{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_24978/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_24978","id":"gutenberg_24978","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24978","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Short Stories","Indians of North America -- Canada -- Folklore"],"text":"Produced by Al Haines\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Frontispiece: THE WINDMAKER]\n\n\n\n\n_MACMILLAN'S LAKESIDE SERIES_\n\n\n\nTHIRTY INDIAN LEGENDS\n\n\nBY\n\nMARGARET BEMISTER\n\n\n\n\nTORONTO\n\nTHE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA, LTD.\n\n1917\n\n\n\n\nCOPYRIGHT, CANADA, 1912, BY\n\nTHE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA, LTD.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\nFor the most part the legends here told are drawn from original\nsources.  Many of the stories are printed for the first time; others\nhave been adapted from well-known authorities.  The author wishes to\nacknowledge in this latter connection help received from the\ncollection, \"The Indian in his Wigwam.\"  Thanks are also due to Mr. G.\nH. Dunn, St. Andrew's Locks, Manitoba, for the \"Sleep Fairies\"; to Mr.\nC. Linklater, Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, for the \"Adventures of\nWesakchak\"; to Mr. J. S. Logie, Summerland, British Columbia, for \"The\nChief's Bride\"; to the Okanagan chief, Antowyne, for the other Okanagan\nlegends; and to a paper read before the Royal Society of Canada by Mr.\nG. M. Dawson, for \"The Old Stump.\"\n\nThe last story in the book, \"A Battle with the Sioux,\" although not a\nlegend of the Indians, has been inserted as a true picture of Indian\nlife and customs, and an interesting account of their contact with and\nrelation to the white men.\n\nWINNIPEG, CANADA,\n\nSeptember 15, 1912.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n  THE GIANT BEAR\n  THE SUMMER MAKER\n  THE SLEEP FAIRIES\n  SHINGEBISS\n  THE QUEER LITTLE ANIMAL\n  THE DORMOUSE\n  THE WINDMAKER\n  MOOWIS\n  THE DAUGHTERS OF THE STAR\n  KOTO AND THE BIRD\n  THE HUMPBACKED MANITOU\n  THE TRIBE THAT GREW OUT OF A SHELL\n  THE STORY OF THE INDIAN CORN\n  THE MAGICIAN OF LAKE HURON\n  THE FAIRIES' CLIFF\n  THE STONE CANOE\n  THE WHITE FEATHER\n  THE LONE LIGHTNING\n  THE ENCHANTED MOCCASINS\n  THE FIVE WATER-SPIRITS\n  THE CANOE BREAKER\n  THE OLD STUMP\n  THE CLIFF OF SINIKIELT\n  THE STRANGE DREAM\n  BIG CHIEF'S CONQUEST\n  THE RED SWAN\n  THE WHISPERING GRASS\n  THE LEGEND OF MACKINAC ISLAND\n\n  THE ADVENTURES OF WESAKCHAK\n     I. THE WONDERFUL BALL\n    II. A WONDERFUL JOURNEY\n   III. THE GRAY GOOSE\n    IV. LITTLE BROTHER RABBIT\n     V. THE BALD-HEADED EAGLES\n\n  A BATTLE WITH THE SIOUX\n\n  PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY\n\n\n\n\nTHIRTY INDIAN LEGENDS\n\n\nTHE GIANT BEAR\n\nIn the far north there was a village where many warlike Indians lived.\nIn one family there were ten brothers, all brave and fearless.  In the\nspring of the year the youngest brother blackened his face and fasted\nfor several days.  Then he sent for his nine brothers and said to them:\n\n\"I have fasted and dreamed, and my dreams are good.  Will you come on a\nwar journey with me?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" they all said readily.\n\n\"Then tell no one, not even your wives, of our plan.\"  They agreed to\nmeet on a certain night so that no one should see them go.  One brother\nwas named Mudjekeewis, and he was very odd.  He was the first to\npromise that he would not tell.  The next two days were spent in\npreparations for the journey.  Mudjekeewis told his wife many times to\nget his moccasins for him.\n\n\"And hurry.\" he said; \"do hurry.\"\n\n\"Why do you want them?\" she asked.  \"You have a good pair on.\"\n\n\"Well, if you must know, we are going on a war journey,\" he answered.\n\nWhen the night had come which the leader had named, they met at his\nwigwam and set out on their long journey.  The snow lay on the ground,\nand the night was very dark.\n\nAfter they had travelled some miles, the leader gathered some snow and\nmade it into a ball.  He threw it in the air and said, as it fell, \"It\nwas thus I saw the snow fall in my dreams to cover our footmarks, so\nthat no one may follow us.\"\n\nThe snow began to fall heavily and continued for two days.  It was so\nthick that they could scarcely see each other, though they walked very\nclosely together.\n\nThe leader cheered his brothers by telling them they would win in their\nbattle.  At this Mudjekeewis, who was walking behind, ran forward.  He\nswung his war-club in the air and uttered the war-cry.  Then bringing\nhis war-club down, he struck a tree, and it fell as if hit by lightning.\n\n\"See, brothers,\" he said, \"this is the way I shall serve our enemy.\"\n\n\"Hush, Mudjekeewis,\" said the leader.  \"He whom we are going to fight\ncannot be treated so lightly.\"\n\nThen they travelled on for several days, until at last they reached the\nborders of the White Plain, where the bones of men lay bleaching.\n\n\"These are the bones of men who have gone before us.  No one has ever\nreturned to tell of their sad fate.\"  Mudjekeewis looked frightened at\nthis and thought, \"I wonder who this terrible enemy is.\"\n\n\"Be not afraid, my brothers,\" said the leader.  Mudjekeewis then took\ncourage, again jumped forward, and uttering the war-cry, brought his\nwarclub down on a small rock, and split it into pieces.  \"See, I am not\nafraid,\" he cried.  \"Thus shall I serve my enemy.\"  But the leader\nstill pressed onward over the plain, until at last a small rise in the\nground brought them in sight of the enemy.  Some distance away, on the\ntop of the mountain, a giant bear lay sleeping.\n\n\"Look, brothers,\" said the leader.  \"There is the mighty enemy, for he\nis a Manitou.[1]  But come now, we need not fear, as he is asleep.\nAround his neck he has the precious wampum,[2] which we must take from\nhim.\"\n\nThey advanced slowly and quietly.  The huge animal did not hear them.\nAround his neck was a belt which contained the wampum.\n\n\"Now we must take this off,\" said the youngest brother.  One after the\nother tried, but could not do it, until the next to the youngest tried.\nHe pulled it nearly over the bear's head.  Then came the turn of the\nyoungest, and he pulled it the rest of the way.  He put the belt\nquickly on the back of the oldest brother.\n\n\"Now we must run,\" said the leader, \"for when he awakens, he will miss\nhis belt.\"\n\nThey all hastened away.  The wampum was very heavy, so they had to take\nturns in carrying it.  They kept looking back as they ran, and had\nalmost reached the edge of the plain before the bear awoke.  He slowly\nrose to his feet and stood for a moment before he noticed that the belt\nwas gone.  Then he uttered a roar that reached to the skies.\n\n\"Who has dared to steal my belt?\" he roared.  \"Earth is not so large\nbut that I shall find him.\"\n\nSaying this, he jumped from the mountain, and the earth shook with his\nweight.  Then with powerful strides he rushed in pursuit of the\nbrothers.\n\nThey had passed all the bones now and were becoming very tired.\n\n\"Brothers,\" said the leader, \"I dreamed that when we were hard pressed\nand running for our lives, we saw a lodge where an old man lived, and\nhe helped us.  I hope my dream will come true.\"\n\nJust then they saw, a short distance away, a lodge with smoke curling\nfrom the top.  They ran to it, and an old man opened the door.\n\n\"Grandfather,\" they gasped, \"will you save us?  A Manitou is after us.\"\n\n\"Who is a Manitou but I?\" said he.  \"Come in and eat.\"  They entered\nthe lodge and he gave them food.  Then, opening the door, he looked out\nand saw the bear coming with great strides.  Shutting the door, he\nsaid, \"He is indeed a mighty Manitou and will take my life; but you\nasked for my help and I shall give it.  When he comes, you run out of\nthe back door.\"\n\nGoing to a bag which hung from a tree, he took out two small, black,\ndogs.  He patted the sides of the dogs, and they began to swell until\nthey filled the doorway.  The dogs had strong, white teeth and growled\nfiercely.  The bear had now reached the door, and with one bound the\nfirst dog leaped out, followed by the second.  The brothers ran out of\nthe back of the lodge.  They could hear the howls of the animals as\nthey fought, and looking back, they saw first one dog killed, then the\nother, and at last the shrieks of the old man came to them as the bear\ntore him in pieces.  They doubled their speed now, as they saw the bear\nbeginning to follow them again.  The food they had eaten gave them new\nstrength, so they were able to run very swiftly for a time.   But at\nlast they all felt their strength fail again, for the bear was close\nbehind them now.\n\n\"Brothers, I had another dream,\" said the leader.  \"It was that an old\nManitou saved us.  Perhaps his lodge is near us now.\"\n\nEven as he spoke, they came in sight of another lodge, and as they ran\nup to the door an old man opened it.\n\n\"Save us from the Manitou,\" they cried as they rushed in.\n\n\"Manitou?\" he said.  \"Who is a Manitou but I?  Come in and eat,\" and he\nclosed the door.  He brought food for them; then he looked out of the\ndoor.  The bear was only a few yards away now.  Hastily closing the\ndoor, he said, \"This is indeed a mighty Manitou.  You have brought\ntrouble to me, my children; but you run out the back way and I shall\nfight him.\"\n\nHe then went to his medicine sack and drew out two war-clubs of black\nstone.  As he handled them they grew to an immense size.  He opened the\ndoor, and as he did so, the brothers ran out the back way.  They could\nhear the blows like claps of thunder as he hit the bear on the head.\nAfter that came two sharp cracks, and they knew the clubs were broken\nwith the force of the blows.  Then came his shrieks, as he met the fate\nof the first old man.  They tried to run faster than ever now, for they\nknew the bear must be after them again, but their strength was nearly\ngone.\n\n\"Oh, brother,\" they asked, \"have you no other dream to help us?\"\n\n\"Yes, I dreamed, when we were running like this, that we came to a lake\nand on the shore of it was a canoe with ten paddles in it waiting for\nus.  We jumped in and were saved.\"\n\nAs he spoke, there appeared in front of them a lake just as he had\ndreamed, and a canoe waiting.  Getting in, they quickly paddled to the\nmiddle of the lake, and waited to see what the bear would do.\n\nHe came on with his slow, powerful strides until he reached the water's\nedge.  Then, rising on his hind legs, he took a look around.  Dropping\ndown, he waded into the water, but slipped and nearly fell.  He waded\nout and began to walk around the lake.  When he reached the spot he had\nstarted from, he bent down his head and began to drink the waters of\nthe lake.  He drank in such large mouthfuls that the brothers could see\nthe water sinking, and the current began to flow so swiftly towards his\nmouth that they could not keep their canoe steady.  It floated in the\ncurrent straight to him.\n\n\"Now, Mudjekeewis,\" said the leader, \"this is your chance to show us\nhow you would treat your enemy.\"\n\n\"I shall show you and him,\" said Mudjekeewis.  Then, as the canoe came\nnear the big mouth, he stood up and levelled his war-club.  Just as the\nboat touched the bear's teeth, Mudjekeewis uttered the war-cry and\ndealt the animal a mighty blow on the head.  This he repeated, and the\nbear fell stunned.  As the animal fell, he disgorged the water with\nsuch force that it sent the canoe spinning to the other side of the\nlake, where the brothers landed and ran ahead as fast as they could.\nThey had not gone far when they could hear the bear coming behind them.\n\n\"Do not be afraid, brothers,\" said the leader, as he noticed how\nfrightened they all looked.  \"I have one more dream.  If it fails us,\nwe are lost, but let us hope that it will come true.  I dreamed we were\nrunning, and we came to a lodge out of which came a young maiden.  Her\nbrother was a Manitou and by his magic she saved us.  Run on and fear\nnot, else your limbs will be fear-bound.  Look for his lodge.\"\n\nAnd sure enough, behind a little clump of trees, stood a lodge.  As\nthey ran to it a maiden came forth and invited them in.\n\n\"Enter,\" she said, \"and rest.  I shall meet the bear, and when I need\nyou, I shall call you.\"\n\nSaying this, she took down a medicine-sack, which was hanging on the\nwall near the door.  They entered, and she walked out to meet the bear.\nThe animal came up with angry growls and swinging strides.  The maiden\nquickly opened the medicine-sack and took out some war feathers, paint,\nand tufts of hair.\n\nAs the bear came up, the girl tossed them up in the air, saying,\n\"Behold, these are the magic arrows of my dead brother.  These are the\nmagic war paints of my dead brother.  This is the eagle's feather of my\ndead brother, and these are the tufts of hair of wild animals he has\nkilled.\"\n\nAs she said these words and the things fell on the ground near the\nanimal, he tottered and fell.  She called the brothers, and they rushed\nout.\n\n\"Cut him into pieces quickly,\" she said, \"or he will come to life\nagain.\"\n\nThey all set to work and cut the huge animal into small pieces, which\nthey tossed away.  When they had finished, they saw, to their surprise,\nthat these pieces had turned into small, black bears, which had jumped\nup and were running away in every direction.  And it is from these\nbears that the bears called the Makwas had their beginning.\n\n\n\n[1] A manitou is the spirit of an Indian who has been killed.  Manitous\noften take the forms of animals when they come back to life.\n\n[2] Wampum; long, narrow beads, sometimes made of shells.  They were\nusually blue and white and were often woven into a belt.  They were\ngreatly treasured by the Indians.\n\n\n\n\nTHE SUMMER-MAKER\n\nOnce in the far north there lived a Manitou whose name was Ojeeg, or\nthe fisher.  He and his wife and one son lived on the shore of a lake\nand were very happy together.\n\nIn that country there was never any spring or summer, and the snow lay\ndeep on the ground all the year round.  But this did not daunt the\nfisher.\n\nHe went forth every day and always brought back plenty of game.\n\nThe son wished to be a great hunter like his father, so he often took\nhis bow and arrows and went out to kill birds.  But he nearly always\nreturned with benumbed hands and crying with cold.\n\nOne day, as he was returning, feeling very discouraged and ready to\ncry, he noticed a red squirrel on the top of a tree.  As he reached for\nhis arrows to shoot him, the squirrel spoke:\n\n\"Put away your arrows and listen to me.  I see you go forth each day\nand always return nearly frozen and with never a bird.  Now, if you\nwill do as I tell you, we shall have summer all the time instead of the\nsnow.  Then I shall have plenty to eat, and you may kill all the birds\nyou wish.  When you go home, you must cry and sob.  When your mother\nasks you what is the matter, do not answer, but throw away your bow and\narrow and cry harder than ever.  Do not eat any supper, and when your\nfather comes home, he will ask your mother what is the matter with you.\nShe will say that she does not know, that you only sob and cry, and\nwill not speak.  When he asks you to give the reason of your sorrow,\ntell him that you want summer to come.  Coax him to get it for you.  He\nwill say it is a very hard thing to do, but will promise to try.  Now\nremember all this and do as I tell you.\"\n\nAs the squirrel finished speaking, he disappeared, and the son returned\nhome.  Everything happened as the little squirrel had said, and when\nthe son asked his father to get summer for him, Ojeeg replied, \"My son,\nthis is a hard task you have given me.  But I love you and so shall try\nfor your sake.  It may cost me my life, but I shall do my best.\"\n\nThen he called together all his friends, and they had a feast.  A bear\nwas killed and roasted, and they arranged to meet on Thursday to begin\ntheir journey.\n\nWhen the day came, they all gathered; there was the otter, the beaver,\nthe lynx, and the wolverine.  Ojeeg said good-bye to his wife and son,\nand the party set out.  For twenty days they travelled through the\nsnow, and at last came to the foot of a mountain.  The animals were all\nvery tired by this time, all but Ojeeg.  He was a nimble little animal\nand used to long journeys.\n\nAs they began to go up the mountain, they noticed footprints and marks\nof blood, as if some hunter had gone before them with an animal he had\nkilled.\n\n\"Let us follow these tracks,\" said the fisherman, \"and see if we can\nget something to eat.\"\n\nWhen they reached the top of the mountain, they noticed a small lodge.\n\n\"Now be very careful and do not laugh at anything we see,\" said Ojeeg.\n\nThey knocked at the door, and it was opened by a very strange man.  He\nhad a huge head, big, strong teeth, and no arms.  He invited them to\ncome in and eat.  There was meat cooking in a wooden pot on the fire.\nThe man lifted it off when they were not looking, and gave them all\nsomething to eat.  They wondered how he could do this, and how he had\nkilled the animal, but they soon learned the secret.  He was a Manitou!\n\nAs they were eating, the otter began to laugh at the strange movements\nof the Manitou, who, hearing a noise, turned quickly and threw himself\non the otter.  He was going to smother him, as this was his way of\nkilling animals.  But the otter managed to wriggle from under him, and\nescaped out of the door.\n\nThe rest remained there for the night.  When they were going in the\nmorning, the Manitou told them what path to take and what to do when\nthey reached the right spot.  They thanked him and started on again.\n\nFor twenty more days they travelled, and then they reached another\nmountain.  They climbed to the top of this, and they knew by certain\nsigns it was the spot the Manitou had described.  So they seated\nthemselves in a circle and filled their pipes.  They pointed to the\nsky, the four winds, and the earth; then they began to smoke.  As they\nlooked up at the sky they were silent with awe, for they were on such a\nhigh mountain that the sky seemed only a few yards off.  They then\nprepared themselves, and Ojeeg told the otter to have the first trial\nat making a hole in the sky.  With a grin the otter consented.  He made\na spring, but fell down the side of the hill.  The snow was moist, so\nhe slid all the way to the bottom.  When he had picked himself up, he\nsaid, \"This is the last time I shall make such a jump; I am going\nhome,\" and away he went.  The beaver had the next turn, but did no\nbetter, The lynx had no better luck.  Then came the turn of the\nwolverine.\n\n\"Now,\" said Ojeeg to him, \"I am going to depend on you; you are brave\nand will try again and again.\"\n\nSo the wolverine took a jump, and the first time nearly reached the\nsky; the second time he cracked it, and the third time he made a hole\nand crawled in.  Ojeeg nimbly followed, and they found themselves on a\nbeautiful, green plain.  Lovely shade trees grew at some distance, and\namong the trees were rivers and lakes.  On the water floated all kinds\nof water-fowl.  