{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_22420/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_22420","id":"gutenberg_22420","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22420","summary":null,"tags":["Animals -- Folklore","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Children's Instructional Books","Children's Myths, Fairy Tales, etc.","Folklore","Nature -- Folklore","Tales"],"text":"Produced by Jason Isbell, Josephine Paolucci and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: FROM THE WIGWAM OF THE GREAT SPIRIT (page 2)]\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF NATURE MYTHS\n\nBY FLORENCE HOLBROOK\n\nPRINCIPAL OF FORESTVILLE SCHOOL, CHICAGO\n\n[Illustration: Publishers Stamp]\n\nHOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY\n\nBOSTON . NEW YORK . CHICAGO . DALLAS SAN FRANCISCO\n\nThe Riverside Press Cambridge\n\nChildren's Room\n\n\n     COPYRIGHT 1902 BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.\n     ALL RIGHTS RESERVED\n\n\n     The Riverside Press\n     CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS\n     PRINTED IN THE U.S.A\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nIn preparing the Book of Nature Myths the desire has been to make a\nsecond reader which would be adapted to the child's interest, ability,\nand progress.\n\nThe subject-matter is of permanent value, culled from the folk-lore of\nthe primitive races; the vocabulary, based upon that of the Hiawatha\nPrimer, is increased gradually, and the new words and phrases will add\nto the child's power of expression. The naive explanations of the\nphenomena of nature given by the primitive races appeal to the child's\nwonder about the same phenomena, and he is pleased and interested. These\nmyths will gratify the child's desire for complete stories, and their\nintrinsic merit makes them valuable for oral reproduction.\n\nThe stories have been adapted to youthful minds from myths contained in\nthe works of many students of folk-lore whose scholarship is undisputed.\nSpecial acknowledgment is due Miss Eva March Tappan for her valuable\nassistance in the final revision of the text.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n                                                           PAGE\n\nTHE STORY OF THE FIRST HUMMING-BIRD.\n\n  Part I. The Great Fire-mountain                             1\n\n  Part II. The Frolic of the Flames                           4\n\n  Part III. The Bird of Flame                                 7\n\nTHE STORY OF THE FIRST BUTTERFLIES                           10\n\nTHE STORY OF THE FIRST WOODPECKER                            13\n\nWHY THE WOODPECKER'S HEAD IS RED                             15\n\nWHY THE CAT ALWAYS FALLS UPON HER FEET                       19\n\nWHY THE SWALLOW'S TAIL IS FORKED                             23\n\nWHY THE WHITE HARES HAVE BLACK EARS                          28\n\nWHY THE MAGPIE'S NEST IS NOT WELL BUILT                      31\n\nWHY THE RAVEN'S FEATHERS ARE BLACK                           34\n\nHOW FIRE WAS BROUGHT TO THE INDIANS.\n\n  Part I. Seizing the Firebrand                              36\n\n  Part II. The Firebrand in the Forest                       40\n\n  Part III. The Firebrand in the Pond                        41\n\nHOW THE QUAIL BECAME A SNIPE                                 43\n\nWHY THE SERPENT SHEDS HIS SKIN                               47\n\nWHY THE DOVE IS TIMID                                        50\n\nWHY THE PARROT REPEATS THE WORDS OF MEN                      52\n\nTHE STORY OF THE FIRST MOCKING-BIRD                          56\n\nWHY THE TAIL OF THE FOX HAS A WHITE TIP                      60\n\nTHE STORY OF THE FIRST FROGS                                 64\n\nWHY THE RABBIT IS TIMID                                      68\n\nWHY THE PEETWEET CRIES FOR RAIN                              70\n\nWHY THE BEAR HAS A SHORT TAIL                                72\n\nWHY THE WREN FLIES CLOSE TO THE EARTH                        76\n\nWHY THE HOOFS OF THE DEER ARE SPLIT                          79\n\nTHE STORY OF THE FIRST GRASSHOPPER                           83\n\nTHE STORY OF THE ORIOLE                                      86\n\nWHY THE PEACOCK'S TAIL HAS A HUNDRED EYES                    89\n\nTHE STORY OF THE BEES AND THE FLIES                          93\n\nTHE STORY OF THE FIRST MOLES                                 96\n\nTHE STORY OF THE FIRST ANTS                                  98\n\nTHE FACE OF THE MANITO                                      103\n\nTHE STORY OF THE FIRST DIAMONDS                             107\n\nTHE STORY OF THE FIRST PEARLS                               111\n\nTHE STORY OF THE FIRST EMERALDS                             114\n\nWHY THE EVERGREEN TREES NEVER LOSE THEIR LEAVES             118\n\nWHY THE ASPEN LEAVES TREMBLE                                122\n\nHOW THE BLOSSOMS CAME TO THE HEATHER                        125\n\nHOW FLAX WAS GIVEN TO MEN                                   128\n\nWHY THE JUNIPER HAS BERRIES                                 133\n\nWHY THE SEA IS SALT                                         135\n\nTHE STORY OF THE FIRST WHITEFISH                            138\n\nWAS IT THE FIRST TURTLE?                                    142\n\nWHY THE CROCODILE HAS A WIDE MOUTH                          145\n\nTHE STORY OF THE PICTURE ON THE VASE                        150\n\nWHY THE WATER IN RIVERS IS NEVER STILL                      155\n\nHOW THE RAVEN HELPED MEN                                    160\n\nTHE STORY OF THE EARTH AND SKY                              165\n\nHOW SUMMER CAME TO THE EARTH.\n\n  Part I.                                                   169\n\n  Part II.                                                  172\n\nTHE STORY OF THE FIRST SNOWDROPS                            175\n\nWHY THE FACE OF THE MOON IS WHITE                           179\n\nWHY ALL MEN LOVE THE MOON                                   184\n\nWHY THERE IS A HARE IN THE MOON                             188\n\nTHE CHILDREN IN THE MOON                                    193\n\nWHY THERE IS A MAN IN THE MOON                              197\n\nTHE TWIN STARS                                              200\n\nTHE LANTERN AND THE FAN                                     204\n\nVOCABULARY                                                  211\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOOK OF NATURE MYTHS.\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF THE FIRST HUMMING-BIRD.\n\n\nPART I. THE GREAT FIRE-MOUNTAIN.\n\nLong, long ago, when the earth was very young, two hunters were\ntraveling through the forest. They had been on the track of a deer for\nmany days, and they were now far away from the village where they lived.\nThe sun went down and night came on. It was dark and gloomy, but over in\nthe western sky there came a bright light.\n\n\"It is the moon,\" said one.\n\n\"No,\" said the other. \"We have watched many and many a night to see the\ngreat, round moon rise above the trees. That is not the moon. Is it the\nnorthern lights?\"\n\n\"No, the northern lights are not like this, and it is not a comet. What\ncan it be?\"\n\nIt is no wonder that the hunters were afraid, for the flames flared red\nover the sky like a wigwam on fire. Thick, blue smoke floated above the\nflames and hid the shining stars.\n\n\"Do the flames and smoke come from the wigwam of the Great Spirit?\"\nasked one.\n\n\"I fear that he is angry with his children, and that the flames are his\nfiery war-clubs,\" whispered the other. No sleep came to their eyes. All\nnight long they watched and wondered, and waited in terror for the\nmorning.\n\nWhen morning came, the two hunters were still watching the sky. Little\nby little they saw that there was a high mountain in the west where the\nlight had been, and above the mountain floated a dark blue smoke.\n\"Come,\" said one, \"we will go and see what it is.\"\n\nThey walked and walked till they came close to the mountain, and then\nthey saw fire shining through the seams of the rocks. \"It is a mountain\nof fire,\" one whispered. \"Shall we go on?\" \"We will,\" said the other,\nand they went higher and higher up the mountain. At last they stood upon\nits highest point. \"Now we know the secret,\" they cried. \"Our people\nwill be glad when they hear this.\"\n\nSwiftly they went home through the forest to their own village. \"We have\nfound a wonder,\" they cried. \"We have found the home of the Fire Spirit.\nWe know where she keeps her flames to help the Great Spirit and his\nchildren. It is a mountain of fire. Blue smoke rises above it night and\nday, for its heart is a fiery sea, and on the sea the red flames leap\nand dance. Come with us to the wonderful mountain of fire.\"\n\nThe people of the village had been cold in the winter nights, and they\ncried, \"O brothers, your words are good. We will move our lodges to the\nfoot of the magic mountain. We can light our wigwam fires from its\nflames, and we shall not fear that we shall perish in the long, cold\nnights of winter.\"\n\nSo the Indians went to live at the foot of the fire-mountain, and when\nthe cold nights came, they said, \"We are not cold, for the Spirit of\nFire is our good friend, and she keeps her people from perishing.\"\n\n\nPART II. THE FROLIC OF THE FLAMES.\n\nFor many and many a moon the people of the village lived at the foot of\nthe great fire-mountain. On summer evenings, the children watched the\nlight, and when a child asked, \"Father, what makes it?\" the father said,\n\"That is the home of the Great Spirit of Fire, who is our good friend.\"\nThen all in the little village went to sleep and lay safely on their\nbeds till the coming of the morning.\n\nBut one night when all the people in the village were asleep, the flames\nin the mountain had a great frolic. They danced upon the sea of fire as\nwarriors dance the war-dance. They seized great rocks and threw them at\nthe sky. The smoke above them hid the stars; the mountain throbbed and\ntrembled. Higher and still higher sprang the dancing flames. At last,\nthey leaped clear above the highest point of the mountain and started\ndown it in a river of red fire. Then the gentle Spirit of Fire called,\n\"Come back, my flames, come back again! The people in the village will\nnot know that you are in a frolic, and they will be afraid.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe flames did not heed her words, and the river of fire ran on and on,\nstraight down the mountain. The flowers in its pathway perished. It\nleaped upon great trees and bore them to the earth. It drove the birds\nfrom their nests, and they fluttered about in the thick smoke. It hunted\nthe wild creatures of the forest from the thickets where they hid, and\nthey fled before it in terror.\n\nAt last, one of the warriors in the village awoke. The thick smoke was\nin his nostrils. In his ears was the war-cry of the flames. He sprang to\nthe door of his lodge and saw the fiery river leaping down the mountain.\n\"My people, my people,\" he cried, \"the flames are upon us!\" With cries\nof fear the people in the village fled far away into the forest, and the\nflames feasted upon the homes they loved.\n\nThe two hunters went to look upon the mountain, and when they came back,\nthey said sadly, \"There are no flowers on the mountain. Not a bird-song\ndid we hear. Not a living creature did we see. It is all dark and\ngloomy. We know the fire is there, for the blue smoke still floats up to\nthe sky, but the mountain will never again be our friend.\"\n\n\nPART III. THE BIRD OF FLAME\n\nWhen the Great Spirit saw the work of the flames, he was very angry.\n\"The fires of this mountain must perish,\" he said. \"No longer shall its\nred flames light the midnight sky.\"\n\nThe mountain trembled with fear at the angry words of the Great Spirit.\n\"O father of all fire and light,\" cried the Fire Spirit, \"I know that\nthe flames have been cruel. They killed the beautiful flowers and drove\nyour children from their homes, but for many, many moons they heeded my\nwords and were good and gentle. They drove the frost and cold of winter\nfrom the wigwams of the village. The little children laughed to see\ntheir red light in the sky. The hearts of your people will be sad, if\nthe flames must perish from the earth.\"\n\nThe Great Spirit listened to the words of the gentle Spirit of Fire, but\nhe answered, \"The fires must perish. They have been cruel to my people,\nand the little children will fear them now; but because the children\nonce loved them, the beautiful colors of the flames shall still live to\nmake glad the hearts of all who look upon them.\"\n\nThen the Great Spirit struck the mountain with his magic war-club. The\nsmoke above it faded away; its fires grew cold and dead. In its dark and\ngloomy heart only one little flame still trembled. It looked like a\nstar. How beautiful it was!\n\nThe Great Spirit looked upon the little flame. He saw that it was\nbeautiful and gentle, and he loved it. \"The fires of the mountain must\nperish,\" he said, \"but you little, gentle flame, shall have wings and\nfly far away from the cruel fires, and all my children will love you as\nI do.\" Swiftly the little thing rose above the mountain and flew away in\nthe sunshine. The light of the flames was still on its head; their\nmarvelous colors were on its wings.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo from the mountain's heart of fire sprang the first humming-bird. It\nis the bird of flame, for it has all the beauty of the colors of the\nflame, but it is gentle, and every child in all the earth loves it and\nis glad to see it fluttering over the flowers.\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF THE FIRST BUTTERFLIES.\n\n\nThe Great Spirit thought, \"By and by I will make men, but first I will\nmake a home for them. It shall be very bright and beautiful. There shall\nbe mountains and prairies and forests, and about it all shall be the\nblue waters of the sea.\"\n\nAs the Great Spirit had thought, so he did. He gave the earth a soft\ncloak of green. He made the prairies beautiful with flowers. The forests\nwere bright with birds of many colors, and the sea was the home of\nwonderful sea-creatures. \"My children will love the prairies, the\nforests, and the seas,\" he thought, \"but the mountains look dark and\ncold. They are very dear to me, but how shall I make my children go to\nthem and so learn to love them?\"\n\nLong the Great Spirit thought about the mountains. At last, he made many\nlittle shining stones. Some were red, some blue, some green, some\nyellow, and some were shining with all the lovely colors of the\nbeautiful rainbow. \"All my children will love what is beautiful,\" he\nthought, \"and if I hide the bright stones in the seams of the rocks of\nthe mountains, men will come to find them, and they will learn to love\nmy mountains.\"\n\nWhen the stones were made and the Great Spirit looked upon their beauty,\nhe said, \"I will not hide you all away in the seams of the rocks. Some\nof you shall be out in the sunshine, so that the little children who\ncannot go to the mountains shall see your colors.\" Then the southwind\ncame by, and as he went, he sang softly of forests flecked with light\nand shadow, of birds and their nests in the leafy trees. He sang of long\nsummer days and the music of waters beating upon the shore. He sang of\nthe moonlight and the starlight. All the wonders of the night, all the\nbeauty of the morning, were in his song.\n\n\"Dear southwind,\" said the Great Spirit \"here are some beautiful things\nfor you to bear away with, you to your summer home. You will love them,\nand all the little children will love them.\" At these words of the Great\nSpirit, all the stones before him stirred with life and lifted\nthemselves on many-colored wings. They fluttered away in the sunshine,\nand the southwind sang to them as they went.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo it was that the first butterflies came from a beautiful thought of\nthe Great Spirit, and in their wings were all the colors of the shining\nstones that he did not wish to hide away.\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF THE FIRST WOODPECKER.\n\n\nIn the days of long ago the Great Spirit came down from the sky and\ntalked with men. Once as he went up and down the earth, he came to the\nwigwam of a woman. He went into the wigwam and sat down by the fire, but\nhe looked like an old man, and the woman did not know who he was.\n\n\"I have fasted for many days,\" said the Great Spirit to the woman. \"Will\nyou give me some food?\" The woman made a very little cake and put it on\nthe fire. \"You can have this cake,\" she said, \"if you will wait for it\nto bake.\" \"I will wait,\" he said.\n\nWhen the cake was baked, the woman stood and looked at it. She thought,\n\"It is very large. I thought it was small. I will not give him so large\na cake as that.\" So she put it away and made a small one. \"If you will\nwait, I will give you this when it is baked,\" she said, and the Great\nSpirit said, \"I will wait.\"\n\nWhen that cake was baked, it was larger than the first one. \"It is so\nlarge that I will keep it for a feast,\" she thought. So she said to her\nguest, \"I will not give you this cake, but if you will wait, I will make\nyou another one.\" \"I will wait,\" said the Great Spirit again.\n\nThen the woman made another cake. It was still smaller than the others\nhad been at first, but when she went to the fire for it, she found it\nthe largest of all. She did not know that the Great Spirit's magic had\nmade each cake larger, and she thought, \"This is a marvel, but I will\nnot give away the largest cake of all.\" So she said to her guest, \"I\nhave no food for you. Go to the forest and look there for your food. You\ncan find it in the bark of the trees, if you will.\"\n\nThe Great Spirit was angry when he heard the words of the woman. He rose\nup from where he sat and threw back his cloak. \"A woman must be good and\ngentle,\" he said, \"and you are cruel. You shall no longer be a woman and\nlive in a wigwam. You shall go out into the forest and hunt for your\nfood in the bark of trees.\"\n\nThe Great Spirit stamped his foot on the earth, and the woman grew\nsmaller and smaller. Wings started from her body and feathers grew upon\nher. With a loud cry she rose from the earth and flew away to the\nforest.\n\nAnd to this day all woodpeckers live in the forest and hunt for their\nfood in the bark of trees.\n\n\n\n\nWHY THE WOODPECKER'S HEAD IS RED.\n\n\nOne day the woodpecker said to the Great Spirit, \"Men do not like me. I\nwish they did.\"\n\nThe Great Spirit said, \"If you wish men to love you, you must be good to\nthem and help them. Then they will call you their friend.\"\n\n\"How can a little bird help a man?\" asked the woodpecker.\n\n\"If one wishes to help, the day will come when he can help,\" said the\nGreat Spirit. The day did come, and this story shows how a little bird\nhelped a strong warrior.\n\nThere was once a cruel magician who lived in a gloomy wigwam beside the\nBlack-Sea-Water. He did not like flowers, and they did not blossom in\nhis pathway. He did not like birds, and they did not sing in the trees\nabove him. The breath of his nostrils was fatal to all life. North,\nsouth, east, and west he blew the deadly fever that killed the women and\nthe little children.\n\n\"Can I help them?\" thought a brave warrior, and he said, \"I will find\nthe magician, and see if death will not come to him as he has made it\ncome to others. I will go straightway to his home.\"\n\nFor many days the brave warrior was in his canoe traveling across the\nBlack-Sea-Water. At last he saw the gloomy wigwam of the cruel magician.\nHe shot an arrow at the door and called, \"Come out, O coward! You have\nkilled women and children with your fatal breath, but you cannot kill a\nwarrior. Come out and fight, if you are not afraid.\"\n\nThe cruel magician laughed loud and long. \"One breath of fever,\" he\nsaid, \"and you will fall to the earth.\" The warrior shot again, and then\nthe magician was angry. He did not laugh, but he came straight out of\nhis gloomy lodge, and as he came, he blew the fever all about him.\n\nThen was seen the greatest fight that the sun had ever looked upon. The\nbrave warrior shot his flint-tipped arrows, but the magician had on his\nmagic cloak, and the arrows could not wound him. He blew from his\nnostrils the deadly breath of fever, but the heart of the warrior was so\nstrong that the fever could not kill him.\n\nAt last the brave warrior had but three arrows in his quiver. \"What\nshall I do?\" he said sadly. \"My arrows are good and my aim is good, but\nno arrow can go through the magic cloak.\"\n\n\"Come on, come on,\" called the magician. \"You are the man who wished to\nfight. Come on.\" Then a woodpecker in a tree above the brave warrior\nsaid softly, \"Aim your arrow at his head, O warrior! Do not shoot at\nhis heart, but at the crest of feathers on his head. He can be wounded\nthere, but not in his heart.\"\n\nThe warrior was not so proud that he could not listen to a little bird.\nThe magician bent to lift a stone, and an arrow flew from the warrior's\nbow. It buzzed and stung like a wasp. It came so close to the crest of\nfeathers that the magician trembled with terror. Before he could run,\nanother arrow came, and this one struck him right on his crest. His\nheart grew cold with fear. \"Death has struck me,\" he cried.\n\n\"Your cruel life is over,\" said the warrior. \"People shall no longer\nfear your fatal breath.\" Then he said to the woodpecker, \"Little bird,\nyou have been a good friend to me, and I will do all that I can for\nyou.\" He put some of the red blood of the magician upon the little\ncreature's head. It made the crest of feathers there as red as flame.\n\"Whenever a man looks upon you,\" said the warrior, \"he will say, 'That\nbird is our friend. He helped to kill the cruel magician.'\"\n\nThe little woodpecker was very proud of his red crest because it showed\nthat he was the friend of man, and all his children to this day are as\nproud as he was.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nWHY THE CAT ALWAYS FALLS UPON HER FEET.\n\n\nSome magicians are cruel, but others are gentle and good to all the\ncreatures of the earth. One of these good magicians was one day\ntraveling in a great forest. The sun rose high in the heavens, and he\nlay down at the foot of a tree. Soft, green moss grew all about him. The\nsun shining through the leaves made flecks of light and shadow upon the\nearth. He heard the song of the bird and the lazy buzz of the wasp. The\nwind rustled the leafy boughs above him. All the music of the forest\nlulled him to slumber, and he closed his eyes.\n\nAs the magician lay asleep, a great serpent came softly from the\nthicket. It lifted high its shining crest and saw the man at the foot of\nthe tree. \"I will kill him!\" it hissed. \"I could have eaten that cat\nlast night if he had not called, 'Watch, little cat, watch!' I will kill\nhim, I will kill him!\"\n\nCloser and closer the deadly serpent moved. The magician stirred in his\nsleep. \"Watch, little cat, watch!