
+felt he was not trespassing. He had always
+been on the most intimate terms with
+him, and had served him in many ways,
+recalling how often he had nursed him
+when Black Bear had feasted, not wisely,
+but too well in the garden of Yuti, who
+had cultivated a well-ordered patch bordering
+the woodland near his lodge.</p>
+
+<p>Yuti suspected Bruin—in fact had seen
+him leaving the patch where the corn grew
+several nights before he had gone away;
+but being on friendly terms with Spot,
+who was very devoted to Bruin, he never
+made any complaint, feeling it was better
+to live in accord with his neighbors rather
+than to plant the seed of hostility. “Bruin
+was hungry, so let him eat. The sun and
+rain will cause more corn to grow.” This
+is what Yuti would say.</p>
+
+<p>Old Spot had always lived alone, weaving
+his snare in the most likely place for
+his prey, just at the beginning of the trail
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[109]</span>
+as it entered the wood, and in good view
+of his apartment in the ledge. His spinners
+and spinnerets had the reputation of making
+the strongest silk thread in that vicinity.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, Spot was proud of this, but
+he was getting on in years—some of his
+twelve eyes were losing focus, and he sometimes
+felt, though not always, with Bruin
+away and Yuti not as sociable as he would
+have liked him to be, that life did not have
+much attraction for him. His mandibles
+did not serve him with the same dexterity
+that they had possessed when he was
+younger, when he tried to seize his prey
+and squeeze it: this depressed him. There
+were also symptoms of rheumatism in two
+or three of his many legs, causing troublesome
+and disagreeable pains; and having
+many legs and long ones, the chances were
+that his suffering would be much more
+serious than if they had been fewer and
+shorter.</p>
+
+<p>Knowing that these symptoms without
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[110]</span>
+doubt meant the approach of age, he became
+very blue at times, and for days would
+not stir from his quarters to see if his snare
+held any food for him.</p>
+
+<p>For two days and as many nights he
+slept with his long slender legs wrapped
+about him. The fall was coming on and
+he would often wake himself by chilly
+shudders, the nights being very, very cold.
+On the morning of the third day he was
+wakened by a strange noise. The sound
+came from the direction of his snare, but
+knowing that the young fox and the lynx
+made noises like real babies he paid little
+heed. Changing his position because three
+of his hind legs had gotten tangled, he
+settled again for another sleep of a day or
+two. Again the sounds like those of a
+crying child disturbed him, and again he
+said to himself:</p>
+
+<p>“It’s only a young thing that has strayed
+from its mother.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[111]</span></p>
+
+<p>Before he had finished thinking, the
+cries became louder and more appealing;
+so Spot, being of a kindly nature, though
+age had hardened him as it does so many,
+decided to investigate.</p>
+
+<p>He had been in one position so long that
+his legs, or a half-dozen of them, refused
+to work as he would like to have had them;
+but being very hungry from his long fast,
+he drew himself together, and with a big
+effort and a bigger grunt, stood up, stretched
+himself, and walked to the entrance to his
+den.</p>
+
+<p>Just as he poked his face out Yuti, who
+was gathering fagots to make a fire to roast
+a fat rabbit he had snared the night before,
+called out:</p>
+
+<p>“You’ve got a fine catch this morning.”</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp47" id="i127" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i127.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      “You’ve got a fine catch this morning”
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>Spot did not answer. Turning in the
+direction of his snare that was stretched
+from either side of the trail, attached to
+as fine a pair of white birches as ever plumed
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[112]</span>
+a wood, he beheld two creatures with great,
+tapering wings, beating and struggling for
+freedom, making at the same time, wee,
+shrill cries that caused Spot to hurry his
+pace.</p>
+
+<p>His first thought was for the safety of
+his snare.</p>
+
+<p>“Here’s a pretty mess,” thought he.