Then they noticed long lodges.  They were empty, except\nfor a great many cages filled with beautiful birds.  The spirits who\nlived in these lodges were wandering among the trees.  As Ojeeg noticed\nthe birds, he remembered his son.  He quickly opened the doors of the\ncages, and the birds rushed out.  They flew through the air and down\nthrough the opening in the sky.\n\nThe warm winds, that always blow in that heavenly place, followed the\nbirds down through the opening and began to melt the snows of the\nnorth.  Then the guardian spirits noticed what was happening, and ran\nwith great shouts to the spot where all were escaping.  But Spring and\nSummer had nearly gone.  They struck a great blow and cut Summer in\ntwo, so that only part of it reached the earth.  The wolverine heard\nthe noise and raced for the hole, getting through before they could\nclose it.  But the fisher was farther away and could not reach the hole\nin time.  The spirits closed up the opening and turned to catch him.\nHe ran over the plains to the north, going so fast that he gained the\ntrees before they could catch him.  He quickly climbed the largest one,\nand they began to shoot at him with their arrows.\n\nThere was only one place in the fisher's body where he could be\nhurt,--a spot near the tip of his tail; so the spirits kept shooting a\nlong time before an arrow struck that spot.  At last one did, and he\nfell to the ground.  As it was now nearly night, the spirits went back\nto their lodges and left him there alone.  He stretched out his limbs\nand said:\n\n\"I have kept my promise to my son, though it has cost me my life.  But\nI shall always be remembered by the natives of the earth, and I am\nhappy to think of the good I have sent them.  From now on they will\nhave different seasons, and eight to ten moons without snow.\"\n\nIn the morning they found him lying dead with the arrow through his\ntail, and to this day he may be seen in the northern sky.\n\n\n\n\nTHE SLEEP FAIRIES\n\nA hunter was once going through a forest with his dogs.  After he had\ngone some distance he missed them.  He called and whistled, but they\ndid not come, so he turned back to find them.  Going some distance\nfarther, he thought he saw one lying under some low bushes, and when he\nreached the spot, he saw his three dogs lying there fast asleep.  He\ntried to waken them, but they would open their eyes only for a moment,\nthen fall asleep again.  Soon he began to feel a strange, sleepy\nfeeling coming over him.  He shook himself and tried to keep awake.\nJust then he noticed a very large insect on a branch of a tree.  It had\nmany wings on its back, which kept up a steady, droning noise.  When it\nnoticed the hunter looking at it, the insect said, \"I am Weeng, the\nspirit of sleep.  Your dogs came too near my home, and so they have\nfallen under my spell.  In a few minutes you will be asleep yourself.\"\n\n\"Must I go to sleep?\" said the hunter.  \"I would like to go back to my\nlodge.\"\n\n\"You are a brave chief and have always been kind to the forest insects,\nso this time I am going to let you go.  Take a leaf from yonder little\ntree, chew it and swallow the juice.\"\n\nThe hunter did as he was told and at once the sleepy feeling was gone.\nThen the strangest thing happened.  He saw all around him queer, little\nfairies, each one with a tiny war-club.  They peeped from out the bark\nof the trees, from amidst the grass, and even from out his pouch.\n\n\"What are these?\" he asked Weeng.\n\n\"They are my sleep fairies, and are called 'Weengs.'  Now you may waken\nyour dogs and go.\"  And before the hunter had time to reply the insect\nhad gone.\n\nHe turned and roused the dogs, who followed him, still looking very\nstupid.  As he went he saw the Weengs all around the trees, and many\nseemed to be coming with him.  When he reached his lodge, he saw the\nlittle creatures run to the men and climb up their foreheads; then with\ntheir war-clubs they began to knock them on the head.  Soon the Indians\nbegan to yawn and rub their eyes, and in a little while they all lay\nasleep.\n\nThen the hunter began to feel his own head grow heavy.  He tried to\nkeep awake, but could not, so he stretched himself beside the fire and\nwent to sleep.  When he awakened and looked around, there were no\nfairies to be seen.\n\nThe hunter determined to go into the forest and see if he could find\nthe little tree from which he had plucked the leaf.  But before he\nwent, he carefully tied up his dogs, for he did not wish them to follow\nhim and again fall under the spell of Weeng.  They whined when he left\nthem and pulled at their ropes, but he was soon lost to their sight\namong the trees.  Making his way slowly through the forest, he kept a\nsharp lookout for the little tree with the magic leaves.  But he could\nsee nothing that looked like it.  For many hours he tramped on, and at\nlast he threw himself down on the ground to rest.\n\nAs he lay there, he heard a droning noise above his head.  He looked up\nquickly, and there sat Weeng on the farthermost branch of the tree.\n\n\"Good-morning, great hunter,\" said the insect.  \"You have been\nsearching for my little tree, have you not?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" replied the hunter.  \"How did you know?\"\n\n\"I know many things,\" said Weeng; \"but listen, to me.  Yonder is the\ntree.\"  As he spoke, he pointed to a little tree not two yards away.\n\"Pluck one of the leaves, but do not chew it until sunset.  At that\nhour I utter my sleep call, which bids all the insects fly home to\nrest.  When you hear the call, you may chew the leaf, for I want you to\nsee what happens then.\"\n\n\"Is anything strange going to happen?\" asked the hunter.\n\n\"Great hunter,\" said Weeng, \"if you will remain in this forest behind\nthat large oak tree, you may see it all.  One hour before sunset, the\nRed Squirrel and all his army are coming to attack me.\"\n\n\"Why are they going to do that?\" asked the hunter, in surprise.\n\n\"Because the Red Squirrel wishes to have my branch for his home.  He\nordered me to get down, and I refused.  So, one hour before sunset, he\nand his army are coming to drive me from my home.\"\n\n\"What are you going to do?\" asked the hunter.  \"Can I help you?\"\n\n\"I and my winged friends,\" said Weeng, \"are going to fight them when\nthey come.  Yes, great hunter, you can help us by remaining to see that\nthe battle is fair.  The Red Squirrel knows that if he can once touch\nme, I must fall.  But my insects have sharp swords, and they can keep\nthe army back till sunset.\"\n\n\"And what will happen then?\" asked the hunter.\n\n\"Then the insects must go to their homes.  But, if you swallow the\njuice of the leaf, you will see the end of the battle.  Now go and hide\nbehind the oak tree.  In a few minutes my army will be here.\"\n\nThe hunter did as he was bidden and took his place behind the tree.\nFrom here he could see Weeng quite plainly, but he was himself hidden.\nIn a few minutes the insects began to assemble.  First came the wasps,\nlooking fierce and warlike.  Then came the bees, buzzing along with\nindignation.  Then dozens of flies, bluebottles, sand-flies, and\nbull-flies, all ready for the fight.  Then followed the moths,\nladybugs, butterflies, and mosquitoes.\n\nLastly, with a great noise, came a regiment of hornets and took their\nplaces on the branch directly in front of Weeng.  The others had\ngathered in a huge circle around him, and in the midst of the bodyguard\nhe sat, like a general ready for the attack of the enemy.  He had not\nlong to wait, for somewhere in the forest the Red Squirrel had\nassembled his army, and now he brought them forward in one body to the\nfoot of the tree.  All the red squirrels were in front, next came the\ngray squirrels, then the chipmunks.\n\nThe Red Squirrel gave the command, and up the tree his army began to\nclimb.  Out on the branch they came, where Weeng sat at the farthest\nend.  But the hornets were ready for them, and as they advanced the\nsharp swords of the defenders pricked their noses, eyes, and bodies.\nBackward they tumbled, some falling from the limb, others clinging\ndesperately to the under side.  Then the gray squirrels pushed forward,\nand in spite of many wounds, broke through the ranks of the hornets.\nThey had nearly reached Weeng when the bees, buzzing more indignantly\nthan ever, made one fierce dash at them.  The gray squirrels fought\nbravely, but at every turn they met terrible, stinging blows.  At last\nthey could not see what they were doing, and, like the red squirrels,\nmany of them fell from the limb.\n\nWhile this part of the battle was going on, the chipmunks had been\nwaging a war of their own with the wasps, who had attacked them.  The\nbattle had been a sharp one, and many soldiers of both armies lay dead\non the ground below the tree.  But the chipmunks had won the victory,\nand now made their way along the branches towards Weeng.  Their leader,\na large, bold-looking chipmunk, made a fierce rush at Weeng, and almost\ntouched him.  But just as he did so, with a noiseless swoop, down came\nthe mosquitoes upon him.  They covered his head, until not a part of it\nwas to be seen.  He slapped wildly at them, lost his hold on the\nbranch, and fell to the ground.  With redoubled fury on rushed the\nother chipmunks and the red squirrels, who had by this time recovered.\nThey were met by a solid wall of insects bristling with sharp swords,\nfor the wasps, the hornets, and flies had placed themselves across\ntheir path.  Then came the hottest part of the battle, and in one\nconfused mass they struggled and fought on the slender branch.  In the\nmidst of this there sounded a soft, sweet call.  It was the sleep call\nof the fairy Weeng.  At once all the insects sheathed their swords, and\nturning, fluttered slowly home to bed.  As each one departed, he\nuttered a soft good-night to Weeng.\n\nThe hunter, who was watching all this anxiously, wondered that although\nthe Red Squirrel's army was still fighting it was making no headway.\nHe wondered how this could be.  Suddenly he remembered the leaf in his\npocket.  At once he chewed it, and he then saw the reason for the\nsquirrels' defeat.  At the call of Weeng his sleep fairies had come\nforth, and now with their clubs were knocking their enemies on the\nhead.  Blow after blow they struck.  The squirrels resisted bravely,\nbut it was useless.  In a few minutes they were driven back and off the\nbranch of the tree, and were glad to escape to their homes.  As the\ndarkness gathered and the magic of the leaf began to wear away, the\nhunter could just dimly see Weeng sitting in the midst of his sleep\nfairies, like a great general who has won his battle.\n\n\n\n\nSHINGEBISS\n\nOnce there was a little duck, whose name was Shingebiss.  He lived by\nhimself in a small lodge, and was very contented and happy.  This lodge\nwas built on the shore of a lake.  When the cold winter days came, and\nthe lake was frozen over, all the other ducks flew away to a warmer\nland.  But Shingebiss was not afraid of the cold.  He gathered four\nlarge logs and took them into his lodge.  Each log was big enough to\nburn for a month, and as there were only four cold months, there would\nbe enough to last him through the winter.\n\nThen each morning he would go to the lake, and hunt for places where\nthe rushes came through the ice.  He would pull these out with his\nstrong beak, and catch fish through the openings.\n\nKabibonokka, the north wind, saw him, and said to himself, \"What a\nstrange person this is.  He sings and is out on the coldest days.  But\nI shall stop his singing.\"\n\nSo he blew a cold blast from the north-west, which froze the ice on the\nlake much deeper.  Still Shingebiss came out in the morning, caught his\nfish, and went home singing.\n\n\"How strange,\" said the north wind, \"I cannot freeze him; I shall go\nand visit his lodge.  Perhaps I can put out his fire.\"\n\nSo he went and knocked at the door of the lodge.  Shingebiss was\nwithin.  He had cooked and eaten his fish, and now was lying on one\nside in front of the fire, singing a song.  He heard the north wind at\nthe door, but he pretended that he did not.  He went on singing in\nquite a loud voice:\n\n  \"Windy god, I know your plan,\n  You are but my fellow-man.\n  Blow you may your coldest breeze,\n  Shingebiss yon cannot freeze;\n  Sweep the strongest wind you can,\n  Shingebiss is still your man.\n  Heigh, for life--ho, for bliss,\n  Who so free as Shingebiss?\"\n\n\nThe north wind heard him and was very angry.  He blew his coldest blast\nunder the doorway, Shingebiss felt it, but still went on singing.  Then\nthe north wind opened the door, and walked in.  He took a seat beside\nthe fire, and Shingebiss pretended not to see him.  He just went on\nsinging, and after a while took his poker and stirred the logs.  This\nmade them blaze brightly, and in a few minutes tears began to run down\nKabibonokka's cheeks.  He pushed his chair away from the fire and tried\nto blow his icy breath on the blazing log.  But the warm air pushed the\ncold breeze back and wrapped Kabibonokka around like a cloak.  The\ntears were running in streams down his cheeks now, and the heavy frost\non his long beard and hair had melted and made pools of water on the\nfloor.  He could stand it no longer.  Rising, he hastily passed out the\ndoor, saying to himself, \"I cannot put out his fire, but I shall freeze\nthe lake so deep that he will not be able to catch any more fish.\"\n\nSo that night he blew his coldest breath.  Next morning the ice on the\nlake was very thick.  Brave little Shingebiss went from one place to\nanother trying to find a thin spot.  At last a bunch of rushes came out\nas he pulled, and, looking in the hole, he saw several fine fish.  He\nsang merrily as he caught them, and the north wind heard the song.\nLooking out of his lodge, he saw what Shingebiss was doing.  At first\nhe was very angry, then he began to feel afraid.\n\n\"This duck must be helped by some Manitou,\" he said.  \"I shall leave\nhim in peace after this.\"\n\nThen Kabibonokka went in and closed his lodge door and Shingebiss never\nsaw him again.\n\n\n\n\nTHE QUEER LITTLE ANIMAL\n\nAn Indian was once wandering across the prairie.  He was tired and\nhungry and very lonely, too, for he had not seen a human being for many\nweeks.  He lay down on the ground and fell asleep.  While he was lying\nthere, he dreamed that a small voice said, \"My grandson,\" to him.  He\nwakened with a start and again heard the voice.  It came from the grass\nnear him, but he could see nothing.\n\n\"Pick me up,\" said the voice, \"and I shall be your friend forever.  Put\nme in your belt and never lay me aside, and you will always have\nsuccess.\"\n\nThe Indian looked closely in the grass and saw a tiny creature.  It was\nabout the size of a baby mouse, and had no hair on its skin excepting a\nlittle bunch on the tip of its tail.  He picked it up and sewed it in\nhis belt.  Then he travelled on until he came to a village where a\ntribe of Indians lived.  A broad road ran through the centre of the\nvillage, but the strange thing was, that the lodges on one side of the\nroad were empty, while those on the other side were filled with\nIndians.  He walked boldly into the village.  The people ran out to\nmeet him, crying, \"Here is the being of whom we have heard so much.\nWelcome, Anishinaba.\"\n\nThe chief's son was very kind to him and took him to his father's\nlodge.  The people of this tribe spent most of their time in games and\ntrials of strength.  The trial they liked best was called The Freezing\nWater Trial; that was, they had to lie down in icy, cold water and let\nit freeze around them.  The man who could stay the longest was\nconsidered the bravest.  The next night they asked Anishinaba to try\nthe test with them.  He was quite willing and went with them to the\nplace where the test was to be made.  He kept on his belt, and so felt\nvery comfortable, for the little animal made everything easy for him.\nThe water began to freeze and the Indians called out, \"How are you\nfeeling?\"  He did not answer them.\n\nAbout midnight, he noticed they had stopped talking.  He called out,\n\"How are you feeling now?  I am very warm.\"  They did not answer him,\nso he arose and walked to where they were lying.  They were frozen\nstiff.  He went back to the camp and told the other Indians.  Everybody\ndeclared that he was the bravest warrior, since he had not been frozen.\nThe chief was so pleased with him that he gave him his daughter.  The\nIndians went to fetch the bodies of the frozen men, but were surprised\nto find them changed into buffaloes.  These animals went to live in the\nother side of the village; and after that, every one Anishinaba killed\nwas changed into some kind of an animal and went into that part of the\nvillage to live.  Very shortly the empty lodges were filled.\n\nOne day Anishinaba lay down on the grass to have a sleep.  He had taken\noff his belt, and it lay in the long grass beside him.  When he\nwakened, he forgot about it.  This was the first time he had ever gone\nwithout the little animal since he came to the village.  That night\nsome Indians who were unfriendly to him, asked him to try the freezing\ntrial again.  He consented, for he was not at all afraid.  But still he\ndid not think of his belt, and so the freezing water benumbed his body\nand in a short time he was frozen stiff.  His enemies then cut his body\ninto many pieces and scattered them over the village.  His wife wept\nbitterly for many days.  Then suddenly she remembered his belt, and\nwent in search of it.  She found it in the grass where he had slept.\nAs she picked it up, the tiny voice said, \"Unpin me.\"  She opened the\nlittle seam where the animal lay and out he came.  He began to shake\nhimself, and at each shake grew larger, until at last he was the size\nof a small dog.\n\nThe queer-looking animal ran away then as fast as he could go.  All\naround the village he went, gathering up the pieces of his master's\nbody.  When he had them gathered, he laid them together in their right\nplaces.  Then he uttered a loud howl, and the pieces joined together.\nHe uttered another, and the body began to breathe.  Then he uttered one\nthat reached to the skies, and his master arose and stood before him.\nThe animal then spoke.  \"You should not have parted with me,\" he said.\n\"That was why you lost your life.  Now, I shall reveal myself to you.\"\nHe began shaking himself like a dog, and at each shake he grew larger,\nuntil at last he was immense.  Then a long snout grew from his head,\nand two big, shining teeth from his mouth.  His skin was still smooth,\nwithout one hair excepting the bunch on the end of his tail.\n\n\"I am going to give my gift to you,\" said the wild boar.  \"After this\nyou shall live on the meat of animals, instead of the animals eating\nyou.  But you and all mankind must respect me and must not eat my flesh\nnor that of any of my kind.\"\n\n\n\n\nTHE DORMOUSE\n\nMany years ago the animals ruled the earth.  They had killed every one\nbut a brother and a sister.  These two lived in a lodge far away in the\nforest, where the animals could not find them.  The boy was a tiny,\nlittle fellow,--he had never grown any larger than a baby,--so the girl\nhad to do all the work.  