\" he said softly. The serpent drew\nback, but the magician's eyes were shut, and it went closer. It hissed\nits war-cry. The sleeping magician did not move. The serpent was upon\nhim--no, far up in the high branches of the tree above his head the\nlittle cat lay hidden. She had seen the serpent when it came from the\nthicket.\n\n[Illustration: SHE LEAPED DOWN UPON THE SERPENT]\n\nShe watched it as it went closer and closer to the sleeping man, and she\nheard it hiss its war-cry. The little cat's body quivered with anger and\nwith fear, for she was so little and the serpent was so big. \"The\nmagician was very good to me,\" she thought, and she leaped down upon the\nserpent.\n\nOh, how angry the serpent was! It hissed, and the flames shot from its\neyes. It struck wildly at the brave little cat, but now the cat had no\nfear. Again and again she leaped upon the serpent's head, and at last\nthe creature lay dead beside the sleeping man whom it had wished to\nkill.\n\nWhen the magician awoke, the little cat lay on the earth, and not far\naway was the dead serpent. He knew at once what the cat had done, and he\nsaid, \"Little cat, what can I do to show you honor for your brave fight?\nYour eyes are quick to see, and your ears are quick to hear. You can run\nvery swiftly. I know what I can do for you. You shall be known over the\nearth as the friend of man, and you shall always have a home in the\nhome of man. And one thing more, little cat: you leaped from the high\ntree to kill the deadly serpent, and now as long as you live, you shall\nleap where you will, and you shall always fall upon your feet.\"\n\n\n\n\nWHY THE SWALLOW'S TAIL IS FORKED.\n\n\nThis is the story of how the swallow's tail came to be forked.\n\nOne day the Great Spirit asked all the animals that he had made to come\nto his lodge. Those that could fly came first: the robin, the bluebird,\nthe owl, the butterfly, the wasp, and the firefly. Behind them came the\nchicken, fluttering its wings and trying hard to keep up. Then came the\ndeer, the squirrel, the serpent, the cat, and the rabbit. Last of all\ncame the bear, the beaver, and the hedgehog. Every one traveled as\nswiftly as he could, for each wished to hear the words of the Great\nSpirit.\n\n\"I have called you together,\" said the Great Spirit, \"because I often\nhear you scold and fret. What do you wish me to do for you? How can I\nhelp you?\"\n\n\"I do not like to hunt so long for my food,\" said the bear.\n\n\"I do not like to build nests,\" said the bluebird.\n\n\"I do not like to live in the water,\" said the beaver.\n\n\"And I do not like to live in a tree,\" said the squirrel.\n\nAt last man stood erect before the Great Spirit and said, \"O Great\nFather, the serpent feasts upon my blood. Will you not give him some\nother food?\"\n\n\"And why?\" asked the Great Spirit.\n\n\"Because I am the first of all the creatures you have made,\" answered\nman proudly.\n\nThen every animal in the lodge was angry to hear the words of man. The\nsquirrel chattered, the wasp buzzed, the owl hooted, and the serpent\nhissed.\n\n\"Hush, be still,\" said the Great Spirit. \"You are, O man, the first of\nmy creatures, but I am the father of all. Each one has his rights, and\nthe serpent must have his food. Mosquito, you are a great traveler. Now\nfly away and find what creature's blood is best for the serpent. Do you\nall come back in a year and a day.\"\n\nThe animals straightway went to their homes. Some went to the river,\nsome to the forest, and some to the prairie, to wait for the day when\nthey must meet at the lodge of the Great Spirit.\n\nThe mosquito traveled over the earth and stung every creature that he\nmet to find whose blood was the best for the serpent. On his way back to\nthe lodge of the Great Spirit he looked up into the sky, and there was\nthe swallow.\n\n\"Good-day, swallow,\" called the mosquito.\n\n\"I am glad to see you, my friend,\" sang the swallow. \"Are you going to\nthe lodge of the Great Spirit? And have you found out whose blood is\nbest for the serpent?\"\n\n\"The blood of man,\" answered the mosquito.\n\nThe mosquito did not like man, but the swallow had always been his\nfriend. \"What can I do to help man?\" he thought. \"Oh, I know what I can\ndo.\" Then he asked the mosquito, \"Whose blood did you say?\"\n\n\"Man's blood,\" said the mosquito; \"that is best.\"\n\n\"_This_ is best,\" said the swallow, and he tore out the mosquito's\ntongue.\n\nThe mosquito buzzed angrily and went quickly to the Great Spirit.\n\n\"All the animals are here,\" said the Great Spirit. \"They are waiting to\nhear whose blood is best for the serpent.\"\n\nThe mosquito tried to answer, \"The blood of man,\" but he could not say a\nword. He could make no sound but \"Kss-ksss-ksssss!\"\n\n\"What do you say?\"\n\n\"Kss-ksss-ksssss!\" buzzed the mosquito angrily.\n\nAll the creatures wondered. Then said the swallow:--\n\n\"Great Father, the mosquito is timid and cannot answer you. I met him\nbefore we came, and he told me whose blood it was.\"\n\n\"Then let us know at once,\" said the Great Spirit.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"It is the blood of the frog,\" answered the swallow quickly. \"Is it not\nso, friend mosquito?\"\n\n\"Kss-ksss-ksssss!\" hissed the angry mosquito.\n\n\"The serpent shall have the frog's blood,\" said the Great Spirit. \"Man\nshall be his food no longer.\"\n\nNow the serpent was angry with the swallow, for he did not like frog's\nblood. As the swallow flew near him, he seized him by the tail and tore\naway a little of it. This is why the swallow's tail is forked, and it is\nwhy man always looks upon the swallow as his friend.\n\n\n\n\nWHY THE WHITE HARES HAVE BLACK EARS.\n\n\nIn the forest there is a beautiful spirit. All the beasts and all the\nbirds are dear to him, and he likes to have them gentle and good. One\nmorning he saw some of his little white hares fighting one another, and\neach trying to seize the best of the food.\n\n\"Oh, my selfish little hares,\" he said sadly, \"why do you fight and try\nto seize the best of everything for yourselves? Why do you not live in\nlove together?\"\n\n\"Tell us a story and we will be good,\" cried the hares.\n\nThen the spirit of the forest was glad. \"I will tell you a story of how\nyou first came to live on the green earth with the other animals,\" he\nsaid, \"and why it is that you are white, and the other hares are not.\"\n\nThen the little hares came close about the spirit of the forest, and sat\nvery still to hear the story.\n\n\"Away up above the stars,\" the gentle spirit began, \"the sky children\nwere all together one snowy day. They threw snowflakes at one another,\nand some of the snowflakes fell from the sky. They came down swiftly\nbetween the stars and among the branches of the trees. At last they lay\non the green earth. They were the first that had ever come to the earth,\nand no one knew what they were. The swallow asked, 'What are they?' and\nthe butterfly answered, 'I do not know.' The spirit of the sky was\nlistening, and he said, 'We call them snowflakes.'\n\n\"'I never heard of snowflakes. Are they birds or beasts?' asked the\nbutterfly.\n\n\"'They are snowflakes,' answered the spirit of the sky, 'but they are\nmagic snowflakes. Watch them closely.'\n\n\"The swallow and the butterfly watched. Every snowflake showed two\nbright eyes, then two long ears, then some soft feet, and there were the\nwhitest, softest little hares that were ever seen.\"\n\n\"Were we the little white hares?\" asked the listeners.\n\n\"You were the little white hares,\" answered the spirit, \"and if you are\ngentle and good, you will always be white.\"\n\nThe hares were not gentle and good; they were fretful, and before long\nthey were scolding and fighting again. The gentle spirit was angry. \"I\nmust get a firebrand and beat them with it,\" he said, \"for they must\nlearn to be good.\"\n\nSo the hares were beaten with the firebrand till their ears were black\nas night. Their bodies were still white, but if the spirit hears them\nscolding and fighting again, it may be that we shall see their bodies as\nblack as their ears.\n\n\n\n\nWHY THE MAGPIE'S NEST IS NOT WELL BUILT.\n\n\nA long time ago all the birds met together to talk about building nests.\n\n\"Every Indian has a wigwam,\" said the robin, \"and every bird needs a\nhome.\"\n\n\"Indians have no feathers,\" said the owl, \"and so they are cold without\nwigwams. We have feathers.\"\n\n\"I keep warm by flying swiftly,\" said the swallow.\n\n\"And I keep warm by fluttering my wings,\" said the humming-bird.\n\n\"By and by we shall have our little ones,\" said the robin. \"They will\nhave no feathers on their wings, so they cannot fly or flutter; and they\nwill be cold. How shall we keep them warm if we have no nests?\"\n\nThen all the birds said, \"We will build nests so that our little ones\nwill be warm.\"\n\nThe birds went to work. One brought twigs, one brought moss, and one\nbrought leaves. They sang together merrily, for they thought of the\nlittle ones that would some time come to live in the warm nests.\n\nNow the magpie was lazy, and she sat still and watched the others at\ntheir work.\n\n\"Come and build your nest in the reeds and rushes,\" cried one bird, but\nthe magpie said \"No.\"\n\n\"My nest is on the branch of a tree,\" called another, \"and it rocks like\na child's cradle. Come and build beside it,\" but the magpie said \"No.\"\n\nBefore long all the birds but the magpie had their nests built. The\nmagpie cried, \"I do not know how to build a nest. Will you not help me?\"\n\nThe other birds were sorry for her and answered, \"We will teach you.\"\nThe black-bird said, \"Put the twigs on this bough;\" the robin said, \"Put\nthe leaves between the twigs;\" and the humming-bird said, \"Put this soft\ngreen moss over it all.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I do not know how,\" cried the magpie.\n\n\"We are teaching you,\" said the other birds. But the magpie was lazy,\nand she thought, \"If I do not learn, they will build a nest for me.\"\n\nThe other birds talked together. \"She does not wish to learn,\" they\nsaid, \"and we will not help her any longer.\" So they went away from her.\n\nThen the magpie was sorry. \"Come back,\" she called, \"and I will learn.\"\nBut by this time the other birds had eggs in their nests, and they were\nbusy taking care of them, and had no time to teach the lazy magpie. This\nis why the magpie's nest is not well built.\n\n\n\n\nWHY THE RAVEN'S FEATHERS ARE BLACK.\n\n\nLong, long ago the raven's feathers were white as snow. He was a\nbeautiful bird, but the other birds did not like him because he was a\nthief. When they saw him coming, they would hide away the things that\nthey cared for most, but in some marvelous way he always found them and\ntook them to his nest in the pine-tree.\n\nOne morning the raven heard a little bird singing merrily in a thicket.\nThe leaves of the trees were dark green, and the little bird's yellow\nfeathers looked like sunshine among them.\n\n\"I will have that bird,\" said the raven, and he seized the trembling\nlittle thing.\n\nThe yellow bird fluttered and cried, \"Help, help! Will no one come and\nhelp me!\"\n\nThe other birds happened to be far away, and not one heard her cries.\n\"The raven will kill me,\" she called. \"Help, help!\"\n\nNow hidden in the bark of a tree was a wood-worm.\n\n\"I am only a wood-worm,\" he said to himself, \"and I cannot fly like a\nbird, but the yellow bird has been good to me, and I will do what I can\nto help her.\"\n\nWhen the sun set, the raven went to sleep. Then the wood-worm made his\nway softly up the pine-tree to the raven's nest, and bound his feet\ntogether with grass and pieces of birch-bark.\n\n\"Fly away,\" whispered the wood-worm softly to the little yellow bird,\n\"and come to see me by and by. I must teach the raven not to be cruel to\nthe other birds.\"\n\nThe little yellow bird flew away, and the wood-worm brought twigs, and\nmoss, and birch-bark, and grass, and put them around the tree. Then he\nset them all on fire. Up the great pine-tree went the flames, leaping\nfrom bough to bough.\n\n\"Fire! fire!\" cried the raven. \"Come and help me! My nest is on fire!\"\n\nThe other birds were not sorry to see him flutter. \"He is a thief,\" said\nthey. \"Let him be in the fire.\"\n\nBy and by the fire burned the grass and the pieces of birch-bark that\nfastened his feet together, and the raven flew away. He was not burned,\nbut he could no longer be proud of his shining white feathers, for the\nsmoke had made every one of them as black as night.\n\n\n\n\nHOW FIRE WAS BROUGHT TO THE INDIANS.\n\n\nPART I. SEIZING THE FIREBRAND.\n\nOh, it was so cold! The wind blew the leaves about on the ground. The\nfrost spirit hid on the north side of every tree, and stung every animal\nof the forest that came near. Then the snow fell till the ground was\nwhite. Through the snowflakes one could see the sun, but the sun looked\ncold, for it was not a clear, bright yellow. It was almost as white as\nthe moon.\n\nThe Indians drew their cloaks more and more closely around them, for\nthey had no fire.\n\n\"How shall we get fire?\" they asked, but no one answered.\n\nAll the fire on earth was in the wigwam of two old women who did not\nlike the Indians.\n\n\"They shall not have it,\" said the old women, and they watched night and\nday so that no one could get a firebrand.\n\nAt last a young Indian said to the others, \"No man can get fire. Let us\nask the animals to help us.\"\n\n\"What beast or what bird can get fire when the two old women are\nwatching it?\" the others cried.\n\n\"The bear might get it.\"\n\n\"No, he cannot run swiftly.\"\n\n\"The deer can run.\"\n\n\"His antlers would not go through the door of the wigwam.\"\n\n\"The raven can go through the door.\"\n\n\"It was smoke that made the raven's feathers black, and now he always\nkeeps away from the fire.\"\n\n\"The serpent has not been in the smoke.\"\n\n\"No, but he is not our friend, and he will not do anything for us.\"\n\n\"Then I will ask the wolf,\" said the young man. \"He can run, he has no\nantlers, and he has not been in the smoke.\"\n\nSo the young man went to the wolf and called, \"Friend wolf, if you will\nget us a firebrand, I will give you some food every day.\"\n\n\"I will get it,\" said the wolf. \"Go to the home of the old women and\nhide behind a tree; and when you hear me cough three times, give a loud\nwar-cry.\"\n\nClose by the village of the Indians was a pond. In the pond was a frog,\nand near the pond lived a squirrel, a bat, a bear, and a deer. The wolf\ncried, \"Frog, hide in the rushes across the pond. Squirrel, go to the\nbushes beside the path that runs from the pond to the wigwam of the two\nold women. Bat, go into the shadow and sleep if you like, but do not\nclose both eyes. Bear, do not stir from behind this great rock till you\nare told. Deer, keep still as a mountain till something happens.\"\n\nThe wolf then went to the wigwam of the two old women. He coughed at the\ndoor, and at last they said, \"Wolf, you may come in to the fire.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe wolf went into the wigwam. He coughed three times, and the Indian\ngave a war-cry. The two old women ran out quickly into the forest to\nsee what had happened, and the wolf ran away with a firebrand from the\nfire.\n\n\nPART II. THE FIREBRAND IN THE FOREST.\n\nWhen the two women saw that the wolf had the firebrand, they were very\nangry, and straightway they ran after him.\n\n\"Catch it and run!\" cried the wolf, and he threw it to the deer. The\ndeer caught it and ran.\n\n\"Catch it and run!\" cried the deer, and he threw it to the bear. The\nbear caught it and ran.\n\n\"Catch it and fly!\" cried the bear, and he threw it to the bat. The bat\ncaught it and flew.\n\n\"Catch it and run!\" cried the bat, and he threw it to the squirrel. The\nsquirrel caught it and ran.\n\n\"Oh, serpent,\" called the two old women, \"you are no friend to the\nIndians. Help us. Get the firebrand away from the squirrel.\"\n\nAs the squirrel ran swiftly over the ground, the serpent sprang up and\ntried to seize the firebrand. He did not get it, but the smoke went into\nthe squirrel's nostrils and made him cough. He would not let go of the\nfirebrand, but ran and ran till he could throw it to the frog.\n\nWhen the frog was running away with it, then the squirrel for the first\ntime thought of himself, and he found that his beautiful bushy tail was\nno longer straight, for the fire had curled it up over his back.\n\n\"Do not be sorry,\" called the young Indian across the pond. \"Whenever an\nIndian boy sees a squirrel with his tail curled up over his back, he\nwill throw him a nut.\"\n\n\nPART III. THE FIREBRAND IN THE POND.\n\nAll this time the firebrand was burning, and the frog was going to the\npond as fast as he could. The old women were running after him, and when\nhe came to the water, one of them caught him by the tail.\n\n\"I have caught him!\" she called.\n\n\"Do not let him go!\" cried the other.\n\n\"No, I will not,\" said the first; but she did let him go, for the little\nfrog tore himself away and dived into the water. His tail was still in\nthe woman's hand, but the firebrand was safe, and he made his way\nswiftly across the pond.\n\n\"Here it is,\" said the frog.\n\n\"Where?\" asked the young Indian. Then the frog coughed, and out of his\nmouth came the firebrand. It was small, for it had been burning all this\ntime, but it set fire to the leaves and twigs, and soon the Indians were\nwarm again. They sang and they danced about the flames.\n\nAt first the frog was sad, because he was sorry to lose his tail; but\nbefore long he was as merry as the people who were dancing, for the\nyoung Indian said, \"Little frog, you have been a good friend to us, and\nas long as we live on the earth, we will never throw a stone at a frog\nthat has no tail.\"\n\n\n\n\nHOW THE QUAIL BECAME A SNIPE.\n\n\n\"It is lonely living in this great tree far away from the other birds,\"\nsaid the owl to herself. \"I will get some one to come and live with me.\nThe quail has many children, and I will ask her for one of them.\"\n\nThe owl went to the quail and said, \"Will you let me have one of your\nchildren to come and live with me?\"\n\n\"Live with you? No,\" answered the quail. \"I would as soon let my child\nlive with the serpent. You are hidden in the tree all day long, and when\nit is dark, you come down like a thief and catch little animals that are\nfast asleep in their nests. You shall never have one of my children.\"\n\n\"I _will_ have one,\" thought the owl.\n\nShe waited till the night had come. It was dark and gloomy, for the moon\nwas not to be seen, and not a star twinkled in the sky. Not a leaf\nstirred, and not a ripple was on the pond. The owl crept up to the\nquail's home as softly as she could. The young birds were chattering\ntogether, and she listened to their talk.\n\n\"My mother is gone a long time,\" said one. \"It is lonely, and I am\nafraid.\"\n\n\"What is there to be afraid of?\" asked another. \"You are a little\ncoward. Shut your eyes and go to sleep. See me! I am not afraid, if it\nis dark and gloomy. Oh, oh!\" cried the boaster, for the owl had seized\nhim and was carrying him away from home and his little brothers.\n\nWhen the mother quail came home, she asked, \"Where is your brother?\" The\nlittle quails did not know. All they could say was that something had\nseized him in the darkness and taken him away.\n\n\"It crept up to the nest in the dark,\" said one.\n\n\"And oh, mother, never, never go away from us again!\" cried another. \"Do\nnot leave us at home all alone.\"\n\n\"But, my dear little ones,\" the mother said, \"how could you have any\nfood if I never went away from our home?\"\n\nThe mother quail was very sad, and she would have been still more\nsorrowful if she had known what was happening to her little son far away\nin the owl's nest. The cruel owl had pulled and pulled on the quail's\nbill and legs, till they were so long that his mother would not have\nknown him.\n\nOne night the mole came to the quail and said, \"Your little son is in\nthe owl's nest.\"\n\n\"How do you know?\" asked the quail.\n\n\"I cannot see very well,\" answered the mole, \"but I heard him call, and\nI know that he is there.\"\n\n\"How shall I get him away from the owl?\" the quail asked the mole.\n\n\"The owl crept up to your home in the dark,\" said the mole, \"but you\nmust go to her nest at sunrise when the light shines in her eyes and she\ncannot see you.\"\n\nAt sunrise the quail crept up to the owl's nest and carried away her\ndear little son to his old home. As the light grew brighter, she saw\nwhat had happened to him. His bill and his legs were so long that he\ndid not look like her son.\n\n\"He is not like our brother,\" said the other little quails.\n\n\"That is because the cruel owl that carried him away has pulled his bill\nand his legs,\" answered the mother sorrowfully. \"You must be very good\nto him.\"\n\nBut the other little quails were not good to him. They laughed at him,\nand the quail with the long bill and legs was never again merry and glad\nwith them. Before long he ran away and hid among the great reeds that\nstand in the water and on the shores of the pond.\n\n\"I will not be called quail,\" he said to himself, \"for quails never have\nlong bills and legs. I will have a new name, and it shall be snipe. I\nlike the sound of that name.\"\n\nSo it was that the bird whose name was once quail came to be called\nsnipe. His children live among the reeds of the pond, and they, too, are\ncalled snipes.\n\n\n\n\nWHY THE SERPENT SHEDS HIS SKIN.\n\n\nThe serpent is the grandfather of the owl, and once upon a time if the\nowl needed help, she would say, \"My grandfather will come and help me,\"\nbut now he never comes to her. This story tells why.\n\nWhen the owl carried away the little quail, she went to the serpent and\nsaid, \"Grandfather, you will not tell the quail that I have her son,\nwill you?\"\n\n\"No,\" answered the serpent, \"I will keep your secret. I will not whisper\nit to any one.\" So when the mother quail asked all the animals, \"Can you\ntell me who has carried away my little son?\" the serpent answered, \"I\nhave been sound asleep. How could I know?\"\n\nAfter the quail had become a snipe and had gone to live in the marsh\namong the reeds, the cruel owl looked everywhere for him, and at last\nshe saw him standing beside a great stone in the water.\n\nShe went to the serpent and said, \"Grandfather, will you do something\nfor me?\"\n\n\"I will,\" hissed the serpent softly, \"What is it?\"\n\n\"Only to take a drink of water,\" answered the owl. \"Come and drink all\nthe water in the marsh, and then I can catch the quail that I made into\na snipe.\"\n\nThe serpent drank and drank, but still there was water in the marsh.\n\n\"Why do you not drink faster?\" cried the owl. \"I shall never get the\nsnipe.\"\n\nThe serpent drank till he could drink no more, and still the water stood\nin the marsh. The owl could not see well by day, and the serpent could\nnot see above the reeds and rushes, so they did not know that the water\nfrom the pond was coming into the marsh faster than the serpent could\ndrink it.\n\nStill the serpent drank, and at last his skin burst.\n\n\"Oh,\" he cried, \"my skin has burst. Help me to fasten it together.\"\n\n\"My skin never bursts,\" said the owl. \"If you will drink the water from\nthe marsh, I will help you, but I will not fasten any skin together till\nI get that snipe.