+“How shall I ever repair it?”</p>
+
+<p>All the time Spot was hobbling toward
+the strange, struggling things, their cries
+increased. They were real heart-piercing
+cries. The more they shrieked the more
+they struggled, and alas, poor Spot’s snare
+was being torn to ribbons.</p>
+
+<p>The cries were so terrifying that Spot
+was just a bit frightened, but having been
+always very courageous, he rather resented
+the feeling of timidity, and, quickening his
+steps, he approached the destroyers and
+the destroyed.</p>
+
+<p>“Bears and beetles!” ejaculated Spot,
+“What have I caught this time?”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_113"></a><a id="Page_114"></a><a id="Page_115"></a>[115]</span></p>
+
+<p>Fast in the lashings of his great web
+a brace of Cupids were beating their splendid
+wings vigorously against his snare.
+As he came near they cried more lustily.</p>
+
+<p>“Where does so much sound come
+from?” thought Spot, looking at their
+rosy, plump little bodies.</p>
+
+<p>Seeing Spot approaching them, they
+cried all the louder; but observing his
+venerable and kindly face, they suddenly
+became quiet, waiting to see what was
+to be their fate.</p>
+
+<p>“Well, my children,” said Spot in a
+gentle tone, “you’ve made a pretty kettle
+of fish of my only means of securing food.
+Where did you come from, and what are
+your names?”</p>
+
+<p>“Get us out of this tangle and we’ll tell
+you all about it,” said the Cupids in chorus.</p>
+
+<p>Old Spot gathered the end of a long
+strand of spider silk that was floating with
+the wind, and began to wind.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[116]</span></p>
+
+<p>“Hurry!” said one of the little prisoners.
+Spot hurried as fast as he could, but the
+faster he worked his spinner the oftener
+he broke the thread.</p>
+
+<p>“Be patient,” said Spot, “The more
+haste the less speed.”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes, but I’m cramped,” said the Cupid
+who was bound tighter than his mate, as
+he struggled to free himself. Part of the
+great web fastened to the birches began
+to sag from the weight of the chubby little
+victims.</p>
+
+<p>“Have a heart,” commanded Spot in
+a sterner voice than before. “There will
+be nothing left of my trap if you don’t
+keep quiet.”</p>
+
+<p>“But you are so slow,” observed the one
+with four dimples on his hand.</p>
+
+<p>At last the sticky threads were tightly
+bound on Spot’s spinners, and the poor
+tired little chubs, being free, stood up,
+slowly moving their wings that had been
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[117]</span>
+so ruffled and mussed by old Spot’s food-catcher.</p>
+
+<p>“You asked our names and where we
+came from,” straightening out their wings
+and adjusting a few shaggy feathers.</p>
+
+<p>“Yes,” said Spot, scratching his head
+with his hindermost leg in meditation.</p>
+
+<p>“Cupid is our name. We have no
+home.”</p>
+
+<p>“No home?” echoed Spot. “What is
+your other name?”</p>
+
+<p>“We have no other name, it’s just Cupid.”</p>
+
+<p>“That’s news to me,” said Spot thoughtfully,
+adding:</p>
+
+<p>“Aye, aye! You’re the little chaps that
+make a lot of trouble in the world. I’ve
+heard of you very often.”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes, and a lot of happiness,” they replied
+timidly, in a voice not bigger than a
+wren’s.</p>
+
+<p>Again the little fellows flapped their
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[118]</span>
+splendid wings, that were gradually getting
+back to their original form.</p>
+
+<p>“Not quite so much breeze; I’m very
+sensitive to drafts,” pled Spot, eyeing
+the pair with a feeling of pity.</p>
+
+<p>“No father or mother? Poor kiddies,”
+thought he.</p>
+
+<p>“You have always been alone?”</p>
+
+<p>“Always,” they replied.</p>
+
+<p>“Have you nothing to wear to keep
+you warm?”</p>
+
+<p>“Nope,” they replied, shivering just a
+little, seeing old Spot was being moved to
+sympathy.</p>
+