Each day she would go out into the bush and\ngather wood for the lodge fire.  She always took her brother with her,\nfor he was too small to leave alone.  A big bird might fly away with\nhim.\n\nOne day she gave him a little bow and arrows, and said, \"You stay here\nwhile I take the wood home.  When the snow-birds come to get the worms\nout of the wood, see if you can shoot one.\"  So she went home and left\nhim.  He did not come until nearly evening.  He looked very sad and\ntired, for he had been unable to shoot even one bird.\n\n\"Never mind,\" said the sister, kindly.  \"Try again to-morrow.\"\n\nThe next day he went again with her, and when he came back in the\nevening, he said, \"I shot this bird, and now, sister, strip the skin\noff it, stretch, and cure it.  Then when I have killed enough birds, I\nshall have a coat made of the skins.\" At last when he had ten skins,\nhis sister made him a coat of them.  He was so tiny that it fitted him\nnicely.  Of course he was very proud of it.\n\nOne day he said, \"Sister, is there no one living in this world except\nourselves?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" she answered.  \"Many miles from here live the animals we are\nafraid of.  But never go near their village, for they will kill you.\"\n\n\"Oh, I am not afraid,\" he said; and in spite of all her coaxing he made\nready to go on his journey.\n\nOne morning he set out, and by noon had walked quite a distance.  He\nfelt very tired and threw himself down on a plot of grass where the sun\nhad melted the snow.  He fell asleep, and while he was lying there the\nhot sun dried the skins of his bird coat.  When he awoke, he felt as\nthough he were buttoned up in a coat much too small for him.\n\nHe was very angry at the sun, for he knew it had done this.  \"I shall\npunish you,\" he cried up to it.  \"You think you are so high up there,\nand I am so small, that you do not care, but I shall show you.\"\n\nThen he went home to his sister and showed her the coat, and told her\nall about it.  She begged him not to feel so angry.  He would not\nlisten to her, but went and lay down on the bed.  For ten days he\nstayed there without eating a bite.  Then he turned over on his other\nside and lay for ten days more.\n\nAt last he arose and said, \"Sister, please make me a snare.  I want to\ncatch the sun.\"  She told him she had nothing with which to make the\nsnare.  He nearly cried when she said this.  Then she remembered some\nbits of deer sinew that were in the lodge.  She made a snare of this,\nbut he said, \"That will not do,\" and began to cry again.  Then she\nasked him if her hair would do.\n\n\"No, it will not,\" he said.\n\n\"Well, I have nothing else,\" she told him, and went out of the lodge.\nShe thought and thought, and at last she said to herself, \"I shall use\nmy hair, and perhaps he will never know.\"  So she made a snare like the\none used to catch moose.  When she took it in to him, and asked, \"Will\nthis do?\" he looked very pleased, and said, \"Oh, yes, that is the very\nthing.\"  He took it, and drew the threads through his lips.  They\nchanged at once into red, metal cords, which he wound around his waist.\n\nThen he made ready for his journey, and about midnight he set out.  He\nwalked on for a long time, until he came to the spot where the sun came\nup.  He fixed the snare, and then hid behind some bushes.\n\nIn a little while the sun began to rise, and was at once caught in the\nsnare.\n\nThe animals, who ruled the earth, were greatly excited because the\nmorning did not come.  They knew it was time for the sun to be up, so\nthey called a council.\n\n\"What is to be done?\" asked the bear.\n\n\"Some one must go and see what has happened,\" replied the wolf.\n\n\"Let the dormouse go,\" said the beaver, \"as he is the largest of us\nall.\"\n\nIn those days the dormouse was very large.  He looked like a mountain\nwhen he stood up.\n\n\"Yes,\" said the wolf, \"let the dormouse go.  He is proud of his size\nand his strength.  Let him show us what he can do when there is danger\nbefore him.\"\n\nThey all looked around for the dormouse, but there was no sign of him.\n\n\"He thinks that we shall send him to find the sun,\" said the fox.  \"He\nis afraid and has hidden himself.\"\n\n\"Not so,\" returned the beaver.  \"The dormouse is not a coward.  Let us\ncall him.  He cannot be far away.\"\n\nWith that, they all began to call the dormouse.  In a moment there was\na crackling of branches and the sound of heavy footsteps, and a huge\nfigure loomed up in the darkness.\n\n\"Brother dormouse,\" said the fox, \"you are so brave that we have chosen\nyou to go in search of the sun.  What is your answer?\"\n\n\"I am quite ready to go,\" replied the dormouse, \"and if I cannot find\nthe sun and send it to you, I shall not return myself.\"\n\nAt once the dormouse started towards the sun.  As he came close to it,\nthe hot rays began to burn his back, but he kept on, and began to chew\nthe cords, which bound it.  In a few minutes the top of his back was a\nheap of ashes, and he felt himself shrivelling with the heat.  He kept\non bravely, and at last the cords were sundered and the sun free.  But\nby this time the dormouse was a very small animal, and has remained so\never since.\n\nAll this time the brother, who was lying hidden, had been watching what\nwas happening.  As the dormouse began to smoke, he grew a little\nfrightened, and when it began to shrivel he was terrified.  All he\nwished for was to escape from this glaring sun, which surely would\nquickly consume him too.\n\nLying flat on the ground, he wriggled through the bushes for a long\ndistance along the bank.  Reaching the plain, he made a dash for home.\nHis face and arms were scratched and bleeding, and when he told his\nsister what had happened, she was grieved to think that she had made\nthe snare which had brought so much sorrow to the innocent dormouse.\n\n\n\n\nTHE WINDMAKER\n\nOnce there was a tribe of Indians who had always lived in the\nmountains.  Their village was built at the foot of a very large\nmountain, and their lodges were made from branches of the pine-trees,\ncovered with the skins of animals.\n\nOne day one of their hunters followed a bear's track for many miles.\nBy evening he found himself a great distance from the village.  He\nnoticed that the hills around him were much smaller than those he had\nleft, so he made up his mind to continue in the direction he had been\ngoing, which was eastwards, to see if the hills would grow smaller as\nhe went.  He rested during the night, and when the sun rose next\nmorning, he continued walking towards the east.  For several days he\ntravelled, and at last he found himself on the edge of a very large\nplain.  Miles and miles of green prairie lay before him, and he\nwondered what was beyond, on the other side of this vast plain.\n\nHe travelled back joyfully to the village and told the others of the\ntribe what he had discovered.  As they listened they became anxious to\nsee this great prairie and what lay beyond it.  So they went to their\nchief and begged him to let them all go and travel until they should\nreach the other side of the prairie.  The chief told them that this was\na wrong thing to ask, because they were mountain Indians and so would\nnever be happy away from the mountains.  Still they begged and coaxed,\nand at length he said:\n\n\"I shall grant your request, my children, because my greatest wish is\nto see you happy.  To-morrow we shall all make ready for our journey to\nthis great prairie.  I shall go with you, although it grieves me very\nmuch to leave my mountains, but your wish shall be granted.\"\n\nBy evening the next day the tribe was ready for the journey.  They had\ntaken down their lodges, and the branches of the pine-trees and the\nskins of the animals were packed on the mountain ponies.  The chief\nrode in front on a small, white pony.  His face looked very sad as they\nset out.\n\nFor many days they travelled, and at length they reached the edge of\nthe prairie, as the hunter before them had done.  They were all much\nastonished to see the great plain of green grass, and they told their\nchief that this land was much more beautiful than their mountains.  He\ndid not make them any reply.  For several days they travelled across\nthe prairie in the daytime and camped at night.  Each morning they said\nas they prepared to move forward, \"To-day we shall surely reach the\nother side of this prairie.\"\n\nEach night, however, found them with as many miles in front of them as\nthere were behind them.  At last they grew weary, and began to wonder\nhow long they would have to travel before they could see what was\nbeyond this prairie.  They had made their camp for the night on the\nbank of a river.  This river was too wide and deep for them to cross,\nand they did not know what they would do.  During the night a strange\nthing happened.  Their lodges were caught as if by unseen hands, lifted\nhigh in the air, and tossed into the river.  The little children clung\nto their mothers in terror, while these unseen hands seemed trying to\npull them away and toss them after the lodges.  The Indians, terrified,\ngathered around their chief.\n\n\"What is this?\" they cried.  \"What is this awful thing that has such\nstrength and which we cannot see?\"\n\n\"It is the wind, my children,\" said the chief.  \"Far up on the mountain\nlives the Windmaker.  This is his message to us, to tell us that he is\nangry, because we have left our mountain home.  Let us all go back to\nour home and be happy once more.\"\n\nBut the Indians murmured at this.  They did not wish to go back to the\nmountains.  They wished to see what was beyond the great prairie.  The\nchief sadly shook his head and said, \"Well, my children, you must\nsuffer what the Windmaker sends us.\"\n\nThen up spoke a young warrior named Broken Arrow.  He had long wished\nfor a chance to show the chief that he was brave, for he loved the\nchief's daughter and knew he could not wed her until he had proven his\nbravery.\n\n\"Oh, chief,\" he said, \"let me go to this Windmaker.  Let me shoot my\nsharpest arrows at him, so that I may kill this wicked one who is\ncausing so much sorrow.\"\n\nThe chief smiled at the brave youth and said, \"My son, you may go, but\nit is a useless quest.  This Windmaker cannot be killed.\"\n\nBroken Arrow replied proudly, \"We shall see.  My arrows carry far and\nfly straight.  This Windmaker shall feel their point.\"\n\nThe women of the tribe put food in a bag and several pairs of\nmoccasins, and the young warrior set out on his journey.  Day and night\nhe travelled, and at last, after his food was all gone and his last\npair of moccasins was nearly worn out, he reached the foot of the great\nmountain where the Windmaker lived.  Looking up, he saw the monster,--a\ngreat, gray creature that seemed a part of the mountain itself.  His\nhead was crowned with snow-white hair that lay around his shoulders\nlike drifts of snow.  His huge ears stood out from the sides of his\nhead, and as he waved them, a breeze came down the mountain side that\nalmost took the warrior off his feet.  Fitting an arrow into his bow,\nhe let it fly.  It was aimed for the Windmaker's heart, and was going\nstraight there, when the monster moved one ear and the arrow flew to\none side.  The same fate overtook the next arrow, and the next.  Still\nthe warrior shot bravely on, but as each one came near the monster he\nwaved his ears and blew it aside.  At last every arrow had been spent,\nand the Windmaker was uninjured.  There was nothing for the young\nwarrior to do but to go back and tell of his failure.  Sadly he turned\naway, and after many days' travelling he arrived at the camp, faint\nwith hunger, and with bare and bleeding feet.\n\nThe chief smiled proudly as he saw him.  \"Welcome, my son,\" he said.\n\"Do not feel sad.  You have done nobly, and have proven to me how great\na warrior you are.  You shall be my son, and I am proud to call you\nthat.\"\n\nAfter the wedding feast that night, the chief told the Indians that on\nthe morrow he was going to the mountain to see if he could kill the\nWindmaker.\n\nWhen they heard this, there was great weeping, and they begged him not\nto go.  But he was firm, so they said, \"Then we shall go with you.\nWhere our chief goes, we go too, and we shall watch you fight this\nwicked one.\"\n\nSo, after many days' travelling, they all reached the foot of the great\nmountain where the Windmaker lived.  Looking up, they could see him\njust as Broken Arrow had told them they would.  The chief turned to\nthem and said, \"My children, you must remain here at the foot of this\nmountain, while I climb up to the top.  There is no use in trying to\nshoot this great monster, for he will but blow my arrows away, so I\nmust climb up and strike him with my tomahawk.\"\n\nAgain they begged him not to go, but again he was firm, and they sadly\nwatched him begin to climb up the rocky side of the mountain.  Little\nby little, he ascended the steep, rough hill, until at last he was\nalmost at the feet of the Windmaker.  All this time the monster had\nbeen perfectly still.  Then suddenly, just as the chief was within\nreach of him, he waved both his ears, and a terrible gale tore down the\nmountain side, carrying rocks and stones with it.  It caught the chief,\nlifted him off his feet and carried him down.  When he reached the\nbottom he lay as if insensible for a few moments.  Then, recovering his\nbreath, he began to climb again.  Once more the Windmaker let him\nnearly reach his feet before he made a movement.  This time he sent a\ncurrent of air against a large boulder resting on a narrow ledge.  The\nchief leaped just in time, for it fell with a terrible noise on the\nvery spot where he had stood.\n\nAngered by this, the chief grasped his tomahawk more firmly, and\ndashing up a few paces, aimed a blow at the monster's feet.  But before\nit fell, the Windmaker waved both ears again.  With a roar like thunder\nthe gale swept down, carrying the brave chief with it.  It tossed him\nin the air, turned him around two or three times, and hurled him into a\nclump of fir-trees at the foot of the mountain.  The Indians ran\nfrantically to the spot and picked him up, but he was quite dead.  They\nburied him sadly where he had fallen, at the foot of the tender firs.\nThen they went quietly back to their village in the mountains and have\nbeen content to live there ever since.\n\n\n\n\nMOOWIS\n\nIn a certain tribe in the far West there was a maiden who was very\nbeautiful.  Many warriors loved her, but she would listen to none of\nthem.\n\nIn the same tribe there was a young man who was called Beau-man,\nbecause he was so beautifully dressed.  He was very handsome too, and\nso when he fell in love with the maiden, he felt sure she would love\nhim also; but when he came to see her, she would not listen, and when\nhe tried to make her hear, she made a motion with her hand which means\ncontempt.  This made him feel very mean.  All his friends laughed at\nhim, and this made him so very angry that he went away to his tent and\nlay down.  He remained without eating anything for many weeks.  His\nparents and friends all coaxed him to get up, but he would not.\n\nAt length the time came for the tribe to move camp, as this was just a\nhunting trip, and when the summer arrived they always went back to the\nvillage.  They asked Beau-man to come with them, but still he would not\nmove.  So they lifted the tent, and left him lying there in his bed all\nalone.\n\nThe next day he got up, for he had thought of a splendid plan to have\nrevenge on the maiden.  He knew a spirit who would help him when asked.\n\nHe began to gather all the bits of colored cloth, old beads, and\nfeathers that were lying on the ground where the camp had been.  Most\nof them were very dirty, and some were wet with snow.  But he put them\nall in one pile, and then with the help of the spirit, he made them all\nlook clean.  Then he made beaded moccasins from some of the scraps;\nleggings and a coat from some others.  At last a frontlet with feathers\nsticking in it for the head.  He gathered up snow and dirt, and filled\nthe moccasins and the rest of the suit with it.  The spirit changed the\nwhole thing into a man,--a fine-looking warrior, to whom was given the\nname Moowis.  The Beau-man at once took him to the village where the\nmaiden lived.\n\nMoowis was kindly received by the chief, who invited him into his\nlodge.  He was finely dressed, and held himself so proudly that the\nmaiden fell in love with him.  The chief asked him to sit near the\nfire.  But he could not sit there very long, as the heat began to melt\nthe snow, and soon he would have been a pile of rags.  He put a boy\nbetween himself and the fire, and kept moving away until he was near\nthe door.\n\nThen the chief came and asked him to sit in the bridegroom's chair.\nThis meant that he was married to the maiden.  When it became evening,\nMoowis said he must go now, as he had a long journey to make.  The\nmaiden begged to go with him, but he told her she could not.  Still she\ncoaxed so hard that he asked the Beau-man what he should do.  \"Let her\ngo with you,\" he answered; \"it will serve her right.\"\n\nIn a little while they set out.  Moowis walked so fast that the maiden\nhad to run to keep up, and in a short time she was very tired.  Still\nhe walked on so swiftly that he was soon far ahead.  They walked all\nnight, and when the sun rose the bridegroom was almost out of sight.\nAs the day grew warm, his snow began to melt, and as it did so, his\nfine clothes began to turn back into rags.  Then they began to fall\noff.  First the maiden found his mittens, next his moccasins, then she\npicked up his coat.  She walked on calling, \"Moowis, where are you?\"\nBut all she could find was bits of rags, beads, and feathers scattered\nover the fields.  She wandered on from one village to another calling,\n\"Moowis, Moowis, oh, Moowis, where have you gone?\"\n\nThe village maidens turned her cry into a song, and used to chant it as\nshe passed.  She never saw anything more of him, although she wandered\non for years, always calling, \"Moowis.\"\n\n\n\n\nTHE DAUGHTERS OF THE STAR\n\nThere once lived, in a deep forest, a hunter named Waupee, or the White\nHawk.  Every day he returned from the chase with birds and animals\nwhich he had killed, for he was very skilful.\n\nOne day he walked through the forest till at last he reached the edge\nof it, and there before him lay the wide prairie.  The grass was so\nsoft and green, and there were so many flowers, that he wandered on for\na while.  He could see that no one lived there, as no trace of\nfootsteps was to be seen.  Suddenly he came to a circle on the prairie.\nIt looked as if people had run around in a ring until the grass was\ntrampled down.  As he could see no marks of footsteps leading away from\nthe ring, he wondered very much whose feet could have marked out the\ncircle.  Then he made up his mind to hide, so that he might see if any\none came.\n\nAfter awhile, he heard the sound of beautiful music.  It seemed to come\nfrom the sky.  As he looked up he saw something coming down through the\nair, and the music sounded like the singing of girls.  As the object\ncame closer, he saw that it was a wicker basket, and in it were twelve\nbeautiful maidens.  