\"\n\nThe serpent had done all that he could to help the owl, and now he was\nangry. He was afraid, too, for he did not know what would happen to him,\nand he lay on the ground trembling and quivering. It was not long before\nhis old skin fell off, and then he saw that under it was a beautiful new\none, all bright and shining. He sheds his old skin every year now, but\nnever again has he done anything to help the owl.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nWHY THE DOVE IS TIMID.\n\n\nA spirit called the manito always watches over the Indians. He is glad\nwhen they are brave, but if they are cowardly, he is angry.\n\nOne day when the manito was walking under the pine-trees, he heard a cry\nof terror in the forest.\n\n\"What is that?\" said he. \"Can it be that any of my Indian children are\nafraid?\"\n\nAs he stood listening, an Indian boy came running from the thicket,\ncrying in fear.\n\n\"What are you afraid of?\" asked the manito.\n\n\"My mother told me to go into the forest with my bow and arrows and\nshoot some animal for food,\" said the boy.\n\n\"That is what all Indian boys must do,\" said the manito. \"Why do you not\ndo as she said?\"\n\n\"Oh, the great bear is in the forest, and I am afraid of him!\"\n\n\"Afraid of Hoots?\" asked the manito. \"An Indian boy must never be\nafraid.\"\n\n\"But Hoots will eat me, I know he will,\" cried the boy. \"Boo-hoo,\nboo-hoo!\"\n\n\"A boy must be brave,\" said the manito, \"and I will not have a coward\namong my Indians. You are too timid ever to be a warrior, and so you\nshall be a bird. Whenever Indian boys look at you, they will say, 'There\nis the boy who was afraid of Hoots.'\"\n\nThe boy's cloak of deerskin fell off, and feathers came out all over his\nbody. His feet were no longer like a boy's feet, they were like the feet\nof a bird. His bow and arrows fell upon the grass, for he had no longer\nany hands with which to hold them. He tried to call to his mother, but\nthe only sound he could make was \"Hoo, hoo!\"\n\n\"Now you are a dove,\" said the manito, \"and a dove you shall be as long\nas you live. You shall always be known as the most timid of birds.\"\n\nAgain the dove that had once been a boy tried to call, but he only said,\n\"Hoo, hoo!\"\n\n\"That is the only sound you will ever make,\" said the manito, \"and when\nthe other boys hear it, they will say, 'Listen! He was afraid of Hoots,\nthe bear, and that is why he says Hoo, hoo!'\"\n\n\n\n\nWHY THE PARROT REPEATS THE WORDS OF MEN.\n\n\nIn the olden times when the earth was young, all the birds knew the\nlanguage of men and could talk with them. Everybody liked the parrot,\nbecause he always told things as they were, and they called him the bird\nthat tells the truth.\n\nThis bird that always told the truth lived with a man who was a thief,\nand one night the man killed another man's ox and hid its flesh.\n\nWhen the other man came to look for it in the morning, he asked the\nthief, \"Have you seen my ox?\"\n\n\"No, I have not seen it,\" said the man.\n\n\"Is that the truth?\" the owner asked.\n\n\"Yes, it is. I have not seen the ox,\" repeated the man.\n\n\"Ask the parrot,\" said one of the villagers. \"He always tells the\ntruth.\"\n\n\"O bird of truth,\" said they to the parrot, \"did this man kill an ox and\nhide its flesh?\"\n\n\"Yes, he did,\" answered the parrot.\n\nThe thief knew well that the villagers would punish him the next day, if\nhe could not make them think that the parrot did not always tell the\ntruth.\n\n\"I have it,\" he said to himself at last. \"I know what I can do.\"\n\nWhen night came he put a great jar over the parrot. Then he poured water\nupon the jar and struck it many times with a tough piece of oak. This he\ndid half the night. Then he went to bed and was soon fast asleep.\n\nIn the morning the men came to punish him.\n\n\"How do you know that I killed the ox?\" he asked.\n\n\"Because the bird of truth says that you did,\" they answered.\n\n\"The bird of truth!\" he cried. \"That parrot is no bird of truth. He will\nnot tell the truth even about what happened last night. Ask him if the\nmoon was shining.\"\n\n\"Did the moon shine last night?\" the men asked.\n\n\"No,\" answered the parrot. \"There was no moon, for the rain fell, and\nthere was a great storm in the heavens. I heard the thunder half the\nnight.\"\n\n\"This bird has always told the truth before,\" said the villagers, \"but\nthere was no storm last night and the moon was bright. What shall we do\nto punish the parrot?\" they asked the thief.\n\n\"I think we will no longer let him live in our homes,\" answered the\nthief.\n\n\"Yes,\" said the others, \"he must fly away to the forest, and even when\nthere is a storm, he can no longer come to our homes, because we know\nnow that he is a bird of a lying tongue.\"\n\n[Illustration: \"THIS BIRD HAS ALWAYS TOLD THE TRUTH\"]\n\nSo the parrot flew away sorrowfully into the lonely forest. He met a\nmocking-bird and told him what had happened.\n\n\"Why did you not repeat men's words as I do?\" asked the mocking-bird.\n\"Men always think their own words are good.\"\n\n\"But the man's words were not true,\" said the parrot.\n\n\"That is nothing,\" replied the mocking-bird, laughing. \"Say what they\nsay, and they will think you are a wonderful bird.\"\n\n\"Yes, I see,\" said the parrot thoughtfully, \"and I will never again be\npunished for telling the truth. I will only repeat the words of others.\"\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF THE FIRST MOCKING-BIRD.\n\n\nFar away in the forest there once lived the most cruel man on all the\nearth. He did not like the Indians, and he said to himself, \"Some day I\nwill be ruler of them all.\" Then he thought, \"There are many brave\nwarriors among the Indians, and I must first put them to death.\"\n\nHe was cunning as well as cruel, and he soon found a way to kill the\nwarriors. He built some wigwams and made fires before them as if people\nlived in each one.\n\nOne day a hunter on his way home heard a baby crying in one of the\nwigwams. He went in, but he never came out again. Another day a hunter\nheard a child laughing. He went in, but he never came out again. So it\nwas day after day. One hunter heard a woman talking, and went to see who\nit was; another heard a man calling to people in the other wigwams, and\nwent to see who they were; and no one who once went into a wigwam ever\ncame out.\n\nOne young brave had heard the voices, but he feared there was magic\nabout them, and so he had never gone into the wigwams; but when he saw\nthat his friends did not come back, he went to the wigwams and called,\n\"Where are all the people that I have heard talk and laugh?\"\n\n\"Talk and laugh,\" said the cunning man mockingly.\n\n\"Where are they? Do you know?\" cried the brave, and the cunning man\ncalled, \"Do you know?\" and laughed.\n\n\"Whose voices have I heard?\"\n\n\"Have I heard?\" mocked the cunning man.\n\n\"I heard a baby cry.\"\n\n\"Cry,\" said the cunning man.\n\n\"Who is with you?\"\n\n\"You.\"\n\nThen the young brave was angry. He ran into the first wigwam, and there\nhe found the man who had cried like a baby and talked in a voice like a\nwoman's and made all the other sounds. The brave caught him by the leg\nand threw him down upon the earth.\n\n\"It was you who cried and talked and laughed,\" he said. \"I heard your\nvoice and now you are going to be punished for killing our braves. Where\nis my brother, and where are our friends?\"\n\n\"How do I know?\" cried the man. \"Ask the sun or the moon or the fire if\nyou will, but do not ask me;\" and all the time he was trying to pull the\nyoung brave into the flames.\n\n\"I will ask the fire,\" said the brave. \"Fire, you are a good friend to\nus Indians. What has this cruel man done with our warriors?\"\n\nThe fire had no voice, so it could not answer, but it sprang as far away\nfrom the hunter as it could, and there where the flames had been he saw\ntwo stone arrowheads.\n\n\"I know who owned the two arrowheads,\" said the brave. \"You have thrown\nmy friends into your fire. Now I will do to you what you have done to\nthem.\"\n\nHe threw the cunning man into the fire. His head burst into two pieces,\nand from between them a bird flew forth. Its voice was loud and clear,\nbut it had no song of its own. It could only mock the songs of other\nbirds, and that is why it is called the mocking-bird.\n\n\n\n\nWHY THE TAIL OF THE FOX HAS A WHITE TIP.\n\n\n\"I must have a boy to watch my sheep and my cows,\" thought an old woman,\nand so she went out to look for a boy. She looked first in the fields\nand then in the forest, but nowhere could she find a boy. As she was\nwalking down the path to her home, she met a bear.\n\n\"Where are you going?\" asked the bear.\n\n\"I am looking for a boy to watch my cows and my sheep,\" she answered.\n\n\"Will you have me?\"\n\n\"Yes, if you know how to call my animals gently.\"\n\n\"Ugh, ugh,\" called the bear. He tried to call softly, but he had always\ngrowled before, and now he could do nothing but growl.\n\n\"No, no,\" said the old woman, \"your voice is too loud. Every cow in the\nfield would run, and every sheep would hide, if you should growl like\nthat. I will not have you.\"\n\nThen the old woman went on till she met a wolf.\n\n\"Where are you going, grandmother?\" he asked.\n\n\"I am looking for a boy to watch my cows and my sheep,\" she answered.\n\n\"Will you have me?\" asked the wolf.\n\n\"Yes,\" she said, \"if you know how to call my animals gently.\"\n\n\"Ho-y, ho-y,\" called the wolf.\n\n\"Your voice is too high,\" said the old woman. \"My cows and my sheep\nwould tremble whenever they heard it. I will not have you.\"\n\nThen the old woman went on till she met a fox.\n\n\"I am so glad to meet you,\" said the fox. \"Where are you going this\nbright morning?\"\n\n\"I am going home now,\" she said, \"for I cannot find a boy to watch my\ncows and my sheep. The bear growls and the wolf calls in too high a\nvoice. I do not know what I can do, for I am too old to watch cows and\nsheep.\"\n\n\"Oh, no,\" said the cunning fox, \"you are not old, but any one as\nbeautiful as you must not watch sheep in the fields. I shall be very\nglad to do the work for you if you will let me.\"\n\n\"I know that my sheep will like you,\" said she.\n\n\"And I know that I shall like them dearly,\" said the fox.\n\n\"Can you call them gently, Mr. Fox?\" she asked.\n\n\"Del-dal-halow, del-dal-halow,\" called the fox, in so gentle a voice\nthat it was like a whisper.\n\n\"That is good, Mr. Fox,\" said the old woman. \"Come home with me, and I\nwill take you to the fields where my animals go.\"\n\nEach day one of the cows or one of the sheep was gone when the fox came\nhome at night. \"Mr. Fox, where is my cow?\" the old woman would ask, or,\n\"Mr. Fox, where is my sheep?\" and the fox would answer with a sorrowful\nlook, \"The bear came out of the woods, and he has eaten it,\" or, \"The\nwolf came running through the fields, and he has eaten it.\"\n\nThe old woman was sorry to lose her sheep and her cows, but she thought,\n\"Mr. Fox must be even more sorry than I. I will go out to the field and\ncarry him a drink of cream.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nShe went to the field, and there stood the fox with the body of a sheep,\nfor it was he who had killed and eaten every one that was gone. When he\nsaw the old woman coming, he started to run away.\n\n\"You cruel, cunning fox!\" she cried.\n\nShe had nothing to throw at him but the cream, so she threw that. It\nstruck the tip of his tail, and from that day to this, the tip of the\nfox's tail has been as white as cream.\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF THE FIRST FROG.\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a man who had two children, a boy and a girl,\nwhom he treated cruelly. The boy and the girl talked together one day,\nand the boy, Wah-wah-hoo, said to his sister, \"Dear little sister, are\nyou happy with our father?\"\n\n\"No,\" answered the girl, whose name was Hah-hah. \"He scolds me and beats\nme, and I can never please him.\"\n\n\"He was angry with me this morning,\" said the boy, \"and he beat me till\nthe blood came. See there!\"\n\n\"Let us run away,\" said Hah-hah. \"The beasts and the birds will be good\nto us. They really love us, and we can be very happy together.\"\n\nThat night the two children ran away from their cruel father. They went\nfar into the forest, and at last they found a wigwam in which no one\nlived.\n\nWhen the father found that Wah-wah-hoo and his sister were gone, he was\nvery unhappy. He went out into the forest to see if he could find them.\n\"If they would only come again,\" he said aloud, \"I would do everything I\ncould to please them.\"\n\n\"Do you think he tells the truth?\" asked the wolf.\n\n\"I do not know,\" answered the mosquito. \"He never treated them well when\nthey were with him.\"\n\n\"Wolf,\" called the father, \"will you tell me where my children are?\"\n\nWah-wah-hoo had once told the wolf when a man was coming to shoot him,\nand so the wolf would not tell where they were.\n\n\"Mosquito,\" said the father, \"where are my children?\"\n\nHah-hah had once helped the mosquito to go home when the wind was too\nstrong for him, and so the mosquito would not tell.\n\nFor a long time Wah-wah-hoo and his sister were really happy in the\nforest, for there was no one to scold them and to beat them, but at last\nthere was a cold, cold winter. All the earth was covered with snow. The\nanimals had gone, and Wah-wah-hoo could find no food. Death came and\nbore away the gentle Hah-hah. Wah-wah-hoo sat alone in the gloomy wigwam\nwailing for his sister. Then in his sadness he threw himself down from a\nhigh mountain and was killed.\n\nAll this time the father had been looking for his children, and at last\nhe saw his son lying at the foot of the mountain. Then he too wailed and\ncried aloud, for he was really sorry that he had treated them so\ncruelly. He was a magician, and he could make his son live, but he could\nnot make him a boy again.\n\n\"You shall be a frog,\" said he, \"and you shall make your home in the\nmarsh with the reeds and the rushes. There you shall wail as loud as you\nwill for your sister, and once every moon I will come and wail for her\nwith you. I was cruel to you and to her, and so I must live alone in my\ngloomy wigwam.\"\n\nEvery summer night one can hear the frog in the marsh wailing for his\ndear sister Hah-hah. Sometimes a louder voice is heard, and that is the\nvoice of the father wailing because he was so cruel.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nWHY THE RABBIT IS TIMID.\n\n\nOne night the moon looked down from the sky upon the people on the earth\nand said to herself, \"How sorrowful they look! I wish I knew what\ntroubles them. The stars and I are never sad, and I do not see why men\nshould be troubled.\" She listened closely, and she heard the people say,\n\"How happy we should be if death never came to us. Death is always\nbefore us.\"\n\nThe path of the moon lies across the sky, and she could not leave it to\ngo to the earth, but she called the white rabbit and said, \"Rabbit,\nshould you be afraid to go down to the earth?\"\n\n\"No,\" answered the rabbit, \"I am not afraid.\"\n\n\"The people on the earth are troubled because death is before them. Now\nwill you go to them and whisper, 'The moon dies every night. You can see\nit go down into the darkness, but when another night comes, then the\nmoon rises again,'--can you remember to tell them that?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said the rabbit, \"I will remember.\"\n\n\"Say this,\" said the moon: \"'The moon dies, but the moon rises again,\nand so will you.'\"\n\nThe rabbit was so glad to go to the earth that he danced and leaped and\nsprang and frolicked, but when he tried to tell the people what the moon\nhad said, he could not remember, and he said, \"The moon says that she\ndies and will not rise again, and so you will die and will not rise\nagain.\"\n\nThe moon saw that the people were still troubled, and she called the\nrabbit and asked what he had said to them.\n\n\"I said that as you die and do not rise, so they too will die and not\nrise,\" said the rabbit.\n\n\"You did not try to remember, and you must be punished,\" said the moon,\nand she fired an arrow tipped with flint at the rabbit.\n\nThe arrow struck the rabbit's lip and split it. From that time every\nrabbit has had a split lip. The rabbit was afraid of the moon, and he\nwas afraid of the people on the earth. He had been brave before, but now\nhe is the most timid of animals, for he is afraid of everything and\neverybody.\n\n\n\n\nWHY THE PEETWEET CRIES FOR RAIN.\n\n\n\"Come to me, every bird that flies,\" said the Great Father. \"There is\nwork to be done that only my birds can do.\"\n\nThe birds were happy that they could do something to please the Great\nFather, for they remembered how good he had always been to them. They\nflew to him eagerly to ask what they should do for him. \"O Great\nFather,\" they sang all together, \"tell us what we can do for you.\"\n\n\"The waters that I have made know not where to go,\" said the Father.\n\"Some should go to the seas, some should go to the lakes in the hollows\namong the mountains, and some should make rivers that will dance over\nthe rocks and through the fields on their way to the sea.\"\n\n\"And can even as small a bird as I show them where to go?\" asked the\nsparrow eagerly.\n\n\"Yes,\" said the Father, \"even my little humming-bird can help me.\"\n\nEvery bird that flies had come to the Father, but the peetweet had come\nlast because he was lazy.\n\n\"I do not really wish to fly all over the earth,\" said he, \"to show the\nwaters where to go.\"\n\n\"Oh, I wish I were a bird,\" said a butterfly. \"I should be so glad to do\nsomething for the Father.\"\n\nBut the peetweet went on, \"I should think the lakes could find their way\ninto the hollows of the mountains by themselves.\"\n\nThe Father heard the lazy peetweet, and he said, \"Do you not wish to\nshow the waters where to go?\"\n\n\"They never showed me where to go,\" said the lazy bird. \"I am not\nthirsty. Let whoever is thirsty and needs the water help the lakes and\nrivers.\"\n\nThe other birds all stood still in wonder. \"He will be punished,\" they\nwhispered.\n\n\"Yes, he must be punished,\" said the Father sadly. Then said he to the\nlazy peetweet, \"Never again shall you drink of the water that is in\nriver or lake. When you are thirsty, you must look for a hollow in the\nrock where the rain has fallen, and there only shall you drink.\"\n\nThat is why the peetweet flies over river and lake, but ever cries\neagerly, \"Peet-weet, peet-weet!\" for that is his word for \"Rain, rain!\"\n\n\n\n\nWHY THE BEAR HAS A SHORT TAIL.\n\n\nOne cold morning when the fox was coming up the road with some fish, he\nmet the bear.\n\n\"Good-morning, Mr. Fox,\" said the bear.\n\n\"Good-morning, Mr. Bear,\" said the fox. \"The morning is brighter because\nI have met you.\"\n\n\"Those are very good fish, Mr. Fox,\" said the bear. \"I have not eaten\nsuch fish for many a day. Where do you find them?\"\n\n\"I have been fishing, Mr. Bear,\" answered the fox.\n\n\"If I could catch such fish as those, I should like to go fishing, but I\ndo not know how to fish.\"\n\n\"It would be very easy for you to learn, Mr. Bear,\" said the fox. \"You\nare so big and strong that you can do anything.\"\n\n\"Will you teach me, Mr. Fox?\" asked the bear.\n\n\"I would not tell everybody, but you are such a good friend that I will\nteach you. Come to this pond, and I will show you how to fish through\nthe ice.\"\n\nSo the fox and the bear went to the frozen pond, and the fox showed the\nbear how to make a hole in the ice.\n\n\"That is easy for you,\" said the fox, \"but many an animal could not have\nmade that hole. Now comes the secret. You must put your tail down into\nthe water and keep it there. That is not easy, and not every animal\ncould do it, for the water is very cold; but you are a learned animal,\nMr. Bear, and you know that the secret of catching fish is to keep your\ntail in the water a long time. Then when you pull it up, you will pull\nwith it as many fish as I have.\"\n\nThe bear put his tail down into the water, and the fox went away. The\nsun rose high in the heavens, and still the bear sat with his tail\nthrough the hole in the ice. Sunset came, but still the bear sat with\nhis tail through the hole in the ice, for he thought, \"When an animal is\nreally learned, he will not fear a little cold.\"\n\nIt began to be dark, and the bear said, \"Now I will pull the fish out of\nthe water. How good they will be!\" He pulled and pulled, but not a fish\ncame out. Worse than that, not all of his tail came out, for the end of\nit was frozen fast to the ice.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe went slowly down the road, growling angrily, \"I wish I could find\nthat fox;\" but the cunning fox was curled up in his warm nest, and\nwhenever he thought of the bear he laughed.\n\n\n\n\nWHY THE WREN FLIES CLOSE TO THE EARTH.\n\n\nOne day when the birds were all together, one of them said, \"I have been\nwatching men, and I saw that they had a king. Let us too have a king.\"\n\n\"Why?\" asked the others.\n\n\"Oh, I do not know, but men have one.\"\n\n\"Which bird shall it be? How shall we choose a king?\"\n\n\"Let us choose the bird that flies farthest,\" said one.\n\n\"No, the bird that flies most swiftly.\"\n\n\"The most beautiful bird.\"\n\n\"The bird that sings best.\"\n\n\"The strongest bird.\"\n\nThe owl sat a little way off on a great oak-tree. He said nothing, but\nhe looked so wise that all the birds cried, \"Let us ask the owl to\nchoose for us.\"\n\n\"The bird that flies highest should be our king,\" said the owl with a\nwiser look than before, and the others said, \"Yes, we will choose the\nbird that flies highest.\"\n\nThe wren is very small, but she cried even more eagerly than the others,\n\"Let us choose the bird that flies highest,\" for she said to herself,\n\"They think the owl is wise, but I am wiser than he, and I know which\nbird can fly highest.\"\n\nThen the birds tried their wings. They flew high, high up above the\nearth, but one by one they had to come back to their homes. It was soon\nseen which could fly highest, for when all the others had come back,\nthere was the eagle rising higher and higher.\n\n\"The eagle is our king,\" cried the birds on the earth, and the eagle\ngave a loud cry of happiness. But look! A little bird had been hidden in\nthe feathers on the eagle's back, and when the eagle had gone as high as\nhe could, the wren flew up from his back still higher.\n\n\"Now which bird is king?\" cried the wren. \"The one that flew highest\nshould be king, and I flew highest.\"\n\nThe eagle was angry, but not a word did he say, and the two birds came\ndown to the earth together.\n\n\"I am the king,\" said the wren, \"for I flew higher than the eagle.\" The\nother birds did not know which of the two to choose. At last they went\nto the oak-tree and asked the owl. He looked to the east, the west, the\nsouth, and the north, and then he said, \"The wren did not fly at all,\nfor she was carried on the eagle's back. The eagle is king, for he not\nonly flew highest, but carried the wren on his back.