+<p>“We’ll see about that,” he said. “Come
+over to my house, and I’ll build a fire for
+you.” So over they all went to Spot’s
+den.</p>
+
+<p>“What a delightful place,” said the
+Cupids, looking around.</p>
+
+<p>“You like it, do you?” said Spot.</p>
+
+<p>“It’s very cosy,” said they as they entered
+the den, and cuddled in one corner
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[119]</span>
+where the leaves had blown in as if to make
+a comfortable bed for them.</p>
+
+<p>“Would you like to make your home
+with me?”</p>
+
+<p>They looked at each other with an expression
+of pleasure, each anticipating the
+reply of the other to be “Yes.”</p>
+
+<p>“Would you let us?”</p>
+
+<p>Spot did not reply, he was so deep in
+thought. “What delightful little things to
+have around,” he almost said aloud.</p>
+
+<p>“Would you let us?” they repeated.</p>
+
+<p>“I’d be glad to have you,” trying not
+to express too much emotion, as he was
+pleased beyond all measure at the thought
+of having them for his companions.</p>
+
+<p>“What shall we do about our wings;
+they are so terribly in the way,” as they
+tried to adjust them so they would not
+scrape the rough wall of the cave.</p>
+
+<p>“If you want them clipped my friend
+Yuti can attend to that,” said Spot.</p>
+
+<p>“Would it hurt?” they asked.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[120]</span></p>
+
+<p>“I think not.”</p>
+
+<p>“All right; can we have it done now?”</p>
+
+<p>“We’ll go and see if Yuti is at home,”
+replied Spot, looking in the direction of
+Yuti’s moose-skin lodge.</p>
+
+<p>Over they went across the cleared land,
+where they found Yuti mending his moccasins.</p>
+
+<p>“I’ve a job for you,” called Spot, as
+Yuti looked up very much bewildered at
+the sight that to him was startling.</p>
+
+<p>“I’ve a little job for you, Yuti,” repeated
+Spot. “Get your tomahawk and
+clip the wings of my little friends.”</p>
+
+<p>Yuti looked at Spot and then at the
+Cupids. “What a strange request,” he
+thought.</p>
+
+<p>Then Spot took Yuti aside and told him
+about his strange experience, and Yuti
+only smiled, saying nothing.</p>
+
+<p>Going to his lodge he got his tomahawk
+and led the party to an old oak stump.
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_121"></a><a id="Page_122"></a><a id="Page_123"></a>[123]</span>
+Then taking the Cupid standing nearest
+to him, he gently led him to the stump and
+placed his wing upon it. With one stroke
+off it came.</p>
+
+<p>“My! that was easy,” said his interested
+companion, looking to see if it hurt.</p>
+
+<p>“Now the other,” said Yuti, and Cupid
+turned around.</p>
+
+<p>Down came the strong arm of Yuti, and
+off came the other wing.</p>
+
+<p>“What a relief,” sighed the little fellow,
+now free of his troublesome appendages.
+The other Cupid moved toward the stump.
+It was but the work of a few seconds and
+all was over.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="i135" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i135.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      It was but the work of a few seconds and all was over
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>Reaching up and each taking one of
+Yuti’s hands in his, the tiny fellows thanked
+him; then the little party started back to
+the den.</p>
+
+<p>On their arrival the conversation became
+more general and less constrained, all becoming
+better acquainted.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[124]</span></p>
+
+<p>“Something must be done about your
+clothing; we are liable to have snow any
+day,” said Spot, in a tone burdened with
+solicitude, for spiders have the reputation
+of being kind to their young and those
+they like, even though the lady-spider
+sometimes devours her husband in a fit
+of anger.</p>
+
+<p>“Let’s go down to the snare and see
+how much there is left of it,” he continued.
+“If it can’t be repaired I’ll have to weave
+another, for clothing you must have.”