When the basket reached the ground, they all jumped\nout and began to dance around the circle.  They were all very\nbeautiful, but Waupee picked out the youngest as the one he liked best.\nHe watched them as long as he could, then ran out to clasp the youngest\nin his arms.  But as soon as the maidens saw the figure of a man, they\nran to the basket, jumped in, and were at once drawn up to the sky.\n\nWaupee was left alone on the prairie, and he felt very sad to think he\nhad frightened away the beautiful maidens.  He went back slowly to his\nlodge, but could not rest all night.  The next day he came again to the\nmagic circle.\n\nThis time he changed himself into an opossum.  He had not waited long\nwhen the wicker basket again floated down.  The sisters jumped out and\nbegan the same dance.  Waupee crept towards them; but when they saw\nhim, they at once ran to the basket and climbed in.   It began to\nascend, but stopped when a short distance up.\n\n\"Perhaps,\" said the oldest sister, \"he has come to show us the way the\nmortals dance.\"\n\n\"Oh, no!\" said the youngest; \"let us go up quickly.\"  They all began to\nsing their sweet song, and the basket rose out of sight.\n\nAgain Waupee was sad, but he made up his mind that the next day he\nwould act more wisely.  So, when he came back, he found the stump of a\ntree where a family of mice lived.  He moved the stump over near the\ncircle and changed himself into one of the mice.  Again the sisters\ncame, and began their dance.\n\n\"Look,\" said the youngest sister, \"that stump was not there before.\"\nBut the other sisters laughed at her and ran over to it.  Then out came\nall the mice, Waupee among them.  The sisters began to chase and kill\nthe mice, and at last only one was left alive.  The youngest sister ran\nafter it, and was just about to hit it, when it changed into Waupee.\nHe clasped her in his arms, while the other sisters sprang for the\nbasket and were drawn up to the sky.\n\nThe maiden wept at being left alone, but Waupee wiped away her tears\nand took her home to his little lodge.   He was very good to her and at\nlast she grew very happy.  But a few years afterwards, when her little\nson was able to walk, she took him to the magic ring.  She felt very\nlonely when she thought of her sisters and of her father, the Star.  So\nshe made up her mind to go back to them.  She made a basket of reeds,\nand putting her little son in it, she seated herself and began to sing\nthe old chant.  The basket at once rose in the air and floated out of\nsight.\n\nWhen Waupee was coming home, he heard this sweet song.  He knew it was\none the sisters used to sing, so he ran at once to the magic circle,\nbut the basket had almost disappeared.  He called and called, but no\nanswer came down to him, and at last it was gone.\n\nHe threw himself down on the ground and wept.  Then, when night came,\nhe rose and went home to his empty lodge.\n\nAs the years went on the maiden was very happy in her old home, but the\nson wished to go and see his birthplace.  The grandfather heard him,\nand said to the maiden, \"Go down to the earth and show your son his\nbirthplace, and when you are coming back, bring your husband with you.\nBut when he comes, tell him to bring a part of each kind of bird and\nanimal he has killed.\"\n\nThis the maiden did.  Waupee was delighted to have them return, and at\nonce set to work to hunt and kill one of every kind of bird and animal.\nIt took him many days to do this, but at last all were gathered.  He\ntook a claw of some birds, a wing of others, a tail of some animals,\nand the feet of others.  Then they all stepped into the basket and it\ntook them up to the sky.\n\nThe Star grandfather was so pleased with Waupee's gift, that he called\nall his people to a feast.  After it was over, he told them to choose\nwhat they liked best from the earthly things.  Some chose a wing,\nothers a paw, and so on, and as they did so they were at once changed\ninto an animal or bird like the one they had chosen.\n\nWaupee was pleased with this idea and chose the feather of a white\nhawk.  His wife and son chose the same, and all were changed into these\ngraceful birds.  They slowly spread out their white wings and floated\naway towards the earth.\n\nPassing through the clouds they found themselves above the snow-capped\nmountains.  They flew on, until at length they saw the green tops of\ntrees far below them.  In great circles they began to descend, and in a\nfew minutes alighted in the topmost branches of a tall tree.\n\nWaupee then spoke: \"We shall build our nest in this tree, and into it\nwe shall weave parts of our old lodge, where we lived so happily\ntogether.  Let us go now and gather these; then we shall begin our\nnest.\"\n\n\n\n\nKOTO AND THE BIRD\n\nOnce there was a little Cree boy named Koto.  His father was a chief\nand a great hunter, and Koto always longed for the time when he would\nbe able to hunt like his father and bring back large game to the\nwigwam.  One summer day the chief and all the hunters were away on a\nhunting trip.  There was no one left in the camp but a few of the women\nand some children.  Koto wandered around, not knowing what to do, when\nsuddenly he thought of a very daring thing.  One pony had been left\nbecause it had been lame, and now Koto made up his mind that he would\nget on its back and gallop over the prairie.  He knew that the pony's\nfoot was nearly better, and he thought that one gallop could not hurt\nit.\n\nSo he jumped on the pony's back, waved his arms, and called out to it\nto run, and away they went.  Koto's long, dark hair and the pony's mane\nblew in the wind, and they both were enjoying the gallop when something\nterrible happened.  The pony caught his foot in a badger hole and fell\nheavily to the ground.  Koto was tossed in the air, and then fell with\none foot pinned under him.\n\nFor a long time the two sufferers lay there in the hot sun on the\nprairie.  At length Koto's mother, who had missed him, found them.  She\ncarried Koto back to the wigwam and laid him on his bed of skins.  She\ntold him that his leg was broken and that the pony's leg was broken\nalso, and that the hunters would have to kill it when they returned.\nPoor Koto wept bitterly.  He did not mind his own broken leg, but to\nthink that he had really killed the little pony nearly broke his heart.\nFor many days he lay on his bed, and at last he was able to get up and\nmove around with the help of a little crutch, which his father had made\nfrom the branch of a tree.\n\nWhen winter came, the Indians moved their camp to the woods along the\nbank of the Assiniboine River.  Koto was not able to walk well, so\nremained in his lodge until all the camp had been moved.  Then his\nfather came to carry him to the camp that was protected from the cold\nnorth wind.\n\n\"My son,\" he said, as he walked along with Koto in his arms, \"I have a\nsurprise for you.  You shall not live in a wigwam this winter.\"\n\n\"Why not?\" asked Koto.  \"I like my wigwam.  It is warm and keeps the\ncold wind away.\"\n\n\"Wait, and you shall see,\" said his father.  \"You will like your new\nlodge much better.\"\n\nWhen they reached the camp, Koto saw what the chief had meant.  During\nthe summer some white men had camped there and had built a log cabin\nfor themselves.  Then they had gone away, leaving the little cabin\ndeserted, and now the chief had taken it for his lodge.  Koto was very\nmuch pleased with his new home, and the door which opened on hinges was\nalways a great surprise to him.  He was not able to go out during that\nlong winter, but he was never lonely, for the first day they were in\nthe cabin a strange visitor came.  It was a little, brown bird which\nhad been deserted by its mate, and it flew in to get away from the\ncold.  All winter it remained with Koto, feeding from his food at\nmealtime, and hopping around him during the day as he was weaving his\nbaskets.  At night it slept on a little board that was nailed to the\nwall near Koto's bed of skins.\n\nWhen springtime came and the door was left open, Koto noticed that the\nbird's mate had returned.  It flew to the bushes near the house and\ncalled to Koto's bird, but she would not go, and at last her mate came\nto the doorway.  Again he called, and this time she went out, but she\ncame back at mealtime and remained with Koto all night.  Every day\nafter that she would fly out in the morning and come back three or four\ntimes during the day, while her mate would never come past the doorway.\nThen one day she did not come back.  Koto watched and waited for her.\nThe long day passed and evening came, still there was no sign of the\nbird.  The next day went by, and the next, and little Koto began to\nlook very sad as he sat at the door watching for her.\n\nAt last he hobbled out and sat very quietly under the trees.  In a\nlittle while he came back as quickly as he could, his face shining for\njoy.  When he entered the cabin, he looked around eagerly.  Then his\nface grew sad again.\n\n\"She is not here,\" he said sadly.  \"My little bird is not here.\"\n\n\"No, she is not here,\" said his mother, \"Did you think she was?\"\n\n\"Yes, I saw her fly in, but she is not here.\"\n\nKoto went out again and seated himself under the trees once more, but\nhe saw no sign of his bird all the rest of that day.  The next day he\nwent to the same place to watch, and not long after he came hobbling in\neagerly with his face shining for joy as before.  He looked around the\ncabin, and again he grew sad, for there was no bird to be seen.\n\nEach day after that the same thing happened.  As he sat under the trees\nhe saw the little bird fly into the cabin, but when he entered there\nwas no bird to be seen.  He grew sadder and looked so thin that the\nchief became sad, too.\n\n\"My son,\" he said, \"you must not think of this bird.  It has flown\naway.  It will not come back.  This is a spirit bird that you see enter\nthe cabin.  Try not to think of it and be happy.\"\n\nBut the little Cree boy only shook his head and said, \"I saw her go in\nand she does not come out and she is not in the cabin.  Where is she?\nWhere is my little bird?\"\n\nSo the chief made up his mind that he would watch and see if the little\nbird really did fly into the cabin.  The next day he watched with Koto\nunder the trees, and in a few minutes the little boy grasped his hand.\n\n\"Look,\" he said, \"look, there is my little bird.\"  And there in a tree\nnear them were two brown birds, one of them Koto's pet.  They flew away\ntogether; then one, when it reached the side of the cabin, suddenly\ndisappeared.  Quickly seizing his father's hand, Koto and the chief\nreached the door of the little home.  They looked eagerly around the\nroom, but there was not a bird to be seen.  They searched every place,\nfor the chief was sure that he had seen it enter.  There was no trace\nof it any place.  Going out, he looked at the side of the little house,\nand there was a hole between the logs where the bird might easily\nenter.  Coming in, he looked for the hole on the inside, but could not\nfind it.  Then he noticed that an old, gray jacket, which had been left\nthere by the white men, was hanging where the hole ought to be.\n\nHe took down the jacket and Koto gave a cry of delight.  For from a\npocket of the coat peaked the head of his little bird, and there was\nthe hole between the logs, where the coat had hung.  The bird seemed\nquite pleased that they had found her, and after a while flew off her\nnest to peck from Koto's hand.  After some days her eggs were hatched,\nand then the father bird consented to enter the cabin and help feed the\nyoung ones.  When the little birds grew large enough, they flew away\nwith the father bird, but for the rest of the summer Koto's little\nbrown friend remained with him, watching him weave his baskets, and\nseemed very pleased when at last he was able to walk a little.\n\nWhen fall came, she went away with the other birds, but this time Koto\nwas not sad, for he knew she was happy, and he was happy, too, because\nhe could now walk.\n\n\n\n\nTHE HUMPBACKED MANITOU\n\nBokwewa and his brother lived in a lodge in the forest, far away from\nthe rest of the world.  They were both Manitous and could do many\nwonderful things.  Bokwewa had the most gifts and knew all the secrets\nof the woods, but his body was deformed.  The brother was very\nhandsome.  His body was very straight, and he could run and do many\nthings that Bokwewa could not do.  But he was not as wise as the\nhumpbacked Manitou.  Bokwewa used to tell his brother how to hunt and\nshoot and fish.  Then the brother would go and get the food, and bring\nit back to the lodge.  Bokwewa did not go out very much, of course.\n\nOne day the brother said, \"Bokwewa, I am tired of living so quietly.\nWhere are all the rest of the people?  I am going away to find them and\nto get a wife.\"\n\nBokwewa tried to coax him not to go, but the brother was determined.\nHe made ready for his journey, and departed.  In a few days he\nreturned, bringing a beautiful maiden with him.  Bokwewa was very kind\nto His brother's wife and she was good to him, so they became great\nfriends.  One day the brother was away hunting.  Bokwewa was sitting by\none side of the fire in the lodge; the wife was sitting on the other\nside.  Suddenly the door was opened, and a strong, tall man entered.\nHe seized the maiden and began to pull her to the door.  She screamed,\nand tried to get away from him; but he held her fast.  Bokwewa pulled\nand fought with all his strength.  The tall man pushed him against the\ndoor and hurt his back.  Then he dashed out with the maiden, and took\nher away with him.\n\nWhen the brother returned, he found Bokwewa weeping with sorrow; and\nwhen he heard what had happened, he wept also.  Bokwewa tried to\ncomfort him, but the brother only lay on the bed, refusing to eat\nanything, and weeping bitterly.  For several days he stayed there.  At\nlength he arose and said, \"Bokwewa, I am going to the village where\nthat mighty Manitou lives.  He has stolen my wife.\"\n\n\"Oh, do not go,\" said Bokwewa, \"for that village is many miles to the\nsouth.  The people who live there are idle and know only of pleasure.\nThey have many snares set by the roadside to catch you.  Do not try to\ngo amongst them, for you will become like them and think only of\npleasure.\"\n\n\"I am not afraid of anything,\" said the brother.  \"I must go.\"\n\n\"Well, then,\" said Bokwewa, \"I shall tell you of two dangers that lie\nin the path.  When you first start, you will find a grape-vine across\nyour path.  Do not eat any of its fruit, for it is poisonous.  It will\nmake you become very careless.  Then, farther on you will come across\nsomething that looks like bear's fat.  It is clear, like jelly.  Do not\neat of it, for it is frogs' eggs and will make you forget your home.\"\n\nThe brother promised to remember these warnings, and set out for the\nvillage.\n\nHe had not gone very far when he noticed a grape-vine lying across the\nroad.  The grapes were beautiful and juicy, so he ate some.  Some\ndistance on he came to a jellylike mass, and he ate it.  This was the\nfrogs' eggs, and he at once forgot his home and brother, and even his\nwife.  He travelled on for two days, and towards evening came in sight\nof the large village.  The people in it seemed to be having a good\ntime.  Some were dancing and singing, and many of the women were\nbeating corn in golden dishes.  When they saw him coming, they ran out,\nshouting, \"Here comes Bokwewa's brother to visit us.\"\n\nThey welcomed him with joy, and led him into the village.  In a short\ntime he was beating corn with the women.  That is the surest sign to\nthe Indians that a warrior has lost his bravery.\n\nDays and weeks went by, and still he did not try to find his wife,\nalthough she was living in that same village.  Bokwewa waited at home,\nhoping each day that his brother would return.  At length, when some\nyears had gone by, he set out to find him.  As he travelled along the\nsame road, he passed the grape-vine and the frogs' eggs.  But they held\nno danger for him, as he did not taste them.  When he came in sight of\nthe village, he felt sorry for the people, who were wasting their lives\nin idle games and other pleasures.  As he came closer, the people ran\nout, shouting, \"Oh, Bokwewa has come to visit us!  The good Bokwewa of\nwhom we have heard so much!  Welcome to our village!\"\n\nBokwewa entered with them and found his brother.  He was still beating\ncorn with the women, and seemed very happy.  Bokwewa coaxed him to come\nhome, but he would not listen.  He seemed content to stay there and do\nno work.  This made Bokwewa very sorry, for he knew his brother was no\nlonger a brave warrior.  When evening came Bokwewa went down to the\nriverside.  There he changed himself into one of those hair snakes\nsometimes seen in running water.  After a while, the wife came down\nwith a pitcher to get some water.\n\n\"Pick me up,\" said the hair snake, \"and leave me in your pitcher.\"\n\nThe wife did as she was told, and took the pitcher to her lodge.\n\nThat night the Manitou who had stolen her wanted a drink.  In the dark\nhe did not see the hair snake in the water, so drank it.  In a few\nminutes he was dead.  Then Bokwewa returned to his former shape.  He\nwent again to his brother and tried to make him come home.  But the\nbrother refused.  Bokwewa told him that these pleasures would not last\nforever, and his tears fell as he saw that his brother would not come.\nSo he said good-bye to him and disappeared.\n\nAfter Bokwewa had gone, the brother seemed to remember parts of his\npast life.  He looked around and saw his wife at a little distance.  At\nonce he remembered everything, and going to her, he wept and begged her\nto forgive him and his neglect.  She kissed him fondly, and then hand\nin hand they walked away from the treacherous land of pleasure, back to\nthe lodge where Bokwewa waited for them.\n\n\n\n\nTHE TRIBE THAT GREW OUT OF A SHELL\n\nOnce, when the land along the Missouri River was uninhabited, save by\nthe beaver and other animals, a snail lay asleep on the bank of the\nriver.  One day the waters began to rise, and soon came up to where he\nlay.  They swept him out, and he was carried some miles down by the\ncurrent.  When the waves lowered, he found himself bedded deep in the\nmud.  He tried to free himself, but he could not.  He was hungry and\ntired, and at last became so discouraged that he would not try any more.\n\nThen a strange thing happened.  He felt his shell crack, and his head\nbegan to rise upright.  His body and legs grew and lengthened, and at\nlast he felt arms stretching out from his sides.  Then he stood\nupright--a MAN.\n\nHe felt very stupid at first, but after a while some thoughts came to\nhim.  He knew he was hungry and wished he were a snail again; for he\nknew how to get food as a snail, but not as a man.  He saw plenty of\nbirds, but did not know how to kill them.  He wandered on through the\nforest, until he became so tired that he lay down to rest.\n\nHe heard a gentle voice speaking to him, and looking up, he saw the\nGreat Spirit, who was seated on a snow-white horse.  His eyes shone\nlike stars, and his hair like threads of gold.\n\n\"Wasbashas, why are you trembling?