\"\n\n\"Good, good!\" cried the other birds. \"The owl is the wisest bird that\nflies. We will do as he says, and the eagle shall be our king.\" The wren\ncrept away. She thought she was wise before, but now she is really wise,\nfor she always flies close to the earth, and never tries to do what she\ncannot.\n\n\n\n\nWHY THE HOOFS OF THE DEER ARE SPLIT.\n\n\nThe manito of the Indians taught them how to do many things. He told\nthem how to build wigwams, and how to hunt and to fish. He showed them\nhow to make jars in which to keep food and water. When little children\ncame to be with them, it was the manito who said, \"See, this is the way\nto make soft, warm cradles for the babies.\"\n\nThe good spirit often comes down from his happy home in the sky to watch\nthe Indians at their work. When each man does as well as he can, the\nmanito is pleased, but if an Indian is lazy or wicked, the spirit is\nangry, and the Indian is always punished in one way or another.\n\nOne day when the manito was walking in the forest, he said to himself,\n\"Everything is good and happy. The green leaves are whispering merrily\ntogether, the waves are lapping on the shore and laughing, the squirrels\nare chattering and laying up their food for winter. Everything loves\nme, and the colors of the flowers are brighter when I lay my hand upon\nthem.\"\n\nThen the manito heard a strange sound. \"I have not often heard that,\"\nsaid he. \"I do not like it. Some one in the forest has wicked thoughts\nin his heart.\"\n\nBeside a great rock he saw a man with a knife.\n\n\"What are you doing with the knife?\" asked the manito.\n\n\"I am throwing it away,\" answered the man.\n\n\"Tell me the truth,\" said the manito.\n\n\"I am sharpening it,\" replied the man.\n\n\"That is strange,\" said the manito, \"You have food in your wigwam. Why\nshould you sharpen a knife?\"\n\nThe man could not help telling the truth to the manito, and so he\nanswered, but greatly against his will, \"I am sharpening the knife to\nkill the wicked animals.\"\n\n\"Which animal is wicked?\" asked the manito. \"Which one does you harm?\"\n\n[Illustration: THE KNIFE ONLY WENT IN DEEPER]\n\n\"Not one does me harm,\" said the man, \"but I do not like them. I will\nmake them afraid of me, and I will kill them.\"\n\n\"You are a cruel, wicked man,\" said the manito. \"The animals have done\nyou no harm, and you do not need them for food. You shall no longer be a\nman. You shall be a deer, and be afraid of every man in the forest.\"\n\nThe knife fell from the man's hand and struck his foot. He leaped and\nstamped, but the knife only went in deeper. He cried aloud, but his\nvoice sounded strange. His hands were no longer hands, but feet. Antlers\ngrew from his head, and his whole body was not that of a man, but that\nof a deer. He runs in the forest as he will, but whenever he sees a man,\nhe is afraid. His hoofs are split because the knife that he had made so\nsharp fell upon his foot when he was a man; and whenever he looks at\nthem, he has to remember that it was his own wickedness which made him a\ndeer.\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF THE FIRST GRASSHOPPER.\n\n\nIn a country that is far away there once lived a young man called\nTithonus. He was strong and beautiful. Light of heart and light of foot,\nhe hunted the deer or danced and sang the livelong day. Every one who\nsaw him loved him, but the one that loved him most was a goddess named\nAurora.\n\nEvery goddess had her own work, but the work of Aurora was most\nbeautiful of all, for she was the goddess of the morning. It was she who\nwent out to meet the sun and to light up his pathway. She watched over\nthe flowers, and whenever they saw her coming, their colors grew\nbrighter. She loved everything beautiful, and that is why she loved\nTithonus.\n\n\"Many a year have I roamed through this country,\" she said to herself,\n\"but never have I seen such bright blue eyes as those. O fairest of\nyouths,\" she cried, \"who are you? Some name should be yours that sounds\nlike the wind in the pine trees, or like the song of a bird among the\nfirst blossoms.\"\n\nThe young man fell upon his knees before her. \"I know well,\" said he,\n\"that you are no maiden of the earth. You are a goddess come down to us\nfrom the skies. I am but a hunter, and I roam through the forest looking\nfor deer.\"\n\n\"Come with me, fairest of hunters,\" said Aurora. \"Come with me to the\nhome of my father. You shall live among my brothers and hunt with them,\nor go with me at the first brightness of the morning to carry light and\ngladness to the flowers.\"\n\nSo it was that Tithonus went away from his own country and his own home\nto live in the home of Aurora.\n\nFor a long time they were happy together, but one day Aurora said,\n\"Tithonus, I am a goddess, and so I am immortal, but some day death will\nbear you away from me. I will ask the father of the gods that you too\nmay be immortal.\"\n\nThen Aurora went to the king of the gods and begged that he would make\nTithonus immortal.\n\n\"Sometimes people are not pleased even when I have given them what they\nask,\" replied the king, \"so think well before you speak.\"\n\n\"I have only one wish,\" said Aurora, \"and it is that Tithonus, the\nfairest of youths, shall be immortal.\"\n\n\"You have your wish,\" said the king of the gods, and again Tithonus and\nAurora roamed happily together through forest and field.\n\nOne day Tithonus asked, \"My Aurora, why is it that I cannot look\nstraight into your eyes as once I did?\" Another day he said, \"My Aurora,\nwhy is it that I cannot put my hand in yours as once I did?\"\n\nThen the goddess wept sorrowfully. \"The king of the gods gave me what I\nasked for,\" she wailed, \"and I begged that you should be immortal. I did\nnot remember to ask that you should be always young.\"\n\nEveryday Tithonus grew older and smaller. \"I am no longer happy in your\nfather's home,\" he said, \"with your brothers who are as beautiful and as\nstrong as I was when I first saw you. Let me go back to my own country.\nLet me be a bird or an insect and live in the fields where we first\nroamed together. Let me go, dearest goddess.\"\n\n\"You shall do as you will,\" replied Aurora sadly. \"You shall be a\ngrasshopper, and whenever I hear the grasshopper's clear, merry song, I\nshall remember the happy days when we were together.\"\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF THE ORIOLE.\n\n\nThe king of the north once said to himself, \"I am master of the country\nof ice and snow, but what is that if I cannot be ruler of the land of\nsunshine and flowers? I am no king if I fear the king of the south. The\nnorthwind shall bear my icy breath. Bird and beast shall quiver and\ntremble with cold. I myself will call in the voice of the thunder, and\nthis ruler of the south, his king of summer, shall yield to my power.\"\n\nThe land of the south was ever bright and sunny, but all at once the sky\ngrew dark, and the sun hid himself in fear. Black storm-clouds came from\nthe north. An icy wind blew over the mountains. It wrestled with the\ntrees of the southland, and even the oaks could not stand against its\npower. Their roots were tough and strong, but they had to yield, and the\nfallen trees lay on the earth and wailed in sorrow as the cruel\nstorm-wind and rain beat upon them. The thunder growled in the hollows\nof the mountains, and in the fearful gloom came the white fire of the\nforked lightning, flaring through the clouds.\n\n\"We shall perish,\" cried the animals of the sunny south. \"The arrows of\nthe lightning are aimed at us. O dear ruler of the southland, must we\nyield to the cruel master of the north?\"\n\n\"My king,\" said a little buzzing voice, \"may I go out and fight the\nwicked master of the storm-wind?\"\n\nThe thunder was still for a moment, and a mocking laugh was heard from\namong the clouds, for it was a little hornet that had asked to go out\nand meet the power of the ruler of the north.\n\n\"Dear king, may I go?\" repeated the hornet.\n\n\"Yes, you may go,\" said the king of the south, and the little insect\nwent out alone, and bravely stung the master of the storm-wind.\n\nThe king of the north struck at him with a war-club, but the hornet only\nflew above his head and stung him again. The hornet was too small to be\nstruck by the arrows of the lightning. He stung again and again, and at\nlast the king of the north went back to his own country, and drove\nbefore him the thunder and lightning and rain and the black storm-clouds\nand the icy wind.\n\n\"Brave little hornet,\" said the king of the south, \"tell me what I can\ndo for you. You shall have whatever you ask.\"\n\nThen said the little hornet, \"My king, on all the earth no one loves me.\nI do not wish to harm people, but they fear my sting, and they will not\nlet me live beside their homes. Will you make men love me?\"\n\n\"Little hornet,\" said the king gently, \"you shall no longer be a\nstinging insect feared by men. You shall be a bright and happy oriole,\nand when men see you, they will say, 'See the beautiful oriole. I shall\nbe glad if he will build his nest on our trees.'\"\n\nSo the hornet is now an oriole, a bird that is loved by every one. His\nnest looks like that of a hornet because he learned how to build his\nhome before he became an oriole.\n\n\n\n\nWHY THE PEACOCK'S TAIL HAS A HUNDRED EYES.\n\n\nJuno, queen of the gods, had the fairest cow that any one ever saw. She\nwas creamy white, and her eyes were of as soft and bright a blue as\nthose of any maiden in the world. Juno and the king of the gods often\nplayed tricks on each other, and Juno knew well that the king would try\nto get her cow. There was a watchman named Argus, and one would think\nthat he could see all that was going on in the world, for he had a\nhundred eyes, and no one had ever seen them all asleep at once, so Queen\nJuno gave to Argus the work of watching the white cow.\n\nThe king of the gods knew what she had done, and he laughed to himself\nand said, \"I will play a trick on Juno, and I will have the white cow.\"\nHe sent for Mercury and whispered in his ear, \"Mercury, go to the green\nfield where Argus watches the cream-white cow and get her for me.\"\n\nMercury was always happy when he could play a trick on any one, and he\nset out gladly for the field where Argus watched the cream-white cow\nwith every one of his hundred eyes.\n\nNow Mercury could tell merry stories of all that was done in the world.\nHe could sing, too, and the music of his voice had lulled many a god to\nsleep. Argus knew that, but he had been alone a long time, and he\nthought, \"What harm is there in listening to his merry chatter? I have a\nhundred eyes, and even if half of them were asleep, the others could\neasily keep watch of one cow.\" So he gladly hailed Mercury and said, \"I\nhave been alone in this field a long, long time, but you have roamed\nabout as you would. Will you not sing to me, and tell me what has\nhappened in the world? You would be glad to hear stories and music if\nyou had nothing to do but watch a cow, even if it was the cow of a\nqueen.\"\n\nSo Mercury sang and told stories. Some of the songs were merry, and some\nwere sad. The watchman closed one eye, then another and another, but\nthere were two eyes that would not close for all the sad songs and all\nthe merry ones. Then Mercury drew forth a hollow reed that he had\nbrought from the river and began to play on it. It was a magic reed, and\nas he played, one could hear the water rippling gently on the shore and\nthe breath of the wind in the pine-trees; one could see the lilies\nbending their heads as the dusk came on, and the stars twinkling softly\nin the summer sky.\n\nIt is no wonder that Argus closed one eye and then the other. Every one\nof his hundred eyes was fast asleep, and Mercury went away to the king\nof the gods with the cream-white cow.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nJuno had so often played tricks on the king that he was happy because he\nhad played this one on her, but Juno was angry, and she said to Argus,\n\"You are a strange watchman. You have a hundred eyes, and you could not\nkeep even one of them from falling asleep. My peacock is wiser than you,\nfor he knows when any one is looking at him. I will put every one of\nyour eyes in the tail of the peacock.\" And to-day, whoever looks at the\npeacock can count in his tail the hundred eyes that once belonged to\nArgus.\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF THE BEES AND THE FLIES.\n\n\nThere were once two tribes of little people who lived near together.\nThey were not at all alike, for one of the tribes looked for food and\ncarried it away to put it up safely for winter, while the other played\nand sang and danced all day long.\n\n\"Come and play with us,\" said the lazy people, but the busy workers\nanswered, \"No, come and work with us. Winter will soon be here. Snow and\nice will be everywhere, and if we do not put up food now we shall have\nnone for the cold, stormy days.\"\n\nSo the busy people brought honey from the flowers, but the lazy people\nkept on playing. They laughed together and whispered to one another,\n\"See those busy workers! They will have food for two tribes, and they\nwill give us some. Let us go and dance.\"\n\nWhile the summer lasted, one tribe worked and the other played. When\nwinter came, the busy workers were sorry for their friends and said,\n\"Let us give them some of our honey.\" So the people who played had as\nmuch food as if they, too, had brought honey from the flowers.\n\nAnother summer was coming, and the workers said, \"If we should make our\nhome near the lilies that give us honey, it would be easier to get our\nfood.\" So the workers flew away, but the lazy people played and danced\nas they had done before while their friends were near, for they thought,\n\"Oh, they will come back and bring us some honey.\"\n\nBy and by the cold came, but the lazy people had nothing to eat, and the\nworkers did not come with food. The manito had said to them, \"Dear\nlittle workers, you shall no longer walk from flower to flower. I will\ngive you wings, and you shall be bees. Whenever men hear a gentle\nhumming, they will say, 'Those are the busy bees, and their wings were\ngiven them because they were wise and good.'\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTo the other tribe the manito said, \"You shall be flies, and you, too,\nshall have wings; but while the workers fly from flower to flower and\neat the yellow honey, you shall have for your food only what has been\nthrown away. When men hear your buzzing, they will say, 'It is good that\nthe flies have wings, because we can drive them away from us the more\nquickly.'\"\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF THE FIRST MOLES.\n\n\nA rich man and a poor man once owned a field together. The rich man\nowned the northern half, and the poor man owned the southern half. Each\nman sowed his ground with seed. The warm days came, the gentle rain\nfell, and the seed in the poor man's half of the field sprang up and put\nforth leaves. The seed in the rich man's half all died in the ground.\n\nThe rich man was selfish and wicked. He said, \"The southern half of the\nfield is mine,\" but the poor man replied, \"No, the southern half is\nmine, for that is where I sowed my seed.\"\n\nThe rich man had a son who was as wicked as himself. This boy whispered,\n\"Father, tell him to come in the morning. I know how we can keep the\nland.\" So the rich man said, \"Come in the morning, and we shall soon see\nwhose land this is.\"\n\nAt night the rich man and his son pulled up some bushes that grew beside\nthe field, and the son hid in the hole where their roots had been.\n\nMorning came, and many people went to the field with the rich man. The\npoor man was sorrowful, for he feared that he would lose his ground.\n\n\"Now we shall see,\" said the rich man boastfully, and he called aloud,\n\"Whose ground is this?\"\n\n\"This is the ground of the rich man,\" answered a voice from the hole.\n\n\"How shall I ever get food for my children!\" cried the poor man.\n\nThen another voice was heard. It was that of the spirit of the fields,\nand it said, \"The southern half of the field is the poor man's, and the\nnorthern half shall be his too.\"\n\nThe rich man would have run away, but the voice called, \"Wait. Look\nwhere the bushes once stood. The boy in the hole and his wicked father\nshall hide in the darkness as long as they live, and never again shall\nthey see the light of the sun.\"\n\nThis is the story of the first moles, and this is why the mole never\ncomes to the light of day.\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF THE FIRST ANTS.\n\n\n\"This jar is full of smoked flesh,\" said one voice.\n\n\"This has fish, this is full of honey, and that one is almost running\nover with oil,\" said another voice. \"We shall have all that we need to\neat for many days to come.\"\n\nThese are the words that a villager coming home from his work heard his\nmother and his sister say.\n\n\"They have often played tricks on me,\" he said to himself, \"and now I\nwill play one on them.\" So he went into the house and said, \"Mother, I\nhave found that I have a wonderful sense of smell, and by its help I can\nfind whatever is hidden away.\"\n\n\"That is a marvelous story,\" cried the sister.\n\n\"If you can tell me what is in these jars,\" said his mother, \"I shall\nthink you are really a magician. What is it now?\"\n\n\"This is flesh, this fish, this honey, and this jar is full of oil,\"\nsaid the man.\n\n\"I never heard of such a marvel in all my life,\" cried the mother; and\nin the morning she called her friends and said, \"Only think what a\nwonderful sense of smell my son has! He told me what was in these jars\nwhen they were closed.\"\n\nIt was not long before the people all through the country heard of the\nwonderful man, and one day word came that the king wished to see him at\nonce.\n\nThe man was afraid, for he did not know what would happen to him, and he\nwas still more afraid when the king said, \"A pearl is lost that I had in\nmy hand last night. They say you can find things that are lost. Find my\npearl, or your head will he lost.\"\n\nThe poor man went out into the forest. \"Oh, how I wish I had not tried\nto play tricks,\" he wailed. \"Then this sharp sorrow, this dire trouble,\nwould not have come upon me.\"\n\n\"Please, please do not tell the king,\" said two voices in the shadow of\nthe trees.\n\n\"Who are you?\" asked the man.\n\n\"Oh, you must know us well,\" said a man coming out into the light. \"My\nname is Sharp, and that man behind the tree is named Dire, but please do\nnot tell the king. We will give you the pearl; here it is. You called\nour names, and we saw that you knew us. Oh, I wish I had not been a\nthief!\"\n\nThe man gave the pearl to the king, and went home wishing that no one\nwould ever talk to him again of his sense of smell.\n\nIn three days word came from the queen that he must come to her at once.\nShe thought his power was only a trick, and to catch him she had put a\ncat into a bag and the bag into a box.\n\nWhen the man came, she asked sharply, \"What is in this box? Tell me the\ntruth, or off will go your head.\"\n\n[Illustration: A WONDERFUL SENSE OF SMELL]\n\n\"What shall I do?\" thought the man, \"Dire death is upon me.\" He did not\nremember that he was before the queen, and he repeated half aloud an old\nsaying, \"The bagged cat soon dies.\"\n\n\"What is that?\" cried the queen.\n\n\"The bagged cat soon dies,\" repeated the man in great terror.\n\n\"You are a marvelous man,\" said the queen. \"There is really a bag in the\nbox and a cat in the bag, but no one besides myself knew it.\"\n\n\"He is not a man; he is a god,\" cried the people, \"and he must be in the\nsky and live among the gods;\" so they threw him up to the sky. His hand\nwas full of earth, and when the earth fell back, it was no longer earth,\nbut a handful of ants. Ants have a wonderful sense of smell, and it is\nbecause they fell from the hand of this man who was thrown up into the\nsky to live among the gods.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FACE OF THE MANITO.\n\n\nMany years ago the manito of the Indians lived in the sun. Every morning\nthe wise men of the tribe went to the top of a mountain, and as the sun\nrose in the east, they sang, \"We praise thee, O sun! From thee come fire\nand light. Be good to us, be good to us.\"\n\nAfter the warm days of the summer had come, the sun was so bright that\nthe Indians said to their wise men, \"When you go to the mountain top,\nask the manito to show us his face in a softer, gentler light.\"\n\nThen the wise men went to the mountain top, and this is what they said:\n\"O great manito, we are but children before you, and we have no power to\nbear the brightness of your face. Look down upon us here on the earth\nwith a gentler, softer light, that we may ever gaze upon you and show\nyou all love and all honor.\"\n\nThe bright sun moved slowly toward the south. The people were afraid\nthat the manito was angry with them, but when the moon rose they were\nno longer sad, for from the moon the loving face of the manito was\nlooking down upon them.\n\nNight after night the people gazed at the gentle face, but at last a\nnight came when the moon was not seen in the sky. The wise men went\nsorrowfully to the mountain top. \"O manito,\" they said, \"we are never\nhappy when we cannot gaze into your face. Will you not show it to your\nchildren?\"\n\nThe moon did not rise, and the people were sad, but when morning came,\nthere was the loving face of the manito showing clearly in the rocks at\nthe top of the mountain.\n\nAgain they were happy, but when dark clouds hid the gentle face, the\nwise men went to the foot of the mountain and called sadly, \"O manito,\nwe can no longer see your face.\"\n\nThe clouds grew darker and fell like a cloak over the mountain, the\ntrees trembled in the wind, the forked lightning shot across the sky,\nand the thunder called aloud.\n\n\"It is the anger of the manito,\" cried the people. \"The heavens are\nfalling,\" they whispered, and they hid their faces in fear.\n\nMorning came, the storm had gone, and the sky was clear. Tremblingly the\npeople looked up toward the mountain top for the face of the manito. It\nwas not there, but after they had long gazed in sorrow, a wise man\ncried, \"There it is, where no cloud will hide it from us.\" In the storm\nthe rocks had fallen from the mountain top. They were halfway down the\nmountain side, and in them could be seen the face of the manito.\n\nThen the people cried, \"Praise to the good manito! His loving face will\nlook down upon us from the mountain side forever-more.\"\n\nFor a long time all went well, but at last trouble came, for they heard\nthat a great tribe were on the war-path coming to kill them. \"Help us,\ndear manito,\" they cried but there was no help. The warriors came nearer\nand nearer. Their war-cry was heard, \"O manito,\" called the people,\n\"help us, help us!\" A voice from the mountain answered, \"My children, be\nnot afraid.\" The war-cry was still, and when the people looked, for the\nwarriors, they were nowhere to be seen. The people gazed all around, and\nat last one of the wise men cried, \"There they are, there they are!