+After surveying the mass of tangled threads,
+they decided it would be best to make a
+new web.</p>
+
+<p>For days Spot worked upon it. Then
+he began the patterns for the suits. Up
+and down, under and over, he wove, warp
+and woof, doubling it and twisting the
+threads so that the garments would be
+warm; drawing close and tight the strands
+that formed the strange little affairs to
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_125"></a><a id="Page_126"></a><a id="Page_127"></a>[127]</span>
+be worn by his Cupids—perhaps the only
+Cupids that ever wore clothes.</p>
+
+<p>They would sit in admiration. “How
+really clever old Spot is,” they remarked.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp47" id="i139" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i139.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      “How really clever Old Spot is”
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>As the wonder garments neared completion,
+he added pockets, and made openings
+through which the little wings that
+were left could pass.</p>
+
+<p>Realizing how good he was to them, they
+decided to be very helpful and to serve
+him in every way possible as long as he
+lived, which was to be for a very long time.
+When strangers passed and saw the little
+things sitting close to Spot, some would
+ask: “How is it that their wings are so
+small?”</p>
+
+<p>Then Spot would smile and say: “The
+reason Cupids have no wings is because—they
+do not want them.” And then Spot
+would look at the Cupids and the Cupids
+would look at Spot, and they would giggle;
+but Spot would look serious. Of course,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[128]</span>
+the strangers did not understand the cause
+of their merriment.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes when Spot put the Cupids
+to bed, and covered and tucked them in
+with sweet grasses and scented moss flowers
+to keep them warm, he would sit beside
+them when the tree-toad whistled his night
+song, and wonder if they had their large
+wings again, whether they would fly away,
+and leave him all alone.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[129]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="THE_UNDERWATER_PEOPLE">
+    THE UNDERWATER PEOPLE
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>One evening in the fall of the year,
+far-away in the North, on the shores
+of a great lake, there were sitting around
+the camp-fire a party of Beaver Indians.
+The winter had already set in, for the ice
+comes early, and it is very cold when the
+sun has gone to rest.</p>
+
+<p>Hocini, the oldest man of the party, had
+fallen asleep. Around the moose-skin tents
+were scattered bits of wood, dried fish
+hung on racks, and five dogs, used in winter
+for drawing moose and caribou, were sleeping
+as near as they dared to be, to the warm
+fire, for the Indians are very cruel to their
+dogs, who really are very good to work
+so hard for masters who do not allow them
+to get near enough to the fire to warm themselves.
+The hoot owls had begun to make
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[130]</span>
+their strange noises and open their big,
+round eyes, for night was their day, and
+they must hunt food when they could see
+best, which was in the dark.</p>
+
+<p>Away on the far-flung reaches of the
+hills the wolf began to cry and moan. He
+is a big animal of grayish color, sometimes
+seven and a half feet from the tip of his
+tail to his nose-end. Many say he came
+originally from Siberia when there was a
+land crossing from Alaska to Siberia, and
+that his great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers
+and many of his relations
+way back in the years of long ago came to
+visit our Northland, and liked it so much
+they did not return to the land of their
+birth. That land is now divided from
+Alaska by the waters that flow from the
+Arctic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, so if
+he did ever want to go back to visit his
+relations in Siberia, he would have to swim,
+for no craft that go to Siberia for furs would
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_131"></a><a id="Page_132"></a><a id="Page_133"></a>[133]</span>
+care to have him for a passenger as he has
+a bad disposition, and cannot be depended
+upon when he is hungry.</p>
+
+<p>While the Indians were sitting by the
+fire they suddenly saw a man passing along
+in the dusk. He was carrying on his back
+a strange blanket which was sewn with
+caribou sinew for thread, as the Indians
+had no cotton thread. It was made of
+dozens and dozens of muskrat skins covered
+with fish-scales all sorted as to color
+and size, and the lining was made of many,
+many squirrel-skins also covered with fish-scales,
+which were also well matched for
+color, making a beautiful and very warm
+water-proof covering for his body.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="i145" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i145.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      They suddenly saw a man passing along in the dusk
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>“Where are you going and what are you
+going to do?” asked an old man of the
+tribe.</p>
+
+<p>“I’m going to become a young man
+again,” he replied.</p>
+
+<p>“How will you do that?” asked another
+old person.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[134]</span></p>
+
+<p>“We will go with you,” said one of the
+party, “for we like youth, for then we can
+hunt the beaver and moose in far-away
+mountains.”</p>
+
+<p>“Do as you please,” the stranger replied
+indifferently.</p>
+
+<p>“Let us go,” said a young brave to two
+of his brothers-in-law, and they got up
+and went to their tents to get their bows
+and quivers and long hunting moccasins,
+for it had rained in the morning, and the
+ground was not yet dry.</p>
+
+<p>The stranger called to them, “Hurry!”