\"\n\n\"I am frightened,\" replied the man, \"because I stand before the One who\nraised me from the ground.  I am faint from hunger, for I have eaten\nnothing since I left the shell in the bank of the river.\"\n\n\"Look, Wasbashas,\" said the spirit, as he drew forth a beautiful bow\nand arrow.  Putting an arrow into the bow, he aimed at a bird in a tree\nnear by.  He shot, and the bird fell.  A deer passed just then, and the\nspirit shot it, also.\n\n\"Now, Wasbashas,\" said the spirit, \"I shall show you how to skin this\ndeer, and show you how to make a blanket.  Then you must learn to cook\nthe flesh.  I shall give you the gift of fire.  For now that you are a\nman, you must not eat raw food.  You shall be placed at the head of all\nthe animals and birds.\"\n\nAfter the spirit had shown him the things he had promised, both horse\nand rider arose in the air and vanished.\n\nWasbashas walked on down the river until he came to a place where a\nbeaver was lying.\n\n\"Good-day,\" said the beaver.  \"Who are you?\"\n\n\"I am a man.  The Great Spirit raised me from a shell, and now I am\nhead of all the animals.  And who are you?\"\n\n\"I am a beaver.  Will you come with me until I show you how we build\nour lodges?\"\n\nWasbashas followed the beaver and watched him cut down a tree with his\nteeth.  Then the animal showed him how they dammed up the river, by\nletting the trees fall across it and filling the spaces between with\nmud and leaves.\n\n\"Now will you come and visit my lodge?\" said the beaver chief.  He led\nWasbashas to his neat lodge made of clay and shaped like a cone.  The\nfloor was carpeted with mats.  The beaver's wife and daughter received\nthe stranger kindly.  They busied themselves getting a meal ready, and\nsoon brought dishes of peeled poplar and alder bark.  Wasbashas did not\nlike the taste of it, but managed to eat a few pieces.  The beavers\nseemed to enjoy the meal very much.\n\nWasbashas had been watching the daughter, and he liked her nice, tidy\nways and the respect she showed her father.  In the evening he asked\nthe chief if he would give the maiden to him for his bride.  The chief\nwas very pleased at the idea, for he liked Wasbashas.\n\nThe beaver invited all the animals to the feast, which was to be held\nthe next day.  Early the following morning they began to arrive.  First\ncame the beavers, each bringing a present of a lump of clay on his flat\ntail.  Next came the otters, each bringing a large fish in his mouth.\nLater in the morning came the minks, the water-rats, and the weasels,\nall very proud to accept the invitation of the great chief of the\nbeavers.\n\nWhen the animals had all assembled, the beavers held a council among\nthemselves.  After talking for some time they invited the other animals\nto follow them.  And going a short distance down the river bank, they\nstopped.  Each beaver took the lump of clay he had brought with him and\nplaced it near the water's edge.  Then they began to build a\ndome-shaped lodge of small pieces of trees and the clay.  After several\nhours of steady work it was finished, and then they went to the chief's\nlodge, where the feast was to be held.\n\nWhen the meal was over the snail man and the beaver maiden were led to\ntheir lodge, which was the wedding-gift of the beavers.  Here they\nlived happy ever after.  Many years later their descendants were called\nthe Osages tribe of Indians.\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF THE INDIAN CORN\n\nSome years ago the Ottawa Indians inhabited the Manatoline Islands.\nTheir enemies were the Iroquois Indians, who lived on the lake shore\nnear the islands.  One night they came and attacked the Ottawas.  The\ntwo tribes fought for a long time, but at last the Iroquois won, and\nthe Ottawas were driven away from their islands.  They wandered off\ntowards the Mississippi River, where they settled near a small lake,\nmany miles away from their home.\n\nThe Manatoline Islands were now uninhabited, except by an Indian\nmagician, whose name was Masswaweinini.  He remained behind to act as\nsentry for his tribe.  He guarded the beautiful islands and kept a\nclose watch on their enemy, the Iroquois.  Two young boys stayed with\nhim to paddle his canoe.  In the daytime they used to paddle close to\nthe shore, so that the Iroquois could not see them, and at night they\nslept in the deep woods.\n\nOne morning Masswaweinini rose early and left the two boys asleep.  He\nwalked a long distance through the woods, hunting for game.  At last he\nfound himself on the edge of a wide prairie.  He began to walk across\nit, when a man suddenly appeared in front of him.  He was very tiny and\nhad some red feathers in his hair.  \"Good-morning, Masswaweinini,\" he\nsaid.  \"You are a very strong man, are you not?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" replied the magician.  \"I am as strong as any man, but no\nstronger.\"\n\nThe tiny man then pulled out his tobacco-pouch and pipe.\n\n\"Come and smoke with me,\" he said, \"and then we must have a wrestling\nmatch.  If you can throw me, you must say, 'I have thrown Wagemena.'\"\n\nSo they smoked together, but when the little man was ready to wrestle,\nthe magician did not like to do it, for he was afraid he might hurt the\ntiny fellow.  But the other insisted, and so they began to wrestle.\nThe magician soon found that the little man was very strong and quick,\nand he felt himself growing weaker every moment.  But at last he\nsucceeded in tripping the man with the red feathers, and he fell.  Then\nthe magician said, \"I have thrown you, Wagemena.\"  At once the little\nman vanished, and in his place lay an ear of corn, with a red tassel\nwhere the feathers had been.  As he stood staring at it, the corn\nspoke.  \"Pick me up,\" it said, \"and pull off my outer covering.  Then\ntake off my kernels and scatter them over the ground.  Break my cob\ninto three parts and throw them near the trees.  Depart, but come back\nafter one moon, and see what has happened.\"\n\nThe magician did exactly as the corn had told him, and went away.  At\nthe end of the time he came back.  To his surprise, he found green\nblades of corn coming through the ground where the kernels had been\nscattered.  And near the trees pumpkin-vines were growing where the\ncobs of the corn had been thrown.\n\nHe had not told the young boys of his adventure with the tiny man, so\nhe did not tell them anything of the growing corn.  All the rest of\nthat summer he busied himself in closely watching the Iroquois, who\nwere still prowling near the islands.  Very often he killed a deer, and\nthe boys would cook the meat over their camp-fire.  One day, when the\nsummer was nearly over, he paddled his canoe around the island till he\ncame near the wrestling ground.  He stepped ashore, and left the two\nboys to watch the canoe, while he walked to the field.  To his great\nastonishment, he found the corn in full ear, and the pumpkins of an\nimmense size.  He pulled some ripened ears of corn and gathered some\npumpkins.  Then a voice spoke to him from the corn.  \"You have\nconquered me, Masswaweinini,\" it said.  \"If you had not done so, you\nwould have been killed yourself.  But your strength made you win the\nvictory, and now you shall always have my body for food.  It will be\nnourishment for you and your tribe.\"\n\nThus the Ottawa Indians were given the gift of the maize; and to this\nday their descendants are noted for the care that they take of their\nimmense fields of corn.\n\n\n\n\nTHE MAGICIAN OF LAKE HURON\n\nThe Manatoline, or Spirit, Islands were supposed to be a favorite abode\nof the Manitous, or spirits.  Perhaps that is why many strange things\nhappened there.  One night, as Masswaweinini, the magician, was lying\nasleep, a sound of voices wakened him.  \"This is Masswaweinini,\" said\nthe first voice; \"we must have his heart.\"\n\n\"How shall we get it?\" said the second voice.\n\n\"I shall put my hand into his mouth,\" said the first, \"and pull it out\nthat way.\"\n\nThe magician felt a hand being slipped between his teeth.  He waited\nuntil the fingers were all in his mouth, then he bit them hard and they\ncame off.  He heard a cry, then the strangers disappeared.  In the\nmorning he arose, but could find no trace of any one.  But when he came\ndown to the water's edge, he saw a canoe with two people in it.  They\nwere sitting at each end of the canoe, with their arms stretched out.\nWhen he came close to them, he saw they were fairies, and that they had\nbeen turned to stone.  One of them had lost the fingers of one hand, so\nhe knew they were his enemies of the night before.  The canoe was laden\nwith bags of all kinds of treasures, and it was the most beautiful boat\nhe had ever seen.  He lifted out the stone figures and put them in the\nwoods.  As he turned away, one of the figures spoke to him.\n\n\"Masswaweinini,\" it said, \"the canoes of the Ottawa Indians will, after\nthis, always be well laden like our canoe.  Your tribe was driven from\ntheir land by their cruel enemies, but they shall be rewarded for their\nbravery.  The Mighty Spirit will help them, and they shall be given\nmany treasures in their new home.\"\n\nThe magician then went back to the boat and lifted out the bags.  He\ncarried the boat and hid it among the trees.  When he opened the bags,\nhe found meat and fish and many other things, and took them to his camp.\n\nAs he rested in his lodge that night, he would have been very happy, if\nhe had not been so sorry for his old father and mother.  He thought of\nthem many miles away with none of the comforts he had.  \"I shall go and\nbring them,\" he said.  He had only to think of going when at once he\ncould move like the wind.  So before morning he found himself at the\npoor, little camp of his parents.  They were still asleep, so without\nmaking any noise, he took them in his arms and carried them back to his\nlodge.  When they awakened in the morning, they were delighted to find\nthemselves with their son.  All day long they wandered through the\nfields and by the shore, and were as happy as children.  As the days\nand weeks went by, they seemed to grow happier still.   But one night\nthe magician saw his old father look in his tobacco-pouch and then sigh.\n\n\"I know what it is you want, my father, it is tobacco; you have not had\nany for many moons.  Now I shall get some.\"\n\n\"How can you do that?\" asked the father, in surprise.  \"You are\nsurrounded by enemies and cut off from all supplies.\"\n\n\"I shall make my enemies give me some,\" said the magician.\n\nThat night he set out on a long journey across the frozen lake.  So\nswiftly did he travel, that by morning he had reached the village of\nhis enemies.  They were surprised to see him, but invited him into\ntheir lodges.  \"I thank you,\" he said, \"but I shall not go into any\nlodge.  I shall build a fire on the shore of the lake.\"\n\nHe made himself a tent with the branches of trees, built a fire, and\nsat beside it.\n\n\"Why have you come to visit us?\" asked the chief.\n\n\"I want some tobacco for my father,\" replied the magician.\n\n\"Is that all?\" said the Indian.  \"You shall have it;\" and he opened his\ntobacco-pouch and gave some tobacco to Masswaweinini.  The other\nIndians did the same, so now the magician had a large supply to take\nhome.  When it became dark, he lay down to sleep beside his fire.  In\nthe middle of the night, the chief and some Indians rushed in,\nshouting, \"You are a dead man.\"\n\n\"No, I am not,\" said the magician, \"but you are.\"  With his tomahawk he\nhit left and right.  In a few minutes six lay dead beside him.  Then he\nwrapped his blanket around him, gathered up his tobacco, and set off.\nBy evening he had reached his father's lodge, and spread out his gift\nbefore him.  The old man was delighted with the present, and thanked\nhim many times for his kindness.  When spring came, the magician built\na beautiful lodge for his parents on the edge of the wrestling ground,\nand all through the summer they watched the corn and pumpkins grow.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FAIRIES' CLIFF\n\nAn Indian chief once had ten daughters.  They were all very beautiful,\nespecially the youngest.  When they grew to be women, nine of them\nmarried handsome, young warriors.  But the youngest maiden would not\nlisten to any of the young men who came to see her at her father's\nlodge.  After a while, she married an old man with gray hair, and so\nfeeble that he could hardly walk.  Her father and sisters were very\nangry, but she would not listen to them.  She said only, \"I am very\nhappy, and so nothing else matters.\"\n\nOne evening, the father asked his ten daughters and their husbands to\ncome to his lodge for a feast.  On the way there, the nine sisters kept\nsaying, as they looked at the youngest maiden and her husband: \"Our\npoor sister, is it not a pity she is married to such an old man?  See,\nhe can hardly walk.  Would it not be a good thing if he were to fall\nand kill himself?\"\n\nAs they were saying this, they noticed that the old man kept looking up\nat the Evening Star, and every once in a while he would utter a low\ncall.\n\n\"See,\" said one of the sisters, \"he thinks the Evening Star is his\nfather and is calling to him.\"\n\nJust then, they were passing a hollow log which lay by the roadside.\nWhen the old man noticed it, he suddenly dropped on his hands and knees\nand crawled in at one end.  When he came out at the other end, he was\nno longer an old man; he had been changed into a tall, handsome, young\nchief.  But his wife was no longer a beautiful maiden.  She had been\nchanged into a bent, old woman, hobbling along with a stick.  The young\nhusband was very kind to her and took good care of her all the rest of\nthe way to the father's lodge.  He seemed very sorry that she had been\nchanged like this, but he loved her just the same as before.  During\nthe feast the young husband heard a voice speak to him.  It seemed to\ncome from the skies.  Looking up, he saw the Evening Star shining in\nthrough a crack in the roof.\n\n\"My son,\" the Star said to him, \"many years ago an evil spirit changed\nyou into an old man, but that spirit has now lost its power.  You are\nfree, and may come home and live with me.  Your wife shall be beautiful\nonce more, and you shall have everything you can wish for.\"\n\nThe others had not heard this voice, so they were very much surprised\nwhen they felt the lodge begin to rise in the air.  As it floated\nupwards, the bark changed into beautiful silver gauze.  It was now a\nlodge made of wings of insects.  The young chief looked at his wife and\nsaw that she was a beautiful maiden once more.  Her dress was changed\ninto one of shining, green silk, and her stick became a silver feather.\nThe sisters and their husbands had been changed into birds with\nbright-colored feathers.  Some were parrots, some blue jays, some\nsinging birds that flew around and sang their sweet songs.  At the side\nof the lodge was a large cage for the birds.  Upwards, the lodge\nfloated till they found themselves in the Evening Star.  Everything was\nsilvery white here and very peaceful.  The Star was very glad to see\nhis son.\n\n\"Hang up that cage of birds which you have brought with you by the\nlodge door, and then come and sit down while we talk.\"\n\nThe young chief did as he was told.  He sat on one side of his father,\nwhile his wife sat on the other, and the Star father told them many\nstories.\n\n\"You must be careful,\" he said, \"not to let the beams of the next star\nshine on you.  That is the Evil Star which turned you into an old man.\nIf it shines on you again, you might once more be changed, so be very\ncareful.\"\n\nThe young chief promised to remember his father's warnings, and he\nalways kept away from the Evil Star.  They lived happily together for\nseveral years.  Then one day their young son wanted to learn to hunt.\nHe had heard that the people on the earth could shoot with bow and\narrows, and he wished to learn.  The Evening Star did not like to\nrefuse his young grandson anything, so he made him a little bow and\narrows.  He showed him how to use them; then said, \"I shall open the\nbird-cage and let out the birds.  You may try to shoot them, if you\nlike.\"\n\nThis delighted the young boy, and so for many days he tried to shoot a\nbird.  His arrows always fell to one side.  But he kept on trying, and\none day the arrow sank deep in the breast of one of the birds.  The boy\nwas very proud, but what was his surprise, when he went to pick up the\nbird, to find that it had changed into a beautiful maiden with an arrow\nsticking in her breast.  It was one of his aunts, who had been changed\nback into her earthly form.  As her blood fell on the ground of this\npure and spotless planet, the spell was broken.\n\nThe boy felt himself sinking down through the air.  He fell slowly, as\nif he had wings.  At last his feet touched the ground, and he found\nhimself on a high, rocky island.  He was delighted to see his aunts and\nuncles all following him.  They floated down through the air until at\nlast they too reached the rock.  Then came the silvery lodge, with his\nfather and mother, with its bark looking like the shining wings of\ninsects.  The lodge sank down until it reached the cliff, and there\nthey all made their home.  They had been given back their earthly\nbodies, but were only the size of fairies.\n\nThe top of the cliff, which had been bare before, now grew soft with\ngreen grass.  In the grass, bright flowers blossomed, and tiny pools of\nwater glistened here and there.  The fairies were all very happy to\nhave been given such a beautiful home, and, looking up, they thanked\nthe Evening Star.  His soft beams fell on them and they heard his\ngentle voice say, \"Be happy, my children, until I call you again to\nyour home in the sky.  I shall keep watch over you until then.\"  So\nfrom that time they have been very contented.\n\nOn calm summer evenings, they always come out on top of the rock to\ndance and sing.  And when the moon is shining very brightly, you may\nsee the silver lodge on the very highest part of the cliff; you may\nalso, if you listen very hard, hear the voices of the happy little\ndancers.\n\n\n\n\nTHE STONE CANOE\n\nOnce a beautiful Chippewa maiden died on the day she was to have\nmarried a brave, young warrior.  He was very brave, but this sorrow was\nalmost too great for him to bear.  He sat down at the door of his lodge\nand would not go hunting with the other Indians.\n\nAll that he could think of was the dead maiden, and he wished and\nwished that he might go to the Land of Souls, where he knew she now\nlived.  But he did not know where this land was.  All that the old\npeople could tell him was that it lay to the south.  So, after\nsorrowing for many days, he made up his mind to try to find it.  He put\nsome food in a bag, gathered up his arrows and bow, and calling his dog\nto him, started off.  On he went for many days, and everything looked\nthe same as in the land he had left--forests, hills, and valleys, with\nsnow lying thick on the ground and matted in the trees.  Then gradually\nthe snow began to vanish, and as he went on he saw trees with leaves\nbudding on them, and could hear the songs of birds.  At the end of a\nfew more days, he had reached the southern land, where all is warm and\nbright.  