\"\n\nThey were at the foot of the mountain, but the people no longer feared\nthem, for now they were not warriors but rocks. To keep from harm those\nwhom he loved, the manito had made the warriors into stone. They stood\nat the foot of the mountain, and to-day, if you should go to that\nfar-away country, you could see the rocks that were once warriors, and\nabove them, halfway up the mountain side, you could see the face of the\nmanito.\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF THE FIRST DIAMONDS.\n\n\nThe chief of an Indian tribe had two sons whom he loved very dearly.\nThis chief was at war with another tribe, and one dark night two of his\nenemies crept softly through the trees till they came to where the two\nboys lay sound asleep. The warriors caught the younger boy up gently,\nand carried him far away from his home and his friends.\n\nWhen the chief woke, he cried, \"Where is my son? My enemies have been\nhere and have stolen him.\"\n\nAll the Indians in the tribe started out in search of the boy. They\nroamed the forest through and through, but the stolen child could not be\nfound.\n\nThe chief mourned for his son, and when the time of his death drew near,\nhe said to his wife, \"Moneta, my tribe shall have no chief until my boy\nis found and taken from our enemies. Let our oldest son go forth in\nsearch of his brother, and until he has brought back the little one, do\nyou rule my people.\"\n\nMoneta ruled the people wisely and kindly. When the older son was a man\nshe said to him, \"My son, go forth and search for your brother, whom I\nhave mourned these many years. Every day I shall watch for you, and\nevery night I shall build a fire on the mountain top.\"\n\n\"Do not mourn, mother,\" said the young man. \"You will not build the fire\nmany nights on the mountain top, for I shall soon find my brother and\nbring him back to you.\"\n\nHe went forth bravely, but he did not come back. His mother went every\nnight to the mountain top, and when she was so old that she could no\nlonger walk, the young men of the tribe bore her up the mountain side in\ntheir strong arms, so that with her own trembling hand she could light\nthe fire.\n\nOne night there was a great storm. Even the brave warriors were afraid,\nbut Moneta had no fear, for out of the storm a gentle voice had come to\nher that said, \"Moneta, your sons are coming home to you.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Once more I must build the fire on the mountain top,\" she cried. The\nyoung men trembled with fear, but they bore her to the top of the\nmountain.\n\n\"Leave me here alone,\" she said. \"I hear a voice. It is the voice of my\nson, and he is calling, 'Mother, mother.' Come to me, come, my boys.\"\n\nComing slowly up the mountain in the storm was the older son. The\nyounger had died on the road home, and he lay dead in the arms of his\nbrother.\n\nIn the morning the men of the tribe went to the mountain top in search\nof Moneta and her sons. They were nowhere to be seen, but where the\ntears of the lonely mother had fallen, there was a brightness that had\nnever been seen before. The tears were shining in the sunlight as if\neach one of them was itself a little sun. Indeed, they were no longer\ntears, but diamonds.\n\nThe dearest thing in all the world is the tear of mother-love, and that\nis why the tears were made into diamonds, the stones that are brightest\nand clearest of all the stones on the earth.\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF THE FIRST PEARLS.\n\n\nThere was once a man named Runoia, and when he walked along the pathways\nof the forest, the children would say shyly to one another, \"Look, there\nis the man who always hears music.\"\n\nIt was really true that wherever he went he could hear sweet music.\nThere are some kinds of music that every one can hear, but Runoia heard\nsweet sounds where others heard nothing. When the lilies sang their\nevening song to the stars, he could hear it, and when the mother tree\nwhispered \"Good-night\" to the little green leaves, he heard the music of\nher whisper, though other men heard not a sound.\n\nHe was sorry for those other men, and he said to himself, \"I will make a\nharp, and then even if they cannot hear all the kinds of music, they\nwill hear the sweet voice of the harp.\"\n\nThis must have been a magic harp, for if one else touched it, no sound\nwas heard, but when Runoia touched the strings, the trees bent down\ntheir branches to listen, the little blossoms put their heads out shyly,\nand even the wind was hushed. All kinds of beasts and birds came about\nhim as he played, and the sun and the moon stood still in the heavens to\nhear the wonderful music. All these beautiful things happened whenever\nRunoia touched the strings.\n\nSometimes Runoia's music was sad. Then the sun and the moon hid their\nfaces behind the clouds, the wind sang mournfully, and the lilies bent\nlow their snow-white blossoms.\n\nOne day Runoia roamed far away till he came to the shores of the great\nsea. The sun had set, darkness hid the sky and the water, not a star was\nto be seen. Not a sound was heard but the wailing of the sea. No friend\nwas near. \"I have no friends,\" he said. He laid his hand upon his harp,\nand of themselves the strings gave forth sweet sounds, at first softly\nand shyly. Then the sounds grew louder, and soon the world was full of\nmusic, such as even Runoia had never heard before, for it was the music\nof the gods. \"It is really true,\" he said to himself softly. \"My harp is\ngiving me music to drive away my sadness.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe listened, and the harp played more and more sweetly. \"He who has a\nharp has one true friend. He who loves music is loved by the gods,\" so\nthe harp sang to him.\n\nTears came into Runoia's eyes, but they were tears of happiness, not of\nsadness, for he was no longer lonely. A gentle voice called, \"Runoia,\ncome to the home of the gods.\"\n\nAs darkness fell over the sea, Runoia's friends went to look for him. He\nwas gone, but where he had stood listening happily to the music of the\ngods, there on the fair white sand was the harp, and all around it lay\nbeautiful pearls, shining softly in the moonlight, for every tear of\nhappiness was now a pearl.\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF THE FIRST EMERALDS.\n\n\nIn the days of long ago there was a time when there were no emeralds on\nthe earth. Men knew where to find other precious stones. They could get\npearls and diamonds, but no one had ever seen an emerald, because the\nemeralds were hidden away in the bed of the sea, far down below the\nwaves.\n\nThe king of India had many precious things, and he was always eager to\nget others. One day a stranger stood before his door, and when the king\ncame out he cried, \"O king, you have much that is precious. Do you wish\nto have the most beautiful thing in earth, air, or water?\"\n\n\"Yes, in truth,\" said the king. \"What is it?\"\n\n\"It is a vase made of an emerald stone,\" answered the stranger.\n\n\"And what is an emerald stone?\" asked the king.\n\n\"It is a stone that no one on earth has ever seen,\" said the stranger.\n\"It is greener than the waves of the sea or the leaves of the forest.\"\n\n\"Where is the wonderful vase?\" cried the king eagerly.\n\n\"Where the waves of the sea never roll,\" was the answer, but when the\nking was about to ask where that was, the stranger had gone.\n\nThe king asked his three wise men where it was that the waves of the sea\nnever rolled. One said, \"In the forest;\" another said, \"On the\nmountain;\" and the last said, \"In the sea where the water is deepest.\"\n\nThe king thought a long time about these answers of the wise men. At\nlast he said: \"If the emerald vase had been in the forest or on the\nmountain, it would have been found long before now. I think it is in the\ndeepest water of the sea.\"\n\nThis king of India was a great magician. He went to the sea, and there\nhe sang many a magical song, for he said to himself, \"I have no diver\nwho can go to the bed of the sea, but often magic will do what a diver\ncannot.\"\n\nThe king of the world under the water owned the beautiful vase, but when\nhe heard the songs, he knew that he must give it up. \"Take it,\" he said\nto the spirits that live in the deepest water. \"Bear it to the king of\nIndia. The spirits of the air will try to take it from you, but see that\nit goes safely to the king whose magic has called it from the sea.\"\n\nThe spirits of the sea rose from the waves bearing the precious vase.\n\n\"It is ours, it is ours,\" cried the spirits of the air. \"The king of\nIndia shall never have it.\" The spirits of the air and the spirits of\nthe water fought together. \"What a fearful storm!\" cried the people on\nthe earth. \"See how the lightning shoots across the sky, and hear the\nthunder roll from mountain to mountain!\" They hid themselves in terror,\nbut it was no storm, it was only the spirits fighting for the emerald\nvase.\n\nOne of the spirits of the air bore it at last far up above the top of\nthe highest mountain. \"It is mine,\" he cried. \"Never,\" said a spirit of\nthe water, and he caught it and threw it angrily against the rocky top\nof the mountain. It fell in hundreds of pieces.\n\nThere was no vase like it in the east or the west, the north or the\nsouth, and so the king of India never had an emerald vase; but from the\npieces of the vase that was thrown against the mountain came all the\nemeralds that are now on the earth.\n\n\n\n\nWHY THE EVERGREEN TREES NEVER LOSE THEIR LEAVES.\n\n\nWinter was coming, and the birds had flown far to the south, where the\nair was warm and they could find berries to eat. One little bird had\nbroken its wing and could not fly with the others. It was alone in the\ncold world of frost and snow. The forest looked warm, and it made its\nway to the trees as well as it could, to ask for help.\n\nFirst it came to a birch-tree. \"Beautiful birch-tree,\" it said, \"my wing\nis broken, and my friends have flown away. May I live among your\nbranches till they come back to me?\"\n\n\"No, indeed,\" answered the birch-tree, drawing her fair green leaves\naway. \"We of the great forest have our own birds to help. I can do\nnothing for you.\"\n\n\"The birch is not very strong,\" said the little bird to itself, \"and it\nmight be that she could not hold me easily. I will ask the oak.\" So the\nbird said, \"Great oak-tree, you are so strong, will you not let me live\non your boughs till my friends come back in the springtime?\"\n\n\"In the springtime!\" cried the oak. \"That is a long way off. How do I\nknow what you might do in all that time? Birds are always looking for\nsomething to eat, and you might even eat up some of my acorns.\"\n\n\"It may be that the willow will be kind to me,\" thought the bird, and it\nsaid, \"Gentle willow, my wing is broken, and I could not fly to the\nsouth with the other birds. May I live on your branches till the\nspringtime?\"\n\nThe willow did not look gentle then, for she drew herself up proudly and\nsaid, \"Indeed, I do not know you, and we willows never talk to people\nwhom we do not know. Very likely there are trees somewhere that will\ntake in strange birds. Leave me at once.\"\n\nThe poor little bird did not know what to do. Its wing was not yet\nstrong, but it began to fly away as well as it could. Before it had\ngone far, a voice was heard. \"Little bird,\" it said, \"where are you\ngoing?\"\n\n\"Indeed, I do not know,\" answered the bird sadly. \"I am very cold.\"\n\n\"Come right here, then,\" said the friendly spruce-tree, for it was her\nvoice that had called. \"You shall live on my warmest branch all winter\nif you choose.\"\n\n\"Will you really let me?\" asked the little bird eagerly.\n\n\"Indeed, I will,\" answered the kind-hearted spruce-tree. \"If your\nfriends have flown away, it is time for the trees to help you. Here is\nthe branch where my leaves are thickest and softest.\"\n\n\"My branches are not very thick,\" said the friendly pine-tree, \"but I am\nbig and strong, and I can keep the north wind from you and the spruce.\"\n\n\"I can help too,\" said a little juniper-tree. \"I can give you berries\nall winter long, and every bird knows that juniper berries are good.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo the spruce gave the lonely little bird a home, the pine kept the cold\nnorth wind away from it, and the juniper gave it berries to eat.\n\nThe other trees looked on and talked together wisely.\n\n\"I would not have strange birds on my boughs,\" said the birch.\n\n\"I shall not give my acorns away for any one,\" said the oak.\n\n\"I never have anything to do with strangers,\" said the willow, and the\nthree trees drew their leaves closely about them.\n\nIn the morning all those shining green leaves lay on the ground, for a\ncold north wind had come in the night, and every leaf that it touched\nfell from the tree.\n\n\"May I touch every leaf in the forest?\" asked the wind in its frolic.\n\n\"No,\" said the frost king. \"The trees that have been kind to the little\nbird with the broken wing may keep their leaves.\"\n\nThis is why the leaves of the spruce, the pine, and the juniper are\nalways green.\n\n\n\n\nWHY THE ASPEN LEAVES TREMBLE.\n\n\n\"It is very strange,\" whispered one reed to another, \"that the queen bee\nnever guides her swarm to the aspen-tree.\"\n\n\"Indeed, it _is_ strange,\" said the other. \"The oak and the willow often\nhave swarms, but I never saw one on the aspen. What can be the reason?\"\n\n\"The queen bee cannot bear the aspen,\" said the first. \"Very likely she\nhas some good reason for despising it. I do not think that an insect as\nwise as she would despise a tree without any reason. Many wicked things\nhappen that no one knows.\"\n\nThe reeds did not think that any one could hear what they said, but both\nthe willow and the aspen heard every word. The aspen was so angry that\nit trembled from root to tip. \"I'll soon see why that proud queen bee\ndespises me,\" it said. \"She shall guide a swarm to my branches or\"--\n\n\"Oh, I would not care for what those reeds say,\" the willow-tree broke\nin. \"They are the greatest chatterers in the world. They are always\nwhispering together, and they always have something unkind to say.\"\n\nThe aspen-tree was too angry to be still, and it called out to the\nreeds, \"You are only lazy whisperers. I do not care what you say. I\ndespise both you and your queen bee. The honey that those bees make is\nnot good to eat. I would not have it a anywhere near me.\"\n\n\"Hush, hush,\" whispered the willow timidly. \"The reeds will repeat every\nword that you say.\"\n\n\"I do not care if they do,\" said the aspen. \"I despise both them and the\nbees.\"\n\nThe reeds did whisper the angry words of the aspen to the queen bee, and\nshe said, \"I was going to guide my swarm to the aspen, but now I will\ndrive the tree out of the forest. Come, my bees, come.\"\n\nThen the bees flew by hundreds upon the aspen. They stung every leaf and\nevery twig through and through. The tree was driven from the forest,\nover the prairie, over the river, over the fields; and still the angry\nbees flew after it and stung it again and again. When they had come to\nthe rocky places, they left it and flew back to the land of flowers. The\naspen never came back. Its bright green leaves had grown white through\nfear, and from that day to this they have trembled as they did when the\nbees were stinging them and driving the tree from the forest.\n\n\n\n\nHOW THE BLOSSOMS CAME TO THE HEATHER.\n\n\nOnly a little while after the earth was made, the trees and plants came\nto live on it. They were happy and contented. The lily was glad because\nher flowers were white. The rose was glad because her flowers were red.\nThe violet was happy because, however shyly she might hide herself away,\nsome one would come to look for her and praise her fragrance. The daisy\nwas happiest of all because every child in the world loved her.\n\nThe trees and plants chose homes for themselves. The oak said, \"I will\nlive in the broad fields and by the roads, and travelers may sit in my\nshadow.\" \"I shall be contented on the waters of the pond,\" said the\nwater-lily. \"And I am contented in the sunny fields,\" said the daisy.\n\"My fragrance shall rise from beside some mossy stone,\" said the violet.\nEach plant chose its home where it would be most happy and contented.\n\nThere was one little plant, however, that had not said a word and had\nnot chosen a home. This plant was the heather. She had not the sweet\nfragrance of the violet, and the children did not love her as they did\nthe daisy. The reason was that no blossoms had been given to her, and\nshe was too shy to ask for any.\n\n\"I wish there was some one who would be glad to see me,\" she said; but\nshe was a brave little plant, and she did her best to be contented and\nto look bright and green.\n\nOne day she heard the mountain say, \"Dear plants, will you not come to\nmy rocks and cover them with your brightness and beauty? In the winter\nthey are cold, and in the summer they are stung by the sunshine. Will\nyou not come and cover them?\"\n\n\"I cannot leave the pond,\" cried the water-lily.\n\n\"I cannot leave the moss,\" said the violet.\n\n\"I cannot leave the green fields,\" said the daisy.\n\nThe little heather was really trembling with eagerness. \"If the great,\nbeautiful mountain would only let me come!\" she thought, and at last she\nwhispered very softly and shyly, \"Please, dear mountain, will you let me\ncome? I have not any blossoms like the others, but I will try to keep\nthe wind and the sun away from you.\"\n\n\"Let you?\" cried the mountain. \"I shall be contented and happy if a dear\nlittle plant like you will only come to me.\"\n\nThe heather soon covered the rocky mountain side with her bright green,\nand the mountain called proudly to the other plants, \"See how beautiful\nmy little heather is!\" The others replied, \"Yes, she is bright and\ngreen, but she has no blossoms.\"\n\nThen a sweet, gentle voice was heard saying, \"Blossoms you shall have,\nlittle heather. You shall have many and many a flower, because you have\nloved the lonely mountain, and have done all that you could to please\nhim and make him happy.\" Even before the sweet voice was still, the\nlittle heather was bright with many blossoms, and blossoms she has had\nfrom that day to this.\n\n\n\n\nHOW FLAX WAS GIVEN TO MEN.\n\n\n\"You have been on the mountain a long time,\" said the wife of the\nhunter.\n\n\"Yes, wife, and I have seen the most marvelous sight in all the world,\"\nreplied the hunter.\n\n\"What was that?\"\n\n\"I came to a place on the mountain where I had been many and many a time\nbefore, but a great hole had been made in the rock, and through the hole\nI saw--oh, wife, it was indeed a wonderful sight!\"\n\n\"But what was it, my hunter?\"\n\n\"There was a great hall, all shining and sparkling with precious\nstones. There were diamonds and pearls and emeralds, more than we could\nput into our little house, and among all the beautiful colors sat a\nwoman who was fairer than they. Her maidens were around her, and the\nhall was as bright with their beauty as it was with the stones. One was\nplaying on a harp, one was singing, and others were dancing as lightly\nand merrily as a sunbeam on a blossom. The woman was even more beautiful\nthan the maidens, and, wife, as soon as I saw her I thought that she was\nno mortal woman.\"\n\n\"Did you not fall on your knees and ask her to be good to us?\"\n\n\"Yes, wife, and straightway she said: 'Rise, my friend. I have a gift\nfor you. Choose what you will to carry to your wife as a gift from\nHolda.'\"\n\n\"Did you choose pearls or diamonds?\"\n\n\"I looked about the place, and it was all so sparkling that I closed my\neyes. 'Choose your gift,' she said. I looked into her face, and then I\nknew that it was indeed the goddess Holda, queen of the sky. When I\nlooked at her, I could not think of precious stones, for her eyes were\nmore sparkling than diamonds, and I said: 'O goddess Holda, there is no\ngift in all your magic hall that I would so gladly bear away to my home\nas the little blue flower in your lily-white hand.'\"\n\n\"Well!\" cried the wife, \"and when you might have had half the pearls and\nemeralds in the place, you chose a little faded blue flower! I did think\nyou were a wiser man.\"\n\n\"The goddess said I had chosen well,\" said the hunter. \"She gave me the\nflower and the seed of it, and she said, 'When the springtime comes,\nplant the seed, and in the summer I myself will come and teach you what\nto do with the plant.'\"\n\nIn the spring the little seeds were put into the ground. Soon the green\nleaves came up; then many little blue flowers, as blue as the sky,\nlifted up their heads in the warm sunshine of summer. No one on the\nearth knew how to spin or to weave, but on the brightest, sunniest day\nof the summer, the goddess Holda came down from the mountain to the\nlittle house.\n\n[Illustration: \"SHE GAVE ME THE FLOWER\"]\n\n\"Can you spin flax?\" she asked of the wife.\n\n\"Indeed, no,\" said the wife.\n\n\"Can you weave linen?\"\n\n\"Indeed, no.\"\n\n\"Then I will teach you how to spin and to weave,\" said the good goddess.\n\"The little blue flower is the flax. It is my own flower, and I love the\nsight of it.\"\n\nSo the goddess sat in the home of the hunter and his wife and taught\nthem how to spin flax and weave linen. When the wife saw the piece of\nlinen on the grass, growing whiter and whiter the longer the sun shone\nupon it, she said to her husband, \"Indeed, my hunter, the linen is\nfairer than the pearls, and I should rather have the beautiful white\nthing that is on the grass in the sunshine than all the diamonds in the\nhall of the goddess.\"\n\n\n\n\nWHY THE JUNIPER HAS BERRIES.\n\n\nThree cranberries once lived together in a meadow. They were sisters,\nbut they did not look alike, for one was white, and one was red, and one\nwas green. Winter came, and the wind blew cold. \"I wish we lived nearer\nthe wigwam,\" said the white cranberry timidly. \"I am afraid that Hoots,\nthe bear, will come. What should we do?\"\n\n\"The women in the wigwam are afraid as well as we,\" the red cranberry\nsaid. \"I heard them say they wished the men would come back from the\nhunt.\"\n\n\"We might hide in the woods,\" the green cranberry whispered.\n\n\"But the bear will come down the path through the woods,\" replied the\nwhite cranberry.\n\n\"I think our own meadow is the best place,\" the red cranberry said. \"I\nshall not go away from the meadow. I shall hide here in the moss.\"\n\n\"I am so white,\" the white cranberry wailed, \"that I know Hoots would\nsee me. I shall hide in the hominy. That is as white as I.\"\n\n\"I cannot hide in the hominy,\" said the green cranberry, \"but I have a\ngood friend in the woods. I am going to ask the juniper-tree to hide me.\nWill you not go with me?\" But the red cranberry thought it best to stay\nin the moss, and the white cranberry thought it best to hide in the\nhominy, so the green cranberry had to go alone to the friendly\njuniper-tree.\n\nBy and by a growling was heard, and soon Hoots himself came in sight. He\nwalked over and over the red cranberry that lay hidden in the moss. Then\nhe went to the wigwam. There stood the hominy, and in it was the white\ncranberry, trembling so she could not keep still.