+and seemed out of sorts; but the Indians
+paid no attention to his mood and smiled
+at his haste.</p>
+
+<p>After saying good-by to their people,
+they joined the stranger and walked through
+a dark wood until they came to a lake shore.
+Suddenly the strange man who had been
+walking ahead of them, said: “Xwui!”
+and went through a hole in the ice to the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[135]</span>
+bottom of the deep lake where his wife
+and many children were awaiting him.
+He did not greet his wife as though he was
+fond of her, and to one of his children he
+said roughly:</p>
+
+<p>“Tell the men on the shore to do as I
+have done.”</p>
+
+<p>So the three men went to the hole through
+which the stranger had gone, and dove to
+the bottom. Then they walked to a settlement
+on the sands of the lake where there
+were many tents made of all kinds of skins—of
+moose, caribou, white deer, muskrat,
+lynx, beaver, and many skins the Indians
+had never seen before—and around the
+tents, walking about, were many people,
+who did not look at them.</p>
+
+<p>The children of the strange Underwater
+Man would take bits of tough grass and
+make fish snares. Then they would wait
+for a big fish to come swimming along,
+swishing his tail and looking many ways
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[136]</span>
+with his strange eyes. The children would
+hold out the snare, saying, “To nai,” which
+means “fish” in the beaver language. Then
+the fish would swim into the snare and be
+caught, and would say, as he wriggled to
+free himself, “Do ha-s tei-ul tuk,” which
+means, “Do not kill me.” Then the children
+would take the fish to their mother,
+and she would cook it on hot stones that
+lay near a spring of boiling water that
+came from the bed of the lake.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="i151" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i151.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      “Do ha-s tei-ul tuk,” which means “Do not kill me”
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>The stranger called to the three men to
+come to his tent and eat. They did so,
+and he shared the fish with them.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly some one stepped on the foot
+of the man who had asked his brothers-in-law
+to go with the stranger. He looked
+up, and saw a giant frog standing on his
+left foot. He could not believe his own
+eyes, for he had never seen a frog so large.
+The frog said to him:</p>
+
+<p>“I was once a man like yourself, but
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_137"></a><a id="Page_138"></a><a id="Page_139"></a>[139]</span>
+years ago, while picking berries on the
+shore of the lake, I fell into the water and
+became a frog. I have the secret, and if
+you wish to become a frog who can live
+both on land and in the water, which has
+its advantages, I will tell you where you
+can get some wonderful berries, red and
+sweet. Eat of them and lie down on the
+bottom of the lake, and after you have
+been sound asleep you will awake and be
+as you see me.”</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp47" id="i155" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i155.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      He looked up and saw a giant frog standing on his left foot
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>The man who owned the beautiful
+blanket was angered that the frog had
+given the secret to them, and said: “I
+do not like it that the minds of your people
+are so intent on us.”</p>
+
+<p>As the visitors were growing very short
+of breath from being so long under water,
+they said: “We will return to our people,
+but must go in a canoe as the water is
+making us ill.” So the Underwater Man
+loaned them an old canoe.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[140]</span></p>
+
+<p>“Take care how you use my canoe, for
+it is not very good,” he called to them in
+a warning way. They paddled nearly to
+the shore. Then the canoe melted away.