There he saw a narrow path leading through a forest and up a\nhill.\n\nHe followed this path, and at the top of the hill found a lodge.  At\nthe door of the lodge stood an Indian, dressed in a robe of bearskins.\nHe was a very old man, but his eyes were bright and soft.\n\n\"Come in, my grandson,\" he said.  \"I have been expecting you.  The\nmaiden whom you seek passed here a few days ago.  You may follow her\nand enter the Land of Souls, but you must leave your body behind with\nme.  My lodge is the gateway into that beautiful land, and you do not\nneed your body there, nor your arrows, nor your bow.  Leave them with\nme and I shall keep them safe for you.  Look yonder!  Do you see that\ndeep gorge and the beautiful plain beyond?  That is the Land of Souls,\nand the one you seek is already there.\"\n\nSuddenly the young man felt himself grow very light, and his feet began\nto run as though they were winged.  Everything looked the same to him,\nonly more beautiful, and the little animals did not seem afraid.  They\nseemed to know that he would not kill them.  As he went on swiftly\nthrough the forest, he noticed that the trees did not stop him.  He\nseemed to pass right through them, and he saw then that they were only\nimages of trees.\n\nAt last he came to a beautiful lake, whose waters were clear and\nsparkling.  In the centre of this lake was an island, with green grass\nand flowers and birds.  Then, to his joy, he noticed a canoe tied to\nthe shore of the lake.  It was made of shining, white stone and had\npaddles that shone, also.  He climbed in and pushed away from the\nshore, and, to his surprise, he saw the maiden whom he loved, in a\ncanoe exactly like his, floating beside him.  They kept close together\nand began to cross the lake.  Its waves seemed to be rising, and at a\ndistance looked ready to swallow them up.  But when the huge waves drew\nclose, they passed by and left them unharmed, and the maiden and her\nlover saw that they were only the shapes of waves.  But another thing\nfrightened them.  It was _the clearness of the water_, for as they\nlooked down, they could see the bodies of people who had been drowned.\nAnd in the water all along, there were men and women of all ages\nstruggling and sinking in the waves.  Only the canoes of the little\nchildren floated on in safety.\n\nAt last their canoes reached the shore of the island, and jumping out,\nthey roamed joyfully over the soft grass.  They felt that the very air\nwas food, and thought only of great things.  For there was nothing that\nwas sad here in this land, no cold winds, no hunger--only brightness\nand joy.\n\nAs the warrior, wandered by the maiden's side, he heard the voice of\nthe Master of Life speaking to him.  \"Go back,\" he said, \"to the land\nwhence you came.  Your work is not completed yet.  Go back and be a\ngood man, and do all the work that I send to you.  You must leave the\nspirit whom you love, but she shall wait here for you, for she is\naccepted, and shall always remain young and happy.  When your work is\nfinished, I shall call you also from the land of hunger and tears, to\ncome to this beautiful Land of Souls.\"\n\nSo the young man said farewell to the maiden, and getting into the\ncanoe, he was carried across the lake.  In a few minutes, he was at the\nlodge of the old man.  The Indian smiled when he saw him.\n\n\"Enter, my grandson,\" he said, \"and you will find your body within.\"\n\nThe young man obeyed, and when he came forth he felt as when he had\nfirst arrived.  But his heart was brave now.  The Indian smiled again\nat him.\n\n\"I see how brave and strong you are,\" he said, \"and my message to you\nis: always remain cheerful and brighten every sad life that you see.\"\n\nThe young man promised to obey the message, and, with one long look at\nthe Land of Souls, he turned and began his journey towards his home.\n\n\n\n\nTHE WHITE FEATHER\n\nAn old man and his grandson once lived together on an island.  The\nlittle boy had no father, nor mother, nor brothers, nor sisters.  They\nhad all been killed by six giants, who lived many miles away.  The\nlittle boy had never seen any person but his grandfather.  They lived\nvery happily together.  The old man loved the boy and was kind to him.\nAs the little fellow grew tall and strong, the old man taught him how\nto hunt, so that by the time he was a young man he was a good hunter.\n\nOne day when he was walking in the woods, he heard a voice calling to\nhim.  He turned in surprise, for he had never heard any one but his\ngrandfather speak.  He could see no one, but again he heard the voice.\nIt was saying, \"You will some day be the wearer of the White Feather.\"\n\nHe looked all around him, and then noticed something that he had taken\nfor a withered tree.  It was a man who was made of wood from his breast\ndown to his feet.  He seemed to be very old, and was fastened to the\nground.  When he saw the young man was looking at him, he said, \"Come\nhere, I wish to tell you something.  There was an old belief in your\ntribe that some day a boy would grow up to be a very great warrior.  He\nwas to wear a white feather as a sign of his bravery and great skill.\nYou are that boy.  When you go home, you will find there a white\nfeather, a pipe, and a tobacco-pouch.  Put the white feather in your\nhair.  Then smoke the pipe, and you will find that the smoke will turn\ninto pigeons.  This is another sign that you will be wise and good.\"\n\nThe old man ceased speaking, and the young grandson returned home to\nhis lodge.  He found the feather and the pipe both lying there.  He did\nas the old man told him, and when he smoked, blue and white pigeons\nflew away from his pipe.  His grandfather saw the pigeons fly out of\nthe lodge door, and he felt very sad.  For he knew that his little\ngrandson was a young man now, and would soon be leaving him.  Then he\nwent in, and they talked together for a long time.  He told the young\nman all about the six giants who had killed his brothers and sisters,\nand White Feather said, \"I shall go at once in search of them and kill\nthem, because they were so cruel to all our tribe.\"\n\n\"No, do not go yet,\" said the old grandfather.  \"Wait awhile until you\ngrow a little more and are stronger.\"\n\nThe young man promised to wait for a few months.\n\nOne day he was again hunting in the woods, when he passed near the\nwooden man.  He heard him speak and say:\n\n\"White Feather, listen to me.  In a few days you must go in search of\nthe giants.  They live in a high lodge in the centre of this wood.\nWhen you reach there, you must ask them to race with you, one at a\ntime.  Take this vine,\" handing him at the same time a thin, green\nvine.  \"It is enchanted, so they will not be able to see it.  When you\nare running, throw it over their heads and they will trip and fall.\"\nWhite Feather thanked the old man, and took it home and showed it to\nhis grandfather.\n\nA few days later he set out in search of the giants.  He had not\njourneyed far when he saw their lodge.  When they saw him coming, they\ncalled out, \"Oh, here comes White Feather.  Here is the little man who\nis going to do such brave deeds.\"  But when he came closer to them,\nthey pretended they liked him, and told him how brave he was.  They did\nthat to make him think they were friends, but he did not believe them,\nas he knew they were his enemies.  He asked them if they would race\nhim, and they said, \"Yes.\"\n\n\"Begin with the smallest of us,\" said the biggest giant.  So they\nbegan.  They had to run to a peel-tree and back again to the\nstarting-point.  This point was marked by an iron club, and whoever won\nthe race was to take up the club and kill the other one with it.  When\nthey had nearly reached the peel-tree, White Feather threw the vine\nover the youngest giant's head.  He tripped and fell.  Then White\nFeather ran up and seized the club and killed the giant.  The next day\nhe raced the second youngest, and killed him in the same manner.  Each\nday he did this, until only the biggest giant was left.  Now this giant\nwas the most dangerous of them all.  He knew that, if he ran, White\nFeather would kill him, too, so he made up his mind that he would not\nrace.  White Feather said he was going home to see his grandfather\nbefore he ran this last race.  As he was passing through the woods, the\nwooden man called to him.\n\n\"Listen to me,\" he said.  \"That tall giant is going to play a trick on\nyou.  When you are on your way back to his lodge, you will meet a most\nbeautiful maiden.  Do not listen to her, but change yourself into an\nelk.  Remember this and obey me.\"  The young man promised to remember.\nHe spent the day with his grandfather, then made his way back to the\ngiant's lodge.  He had nearly reached it, when he saw the beautiful\nmaiden coming towards him.  She called to him, but he did not listen.\nHe changed himself into an elk, and began eating the grass.  Then she\ntold him how mean he was to change himself into an elk, just because\nshe was coming.  He felt very sorry that she should think he was rude,\nand he wished he were a man again.  At once he became himself, and\nbegan to talk to the maiden.  Now she was really the big giant, who had\nchanged himself into this form.  After a while White Feather grew tired\nand lay down on the grass to sleep.  When he was sound asleep, the\nmaiden drew forth an axe and broke his back.  She then changed him into\na dog and herself back into the giant, who made the dog follow at his\nheels.\n\nOn the way to the giant's lodge, there was an Indian village where two\nsisters lived.  They had heard of White Feather, and both wished that\nhe would choose her for his wife.  They looked out and saw the giant\ncoming with the white feather in his hair, for he had taken the feather\nand put it in his own hair.  They thought he was the brave warrior of\nwhom they had heard so much.  The elder sister had made her lodge look\nvery gaudy, and had dressed herself in all her beads and quills.  The\nyounger sister had left her tent just as it was, and was dressed\nneatly.  When the giant came along, he chose the elder sister.  She\nwould have nothing to do with the dog, but the younger sister felt\nsorry for it and let it come and live in her lodge.\n\nThe giant used to go hunting each day, but he never succeeded in\nkilling very many animals.  The dog used to go out also, and he always\nbrought back a beaver, a bear, or some other animal for food.  This\nmade the giant and his wife jealous.  So they made up their minds that\nthey would tell the chief that his younger daughter was treating a dog\nwith too much kindness.  When they had gone, the dog made signs to the\nmaiden for her to sweat him the way the Indians do.  She made a lodge\nfor him just big enough to hold him.  Then she heated some stones until\nthey were very hot.  She put these stones in the lodge beside him, and\npoured water on them.  In a minute the lodge was full of steam.  She\nclosed the door and left him there.  After a while he came forth, a\nhandsome, young man, but he could not speak.\n\nWhen the giant and his wife told the chief about the dog who was such a\ngreat wonder, he felt sure there was some magic in it.  So he gathered\na band of young men, and sent them to bring the daughter and the dog to\nhis lodge.  What was their surprise to find a handsome, young man\ninstead of the dog.  They all went together to the lodge of the chief,\nwho had gathered together all the other men of the village, the giant\namong them.  When the young man entered, he made a sign to put the\nwhite feather in his hair.  The chief took it from the giant's head,\nand put it on the young man's.  At once he was able to talk.  He then\ntold them to smoke from his pipe.  It went around the circle until it\nreached him.  When he began to smoke, blue and white pigeons flew from\nthe pipe.  Then everybody knew that he was the great warrior, White\nFeather.\n\nThe chief asked him to tell them all about himself.  He did so very\ntruthfully, and when the chief learned how wicked and cruel the giant\nhad been, he ordered that he should be changed into a dog and let loose\nin the village, where the boys were to stone him to death.  This order\nwas carried out.  A few days afterwards, White Feather said good-bye to\nthe good old chief, and he and the kind maiden returned to his\ngrandfather.\n\nThey found him waiting for them in the forest near the wooden man.  The\ngrandfather wept for joy when he heard that the last giant was dead.\nAnd the wooden man said, \"Now my work is ended;\" and with that he\nchanged into a gnarled oak-tree with withered branches, which seemed to\ntalk as the wind whistled through them.\n\n\n\n\nTHE LONE LIGHTNING\n\nThere once lived a lonely little boy whose father and mother were dead.\nHis uncle took care of him, but did not treat him kindly.  He made him\nwork very hard and gave him little to eat.  The little fellow grew very\nthin, and began to pine away.\n\nThen his uncle changed his way of treating him, and began to fatten\nhim.  He pretended that he was doing this to make the boy grow strong.\nBut he really intended to kill him after a while.  He told his wife to\ngive the boy lots of bear meat to eat.  He made him eat a lot of the\nfat as well.  This is supposed to be the best part of the bear's meat.\n\nOne day the boy did not want to eat the fat.  His uncle pushed some\ndown his throat and nearly choked him.  He managed to get away from his\nuncle, and ran out of the lodge.  He ran as fast as he could, and by\nnight he was many miles away.  He found himself in a bush and was\nafraid to lie down on the grass for fear the wild beasts would come and\neat him, so he climbed to the top of a tall pine-tree, and rested in\nits branches.\n\nAs he was sleeping he had a dream.  He thought a spirit came from the\nupper world and said, \"My dear child, I have seen how cruel your uncle\nhas been to you, and how brave you are, so I have a deed I want you to\ndo; come with me.\"  Then the boy wakened and followed the spirit.  They\nwent high up in the sky and then the spirit said:\n\n\"Over in the north there live many Manitous.  They are bad spirits and\nunfriendly to all that are good.  Here are twelve magic arrows; shoot\nthem at these spirits, and see if you can kill them.\"\n\nHe gave the arrows to the boy, and he at once began to shoot.\n\nHis first arrow did not hit any one, and as it flew through the air a\nlong, single streak of lightning showed where it had gone.  The next\narrow was the same, so he kept on till eleven arrows had been shot.  By\nthis time the bad spirits were very angry.  The chief of them called\nout, \"I shall punish you for daring to aim your arrows at us.\"  Just\nthen the boy aimed the last arrow at the chief.  As it came near, the\nspirit changed himself into a rock, and the arrow sank deep into its\nstony side.  But at this instant the boy was changed into the lone\nlightning which may be seen in the northern sky on autumn nights.\n\n\n\n\nTHE ENCHANTED MOCCASINS\n\nOnce on Mackinac Island there lived a little Indian boy and his sister.\nThey saw only the birds and animals, for no human beings were there but\nthemselves.  The little boy, instead of playing with his sister, used\nto go into the forest and think.  So she thought that he would grow up\nto be a very wise man and do some wonderful deeds.  She called him Onwe\nBahmondoong, which means, the boy that carries a ball on his back.\n\nAs he grew up, he was very anxious to know where the people lived.  His\nsister told him that many miles away there was a village, where\nhundreds of warriors and hunters lived.  He asked her to make him six\npairs of moccasins, so that he could go and find the village.  He then\nput some food in a bag, took his war-club, and, when the moccasins were\nfinished, set out on his journey.  As he was saying good-bye to his\nsister, she told him that one pair of the moccasins was enchanted.\n\nOn he went quickly, over miles of prairie, across little streams, and\nthrough the bush.  When he grew tired, he would lie down and sleep.\nWhen he was rested, he would get up and go on.  So he travelled many\ndays, and when one pair of moccasins wore out, he put on another pair.\n\nAt last he came to a wigwam, in which sat an old woman.  When she saw\nhim, she called, \"Come in, my grandchild.\"\n\nHe entered, and sat down at her feet.\n\n\"Where are you going?\" she asked him.\n\n\"I am going to find the village of the hunters,\" he answered.\n\n\"Oh, beware, my child,\" she cried.  \"Many a brave one of your tribe has\ntried to find that village, and none has ever come back.  Take care\nthey do not kill you, also.\"\n\n\"I am not afraid,\" the boy replied, his eyes shining.\n\n\"Well, listen to me,\" she said in a low voice.  \"I shall give you two\nbones which the medicine men use.  They will help you very much.\"  Then\nshe told him many things which he was to do when the time came.  When\nshe had finished, he thanked her, and went his way.\n\nHe travelled for two days more, and at last came in sight of the\nhunters' village.  It looked as the old woman told him it would.  In\nthe centre of the village stood a lodge, where the chief, lived.  In\nfront of this lodge, a tall tree grew.  This tree was stripped of its\nbark and branches, and hanging from it, about halfway up, was a small\nlodge, wherein lived the chief's two daughters.  It was in this small\nlodge that all the Indians had been killed, after they had found the\nvillage.\n\nThe boy remembered what the old woman had told him, so he changed\nhimself into a squirrel.  He ran up the smooth side of the tree.  But\nwhen he had nearly reached the lodge, the tree shot quickly up into the\nair, carrying the little house with it.  The boy climbed up higher.\nAgain the tree shot up in the air.  And the higher he climbed, the\nhigher the tree went, until at last it stopped.  It could go no\nfarther, for it had reached the arch of heaven.\n\nWhen the boy saw this, he changed himself from the squirrel back into a\nboy, and entered the lodge.  The two sisters were squatted on the\nfloor.  He asked them their names.  The one on the left said hers was\nAzhabee, which means, one who sits behind.  The girl on the right said\nhers was Negahnahbee, which means, one who sits before.  When he spoke\nto the girl on the left, the tree began to sink down.  Then when he\nspoke to the other sister, it began to shoot up into the air again.\nWhen he noticed this, he continued talking to the girl on the left, and\nthe tree kept on sinking lower, until at last it was down as it had\nbeen at first.  Then the boy drew out his war-club.\n\n\"I am going to kill you,\" he said to the sisters, \"for you have been so\ncruel to all my relatives.\"  Swinging his club, he brought it down on\ntheir heads and killed them both.  Then he jumped from the lodge to the\nground.\n\nAs he stood there, he remembered that these two sisters had a brother\nand a father, who would be sure to kill him, when they found what he\nhad done.  So he turned, and ran very quickly.  He had not gone far,\nwhen the father and brother returned.  When they saw the dead girls,\nthey were very angry.  The father told the brother to follow the boy.\n\n\"It must be that boy who killed them,\" he said, \"for he is the only\nstranger here.  