\n\n\"Ugh, ugh, what good hominy!\" said Hoots, and in the twinkling of an eye\nhe had eaten it up, white cranberry and all.\n\nNow the red cranberry was dead, and the white cranberry was dead, but\nthe little green cranberry that went to the juniper-tree had hidden\naway in the thick branches, and Hoots did not find her. She was so happy\nwith the kind-hearted tree that she never left it, and that is the\nreason why the juniper-tree has berries.\n\n\n\n\nWHY THE SEA IS SALT.\n\n\nFrothi, king of the Northland, owned some magic millstones. Other\nmillstones grind corn, but these would grind out whatever the owner\nwished, if he knew how to move them. Frothi tried and tried, but they\nwould not stir.\n\n\"Oh, if I could only move the millstones,\" he cried, \"I would grind out\nso many good things for my people. They should all be happy and rich.\"\n\nOne day King Frothi was told that two strange women were begging at the\ngate to see him.\n\n\"Let them come in,\" he said, and the were brought before him.\n\n\"We have come from a land that is far away,\" they said.\n\n\"What can I do for you?\" asked the king.\n\n\"We have come to do something for you,\" answered the women.\n\n\"There is only one thing that I wish for,\" said the king, \"and that is\nto make the magic millstones grind, but you cannot do that.\"\n\n\"Why not?\" asked the women. \"That is just what we have come to do. That\nis why we stood at your gate and begged to speak to you.\"\n\nThen the king was a happy man indeed. \"Bring in the millstones,\" he\ncalled. \"Quick, quick! Do not wait.\" The millstones were brought in, and\nthe women asked, \"What shall we grind for you?\"\n\n\"Grind gold and happiness and rest for my people,\" cried the king\ngladly.\n\nThe women touched the magic millstones, and how they did grind! \"Gold\nand happiness and rest for the people,\" said the women to one another.\n\"Those are good wishes.\"\n\nThe gold was so bright and yellow that King Frothi could not bear to let\nit go out of his sight. \"Grind more,\" he said to the women. \"Grind\nfaster. Why did you come to my gate if you did not wish to grind?\"\n\n\"We are so weary,\" said the women. \"Will you not let us rest?\"\n\n\"You may rest for as long a time as it needs to say 'Frothi,'\" cried the\nking, \"and no longer. Now you have rested. Grind away. No one should be\nweary who is grinding out yellow gold.\"\n\n\"He is a wicked king,\" said the women. \"We will grind for him no more.\nMill, grind out hundreds and hundreds of strong warriors to fight Frothi\nand punish him for his cruel words.\"\n\nThe millstones ground faster and faster. Hundreds of warriors sprang\nout, and they killed Frothi and all his men.\n\n\"Now I shall be king,\" cried the strongest of the warriors. He put the\ntwo women and the magic millstones on a ship to go to a far-away land.\n\"Grind, grind,\" he called to the women.\n\n\"But we are so weary. Please let us rest,\" they begged.\n\n\"Rest? No. Grind on, grind on. Grind salt, if you can grind nothing\nelse.\"\n\nNight came and the weary women were still grinding. \"Will you not let us\nrest?\" they asked.\n\n\"No,\" cried the cruel warrior. \"Keep grinding, even if the ship goes to\nthe bottom of the sea.\" The women ground, and it was not long before the\nship really did go to the bottom, and carried the cruel warrior with it.\nThere at the bottom of the sea are the two millstones still grinding\nsalt, for there is no one to say that they must grind no longer. That is\nwhy the sea is salt.\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF THE FIRST WHITEFISH.\n\n\nOne day a crane was sitting on a rock far out in the water, when he\nheard a voice say, \"Grandfather Crane, Grandfather Crane, please come\nand carry us across the lake.\" It was the voice of a child, and when the\ncrane had come to the shore, he saw two little boys holding each other's\nhands and crying bitterly.\n\n\"Why do you cry?\" asked the crane, \"and why do you wish to go across the\nlake, away from your home and friends?\"\n\n\"We have no friends,\" said the little boys, crying more bitterly than\never. \"We have no father and no mother, and a cruel witch troubles us.\nShe tries all the time to do us harm, and we are going to run away where\nshe can never find us.\"\n\n\"I will carry you over the lake,\" said the crane. \"Hold on well, but do\nnot touch the back of my head, for if you do, you will fall into the\nwater and go to the bottom of the lake. Will you obey me?\"\n\n\"Yes, indeed, we will obey,\" they said. \"We will not touch your head.\nBut please come quickly and go as fast as you can. We surely heard the\nvoice of the witch in the woods.\"\n\nIt really was the witch, and she was saying over and over to herself, \"I\nwill catch them, and I will punish them so that they will never run away\nfrom me again. They will obey me after I have caught them.\"\n\nThe crane bore the two little boys gently to the other shore, and when\nhe came back, there stood the witch.\n\n\"Dear, gentle crane,\" she said, \"you are so good to every one. Will you\ncarry me over the lake? My two dear children are lost in the woods, and\nI have cried bitterly for them all day long.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe spirit of the lake had told the crane to carry across the lake\nevery one that asked to be taken over; so he said, \"Yes, I will carry\nyou across. Hold on well, but do not touch the back of my head, for if\nyou do, you will fall into the water and go to the bottom of the lake.\nWill you obey me?\"\n\n\"Yes, indeed, I will,\" said the witch; but she thought, \"He would not be\nso timid about letting me touch the back of his head if he were not\nafraid of my magic. I will put my hand on his head, and then he will\nalways be in my power.\" So when they were far out over the lake, she put\nher hand on the crane's head, and before she could say \"Oh!\" she was at\nthe bottom of the lake.\n\n\"You shall never live in the light again,\" said the crane, \"for you have\ndone no good on earth. You shall be a whitefish, and you shall be food\nfor the Indians as long as they eat fish.\"\n\n\n\n\nWAS IT THE FIRST TURTLE?\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a great fight between two tribes of Indians.\nIt was so fierce that the river ran red with blood, and the war-cries\nwere so loud and angry that the animals of the forest ran away in\nterror. The warriors fought all day long, and when it began to grow\ndark, all the men on one side had been killed but two warriors, one of\nwhom was known as Turtle. In those days there were no such animals as\nturtles in the ponds and rivers, and no one knew why he was called by\nthat name. At last Turtle's friend was struck by an arrow and fell to\nthe ground.\n\n\"Now yield!\" cried the enemies.\n\n\"Friend,\" said Turtle, \"are you dead?\"\n\n\"No,\" said his friend.\n\n\"Then I will fight on,\" said Turtle, and he called out, \"Give life again\nto the warriors whom you have killed with your wicked arrows, and then I\nwill yield, but never before. Come on, cowards that you are! You are\nafraid of me. You do not dare to come!\"\n\nThen his enemies said, \"We will all shoot our arrows at once, and some\none of them will be sure to kill him.\" They made ready to fire, but\nTurtle, too, made ready. He had two thick shields, and he put one over\nhis back and one over his breast. Then he called to his fierce enemies,\n\"Are you not ready? Come on, fierce warriors! Shoot your arrows through\nmy breast if you can.\"\n\nThe warriors all shot, but not an arrow struck Turtle, for the two\nshields covered his breast and his back, and whenever an arrow buzzed\nthrough the air, he drew in his head and his arms between the shields,\nand so he was not harmed. \"Why do you not aim at me?\" he cried. \"Are you\nshooting at the mountain, or at the sun and the moon? Good fighters you\nare, indeed! Try again.\"\n\nHis enemies shot once more, and this time an arrow killed the wounded\nfriend as he lay on the ground. When Turtle cried, \"Friend, are you\nliving?\" there was no answer.\n\n\"My friend is dead,\" said Turtle. \"I will fight no more.\"\n\n\"He has yielded,\" cried his enemies.\n\n\"He has not,\" said Turtle, and with one great leap he sprang into the\nriver. His enemies did not dare to spring after him.\n\n\"Those long arms of his would pull us to the bottom,\" they said; \"but we\nwill watch till he comes up, and then we shall be sure of him.\"\n\nThey were not so sure as they thought, for he did not come up, and all\nthat they could see in the water was a strange creature unlike anything\nthat had been there before.\n\n\"It has arms and a head,\" said one.\n\n\"And it pulls them out of sight just as Turtle did,\" said another.\n\n\"It has a shield over its back and one over its breast, as Turtle had,\"\nsaid the first. Then all the warriors were so eager to watch the strange\nanimal that they no longer remembered the fight. They crowded up to the\nshore of the river.\n\n\"It is not Turtle,\" cried one.\n\n\"It _is_ Turtle,\" declared another.\n\n\"It is so like him that I do not care to go into the water as long as it\nis in sight,\" said still another.\n\n\"But if this is not Turtle, where is he?\" they all asked, and not one of\nthe wise men of their tribe could answer.\n\n\n\n\nWHY THE CROCODILE HAS A WIDE MOUTH.\n\n\n\"Come to my kingdom whenever you will,\" said the goddess of the water to\nthe king of the land. \"My waves will be calm, and my animals will be\ngentle. They will be as good to your children as if they were my own.\nNothing in all my kingdom will do you harm.\"\n\nThe goddess went back to her home in the sea, and the king walked to the\nshore of the river and stood gazing upon the beautiful water. Beside him\nwalked his youngest son.\n\n\"Father,\" asked the boy, \"would the goddess be angry if I went into the\nwater to swim?\"\n\n\"No,\" answered the father. \"She says that nothing in all her wide\nkingdom will do us harm. The water-animals will be kind, and the waves\nwill be calm.\"\n\nThe boy went into the water. He could swim as easily as a fish, and he\nwent from shore to shore, sometimes talking with the fishes, sometimes\ngetting a bright piece of stone to carry to his father. Suddenly\nsomething caught him by the foot and dragged him down, down, through the\ndeep, dark water. \"Oh, father!\" he cried, but his father had gone away\nfrom the shore, and the strange creature, whatever it was, dragged the\nboy down to the very bottom of the river.\n\nThe river was full of sorrow for what the creature had done, and it\nlifted the boy gently and bore him to the feet of the goddess. His eyes\nwere closed and his face was white, for he was dead. Great tears came\nfrom the eyes of the goddess when she looked at him. \"I did not think\nany of my animals would do such a cruel thing,\" she said. \"His father\nshall never know it, for the boy shall not remember what has happened.\"\n\nThen she laid her warm hand upon his head, and whispered some words of\nmagic into his ear. \"Open your eyes,\" she called, and soon they were\nwide open. \"You went in to swim,\" said the goddess. \"Did the water\nplease you?\"\n\n\"Yes, surely.\"\n\n\"Were the water-animals kind to you?\"\n\n\"Yes, surely,\" answered the boy, for the magic words had kept him from\nremembering anything about the strange creature that had dragged him to\nthe bottom of the river.\n\nThe boy went home to his father, and as soon as he was out of sight, the\ngoddess called to the water-animals, \"Come one, come all, come little,\ncome great.\"\n\n\"It is the voice of the goddess,\" said the water-animals, and they all\nbegan to swim toward her as fast as they could.\n\nWhen they were together before her, she said, \"One of you has been cruel\nand wicked. One of you has dragged to the bottom of the river the son of\nmy friend, the king of the land, but I have carried him safely to shore,\nand now he is in his home. When he comes again, will you watch over him\nwherever in the wide, wide water he may wish to go?\"\n\n\"Yes!\" \"Yes!\" \"Yes!\" cried the water-animals.\n\n\"Water,\" asked the goddess, \"will you be calm and still when the son of\nmy friend is my guest?\"\n\n\"Gladly,\" answered the water.\n\nSuddenly the goddess caught sight of the crocodile hiding behind the\nother animals. \"Will you be kind to the boy and keep harm away from\nhim?\" she asked.\n\n[Illustration: \"THE MOUTH THAT WILL NOT OPEN MUST BE MADE TO OPEN\"]\n\nNow it was the crocodile that had dragged the boy to the bottom of the\nriver. He wished to say, \"Yes,\" but he did not dare to open his mouth\nfor fear of saying, \"I did it, I did it,\" so he said not a word. The\ngoddess cried, \"Did you drag the king's son to the bottom of the river?\"\nStill the crocodile dared not open his mouth for fear of saying, \"I did\nit, I did it.\" Then the goddess was angry. She drew her long sword, and\nsaying, \"The mouth that will not open when it should must be made to\nopen,\" she struck the crocodile's mouth with the sword. \"Oh, look!\"\ncried the other animals. The crocodile's mouth had opened; there was no\nquestion about _that_, for it had split open so far that he was afraid\nhe should never be able to keep it closed.\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF THE PICTURE ON THE VASE.\n\n\nOn some of the beautiful vases that are made in Japan there is a picture\nof a goddess changing a dragon into an island. When the children of\nJapan say, \"Mother, tell us a story about the picture,\" this is what the\nmother says:--\n\n\"Long, long ago there was a goddess of the sea who loved the people of\nJapan. She often came out of the water at sunset, and while all the\nbright colors were in the sky, she would sit on a high rock that\noverlooked the water and tell stories to the children. Such wonderful\nstories as they were! She used to tell them all about the strange fishes\nthat swim in and out among the rocks and the mosses, and about the fair\nmaidens that live deep down in the sea far under the waves. The children\nwould ask, 'Are there no children in the sea? Why do they never come out\nto play with us?' The goddess would answer, 'Some time they will come,\nif you only keep on wishing for them. What children really wish for they\nwill surely have some day.'\n\n\"Then the goddess would sing to the children, and her voice was so sweet\nthat the evening star would stand still in the sky to listen to her\nsong. 'Please show us how the water rises and falls,' the children would\nbeg, and she would hold up a magic stone that she had and say, 'Water,\nrise!' Then the waves would come in faster and faster all about the\nrock. When she laid down the stone and said, 'Water, fall!' the waves\nwould be still, and the water would roll back quickly to the deep sea.\nShe was goddess of the storm as well as of the sea, and sometimes the\nchildren would say, 'Dear goddess, please make us a storm.' She never\nsaid no to what they asked, and so the rain would fall, the lightning\nflare, and the thunder roll. The rain would fall all about them, but the\ngoddess did not let it come near them. They were never afraid of the\nlightning, for it was far above their heads, and they knew that the\ngoddess would not let it come down.\n\n\"Those were happy times, but there is something more to tell that is not\npleasant. One of the goddess's sea-animals was a dragon, that often used\nto play in the water near the shore. The children never thought of being\nafraid of any of the sea-animals, but one day the cruel dragon seized a\nlittle child in his mouth, and in a moment he had eaten it. There was\nsadness over the land of Japan. There were tears and sorrowful wailing.\n'O goddess,' the people cried, 'come to us! Punish the wicked dragon!'\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"The goddess was angry that one of her creatures should have dared to\nharm the little child, and she called aloud, 'Dragon, come to me.' The\ndragon came in a moment, for he did not dare to stay away. Then said the\ngoddess, 'You shall never again play merrily in the water with the\nhappy sea-animals. You shall be a rocky island. There shall be trees and\nplants on you, and before many years have gone, people will no longer\nremember that you were once an animal.'\n\n\"The dragon found that he could no longer move about as he had done, for\nhe was changing into rock. Trees and plants grew on his back. He was an\nisland, and when people looked at it, they said, 'That island was once a\nwicked dragon.' The children of the sea and the children of the land\noften went to the island, and there they had very happy times together.\"\n\nThis is the story that the mothers tell to their children when they look\nat the vases and see the picture of the goddess changing a dragon into\nan island. But when the children say, \"Mother, where is the island?\nCannot we go to it and play with the sea-children?\" the mother answers,\n\"Oh, this was all a long, long time ago, and no one can tell now where\nthe island was.\"\n\n\n\n\nWHY THE WATER IN RIVERS IS NEVER STILL.\n\n\nAll kinds of strange things came to pass in the days of long ago, but\nperhaps the strangest of all was that the nurses who cared for little\nchildren were not women, but brooks and rivers. The children and the\nbrooks ran about together, and the brooks and rivers never said, \"It is\ntime to go to bed,\" for they liked to play as well as the children, and\nperhaps a little better. Sometimes the brooks ran first and the children\nfollowed. Sometimes the children ran first and the brooks followed. Of\ncourse, if any animal came near that would hurt the children, the brook\nor river in whose care they were left flowed quickly around them, so\nthat they stood on an island and were safe from all harm.\n\nTwo little boys lived in those days who were sons of the king. When the\nchildren were old enough to run about, the king called the rivers and\nbrooks to come before him. They came gladly, for they felt sure that\nsomething pleasant would happen, and they waited so quietly that no one\nwould have thought they were so full of frolic.\n\n\"I have called you,\" said the king, \"to give you the care of my two\nlittle sons. They like so well to run about that one nurse will not be\nenough to care for them, and of course it will be pleasanter for them to\nhave many playmates. So I felt that it would be better to ask every\nriver and every brook to see that they are not hurt or lost.\"\n\n\"We shall have the king's sons for our playmates!\" whispered the rivers.\n\"Nothing so pleasant ever happened to us before.\"\n\nBut the king went on, \"If you keep my boys safely and well, and follow\nthem so closely that they are not lost, then I will give you whatever\ngift you wish; but if I find that you have forgotten them one moment and\nthey are lost or hurt, then you will be punished as no river was ever\npunished before.\"\n\nThe rivers and even the most frolicsome little brooks were again quiet\nfor a moment. Then they all cried together, \"O king, we will be good.\nThere were never better nurses than we will be to your sons.\"\n\nAt first all went well, and the playmates had the merriest times that\ncould be thought of. Then came a day when the sunshine was very warm,\nbut the boys ran faster and farther than boys had ever run in the world\nbefore, and even the brooks could not keep up with them. The rivers had\nnever been weary before, but when this warm day came, one river after\nanother had some reason for being quiet. One complained, \"I have\nfollowed the boys farther than any other river.\" \"Perhaps you have,\"\nsaid another, \"but I have been up and down and round and round till I\nhave forgotten how it seems to be quiet.\" Another declared, \"I have run\nabout long enough, and I shall run no more.\" A little brook said, \"If I\nwere a great river, perhaps I could run farther,\" and a great river\nreplied, \"If I were a little brook, of course I could run farther.\"\n\nSo they talked, and the day passed. Night came before they knew it, and\nthey could not find the boys.\n\n\"Where are my sons?\" cried the king.\n\n\"Indeed, we do not know,\" answered the brooks and rivers in great fear,\nand each one looked at the others.\n\n\"You have lost my children,\" said the king, \"and if you do not find\nthem, you shall be punished. Go and search for them.\"\n\n\"Please help us,\" the rivers begged of the trees and plants, and\neverything that had life began to search for the lost boys. \"Perhaps\nthey are under ground,\" thought the trees, and they sent their roots\ndown into the earth. \"Perhaps they are in the east,\" cried one animal,\nand he went to the east. \"They may be on the mountain,\" said one plant,\nand so it climbed to the very top of the mountain. \"They may be in the\nvillage,\" said another, and so that one crept up close to the homes of\nmen.\n\nMany years passed. The king was almost broken-hearted, but he knew it\nwas of no use to search longer, so he called very sadly, \"Search no\nlonger. Let each plant and animal make its home where it is. The little\nplant that has crept up the mountain shall live on the mountain top, and\nthe roots of the trees shall stay under ground. The rivers\"--Then the\nking stopped, and the rivers trembled. They knew that they would be\npunished, but what would the punishment be? The king looked at them. \"As\nfor you, rivers and brooks,\" he declared, \"it was your work to watch my\nboys. The plants and trees shall find rest and live happily in their\nhomes, but you shall ever search for my lost boys, and you shall never\nhave a home.\"\n\nSo from that day to this the rivers have gone on looking for the lost\nchildren. They never stop, and some of them are so troubled that they\nflow first one way and then the other.\n\n\n\n\nHOW THE RAVEN HELPED MEN.\n\n\nThe raven and the eagle were cousins, and they were almost always\nfriendly, but whenever they talked together about men, they quarreled.\n\n\"Men are lazy,\" declared the eagle. \"There is no use in trying to help\nthem. The more one does for them, the less they do for themselves.\"\n\n\"You fly so high,\" said the raven, \"that you cannot see how hard men\nwork. I think that we birds, who know so much more than they, ought to\nhelp them.\"\n\n\"They do not work,\" cried the eagle. \"What have they to do, I should\nlike to know? They walk about on the ground, and their food grows close\nby their nests. If they had to fly through the air as we do, and get\ntheir food wherever they could, they might talk about working hard.\"\n\n\"That is just why we ought to help them,\" replied the raven. \"They\ncannot mount up into the air as we do. They cannot see anything very\nwell unless it is near them, and if they had to run and catch their\nfood, they would surely die of hunger. They are poor, weak creatures,\nand there is not a humming-bird that does not know many things that they\nnever heard of.\"\n\n\"You are a poor, weak bird, if you think you can teach men. When they\nfeel hunger, they will eat, and they do not know how to do anything\nelse. Just look at them! They ought to be going to sleep, and they do\nnot know enough to do even that.\"\n\n\"How can they know that it is night, when they have no sun and no moon\nto tell them when it is day and when it is night?