+The men swam for the land, but when
+they reached it one was missing. The
+other two believed that their brother was
+dead, but as they sat on a big rock they
+saw his head appear and reappear, and
+once when his head was above water he
+called:</p>
+
+<p>“I am held by the frog. Help me!”
+So the two swam out, but when they came
+near to the man he said:</p>
+
+<p>“Go back; I am free, the frog has gone!”</p>
+
+<p>The men swam ashore and stood up.
+When they looked again they saw a great
+jack-fish—they could not see their brother.
+The jack-fish swam toward them and
+walked on its tail upon the shore. Like
+magic it turned into a man, and they all
+returned to the camp, to tell the wonders
+of their adventure.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_141"></a><a id="Page_142"></a><a id="Page_143"></a>[143]</span></p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the old man who had gone to
+sleep began to groan and cry out. His
+wife, who was also very old, said: “Hocini,
+my husband, is dreaming.” The old man
+then woke up and said in a frightened way:
+“The frog, the frog. Where is he?” and
+his wife said:</p>
+
+<p>“Poor old man, the frog is in the lake,”
+and Hocini said: “I have been dreaming
+again,” and his wife said “Yes,” and
+laughed, and so did the old man.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[144]</span></p>
+
+
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="WATC_AGIC_KILLS_THE_TALKING-BIRDS">
+    WATC’ AGIC KILLS THE TALKING-BIRDS
+  </h2>
+</div>
+
+
+<p>Once there was a man who wandered
+all over the earth. He had as his
+companions many kinds of birds who could
+not, or would not, talk or sing without
+his consent. He was a man who talked
+little but thought much, and noises worried
+him, especially the noises made by talking-birds
+like the parrot and the magpie.</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp47" id="i159" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i159.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      Once there was a man who wandered all over the earth
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>In his wanderings he would meet many
+kinds of people who did not like him, because
+when they spoke to him he would
+only say “Yes” or “No” to any questions
+they would ask. Of course, his attitude
+toward all he met made them angry, and
+when he visited the villages the second
+time, many of the Indians threatened to
+kill him. The places in which he thought
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_145"></a><a id="Page_146"></a><a id="Page_147"></a>[147]</span>
+he would be in the most danger he would
+go around and not show himself or his
+bird companions, for he was very kind to
+them, and they held him in great respect,
+although he had told them he would surely
+rid himself of their company if they should
+talk so loud that his enemies could hear
+them. They also feared him, for many
+times had they seen the way he had treated
+other birds, and they knew what his mission
+was.</p>
+
+<p>One day, after a long walk, they came
+to the foot of a high hill. Around the hill
+and coming from afar, they could see great
+numbers of birds.</p>
+
+<p>“This,” said the man, “is the ‘City of
+Birds,’ and no man dare go among them.
+If he should, they would pick his eyes out.
+Many times have I heard my father tell
+of his band of beavers who went among
+them, and of their fate.”</p>
+
+<p>“Let us go!” spoke up a great eagle.
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[148]</span>“I will defend you. My parents’ nest
+was on yonder mountain, and I have many
+relations living among them.”</p>
+
+<p>“As you will,” said the man, “but let
+us wait until night falls and they are
+asleep.”</p>
+
+<p>The eagle had been talking matters over
+with his companions, and they all, with
+the exception of a few of the smaller birds,
+decided to go, happen what might. So at
+dusk they started.</p>
+
+<p>The road was long and dusty, and many
+times they had to wait for the vain birds
+to clean their plumage and arrange their
+feathers, but it was better so, because many
+of the older birds of the City of Birds had
+not returned to their nests. The man,
+although impatient, thought they might
+have been discovered if this cause for their
+delay had not happened.</p>
+
+<p>As they approached the city, a night-hawk
+who was just going to work, gave a
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_149"></a><a id="Page_150"></a><a id="Page_151"></a>[151]</span>
+wild scream. This caused a great awakening
+in the town, and all the birds went
+to the public square in alarm.</p>
+
+<p>The eagle said “Go on.” So the party
+boldly went among the crowd. Some, I
+can assure you, were very much frightened;
+but they had great confidence that
+some of the relations of the eagle would
+be living, and would no doubt befriend
+them.</p>
+
+<p>When the mayor of the town, a great
+pelican, saw the strange bundle the man
+carried on his back, he said: “My good
+brother, what have you on your back?”</p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp47" id="i163" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i163.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      “My good brother, what have you on your back?”