Follow him, and do not eat until you have killed him.\nIf you eat, your power is gone.\"\n\nThe brother started off, running even faster than the boy.  When the\nboy heard him coming, and knew that he would be caught, he climbed a\ntree.  Then he began to shoot magic arrows back at the brother.  But\nthis did not seem to hurt him.  So the boy got down from the tree, and\nran on again.  Now he could tell that the brother was very close to\nhim.  So he changed himself into a dead moose, and lay down on the\ngrass.  He drew out the enchanted moccasins, and whispered to them,\n\"Travel on and on till you come to the end of the earth.\"  Away they\nwent, because they were enchanted, leaving their marks behind them.\n\nWhen the brother came up he saw only a dead moose, with footmarks\nleading away from him.  He followed on, until he came to the end of the\nearth.  Then he saw that he had been fooled, that he had been following\nonly a pair of moccasins.  He was so very angry that he did not know\nwhat to do.  And he felt tired and hungry.  He thought surely he must\neat now.  Then he remembered his dead sisters, and said, \"No, I shall\nfind that boy yet, and kill him.\"  So he turned back till he came to\nthe spot where the dead moose had been.  To his surprise it was gone,\nand footsteps led away in the opposite direction.\n\nHe followed them until he came to a beautiful, old garden, with fruit\ntrees and flowers in it.  In the garden stood an old house covered with\nvines, where a very old man lived.  He was so very old that his two\ndaughters did everything for him.  Now this old man was really the boy,\nwho had changed himself this way.  The daughters saw the brother coming.\n\n\"Father,\" they said, \"there is such a tired-looking traveller coming up\nthe road.  May we ask him in?\"\n\n\"Yes, invite him to enter,\" answered the father, \"and give him\nsomething to eat.\"\n\nThe daughters called to the brother, and invited him in.  He was glad\nto enter the cool, shady garden.  They cooked him some hot food and\nother nice things, and when he smelt the meal, he could not refuse to\neat, for he had been without food for such a long time, and had\ntravelled so many miles.  He ate of the food, and as he did so, he\nforgot all about his dead sisters, forgot even his home.  A strange,\nsleepy feeling came over him, and he fell into a sound sleep.\n\nWhen the old man saw this, he changed himself back into a boy, and the\ngarden, house, and daughters disappeared.  Only the sleeping brother\nlay there.  The boy quickly drew the ball around from his back, which\nturned out to be a magic war-club.  With this he put an end to the\nbrother.  As he journeyed homewards through the forest he heard the\nsound of footsteps behind him.  Turning, he saw nothing; but the sound\nwas coming nearer.  In a moment a pair of moccasins appeared on the\npath.  It was the enchanted moccasins returning from the ends of the\nearth.  The boy quickly picked them up and put them in his bag.  Then\nhe continued gladly on his way and soon reached the lodge, where his\nsister came forth to meet him.  She was very proud of his brave deed,\nand she and the boy always treasured the enchanted moccasins.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FIVE WATER-SPIRITS\n\nOnce upon a time a gray, old man lived on the top of a mountain, where\nhe could see glimpses of the sea.  He had a lodge made of birch bark\nthat shone like silver in the sun.\n\nHe had five beautiful daughters, whose names were Su, Mi, Hu, Sa, and\nEr.[1]\n\nOne day the youngest said, \"My sisters, come and we will go and play\nnear the broad, blue sea, where the waves beat against the rocks.\"  So\naway they ran out of the lodge and down the mountain side.  They were\nall dressed in robes of snow-white foam, that fluttered far behind them\nas they ran.  Their sandals were of frozen water-drops, and their wings\nof painted wind.  On they scampered over valley and plain, until they\ncame to a tall, bare rock as high as a mountain.\n\nThen the youngest cried, \"Sisters, here is a dreadful leap, but if we\nare afraid, and go back, our father will laugh at us.\"  So, like birds,\nthey all plunged with a merry skip down the side of the rock.  Then\n\"Ha-ha,\" they cried, \"let us try again.\"  So up to the top they\nclimbed, laughing with joy, and down once more they went, nor ever\nstopped, laughing like girls on a holiday.\n\nThe day wore on till sunset, and still they laughed and played.  The\nround moon came up, and by its silvery light they sprang from the tall,\nbare rock, and climbed joyously up its side again.\n\nNext morning, when the sun arose, the rock was no longer bare.  Over\nits stony side poured great sheets of foaming water, and in the foam\nstill played the five sisters.  They never reached the sea, and there\nthey still play, giving to us the beautiful Niagara Falls.  Sometimes,\nif you look closely, their forms may be seen in the white foam, but\nalways in the sunny spray you may see their sandals and their wings.\n\n\n\n[1] Su, Superior; Mi, Michigan; Hu, Huron; Sa, St. Clair; Er, Erie.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CANOE BREAKER\n\nOnce in a certain tribe there was a young man who had no name.  For it\nwas the law in that tribe that every youth had to do some deed that\nwould give to him his name.  This young man had tried in many ways to\ndo something that would make the chief tell him that he was a great\nwarrior.  Several times he had tried to kill a bear, but had failed.\nHe had gone forth in battle, hoping to kill some powerful enemy, but no\none had fallen under his tomahawk.  He had gone on long hunting trips,\nhoping to bring home the skin of some wild animal, but had always\nreturned empty-handed.  So his brave, young heart felt very sad, for\nthe young men of the tribe laughed at him for not having won a name for\nhimself.\n\nOne summer day, the tribe left their camp on the lake shore and went\nback among the hills on a hunting trip.  After they had gone some\ndistance, the young man left the others and wandered off by himself,\nhoping that this time he would kill some animal, and so be no longer\nscorned by his companions.  He tramped for many hours through the\nforest and over the hills, without catching sight of anything.  At\nlength, he climbed one hill which was higher than the others, and from\nhere he could see the small creek which flowed through the hills down\nto the lake.  As he was looking at it, he thought he saw some dark\nobjects along the shore of the creek.  They seemed about the size of\ncanoes.  He scanned the hills anxiously, and at length could see a band\nof Indians making their way along the trail made by the hunters in the\nmorning.\n\nAt once the young man knew there was great danger ahead, for these\nIndians, the Shuswaps, were the enemies of his tribe and now were\nfollowing their trail, and when they found them, they would kill them.\nQuickly the young man made his way down the hill, and through the\nforest to the spot where the hunters had camped for their evening meal.\nRunning up to them, he cried, \"Return at once to your lodges.  Our\nenemies are now on our trail.  They are in the forest on the other side\nof this hill.  I shall return and delay them while you reach your\nlodges in safety.\"\n\nThen, without waiting for a reply, he turned and ran back in the\ndirection from which he had come, By short cuts through the hills, he\nmade his way to the creek and found, as he expected, that the Indians\nhad left their canoes tied at its mouth.  Seizing his tomahawk, he\nbegan to break the canoes, and soon had a hole made in all of them\nexcept one.  Leaving the creek, he mounted the hill and from there\ncould see the Shuswaps.  He began to wave his arms and call wildly to\nattract their chief.  At last they noticed him and began to make their\nway towards him.  The young man was delighted, for now he knew that his\ntribe could escape in safety, while their enemies were returning\ntowards the creek.  Soon the Shuswaps neared the top of the hill, and\nhe knew he must think of some plan to delay them here.  Suddenly he\ndropped to the ground and lay there as though insensible.  With a run\nthe Shuswaps gained the summit and surrounded him.  He lay face\ndownwards with his arms stretched out.  They turned him over on his\nback and peered into his face.  Not a muscle moved; not even his\neyelids quivered.  Then the chief bent over him and felt his heart.\n\"He has not gone to the Happy Hunting Ground,\" he said, \"but the Great\nSpirit has called his spirit to go on a long journey.  It may not be\nback for many moons.  Let us place his body under the pine-trees, there\nto await the return of the spirit.\"\n\nThe Indians lifted the body of the young man, carried it to a clump of\npine-trees and laid it down.  Then they walked some yards away and held\na council.\n\nAs soon as they were a safe distance away, the young man jumped up.  He\nran down the hill, and reaching the canoes, jumped into the unbroken\none and began to paddle down the creek.\n\nThe Shuswaps turned and saw him.  With fierce cries, they began to race\ndown the hillside, and when they arrived at the spot where they had\nleft their canoes, and saw what had happened, they filled the air with\ntheir angry yells.  The young man was now out on the lake in the canoe,\nand they were unable to follow him, as all the other canoes were\nwrecked.  They ran angrily along the lake shore, thinking he would land\non their side, but instead, he made his way across the lake to the\nother side.\n\nWhen the young man reached the shore, he again seized his tomahawk, and\nthis time broke the canoe with which he had saved his life.  The\ndefeated Shuswaps, standing on the shore, saw him do this, and again\nthey filled the air with their angry yells.  There was nothing for them\nto do but to return to their camp, while the young man made his way\nalong the lake shore to the village of his tribe.  When he reached\nthere, he found that he was no longer a man without a name.  His brave\ndeed had won for him the name of Kasamoldin,--the canoe breaker,--and\never afterwards in his tribe, and to others, he was known by this name.\n\n\n\n\nTHE OLD STUMP\n\nLong ago there was an old woman called Grizzly Bear.  She had neither\nhusband nor children, and lived all alone in a lodge on the hillside.\n\nAs the days went by, she became very lonely, and so she made up her\nmind to find a daughter for herself.  She took some pitch and fashioned\na girl out of it.  Then she put this figure out beside the river, and\nit began to move and speak.\n\n\"You are my daughter now,\" Grizzly Bear said to the girl, \"and you\nshall live with me in my lodge.  Every day you may bathe in the river,\nbut, when you have finished, you must come at once into the shade of\nthe lodge, instead of drying yourself in the sunshine.\"\n\nThe girl promised to do this and for three days she obeyed her mother's\ncommands, but on the fourth day she thought she would see what would\nhappen to her, if she sat on the bank in the sunshine.  So, when she\nhad finished bathing, she seated herself on a stone by the river.  The\nsun was very hot, and in a few minutes the young girl had melted and\ndisappeared.\n\nWhen Grizzly Bear learned what had happened, she felt very sorrowful,\nbut she was still determined to find another daughter for herself.\n\nThis time she took some clay and fashioned a girl from it.  When the\ngirl moved and spoke, she told her she might bathe in the river every\nday and might seat herself in the sunshine to dry, but she must not rub\nherself while in the water.  This command the girl obeyed for three\ndays.  On the fourth day, she thought she would see what would happen\nto her if she rubbed herself while she was in the water.  So, when she\nwent in to bathe, she began to rub herself and at once broke into\npieces and melted away.\n\nWhen Grizzly Bear saw what had happened, she again was very sorrowful,\nand this time she made up her mind to make a daughter who could not\ndestroy herself.  So, taking a block of wood, she fashioned a girl from\nit.  When the wood came to life, Grizzly Bear told her that she might\nbathe every day in the river and bask in the sun if she liked.\n\nThe daughter did this for three days, and on the fourth, as she was\nstanding by the riverside, she saw a large trout leap out the water.\n\n\"What a beautiful trout,\" said the girl to herself.  \"How I wish I had\nit.\"\n\nThree times the trout leaped out of the water, and the fourth time it\nlanded on the shore by her feet.  At once it changed into a handsome,\nyoung man.\n\n\"Come with me,\" he said to the girl.  \"I have a beautiful home beneath\nthe water.  Come with me and be my wife, and you shall live happy all\nthe rest of your days.\"\n\nThe girl said she would go.  Then he told her to get on his back and to\nshut her eyes as he leaped into the water.  She must keep them shut\nuntil he told her to look.  She promised to obey him, but, scarcely\nwere they beneath the water, when she opened her eyes to see where they\nwere.  At once she found herself alone on the bank of the river.\n\nThe next day the same thing happened.  She opened her eyes before they\nhad reached the underwater world, and again she found herself alone on\nthe bank.  This happened once more on the third day, but on the fourth\nshe succeeded in keeping her eyes closed until her husband told her to\nopen them.\n\nShe found herself in a beautiful country, much like the one she had\ncome from.  There were homes and gardens and children here, and she\nknew she would be very happy.\n\nAs the years went by, two children were born, a boy and a girl.  One\nday they came to their mother and told her that the other children had\ntaunted them with having no grandmother.\n\n\"Yes, you have a grandmother,\" she replied.  \"She lives in a lodge near\nthe river.  You may go above the water to-day and visit her home, but\nyou must make sure first that she is digging roots on the hillside, for\nshe must not see you.\"\n\nThe children promised and went at once above the water.  They saw the\nlodge, and an old woman digging roots.  Very quietly, they made their\nway to the home of their grandmother.  They found some food on the\ntable and helped themselves.  Then they went back to tell their mother\nall they had seen.\n\nThree days they did this, but Grizzly Bear had missed the food each\nday, and knew that no one but grandchildren would enter her lodge this\nway and take her food.  So, the fourth day, she commanded an old stump\nto look like an old woman digging roots, and to move as the children\npassed.  Going back to her lodge, she prepared some powerful medicine,\nand then hid herself behind some deerskins.\n\nIn a little while the children entered and began to eat the food.  The\nold woman quickly sprang out and threw the medicine over them.  The boy\nwas completed covered with it, while only a few drops fell on the girl.\nAt once the boy changed into his proper form, and was a handsome young\nIndian; while the girl was changed into a little black dog.\n\nGrizzly Bear told the boy that she was his grandmother, and that he\nmust live with her now, but she did not tell him that the dog was his\nsister.  She only said, \"You must take great care of this little dog,\nand never beat or ill use it.\"\n\nThe boy promised, and every day he would go forth with his bow and\narrows to shoot birds, while the little dog ran beside him.  One day he\nwas shooting red-headed woodpeckers.  Three times he had killed a bird,\nand the little dog ran ahead and ate it before he could reach her.  The\nboy became very angry at this, and, when she did it for the fourth\ntime, he struck her a hard blow with his arrow.\n\nAt once the dog cried, \"Why are you treating me thus, and I am your\nsister?\"  As soon as she had said this, she ran away.  The boy\nfollowed, but before he could catch it, the dog had turned into a\nchickadee and had flown away.  The sorrowing boy returned to his\ngrandmother, and told her everything that had happened.\n\n\"Why did you not tell me that the dog was my sister?\" he asked.\n\n\"If I had told you,\" she replied, \"you would have been more sorrowful\nthan you are now.\"  Then she added, \"Listen to me, my grandson; when\nyou are shooting, if an arrow should lodge in a tree where it is too\nhigh for you to reach, do not climb to get it.\"\n\nThe boy promised to remember this command, and three times when an\narrow pierced a tree above his reach, he gave it up as lost, but the\nfourth time he forgot the command.  Seeing his arrow only a few inches\nabove his head in the bark of the tree, he began to climb for it.  Just\nas his hand touched it, the arrow moved farther up.  He climbed higher\nand, as he reached it, again it moved up.  This went on until the arrow\nand the boy were out of sight in the clouds.\n\nNeither the boy nor his sister was ever seen again, and Grizzly Bear,\nwho had been watching from the ground, was left there all alone.  And\nthere she still stands, looking just like the stump of an old tree, but\nthe Indians know who it is, and as they pass by, they place an offering\non the withered stump.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CLIFF OF SINIKIELT\n\nOnce long ago there was a chief of the Okanagan Indians called Tserman.\nHe was very brave and very daring, and he stopped at nothing when he\nwanted to have his own way.  The village of the Okanagans lay in a\nbeautiful valley; to the north-west lay the hunting grounds of the\nNicolas, who had been enemies of the Okanagans for years.  Now the\nchief of the Nicolas had a lovely daughter, Lalita, and Chief Tserman\nfell in love with this beautiful maiden.  He knew there was no use\nasking her father to give him Lalita, so he made up his mind to steal\nher.\n\nOne dark night he saddled his black pony, which could run faster than\nany other horse of the tribe, and, under cover of the darkness, he made\nhis way over the hills and down the valley until he came to the camp of\nthe Nicolas.  All was very still in the camp, for it was late and the\nIndians were all tired, for they had just returned from a long hunting\ntrip.  Tserman could see the small, white lodge of Lalita close beside\nthat of her father.\n\nLeaving his horse standing beside a tall pine-tree, he crept cautiously\ntowards Lalita's wigwam.  When he reached the opening, he remained very\nstill and listened.  There was not a stir or sound of any one moving in\nthe camp.  Throwing aside the curtain, he quickly entered the lodge,\nsnatched Lalita from her couch, and in an instant had her beside him on\nhis horse and was galloping rapidly back to the village of the\nOkanagans.\n\nThe Nicolas, roused by the sound of the horse's hoofs, jumped up\nhastily.  At once they knew what had happened, for the curtain of\nLalita's lodge was still thrown back.  The chief ordered his warriors\nto mount their ponies and quickly follow in pursuit.  And soon, in the\ndarkness, the sound of their ponies could be heard as they raced wildly\nafter the flying chief.  But Tserman's horse could run much faster than\nany horse in the mountains, and before the Nicolas were halfway to the\nvillage, he and Lalita were safe within his lodge.  On came the\nNicolas, and at last only one hill lay between them and the village of\ntheir enemies.  