\"\n\n\"They would not go to sleep even if they had two moons,\" said the eagle;\n\"and you are no true cousin of mine if you do not let them alone.\"\n\nSo the two birds quarreled. Almost every time they met, they quarreled\nabout men, and at last, whenever the eagle began to mount into the air,\nthe raven went near the earth.\n\nNow the eagle had a pretty daughter. She and the raven were good\nfriends, and they never quarreled about men. One day the pretty daughter\nsaid, \"Cousin Raven, are you too weak to fly as high as you used to do?\"\n\n\"I never was less weak,\" declared the raven.\n\n\"Almost every day you keep on the ground. Can you not mount into the\nair?\"\n\n\"Of course I can,\" answered the raven.\n\n\"There are some strange things in my father's lodge,\" said the pretty\ndaughter, \"and I do not know what they are. They are not good to eat,\nand I do not see what else they are good for. Will you come and see\nthem?\"\n\n\"I will go wherever you ask me,\" declared the raven.\n\nThe eagle's lodge was far up on the top of a high mountain, but the two\nbirds were soon there, and the pretty daughter showed the raven the\nstrange things. He knew what they were, and he said to himself, \"Men\nshall have them, and by and by they will be no less wise than the\nbirds.\" Then he asked, \"Has your father a magic cloak?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Yes,\" answered the pretty daughter.\n\n\"May I put it on?\"\n\n\"Yes, surely.\"\n\nWhen the raven had once put on the magic cloak, he seized the strange\nthings and put them under it. Then he called, \"I will come again soon,\nmy pretty little cousin, and tell you all about the people on the\nearth.\"\n\nThe things under his cloak were strange indeed, for one was the sun, and\none was the moon. There were hundreds of bright stars, and there were\nbrooks and rivers and waterfalls. Best of all, there was the precious\ngift of fire. The raven put the sun high up in the heavens, and fastened\nthe moon and stars in their places. He let the brooks run down the sides\nof the mountains, and he hid the fire away in the rocks.\n\nAfter a while men found all these precious gifts. They knew when it was\nnight and when it was day, and they learned how to use fire. They cannot\nmount into the air like the eagle, but in some things they are almost as\nwise as the birds.\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF THE EARTH AND THE SKY.\n\n\nThe sky used to be very close to the earth, and of course the earth had\nno sunshine. Trees did not grow, flowers did not blossom, and water was\nnot clear and bright. The earth did not know that there was any other\nway of living, and so she did not complain.\n\nBy and by the sky and the earth had a son who was called the Shining\nOne. When he was small, he had a dream, and he told it to the earth.\n\"Mother Earth,\" he said, \"I had a dream, and it was that the sky was far\nup above us. There was a bright light, and it made you more radiant than\nI ever saw you. What could the light have been?\"\n\n\"I do not know, my Shining One,\" she answered, \"for there is nothing but\nthe earth and the sky.\"\n\nAfter a long, long time, the Shining One was fully grown. Then he said\nto the sky, \"Father Sky, will you not go higher up, that there may be\nlight and warmth on the earth?\"\n\n\"There is no 'higher up,'\" declared the sky. \"There is only just here.\"\n\nThen the Shining One raised the sky till he rested on the mountain\npeaks.\n\n\"Oh! oh!\" cried the sky. \"They hurt. The peaks are sharp and rough. You\nare an unkind, cruel son.\"\n\n\"In my dreams you were still higher up,\" replied the Shining One, and he\nraised the sky still higher.\n\n\"Oh! oh!\" complained the sky, \"I can hardly see the peaks. I will stay\non the rough rocks.\"\n\n\"You were far above the rocks in my dream,\" replied the Shining One.\n\nThen when the sky was raised far above the earth and no longer touched\neven the peaks, a great change came over the earth. She, too, had\nthought the Shining One unkind, and she had said, \"Shining One, it was\nonly a dream. Why should you change the sky and the earth? Why not let\nthem stay as they were before you had the dream?\"\n\n\"O Mother Earth,\" he said, \"I wish you could see the radiant change that\nhas come to pass. The air is full of light and warmth and fragrance. You\nyourself are more beautiful than you were even in my dream. Listen and\nhear the song of the birds. See the flowers blossoming in every field,\nand even covering the rough peaks of the mountains. Should you be glad\nif I had let all things stay as they were? Was I unkind to make you so\nmuch more lovely than you were?\"\n\nBefore the earth could answer, the sky began to complain. \"You have\nspread over earth a new cloak of green, and of course she is beautiful\nwith all her flowers and birds, but here am I, raised far above the\nmountain peaks. I have no cloak, nor have I flowers and birds. Shining\nOne, give me a cloak.\"\n\n\"That will I do, and most gladly,\" replied the Shining One, and he\nspread a soft cloak of dark blue over the sky, and in it many a star\nsparkled and twinkled.\n\n\"That is very well in the night,\" said the heavens, \"but it is not good\nin the daytime, it is too gloomy. Give me another cloak for the day.\"\nThen the Shining One spread a light blue cloak over the sky for the\ndaytime, and at last the sky was as beautiful as the earth.\n\nNow both sky and earth were contented. \"I did not know that the earth\nwas so radiant,\" said the sky. \"I did not know that the sky was so\nbeautiful,\" said the earth. \"I will send a message to tell her how\nlovely she is,\" thought the sky, and he dropped down a gentle little\nrain.\n\n\"I, too, will send a message,\" thought the earth, \"and the clouds shall\ncarry it for me.\" That is why there is often a light cloud rising from\nthe earth in the morning. It is carrying a good-morning message from the\nbeautiful earth to the sky.\n\n\n\n\nHOW SUMMER CAME TO THE EARTH.\n\n\nPART I.\n\nThere was once a boy on the earth who was old enough to have a bow and\narrows, but who had never seen a summer. He had no idea how it would\nlook to have leaves on the trees, for he had never seen any such things.\nAs for the songs of birds, he may have heard them in his dreams, but he\nnever heard them when he was not asleep. If any one had asked, \"Do you\nnot like to walk on the soft grass?\" he would have answered, \"What is\ngrass? I never saw any.\"\n\nThe reason why this boy had never heard of summer was because there had\nnever been a summer on the earth. Far to the north the earth was covered\nwith thick ice, and even farther south, where the boy lived, the ground\nwas rarely free from ice and snow.\n\nThe boy's father was called the fisher. He taught his little son to\nhunt, and made him a bow like his own, only smaller. The boy was proud\nof his arrows, and was always happy when he went out to hunt. He had\noften shot a lynx, and once or twice he had shot a wolverine. Sometimes\nit chanced that he found nothing to shoot, and then he was not happy,\nfor he realized how cold it was. His fingers ached, and his feet ached,\nand the end of his nose ached. \"Oh, if I could only carry the wigwam\nfire about with me!\" he cried, for he had no idea of any other warmth\nthan that which came from the fire.\n\nNow it chanced that Adjidaumo, the squirrel, was on a tree over the\nboy's head, and he heard this cry. He dropped a piece of ice upon the\nend of the boy's little red nose, and the boy bent his bow. Then he\nrealized who it was, and he cried, \"O Adjidaumo, you are warm. You have\nno fingers to ache with the cold. I am warm just twice a day, once in\nthe morning and once at night.\"\n\n\"Boys do not know much,\" replied Adjidaumo, dancing lightly on the\ntopmost bough. \"The end of _my_ nose is warm, and I have no fingers like\nyours to be cold, but if I had chanced to have any, I have an idea that\nwould have kept them warm.\"\n\n\"What is an idea?\" asked the boy.\n\n\"An idea is something that is better than a fire,\" replied the squirrel,\n\"for you can carry an idea about with you, and you have to leave the\nfire at home. A lynx has an idea sometimes, and a wolverine has one\nsometimes, but a squirrel has one twice as often as a boy.\"\n\nThe poor boy was too cold to be angry, and he begged, \"Adjidaumo, if\nthere is any way for me to keep warm, will you not tell me what it is? A\nlynx would be more kind to me than you are, and I am sure a wolverine\nwould tell me.\"\n\nAdjidaumo had rarely been cold, but when he realized how cold the boy\nwas, he was sorry for him, and he said, \"All you have to do is to go\nhome and cry. When your father says, 'Why do you cry?' answer nothing\nbut 'Boo-hoo, boo-hoo, boo-hoo! Get me summer, get me summer!'\"\n\nNow this boy rarely cried, but his hands and feet were so very cold that\nhe thought he would do as the squirrel had told him, and he started for\nhome. As soon as he reached the wigwam, he threw himself down upon the\nground and cried. He cried so hard that his tears made a river that ran\nout of the wigwam door. It was a frozen river, of course, but when the\nfisher saw it, he knew it was made of the tears of his little son. \"What\nare you crying for?\" he asked, but all the boy answered was \"Boo-hoo,\nboo-hoo! Get me summer, father, get me summer!\"\n\n\"Summer,\" repeated the fisher thoughtfully. \"It is not easy to get\nsummer, but I will find it if I can.\"\n\n\nPART II.\n\nThe fisher made a great feast for the animals that he thought could help\nhim to find summer. The otter, the lynx, the badger, and the wolverine\ncame. After they had eaten, the hunter told them what he wished to do,\nand they all set out to find summer.\n\nFor many days they traveled, and at last they came to a high mountain\nupon whose summit the sky seemed to rest.\n\n\"That is where summer is,\" declared the badger. \"All we have to do is to\nclimb to the summit and take it from the heavens.\" So they all climbed\nand climbed, till it seemed as if they would never reach the top. After\na long time they were on the very highest summit, but the heavens were\nabove them.\n\n\"We cannot reach it,\" said the fisher.\n\n\"Let us try,\" said the lynx.\n\n\"I will try first,\" said the otter. So the otter sprang up with all his\nmight, but he could not touch the heavens. He rolled down the side of\nthe mountain, and then he ran home. The badger tried, and the beaver\ntried, and the lynx tried, but not one of them could leap far enough to\nreach the heavens. \"Now I will try,\" said the wolverine. \"I am not\ngoing to climb away up here for nothing.\" The fisher watched most\neagerly, for he thought, \"There's my boy at home crying, and what shall\nI do if I cannot get the summer for him?\"\n\nThe wolverine leaped farther than any wolverine ever leaped before, and\nhe went where no animal on the earth had ever been before, for he went\nstraight through the floor of the heavens. Of course the fisher\nfollowed, and there they were in a more lovely place than any one on the\nearth had ever dreamed of, for they were in the land of summer, and\nsummer had never come to the earth.\n\nThe soft, warm air went down through the hole in the floor and spread\nover the earth. Birds flew down, singing happily as they flew, and all\nkinds of flowers that are on the earth to-day made their way through the\nhole as fast as they could, for they knew all about the little boy in\nthe wigwam who was wishing that summer would come.\n\nNow there were people in the heavens, and when they found that summer\nwas going down to the earth through the hole in the floor, they cried\nout to the Great Spirit, \"Take summer away from him, take it away from\nhim!\" and they shot their arrows at the fisher and the wolverine. The\nwolverine dropped through the hole, but the fisher was not quick enough,\nand he could not get away.\n\nThe Great Spirit said, \"The heavens have the summer all the year, but\nthe earth shall have summer half the year. I shall close the hole in the\nfloor so the fisher cannot go down to earth again, but I will make him\ninto a fish and give him a place in the heavens.\"\n\nWhen the Indians look up at the sky, they see a fish in the stars, and\nthey say, \"That is the good fisher who gave us the beautiful summer.\"\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF THE FIRST SNOWDROPS.\n\n\nAn old man sat alone in his house. It Was full of shadows; it was dark\nand gloomy. The old man cared nothing for the shadows or the darkness,\nfor he was thinking of all the mighty deeds that he had done. \"There is\nno one else in the world,\" he muttered, \"who has done such deeds as I,\"\nand he counted them over aloud. A sound outside of the house interrupted\nhim. \"What can it be?\" he said to himself. \"How dares anything interrupt\nme? I have told all things to be still. It sounds like the rippling of\nwaters, and I have told the waters to be quiet in their beds. There it\nis again. It is like the singing of birds, and I have sent the birds far\naway to the south.\"\n\nSome one opened the door and came in. It was a youth with sunny curls\nand rosy face.\n\n\"Who said you might come in?\" muttered the old man.\n\n\"Did not you?\" asked the youth, with a merry little laugh. \"I am really\nafraid that I came without asking. You see, every one is glad to see me\nand\"--\n\n\"I am not,\" interrupted the old man.\n\n\"I have heard rumors of your great deeds,\" said the youth, \"and I came\nto see whether the tales are true.\"\n\n\"The deeds are more true than the tales,\" muttered the old man, \"for the\ntales are never great enough. No one can count the wonderful things I\nhave done.\"\n\n\"And what are they?\" asked the young man gravely, but with a merry\nlittle twinkle in his eyes that would have made one think of the waves\nsparkling in the sunlight. \"Let us see whether you or I can tell the\ngreatest tale.\"\n\n\"I can breathe upon a river and turn it to ice,\" said the old man.\n\n\"I can breathe upon the ice and turn it to a river,\" said the youth.\n\n\"I can say to water, 'Stand still,' and it will not dare to stir.\"\n\n\"I can say, 'Stand no longer,' and it will go running and chattering\ndown the mountain side.\"\n\n\"I shake my white head,\" said the old man, \"and snow covers the earth.\"\n\n\"I shake my curls,\" said the young man, \"and the air sparkles with\nsunshine. In a moment the snow is gone.\"\n\n\"I say to the birds, 'Sing no more. Leave me,' and they spread their\nwings and fly far away.\"\n\n\"I say, 'Little birds, come back,' and in a moment they are back again\nand singing their sweetest songs to me.\"\n\n\"No one can count the leaves,\" said the old man, \"but whether I shake\nthe trees with my icy touch, or whether I turn my cold breath upon them,\nthey fall to the ground with fear and trembling. Are there any rumors of\nmy deeds as great as that?\"\n\nThe young man answered gravely, but with a laugh in his voice, \"I never\nsaw any leaves falling to the ground, for when I appear, they are all\nfair and green and trembling with the gladness of my coming.\"\n\nSo the two talked all night long. As morning came near, the old man\nappeared weary, but the youth grew merrier. The sunlight brightened, and\nthe youth turned to the open door. The trees were full of birds, and\nwhen they saw him, they sang, \"O beautiful spring! glad are we to look\nagain upon your face.\"\n\n\"My own dear birds!\" cried spring. He turned to say good-by, but the old\nman was gone, and where he had stood were only snowflakes. But were they\nsnowflakes? He looked again. They were little white snowdrops, the first\nflowers of spring, the only flowers that can remember the winter.\n\n\n\n\nWHY THE FACE OF THE MOON IS WHITE.\n\n\nAn Indian chief had a fair young daughter. One day the wind came to him\nand said, \"Great chief, I love your daughter, and she loves me. Will you\ngive her to me to be my wife?\"\n\n\"No,\" answered the chief.\n\nThe next day the maiden herself went to the chief and said, \"Father, I\nlove the wind. Will you let me go with him to his lodge and be his\nwife?\"\n\n\"No,\" declared the chief, \"I will not. When the wind was a child, he\noften came into my wigwam through some tiny hole, and try as I would to\nmake my fire, he always put it out. He knows neither how to fight nor\nhow to hunt, and you shall not be his wife.\"\n\nThen the chief hid his daughter in a thick grove of dark spruces. \"The\nwind might see her in a pine,\" he thought, \"but he will never catch\nsight of her in a grove of spruces.\"\n\nNow the wind could make himself invisible if he chose, and all the time\nthat the chief was talking, the wind was close beside him listening to\nevery word. When the next night came, the wind ran round and round the\ngrove of spruces until he discovered a tiny place where he could get in.\nWhen he came out, the maiden was with him. He did not dare to go near\nthe Indians to live, for he was afraid that the chief would come and\ntake her away from him; so he built a new lodge far to the north-ward.\nTo that lodge he carried the maiden, and she became his wife.\n\nNeither the wind nor his young wife had thought that the chief could\never find them, but he searched and searched, and at last he came to\ntheir lodge. The wind hid his wife and made himself invisible, but the\nfather struck all about with his great war-club, and a hard blow fell\nupon the head of the wind. He knew no more of what the chief was doing.\n\nWhen he came to himself, he discovered that his wife was gone, and he\nset out in search of her. He roamed about wildly in the forest, and at\nlast he saw her in a canoe with her father on the Big-Sea-Water. \"Come\nwith me,\" he called. She became as white as snow, but she could not see\nthe wind, because after the blow upon his head he had forgotten how to\nmake himself visible.\n\nHe was so angry with the chief that he blew with all his might upon the\ntiny canoe. \"Let it tip over,\" he thought. \"I can carry my wife safely\nto land.\" The canoe did tip over, and both the chief and his daughter\nfell into the water. \"Come, dear wife,\" cried the wind. \"Here is my\nhand.\" He did not remember that he was invisible, and that she could not\nsee his hand. That is why she fell down, down, through the deep water to\nthe bottom of the lake. The chief, too, lost his life, for the wind did\nnot try to help him.\n\nWhen the wind discovered that his wife was gone from him, he became\nalmost wild with sorrow. \"The wind never blew so sadly before,\" said the\npeople in the wigwams.\n\n[Illustration: \"HERE IS MY HAND\"]\n\nThe Great Spirit was sorry that the chief's daughter had fallen into the\nwater and lost her life, and the next night he bore her up to the stars\nand gave her a home in the moon. There she lives again, but her face is\nwhite, as it was when she fell from the canoe. On moonlight nights she\nalways looks down upon the earth, searching for the wind, for she does\nnot know that he is invisible. The wind does not know that far away in\nthe moon is the white face of his lost wife, and so he roams through the\nforest and wanders about the rocks and the mountains, but never thinks\nof looking up to the moon.\n\n\n\n\nWHY ALL MEN LOVE THE MOON.\n\n\nThunder and Lightning were going to give a feast. It was to be a most\ndelightful banquet, for all the good things that could be imagined were\nto be brought from every corner of the world.\n\nFor many days before the feast these good things were coming. The birds\nflew up with what they could find in the cold air of the north and the\nwarm air of the south. The fishes came from the east and from the west\nwith what they could find in the cold water or in the warm water. As for\nwhat grew on the earth, there was no end to the luxuries that came every\nmorning and every evening. Squirrels brought nuts, crows brought corn,\nthe ants brought sweet things of many kinds. Food that was rich and rare\ncame from India and Japan. The butterflies and the humming-birds were to\narrange the flowers, the peacocks and the orioles promised to help make\nthe place beautiful, and the waves and the brooks agreed to make their\nmost charming music.\n\nThunder and Lightning were talking about whom to invite, and they\nquestioned whether to ask the sun, the moon, and the wind. These three\nwere children of the star mother.\n\n\"The star mother has been so kind to us that I suppose we ought to\ninvite her children,\" said Thunder.\n\n\"The moon is charming, but the sun and the wind are rough and wild. If I\nwere the star mother, I would keep them in a corner all day, and they\nshould stay there all night, too, if they did not promise to be gentle,\"\nsaid Lightning.\n\n\"We must invite them,\" replied Thunder, with what sounded much like a\nlittle growl, \"but it would be delightful if they would agree to stay\naway, all but the moon.\"\n\nThat is why the sun and wind were invited as well as the moon. When the\ninvitation came, the two brothers said to their little sister, \"You are\ntoo small to go to a feast, but perhaps they asked you because they were\ngoing to ask us.\"\n\n\"Star mother, I think I will stay at home,\" said the moon tearfully.\n\n\"No, little moon,\" replied the star mother; \"go to the feast with the\nother children.\"\n\nSo the three children went to the feast, and the star mother waited for\nthem to come home.\n\nWhen they came, she asked, \"What did you bring for me?\" The hands of the\nsun were full of good things, but he said, \"I brought only what I am\ngoing to eat myself,\" and he sat down in a corner with his back to the\nothers, and went on eating.\n\n\"Did you bring anything for me?\" she asked the wind.\n\n\"I brought some good things halfway home, and then I was weary of\ncarrying them,\" answered the wind, \"so I have eaten them.\"\n\n\"I should never have imagined that you would be so selfish,\" said the\nstar mother sadly, and she asked the little moon, \"My daughter, did you\nbring anything for me?\"\n\n\"Yes, star mother,\" answered the little moon, and she gave her mother\nmore good things than any one had ever seen in their home before. There\nwere rare luxuries that the fishes and the birds had brought. There were\nrich colors that the peacocks and orioles had promised, and there was\neven some of the charming music that the waves and brooks had agreed to\nmake.\n\nThe star mother praised the little maiden. Then she looked at her two\nboys. She was sad, for she knew that they must be punished for their\nselfishness. \"Sun,\" said she, \"you wish to turn your back on all, and\nyour punishment shall be that when the warm days of summer have come,\nall men will turn their backs on you.\" To the wind she said, \"Wind, you\nthought of no one but yourself. When the storm is coming and you are\nafraid and fly before it, no one shall think of you. All men shall close\ntheir doors against you and fasten them.\" Then to her little daughter\nshe said, \"My little moon, you were unselfish and thoughtful. You shall\nalways be bright and beautiful, and men shall love you and praise you\nwhenever they look upon your gentle, kindly face.\"\n\nThis is why men hide from the sun and the wind, but never from the moon.\n\n\n\n\nWHY THERE IS A HARE IN THE MOON.