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>“They are my songs,” the man replied.</p>
+
+<p>“Ah!” said the mayor, “sing them, and
+I will have my troupe of dancing flamingoes
+keep time to your songs.”</p>
+
+<p>“Those who dance to my songs, and
+those who do not, if strangers to me, must
+keep their eyes shut when I sing,” said
+the man.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[152]</span></p>
+
+<p>The mayor called to the crowd that
+was chattering so loud his voice could
+hardly be heard. So he called again:</p>
+
+<p>“Do you agree, my townsmen?”</p>
+
+<p>He opened his mouth so wide that a
+great fish he had eaten for supper floundered
+out of his pouch. Before repeating
+his question he leaned over and picked it
+up. Again he repeated, “Do you all agree
+to keep your eyes closed when the gentleman
+sings?”</p>
+
+<p>“We will do as you desire,” many of
+them replied.</p>
+
+<p>So it was agreed. A great fountain in
+the middle of the square contained many
+fish both large and small. These fish were
+for the use of the mayor only, as he was
+getting old, and to climb the long hill from
+the river made him both tired and cross.
+So the man said:</p>
+
+<p>“Come near the fountain. My songs are
+of running water and brooks, and it will
+<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_153"></a><a id="Page_154"></a><a id="Page_155"></a>[155]</span>
+inspire me to sing them more to your
+pleasure.”</p>
+
+<p>So the crowd moved near the big basin
+full of water, deep and very wet.</p>
+
+<p>“Bring your flamingoes and I will begin,”
+said the man.</p>
+
+<p>The eagle called him aside and said:
+“During your song they will know because
+their eyes are shut, how dark it is for the
+thousands they have made blind.” The
+man did not reply, but walked close to
+the fountain.</p>
+
+<p>“Eyes shut!” he called loudly, and the
+people all closed their eyes and he began
+to sing in a harsh voice, for he could not
+sing, and disliked any kind of music.</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+  <div class="poetry">
+    <div class="stanza">
+      <div class="verse indent0">“I will sing of Mayor Pelican,</div>
+      <div class="verse indent2">And of his pretty daughter,—</div>
+      <div class="verse indent0">And of a dashing pelican</div>
+      <div class="verse indent2">Who in matrimony sought her.</div>
+      <div class="verse indent0">And while I sing I’ll wring your necks,</div>
+      <div class="verse indent2">And throw you in the water.”</div>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[156]</span></p>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="i167" style="max-width: 50.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/i167.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+      And he began to sing in a harsh voice
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<p>All the people smiled but kept their
+eyes closed, fearing he would stop his funny
+song. So he continued to wring their necks
+and throw them into the deep water of
+the fountain.</p>
+
+<p>After he had treated them all alike, he
+said to his companions:</p>
+
+<p>“We are quite safe now; let us remain
+here until morning, as there are many
+places of shelter and plenty of food.”</p>
+
+<p>So it was agreed, and they resumed their
+journey about dawn the following day.</p>
+
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<div class='transnote mt2'>
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="Transcribers_Notes">
+    Transcriber’s Notes
+  </h2>
+
+<ul>
+  <li>Duplicate half title before first chapter removed.</li>
+
+  <li>Illustrations relocated close to relevant content.</li>
+
+  <li>Footnote numbered and moved below the relevant paragraph.</li>
+
+  <li>Obvious typographic errors silently corrected.</li>
+
+  <li>Variations in hyphenation kept as in the original.</li>
+</ul>
+</div></div>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76997 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
+
diff --git a/76997-h/images/cover.jpg b/76997-h/images/cover.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..100ca02
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/cover.jpg
diff --git a/76997-h/images/i004.jpg b/76997-h/images/i004.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..af060c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/i004.jpg
diff --git a/76997-h/images/i006.jpg b/76997-h/images/i006.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..93e1191
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/i006.jpg
diff --git a/76997-h/images/i019.jpg b/76997-h/images/i019.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b111f39
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/i019.jpg
diff --git a/76997-h/images/i023.jpg b/76997-h/images/i023.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..046cb91
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/i023.jpg
diff --git a/76997-h/images/i027.jpg b/76997-h/images/i027.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..63e71dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/i027.jpg
diff --git a/76997-h/images/i031.jpg b/76997-h/images/i031.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..28afff5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/i031.jpg
diff --git a/76997-h/images/i035.jpg b/76997-h/images/i035.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3570053
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/i035.jpg
diff --git a/76997-h/images/i043.jpg b/76997-h/images/i043.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..961e84e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/i043.jpg
diff --git a/76997-h/images/i047.jpg b/76997-h/images/i047.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..207dc24
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/i047.jpg
diff --git a/76997-h/images/i051.jpg b/76997-h/images/i051.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..318fe54
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/i051.jpg
diff --git a/76997-h/images/i055.jpg b/76997-h/images/i055.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e56ccdf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/i055.jpg
diff --git a/76997-h/images/i061.jpg b/76997-h/images/i061.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..badc463
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/i061.jpg
diff --git a/76997-h/images/i067.jpg b/76997-h/images/i067.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fd724f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/i067.jpg
diff --git a/76997-h/images/i071.jpg b/76997-h/images/i071.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..38fde2c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/i071.jpg
diff --git a/76997-h/images/i075.jpg b/76997-h/images/i075.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8ba6ef1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/i075.jpg
diff --git a/76997-h/images/i079.jpg b/76997-h/images/i079.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cfb3420
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/i079.jpg
diff --git a/76997-h/images/i087.jpg b/76997-h/images/i087.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e2d587c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/i087.jpg
diff --git a/76997-h/images/i097.jpg b/76997-h/images/i097.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..101c694
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/i097.jpg
diff --git a/76997-h/images/i103.jpg b/76997-h/images/i103.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1a7ef91
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/i103.jpg
diff --git a/76997-h/images/i111.jpg b/76997-h/images/i111.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..113facb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/i111.jpg
diff --git a/76997-h/images/i115.jpg b/76997-h/images/i115.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3c09d21
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/i115.jpg
diff --git a/76997-h/images/i119.jpg b/76997-h/images/i119.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f7bcdeb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/i119.jpg
diff --git a/76997-h/images/i127.jpg b/76997-h/images/i127.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bd708be
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/i127.jpg
diff --git a/76997-h/images/i135.jpg b/76997-h/images/i135.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8277fb2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/i135.jpg
diff --git a/76997-h/images/i139.jpg b/76997-h/images/i139.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..03a4e7f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/i139.jpg
diff --git a/76997-h/images/i145.jpg b/76997-h/images/i145.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4b0db2b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/i145.jpg
diff --git a/76997-h/images/i151.jpg b/76997-h/images/i151.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7b2d063
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/i151.jpg
diff --git a/76997-h/images/i155.jpg b/76997-h/images/i155.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ad6e120
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/i155.jpg
diff --git a/76997-h/images/i159.jpg b/76997-h/images/i159.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..eacf0e9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/i159.jpg
diff --git a/76997-h/images/i163.jpg b/76997-h/images/i163.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bfa296b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/i163.jpg
diff --git a/76997-h/images/i167.jpg b/76997-h/images/i167.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fc60272
--- /dev/null
+++ b/76997-h/images/i167.jpg
diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b5dba15
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This book, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this book outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a199b7f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for book #76997
+(https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76997)