\n\n\nMany strange things happened long ago, and one of them was that a hare,\na monkey, and a fox agreed to live together. They talked about their\nplan a long time. Then the hare said, \"I promise to help the monkey and\nthe fox.\" The monkey declared, \"I promise to help the fox and the hare.\"\nThe fox said, \"I promise to help the hare and the monkey.\" They shook\nhands, or rather shook paws. There was something else to which they\nagreed, and that was that they would kill no living creature.\n\nThe manito was much pleased when he heard of this plan, but he said to\nhimself, \"I should like to make sure that what I have heard is true, and\nthat they are really gentle and kind to others as well as to themselves.\nI will go to the forest and see how they behave toward strangers.\"\n\nThe manito appeared before the three animals, but they thought he was a\nhunter. \"May I come into your lodge and rest?\" he asked. \"I am very\nweary.\"\n\nAll three came toward him and gave him a welcome. \"Come into our lodge,\"\nthey said. \"We have agreed to help one another, so we will help one\nanother to help you.\"\n\n\"I have been hungry all day,\" said the manito, \"but I should rather have\nsuch a welcome than food.\"\n\n\"But if you are hungry, you must have food,\" declared the three animals.\n\"If there were anything in our lodge that you would care to eat, you\nmight have part of it or all of it, but there is nothing here that you\nwould like.\"\n\nThen said the monkey, \"I have a plan. I will go out into the forest and\nfind you some food.\"\n\nWhen the monkey came back, he said, \"I found a tree with some fruit on\nit. I climbed it and shook it, and here is the fruit. There was only a\nlittle of it, for fruit was scarce.\"\n\n\"Will you not eat part of it yourself?\" asked the manito.\n\n\"No,\" answered the monkey. \"I had rather see you eat it, for I think you\nare more hungry than I.\"\n\nThe manito wished to know whether the fox and the hare would behave as\nunselfishly toward him, and he said, \"My good friends, the fruit was\nindeed welcome, but I am still hungry.\"\n\nThen the fox said, \"I will go out into the forest and see what I can\nfind for you.\"\n\nWhen the fox came back, he said, \"I shook the trees, but no more fruit\nfell. I could not climb the trees, for my paws are not made for\nclimbing, but I searched on the ground, and at last I found some hominy\nthat a traveler had left, and I have brought you that.\"\n\nThe manito had soon eaten the hominy. He wished to know whether the hare\nwould behave as kindly as the others, and before long he said, \"My good\nfriends, the hominy was indeed welcome, but I am still hungry.\"\n\nThen the hare said, \"I will gladly go out into the forest and search for\nfood.\" He was gone a long time, but when he came back, he brought no\nfood.\n\n\"I am very hungry,\" said the manito.\n\n\"Stranger,\" said the hare, \"if you will build a fire beside the rock, I\ncan give you some food.\"\n\nThe manito built a fire, and the hare said, \"Now I will spring from the\ntop of the rock upon the fire. I have heard that men eat flesh, that is\ntaken from the fire, and I will give you my own.\"\n\nThe hare sprang from the rock, but the manito caught him in his hands\nbefore the flame could touch him, and said, \"Dear, unselfish little\nhare, the monkey and the fox have welcomed me and searched the forest\nthrough to find me food, but you have done more, for you have given me\nyourself. I will take the gift, little hare, and I will carry you in my\narms up to the moon, so that every one on the earth may see you and hear\nthe tale of your kindness and unselfishness.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe Indians can see a hare in the moon, and this is the story that they\ntell their children about it.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CHILDREN IN THE MOON.\n\n\nThey had no idea where they came from. All they knew was that they lived\non the hill, and that the old man of the hill called them Jack and Jill.\nThey had plenty of berries to eat, and when night came, they had soft\nbeds of fir to sleep on. There were all kinds of animals on the hill,\nand they were friendly to the two children. They could have had a most\ndelightful time playing all day long if it had not been for having to\ncarry water.\n\nEvery morning, just as soon as the first rays of the sun could be seen\nfrom their home, they heard the voice of the old man of the hill\ncalling, \"Jack! Jill! Take your pail and get some water.\" Whenever they\nwere having an especially pleasant game with some of the animals, they\nheard the same call, \"Take your pail and get some water.\" It is no\nwonder that Jack awoke one night when no one called and said, \"Jill, did\nhe say we must get some water?\" \"I suppose so,\" answered Jill sleepily,\nand they went out with the pail.\n\nThe moon was shining down through the trees, and they imagined that she\nwas nearer than ever before. The forest was not half so lonely with her\ngentle face looking down upon them. Soon they felt happier than at\nfirst, and they played little games together, running from tree to tree.\n\n\"We have spilled half the water,\" said Jill.\n\n\"There's plenty left,\" said Jack, \"if half _is_ spilled.\"\n\n\"Do you suppose there are any children who play games whenever they like\nand do not have to carry water?\"\n\n\"Plenty of them,\" declared Jack.\n\n    \"Jack and Jill\n    Went up the hill\n    To get a pail of water,\"\n\nsang a voice so clear that it seemed close at hand, and so soft that it\nseemed far away.\n\nJack started, fell, and rolled down the hillside, and Jill came tumbling\nafter. As for the water, what was left was spilled before Jack had\nrolled over once; and before he had rolled over twice, the same voice\nsang,--\n\n    \"Jack fell down\n    And broke his crown,\n    And Jill came tumbling after.\"\n\n\"It is about us,\" cried Jill.\n\n\"I have not broken any crown,\" said Jack.\n\n\"It is the crown of your head,\" declared Jill.\n\n\"Oh!\" said Jack; \"but where's the water?\"\n\n\"It has gone tumbling down the hill,\" answered the same voice.\n\n\"How can water go tumbling?\" cried Jill. \"_We_ tumbled.\"\n\n\"Water tumbles too,\" replied the voice, \"especially when it is frozen.\"\n\n\"Oh!\" said Jack.\n\n\"Oh!\" said Jill.\n\n\"The stream is frozen,\" called the voice.\n\n\"What stream?\" asked the children together.\n\n\"The stream that goes down the hill,\" answered the voice. \"Did you not\nknow that you were bringing water to keep the stream full?\"\n\n\"No, indeed,\" said the children.\n\n\"The old man of the hill is only a rock, and what you thought his voice\nwas only the water flowing around it.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Oh!\" cried Jack.\n\n\"Oh!\" cried Jill.\n\n\"The stream is frozen,\" said the voice, \"and the earth has a cloak of\nsnow and ice.\"\n\n\"Who are you?\" asked Jill shyly.\n\n\"Do you really not know? What a strange child you are! I am the moon, of\ncourse. Very pleasant people live with me, and I have come to invite you\nboth to go home with me. Will you come?\"\n\nThe children looked up through the trees, and there was the gentle face\nof the moon, looking more gentle and kind than ever. \"Come,\" said she,\nand they went very willingly. They have lived in the moon many years,\nbut they never again carried a pail of water for a stream. \"That is the\nwork of the clouds and the sun,\" says the moon.\n\n\n\n\nWHY THERE IS A MAN IN THE MOON.\n\n\n\"Goodman,\" said the goodwife, \"you must go out into the forest and\ngather sticks for the fire. To-morrow will be Sunday, and we have no\nwood to burn.\"\n\n\"Yes, goodwife,\" answered the goodman, \"I will go to the forest.\"\n\nHe did go to the forest, but he sat on a mossy rock and fished till it\nwas dark, and so he brought home no wood. \"The goodwife shall not know\nit,\" he thought. \"I will go to the forest to-morrow morning and gather\nsticks.\"\n\nWhen morning came, he crept softly out of the house when it was hardly\nlight, and went to the forest. Soon he had as many sticks as he could\ncarry, and he was starting for home when a voice called sternly, \"Put\nthose sticks down.\" He looked to the right, to the left, before him,\nbehind him, and over his head. There was no one to be seen.\n\n\"Put those sticks down,\" said the voice again.\n\n\"Please, I do not dare to put them down,\" replied the goodman, trembling\nwith fear. \"They are to burn, and my wife cannot cook the dinner without\nthem.\"\n\n\"You will have no dinner to-day,\" said the voice.\n\n\"The goodwife will not know that I did not gather them last night, and\nshe will let me have some dinner. I am almost sure she will,\" the\ngoodman replied.\n\n\"You must not gather sticks to-day,\" said the voice more sternly than\never. \"It is Sunday. Put them down.\"\n\n\"Indeed, Mr. Voice, I dare not,\" whispered the goodman; and afar off he\nthought he heard his wife calling, \"Goodman, where are you? There is no\nwood to burn.\"\n\n\"Will you put them down, or will you carry them forever?\" cried the\nvoice angrily.\n\n\"Truly, I cannot put them down, for I dare not go home without them,\"\nanswered the goodman, shaking with fear from head to foot. \"The goodwife\nwould not like it.\"\n\n\"Then carry them forever,\" said the voice. \"You care not for Sunday, and\nyou shall never have another Sunday.\"\n\nThe goodman could not tell how it came about, but he felt himself being\nlifted, up, up, up, sticks and all, till he was in the moon.\n\n\"Here you shall stay,\" said the voice sternly. \"You will not keep\nSunday, and here you need not. This is the moon, and so it is always the\nmoon's day, or Monday, and Monday it shall be with you always. Whenever\nany one looks up at the moon, he will say, 'See the man with the sticks\non his back. He was taken to the moon because he gathered wood on\nSunday.'\"\n\n\"Oh dear, oh dear,\" cried the goodman, \"what will the goodwife say?\"\n\n\n\n\nTHE TWIN STARS.\n\n\nIn front of the little house was a pine-tree, and every night at the\ntime when the children went to bed, a bright star appeared over the top\nof the tree and looked in at the window. The children were brother and\nsister. They were twins, and so they always had each other to play with.\n\n\"Now go to sleep,\" the mother would say when she had kissed them\ngood-night, but it was hard to go to sleep when such a beautiful,\nradiant thing was shining in at the window of the little house.\n\n\"What do you suppose is in the star?\" asked the sister.\n\n\"I think there are daisies and honey and violets and butterflies and\nbluebirds,\" answered the brother.\n\n\"And I think there are roses and robins and berries and humming-birds,\"\nsaid the sister.\n\n\"There must be trees and grass too, and I am sure there are pearls and\ndiamonds.\"\n\n\"I can almost see them now,\" declared the sister. \"I wish we could\nreally see them. To-morrow let us go and find the star.\"\n\nWhen morning came, the star was gone, but they said, \"It was just behind\nthe pine-tree, and so it must be on the blue mountain.\" The blue\nmountain was a long way off, but it looked near, and the twins thought\nthey could walk to it in an hour. All day long they walked. They went\nthrough the lonely woods, they crossed brooks, they climbed hills, and\nstill they could not find the radiant star that had looked in at their\nwindow. The hour had come when their mother always put them to bed and\nkissed them and said good-night, but now they had no mother, no\ngood-night kiss, and no bed. They were tired and sleepy. They heard\nstrange sounds in the forest, and they were frightened. \"I am so tired,\"\nthe sister whispered. \"I am afraid a bear will come. I wish we could see\nthe star.\"\n\nThe sky had grown dark, and a star could be seen here and there, but it\nwas not their star. They went on till they could go no farther. \"We will\nlie down on the grass,\" said the brother, \"and cover ourselves up with\nleaves, and go to sleep.\"\n\nTired as they were, they did not have time to go to sleep before they\nheard a bear calling \"Ugh! Ugh!\" in the woods. They sprang up and ran\nout of the woods, and just before they came to the bottom of the hill,\nthey saw right in front of them a beautiful little lake. They were not\nfrightened any more, for there in the water was something radiant and\nshining. \"It is our own star,\" said they, \"and it has come down to us.\"\nThey never thought of looking up into the sky over their heads. It was\nenough for them that the star was in the water and so near them. But was\nit calling them? They thought so. \"Come,\" cried the brother, \"take my\nhand, and we will go to the star.\" Then the spirit of the skies lifted\nthem up gently and carried them away on a beautiful cloud.\n\nThe father and mother sat alone in the little house one evening, looking\nsadly out of the window through which the twins had looked. \"There is\nthe star that they loved,\" the mother said. \"I have often listened to\nthem while they talked of it. It is rising over the pine-tree in front\nof the house.\" They sat and watched the star. It was brighter and more\nradiant than ever, and in it the father and mother saw the faces of\ntheir lost children. \"Oh, take us too, good spirit of the skies!\" they\ncried. The spirit heard them, and when the next evening came, close\nbeside the star there was another star. In that were the father and\nmother, and at last they and the children were all very happy to be\ntogether again.\n\n\n\n\nTHE LANTERN AND THE FAN.\n\n\nIn a Japanese village there once lived a man who had two sons. When the\nsons were grown up, each brought home a wife from another village a long\ndistance away. The father was greatly pleased with his two\ndaughters-in-law, and for many months they all lived very happily\ntogether.\n\nAt last the two young wives asked to go home to visit their friends.\nAmong the Japanese the sons and the sons' wives must always obey the\nfather, so the two wives said, \"Father-in-law, it is a long, long time\nsince we have seen our friends. May we go to our old home and visit\nthem?\" The father-in-law answered, \"No.\" After many months they asked\nagain, and again he answered, \"No.\" Once more they asked. The\nfather-in-law thought, \"They care nothing for me, or they would not wish\nto leave me, but I have a plan, and I can soon know whether they love\ntheir father-in-law or not.\" Then he said to the older of the two wives,\n\"You may go if you wish, but you must never come back unless you bring\nme fire wrapped in paper.\" To the younger he said, \"You may go if you\nwish, but you must never come back unless you bring me wind wrapped in\npaper.\" The father-in-law thought, \"Now I shall find out. If they care\nfor me, they will search the country through till they find paper that\nwill hold fire and wind.\"\n\nThe two young wives were so glad to visit their old friends that for\nalmost a month they forgot all about the gifts that they were to carry\nto their father-in-law. At last, when it was time to go home, they were\ngreatly troubled about what they must carry with them, and they asked a\nwise man where to find the strange things. \"Paper that will hold fire\nand wind!\" he cried. \"There is no such paper in Japan.\" The two women\nasked one wise man after another, and every one declared, \"There is no\nsuch paper in Japan.\" What should they do? They feared they would never\nsee their home again. They were so sad that they left their friends and\nwandered a long distance into the forest. Great tears fell from their\neyes.\n\n\"I do not let people cry in my woods,\" said a voice. \"My trees do not\ngrow well in salt water.\"\n\nThe poor wives were so sorrowful that they forgot to be afraid, and the\nolder one said, \"Can we help crying? Unless I can carry to my\nfather-in-law fire wrapped in paper, I can never go home.\" \"And I,\"\nwailed the younger, \"unless I can carry wind wrapped in paper, I can\nnever go home. None of the wise men ever heard of such things. What\nshall we do?\"\n\n\"It is easy enough to wrap fire in paper,\" answered the voice. \"Here is\na piece of paper. Now watch.\" They watched, and the strangest thing in\nall the world happened right before their eyes. There was no one to be\nseen, but a piece of paper appeared on the ground and folded itself into\na Japanese lantern. \"Now put a candle inside,\" said the voice, \"and you\nhave paper holding fire. What more could you ask?\"\n\nThen the older woman was happy, but the younger was still sad. She saw\nnow that fire could be carried in paper, but surely no one could carry\nwind. \"O dear voice,\" she cried, \"can any one carry wind in paper?\"\n\n\"That is much easier than to carry fire,\" replied the voice, \"for wind\ndoes not burn holes. Watch.\"\n\nThey watched eagerly. Another piece of paper came all by itself and lay\non the ground between them. There was a picture on it of a tree covered\nwith white blossoms. Two women stood under the tree, gathering the\nblossoms.\n\n\"The two women are yourselves,\" said the voice, \"and the blossoms are\nthe gifts that the father-in-law will give you when you go home.\"\n\n\"But I cannot go home,\" the younger wailed, \"for I cannot carry wind\nwrapped in paper.\"\n\n\"Here is the paper, and there is always plenty of wind. Why not take\nthem?\"\n\n\"Indeed, I do not know how,\" the younger woman answered sorrowfully.\n\n\"This way, of course,\" said the voice. Some long, light twigs flew to\nthe paper. It folded itself, over, under, together. It opened and\nclosed, and it waved itself before the tearful face of the younger\nwoman. \"Does not the wind come to your face?\" asked the voice, \"and is\nit not the fan that has brought it? The lantern carries fire wrapped in\npaper, and the fan carries wind wrapped in paper.\"\n\nThen, indeed, the two young women were happy, and when they came to the\nhome of their father-in-law, he was as glad as they. He gave them\nbeautiful gifts of gold and silver, and he said, \"No one ever had such\nmarvels before as the lantern and the fan, but in my home there are two\nmore precious things than these, and they are my two dear daughters.\"\n\n\n\n\nVOCABULARY OF THE BOOK OF NATURE MYTHS.\n\n\nNOTE.--This vocabulary is supplementary to that of THE HIAWATHA PRIMER.\nNouns and verbs which are inflected regularly are entered under but one\nform.\n\n_Pages 1-4_\nfirst\nhumming-bird\nago\nknow\nflames\nlast\npeople\n\n_Pages 4-7_\nagain\nfled\n\n_Pages 7-9_\ngrew\n\n_Pages 10-12_\nbutterflies\nstones\nsome\nwould\nmen\ncould\nbeauty\nlife\n\n_Pages 13-15_\nwoodpecker\nman\ncake\nput\nbake\nlarge\nsmall\n\n_Pages 15-19_\nmagician\nfever\nbreath\nshot\nfight\never\nwound\nhead\ncrest\nanother\nblood\n\n_Pages 19-23_\nserpent\nhissed\ncat\nshut\nquick\nalways\nfall\n\n_Pages 23-28_\nswallow\ntail\nforked\nanimals\nyear\nmeet\nmosquito\nwhose\ntore\ntongue\n\n_Pages 28-31_\nhares\nsnowflakes\nfeet\nfirebrand\n\n_Pages 31-34_\nmagpie\ntime\nhome\nwarm\nbrought\nmerrily\nsorry\neggs\nbusy\ntaking\ncare\nwell\n\n_Pages 34-36_\nraven\nthief\nhappened\nwood-worm\nonly\nhimself\npieces\n\n_Pages 36-40_\nmore\ngone\nget\nlet\nany\nwolf\npond\nnear\nbat\nrain\nquickly\n\n_Pages 40, 41_\ncatch\ncaught\ntried\ncurled\nthrow\n\n_Pages 41, 42_\nfast\nhand\nsoon\n\n_Pages 43-46_\nquail\nsnipe\nnever\ncrept\ncarrying\npulled\nbill\nlegs\nmole\n\n_Pages 47-49_\nsheds\ngrandfather\nmarsh\ndrink\ndrank\nburst\ndone\noff\n\n_Pages 50-52_\ndove\nmanito\nbrave\ncrying\nHoots\ntoo\nknown\nmost\n\n_Pages 52-56_\nparrot\nrepeats\ntruth\nox\nowner\nyes\nvillagers\npunish\nnext\nthink\njar\neven\nstorm\nthunder\nmocking-bird\nreplied\n\n_Pages 56-59_\ncunning\nbaby\nvoices\nowned\nown\nmock\n\n_Pages 60-64_\nfox\nsheep\ncows\nfields\ngrowl\nshould\nMr.\neaten\ncream\n\n_Pages 64-67_\ngirl\nwhom\ntreated\nsister\nhappy\nplease\ncovered\nreally\n\n_Pages 68-70_\ntroubles\nlies\nremember\ndies\nlip\nsplit\n\n_Pages 70-72_\npeetweet\nflies\neagerly\nlakes\nhollows\nthirsty\n\n_Pages 72-75_\nshort\nfish\nsuch\neasy\nice\nfrozen\nhole\nworse\nslowly\nangrily\nwish\n\n_Pages 76-78_\nwren\nking\nchoose\nwhich\nwise\nthan\neagle\nwisest\n\n_Pages 79-82_\noften\ndoes\nwicked\nstrange\nknife\nsharpen\nharm\n\n_Pages 83-86_\ngrasshopper\ncountry\nTithonus\ngoddess\nAurora\nbegged\nspeak\nroamed\nfairest\nimmortal\n\n_Pages 86-89_\noriole\npower\nruler\nmaster\nyield\nclouds\nlightning\nmay\nhornet\n\n_Pages 89-93_\npeacock\nJuno\nqueen\nworld\nplayed\ntricks\nArgus\nhundred\nMercury\nbelonged\n\n_Pages 93-95_\nbees\ntribes\nwhile\nhoney\n\n_Pages 96-98_\nrich\npoor\nsowed\nground\nseed\nmine\n\n_Pages 98-102_\nants\nfull\nalmost\nhouse\nsense\nsmell\npearl\nlost\ndire\nnamed\nbag\nbox\nbagged\n\n_Pages 103-106_\nface\nafter\ntop\ngaze\nside\nfar-away\n\n_Pages 107-110_\ndiamonds\nchief\nenemies\nstolen\nsearch\nmourned\nwife\nMoneta\nmother\ntears\nindeed\n\n_Pages 111-114_\nRunoia\nshyly\ntrue\nsweet\nkinds\nharp\ntouched\nstrings\nwailing\n\n_Pages 114-117_\nemeralds\nvase\nprecious\nair\nIndia\nroll\nwaves\ndeepest\n\n_Pages 118-122_\nflown\nberries\nbroken\nmight\nspring\nwillow\nspruce\njuniper\n\n_Pages 122-125_\naspen\nguides\nswarm\nreason\ndespise\nboth\nanywhere\nplaces\n\n_Pages 125-128_\nheather\nplants\ncontented\nviolet\nfragrance\ndaisy\nchose\n\n_Pages 128-132_\nflax\nsight\nhall\nsparkling\ngift\nspin\nweave\nlinen\nHolda\n\n_Pages 133-135_\ncranberries\nmeadow\ncranberry\nwoods\nhominy\n\n_Pages 135-138_\nsalt\nFrothi\nmillstones\ngrind\ngate\nrest\nweary\nship\nelse\nbottom\n\n_Pages 138-141_\ncrane\nhold\nbitterly\nwitch\nobey\nsurely\ntaken\n\n_Pages 142-145_\nTurtle\nfierce\ndare\nready\nsure\nshields\nbreast\narms\njust\ndeclared\n\n_Pages 145-150_\ncrocodile\nwide\nmouth\nkingdom\ncalm\nswim\nsuddenly\ndragged\nopen\nanything\ncarried\nsword\nable\n\n_Pages 150-154_\nJapan\npicture\nchanging\ndragon\nisland\nmean\nused\ntell\nmoment\n\n_Pages 155-159_\npass\nperhaps\nbrooks\nbetter\nfollowed\ncourse\nhurt\nleft\nenough\nfelt\npleasant\nquiet\nplaymates\nforgotten\ncomplained\n\n_Pages 160-164_\ncousins\nquarreled\nless\nhard\nought\nmount\nhunger\nweak\npretty\ndaughter\n\n_Pages 165-168_\ndream\nradiant\nraised\npeaks\nrough\nunkind\nstay\nspread\nmessage\ndropped\n\n_Pages 169-172_\nidea\nrarely\nlynx\ntwice\nwolverine\nchanced\nrealized\nfingers\narched\nend\nnose\nboo-hoo\n\n_Pages 172-175_\notter\nbadger\nsummit\nclimb\nreach\nfloor\n\n_Pages 175-179_\nsnowdrop\ndeeds\nmuttered\ncounted\noutside\ninterrupted\nrumors\nwhether\ntales\ngravely\nturn\nshake\nappear\n\n_Pages 179-184_\ntiny\nneither\ngrove\ninvisible\ndiscovered\nbecame\nblow\nfell\ndeep\ntry\nfallen\n\n_Pages 184-188_\ndelightful\nimagined\ncorner\nluxuries\narrange\npromised\nagreed\ncharming\nsuppose\nstay\ninvite\ninvitation\nbring\n\n_Pages 188-193_\nmonkey\nplan\nshook\nrather\npaws\nsomething\npart\nbehave\ntoward\nfruit\nwelcome\nhungry\n\n_Pages 193-197_\nhill\nJack\nJill\nplenty\npail\nespecially\ngame\nspilled\ntumbling\ncrown\n\n_Pages 197-200_\ngather\nsticks\nto-morrow\nSunday\ndinner\nburn\nsternly\ncook\nto-day\nMonday\n\n_Pages 200-204_\nfront\nwindow\ntwins\nkissed\ntired\nway\nhour\nfrightened\ngrown\nourselves\n\n_Pages 204-209_\nfan\nlantern\ndistance\nlaw\nmonths\nwives\nsince\nvisit\nunless\nwrapped\npaper\nfolded\nunder","title":"The Book of Nature Myths","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":34168}