To go around this hill would be many miles, so, leaving\ntheir horses at the foot, they began to climb its slippery side.  At\nlength they reached the top, but they did not know that this was a\nsheer cliff they had climbed, and that at its foot, between them and\nthe Okanagan village, there flowed a deep river.\n\nOne of their warriors, Sinikielt, wanted to go ahead and find out the\nbest way to reach the village and surround it.  He crept forward in the\ndarkness, and with a wild cry fell over the steep cliff into the river\nbeneath.  His cry rang out through the night and was heard by the\nOkanagans on the other side of the river.  Quickly the camp was\naroused, and going forth, the warriors encircled the hill.  When the\nmorning came, the Okanagans began to climb the hill to attack their\nenemies.  The Nicolas saw them coming and knew there was nothing for\nthem but certain death.  The Okanagans were many and strong and were\nwell armed.  The Nicolas were only a few warriors, and if they remained\nto fight, they were sure of being either killed or taken prisoners.\nThere was only one thing for them to do.  Turning their backs on their\nfast-approaching enemies, they made one running leap from the cliff to\nthe river below and sank forever in its waters.\n\nMany years after, when Tserman had gone to the happy hunting ground and\nhis son Lemichin was made chief in his stead, there came sad days to\nLalita.  Lemichin was a great warrior and strong and handsome like his\nfather, but he cared nothing for the good of his tribe.  His only\nthought was his own pleasure.  Little by little he gambled away all his\npossessions, until nothing was left but his saddle-horse.  Then one\nnight that was lost, too.  Lalita begged him to turn from his evil\nways, but he made her no reply.  Going forth from the lodge, he made\nhis way to the hills and remained there for one moon.  At the end of\nthat time he returned to the tribe.  Going to his mother, he said:\n\n\"Lalita, when I was in the hills, I fasted and then I slept, and in my\ndreams my father came to me.  He told me what to do to make my evil\nlife turn into a good one.  First, I must make peace with the Nicolas.\nAfter that I must win my way back until I am a great chief, like my\nfather was before me.\"\n\n\"My son,\" said Lalita, \"this is indeed a happy thing you have told me,\nand great indeed is the spirit of your father which has come to you and\ntold you what to do.\"\n\nThe next day Lemichin sent a messenger of peace to the Nicolas.  Their\nold chief, Lalita's father, sent back word that there would be no more\nfighting between the tribes, but that the Nicolas and the Okanagans\ncould never be friends.  Lemichin made no answer when this message was\nbrought to him.  Going forth, he began gambling again.  Lalita followed\nhim and begged him to return with her, to forsake these evil ways.  But\nto her also he made no reply.  Day after day he gambled, but now he was\nnot losing his possessions, but was winning them back again.  At last\nthey were all won, and then Lemichin called a council of his wisest\nwarriors.  He told them he wished to win the friendship of the Nicolas,\nand that he and Lalita would go to their village and take with them a\nlarge number of the herd as a gift.  The next morning they set\nout,--Lemichin and Lalita riding ahead and three herd-boys, driving the\ngreater part of the herd, followed behind.  When they reached the\nvillage of the Nicolas, Lemichin told his mother to wait with the\nherd-boys, and dismounting from his pony, he went alone and on foot to\nthe lodge of the old chief.  Kneeling before the old warrior, he gave\nhimself up to make reparation for the deed of his father Tserman.\n\nThe old chief was very angry at first and called his warriors to bind\nLemichin and kill him.  But Lemichin asked him to let him speak first.\nThen he told him how sorry his father had been for what he had done.\nHow much he wished that the two tribes might become friends, and how\nanxious Lalita was to win the love of her father again.  Then he asked\nhim to accept the herd which he had brought with him.  The old chief\nfelt his anger fade away when the young man talked, and now, when he\nsaw what a great gift he had brought with him, he felt that he could\nnot kill so generous and manly a warrior.  So, taking Lemichin by the\nhand, he walked with him to where Lalita sat on her pony.\n\nWhen she saw her father Lalita uttered a cry of joy.  The old man\nfondly embraced his daughter and said:\n\n\"My daughter, many moons ago you left your father's lodge and joined\nthe tribe of our enemies.  But this day your son has proven to me that\nour enemies can be brave and generous.  My heart has been lonely all\nthe summers and winters since you went away.  Come now, you and your\nbrave son, and live with the old chief so that his heart and his lodge\nshall no longer be empty.\"  And weeping for joy, the old man led Lalita\nand Lemichin to his lodge.  Thus friendship between the Nicolas and the\nOkanagans was established.\n\nThat was many years ago, but yet in the night the wild cry of Sinikielt\nanswers the cry of the loon, and is echoed from the cliff far out\nacross the river.\n\n\n\n\nTHE STRANGE DREAM\n\nA warrior and his wife once had a beautiful boy, for whom they made\nmany plans.  But when he grew up, and reached the right age, he would\nnot consent to the fast.  They wished him to blacken his face with\ncharcoal, and not to eat anything for three days.  But he threw away\nthe charcoal, and when they denied him food, he ate birds' eggs and the\nheads of fish which had been cast away.\n\nAt length one day he came home, and, taking some coals, blackened his\nface.  Then he went out of the lodge and lay down on the grass to\nsleep.  As he lay there, he had a wonderful dream.  He thought a\nbeautiful maiden came to him, and said, \"Onawataquto, come with me.\nStep in my tracks.\"  He arose and did so, and felt himself mounting up\nover the tree-tops, until he reached the sky.\n\nThe maiden entered through a small opening, and he followed her.\nLooking around, he found himself on a beautiful, grassy plain.  A tall\nlodge stood in the distance.  She led him to it, and he saw that it was\ndivided into two parts.  In one end there were bows, arrows, clubs, and\nspears, and other things that belong to a warrior.  In the other end\nwere strings of colored beads, bright pieces of cloth, and fancy\nmoccasins, such as belong to a maiden.  On a frame was a broad belt,\nbeautifully colored, that she was weaving.\n\n\"My brother will soon be home,\" she said, \"and I do not wish him to see\nyou, so come until I hide you.\"  She put him in a corner and spread the\nbelt over him.\n\nIn a short time the brother returned, and sat down in his end of the\nlodge.  He took down his pipe, and began to smoke.  Then, in a little\nwhile, he said, \"Sister, when are you going to stop this practice?  Do\nyou forget that the Greatest of the Spirits has forbidden you to take\nthe children of the earth?  I know whom you have behind that belt.\nCome forth, Onawataquto.\"\n\nWhen the young man came forth, he presented him with bows and arrows\nand a pipe of red stone.  Now this meant that he was married to the\nmaiden.\n\nAfter that the brother used to take him with him over the beautiful\nplains, and he found everything very peaceful.  Then he began to notice\nthat the brother left the lodge each morning, and did not return until\nnight.   He asked him what he did when he was away.\n\n\"Come with me, and I shall show you,\" said the brother.\n\nSo they set off early next morning, and walked on for a long time.  At\nlast Onawataquto began to feel hungry.\n\n\"Wait a few minutes,\" said the brother, \"and I shall show you how I get\nfood.\"\n\nWhen they reached a spot where they could see down to the earth below,\nhe said, \"Now sit down and watch.\"  And Onawataquto did so.\n\nWhen he looked down, he could see the earth quite plainly.  In one\nvillage he saw a war party getting ready.  In another he saw them\ndancing, and in another, a group of children playing beside a lodge.\n\n\"Do you see that beautiful boy down there?\" asked the brother.\n\n\"Yes,\" he replied.  Suddenly the brother darted something from his hand\nat the child, and he fell senseless.\n\nThe parents rushed out and carried him into the lodge, and made great\nwailing.  Then they saw people gather around the lodge, and the\nmedicine man arrived.  He addressed himself to the spirit brother, and\nasked him what sacrifice he desired.\n\n\"I shall allow the boy to get better if you will make me the sacrifice\nof a white dog,\" answered the brother, through the opening in the sky.\n\nThey at once caught a white dog, and killed and roasted it.  The meat\nwas then put on dishes, which at once floated up to the spirit brother.\n\n\"Now eat,\" he said to Onawataquto.  \"This is the way I get all my\nmeals.\"\n\nAfter a while the young man grew tired of the quiet days, and desired\nto go back to the earth.  His wife was angry when she heard him say\nthis, and said she would not let him go.  But after a while she\nconsented, and said, \"You may go; but remember you are not to marry any\nof the earth maidens, for at any time I can draw you back here.\"\n\nNext morning Onawataquto found himself lying on the grass by his\nfather's lodge, with his face still blackened.  His father and mother\nand all his friends were standing near him in glad surprise.  They told\nhim he had been away a year.\n\nFor some days he went around very quietly; then he began to forget his\ndream.  After a while he could hardly remember it at all.\n\nIn a few months, he married one of the maidens of the tribe.  That\nnight he went out of his father's lodge, and was never seen again.\n\nIt is said that the spirit maiden had drawn him back to her home in the\nsky.\n\n\n\n\nBIG CHIEF'S CONQUEST\n\nOnce in the long ago there lived a great warrior named Milkanops.  He\nlived in a land of high, rocky mountains, and to the far north there\nlived a tribe of fierce, warlike Indians who were the enemies of his\ntribe.  Many battles were fought between the two tribes, but Milkanops\nalways won.  At last, one autumn day, they fought from sunrise to\nsunset, and although Milkanops won the victory once more, he received\nhis death wound.  The poisoned arrow pierced his side just as the\nbattle was won.\n\nHis warriors carried him to his lodge and laid him on his couch of\ndeerskins.\n\n\"Send for my son,\" he told them.  \"Send for Aseelkwa.\"  At once they\nbrought the young warrior to his father's side.\n\n\"My boy,\" said the dying chief, \"I have been called to the happy\nhunting ground, and soon my spirit will be wandering with the happy\nones there.  Before I go, I wish to ask one thing of you.  Promise me\nthat you will not be a warrior as I have been, but will live to be a\ngreat chief, for that is what your name means,--Aseelkwa, Big Chief.\nYonder to the north are enemies, and they will want you to go to war\nwith them, as I have done many times.  Do not listen to their\nchallenges, but try to keep peace between the tribes and make your\ntribe great and good, rather than strong and warlike.\"\n\nThe young boy, weeping, promised his father to obey his commands, and\nnot long after, the spirit of Milkanops started on its journey to the\nhappy hunting ground.\n\nAs the months went by the enemies of Aseelkwa made many attempts to\nengage in war with him and his tribe, but to all of these challenges he\ngave no reply.  A few years went by, and now the young boy was a\nfull-grown warrior, but he did not call himself one.  To all who spoke\nof him as a warrior, he would make answer that he was a chief and would\nnot engage in battle.  His enemies could not entice him, so they said\nhe was a coward, and taunted him and said he was afraid to fight them.\n\nOne day one of the wise men came to Aseelkwa and said, \"Oh, Big Chief,\nHahola, the Rattlesnake, is a traitor.  He has told our enemies that\nyou are indeed a coward, as they say you are, and they have planned to\nattack our camp when the moon has faded to a narrow band in the sky.\"\n\n\"And Hahola, is he going to help them?\" asked the chief, in a stern\nvoice.\n\n\"Yes, O Great Chief.  He will let them know when you are fast asleep in\nyour lodge.  Then, in the darkness, they will surround it and take you\nprisoner.\"\n\n\"It is well you have told me,\" said the chief.  \"Now I must fast and\ndream and see what I am to do.\"\n\nSo for nine days he fasted and dreamed.  Then, after that time, he\ncalled his medicine men and said, \"I have fasted and dreamed, and in my\ndreams I saw the spirit of my father Milkanops.  He told me that I must\nnot fight these enemies, but that I and my tribe must journey to the\nfar south and there find a new hunting ground.\"\n\nEarly the next morning Aseelkwa and the tribe set out on their journey.\nFor many days and many nights they travelled.  They crossed rivers and\nclimbed steep hills, and at length they reached a land where the hills\nwere lower and greener than their rocky mountains had been.  In front\nof them lay a very long, narrow valley with low hills on either side,\nand, just behind these, there rose one larger than the others, a tall,\nrocky mountain.\n\n\"In my dreams,\" said Aseelkwa, \"I saw this long, narrow valley and that\ntall hill, and the spirit of my father told me that here we must make\nour new camp and hunt in these green hills.\"\n\nThe Indians were glad to know they had reached the end of their\njourney, for they were footsore and weary.  Quickly they built their\nlodges on the hillside and went forth in search of food.\n\nThat night Aseelkwa called his medicine men to go with him to the top\nof the high hill, and there hold a council.  He knew that Hahola, the\nRattlesnake, would have told of their departure, and by this time the\nnorthern Indians would be well on their way in pursuit.  Aseelkwa\nseated himself at the foot of a tall pine-tree, and the medicine men\nplaced themselves in a circle around him.  The night was dark, for the\nmoon was only a narrow band in the sky.  They had made no fire, for\nfear their enemies might see it.  Scarcely had Aseelkwa begun to speak\nwhen a slight noise was heard.  It sounded like some loosened stones\nfalling down the mountain side.  At once every warrior was on his feet\nand peering through the darkness.\n\n\"Look,\" said Aseelkwa.  \"There at the foot of the hill creeps away\nHahola, the Rattlesnake.  Our enemies are in hiding.  Let us go down to\nthem.\"\n\nDown the hill they came, but before they reached the bottom, from\nbehind every pine-tree and every stone there leaped a warrior, with\nfiendish yells.  Out rang the war-whoop of Aseelkwa, and from every\nlodge there sprang forth the warriors who had fought for Milkanops, his\nfather.  Then, in the darkness, there followed a terrible battle.  Many\nwarriors fell on both sides, struck down with tomahawks.  For some time\nit seemed as if the enemy must win.  Then, little by little, Aseelkwa's\narmy began to drive them back.  At last they had them at the entrance\nto the narrow valley, and there was fought the fiercest part of the\nbattle.  But at last the enemy were forced out of the valley, and once\nin the open, they turned and vanished in the darkness.  During this\nlast fight Aseelkwa had been missing, and now his warriors began to\nsearch for him among the wounded.  At last they found him, and there at\nhis side lay Hahola, dead.\n\n\"Lift me up,\" said Aseelkwa, \"and carry me to the high hill, and there\nlay me under the pine-tree.\"  They did as he commanded, and after they\nlaid him down he turned to them and spoke in a very weak voice.\n\n\"My warriors,\" he said, \"in a few moments my spirit shall have gone to\njoin that of my fathers in the happy hunting grounds.  I dreamed of\nthis battle, and everything has been just as I dreamed.  Our enemies\nare defeated, and Hahola, the traitor, is dead.  Bury him where he fell\nin the valley.  By morning you will find that the Great Spirit has\nplaced a barrier between you and your enemies, over which they can\nnever cross.  And remember, my brave warriors, that although I am not\nwith you, that always shall the spirit of Aseelkwa watch over his\ntribe.  You shall fight no more battles, but instead shall cultivate\nand make fruitful these hills.\"\n\nThen he sank back upon the grass, and his spirit passed to the happy\nhunting grounds.\n\nThe warriors buried him where he lay, and then, as he had commanded\nthem, buried Hahola in the narrow valley.  When the sun rose next\nmorning, they knew what Aseelkwa had meant, for where the valley had\nbeen the night before, there now was a long, narrow lake, whose still,\nblue waters told nothing of its great depth, for in the centre of this\nlake, just where Hahola was buried, there is no bottom to be found.\nThen the warriors looked up on the high hill, and again they knew what\nAseelkwa had meant.  For, from the topmost point of the high rock,\nAseelkwa's face, carved in stone, looked down over the lake and valley.\nThere, calm and serene and peaceful, it still watches over the hills\nthat have been made fruitful, over the tribe that is always at peace,\nand over the lake whose deep, blue waters are always ready to frown on\nthe canoes of their enemies.\n\n\n\n\nTHE RED SWAN\n\nThree brothers, who were hunters, once lived together in a forest.\nThey were very skilful and always returned well laden from the chase.\nOne day they all agreed to go hunting.  They were each to kill the\nanimals that they usually killed, and then see who could get back to\nthe lodge first and have the game cooked.  So they took their finest\narrows, and off they went.\n\nThe youngest brother, whose name was Odjibaa, had not gone far when he\nsaw a bear.  Now this was one animal that he was not supposed to kill,\nbut he forgot his bargain and shot it.  Then everything seemed to grow\nred, and he heard a queer noise.  He followed it, and as he tramped on,\nthe noise seemed closer.  At last he came to the edge of the lake and\nthere, floating on the water, was a beautiful Red Swan.  Every once in\na while it uttered the queer noise he had been hearing.  He shot an\narrow at the bird, but it flew past her.  He shot another and another.\nThey all fell near her, but she was quite unharmed.  She swam around in\nthe water, bending her head and arching her neck and not even noticing\nOdjibaa.  This made him want her more than ever, so he shot the rest of\nhis arrows.  Still she was untouched.\n\nThen he remembered that, in his dead father's medicine sack, there were\nthree magic arrows, so he ran back at once to the lodge and took them.\nWhen he again reached the shore of the lake, he put one in his bow.  He\ntook good aim and shot.  It came close to the bird.  The second arrow\ncame closer, and the third went through her neck.  She did not fall\ninto the water, but rose slowly into the air, and flew away towards the\nsetting sun, with the arrow still in her neck.\n\nOdjibaa waded into the lake and picked up the two magic arrows which\nwere floating on the water.  When he reached the shore again, he set\nout to follow the Red Swan.  He was a great runner, for when he shot an\narrow ahead of him, he could run so fast that it fell behind him.\n\nSo now he ran at his greatest speed.  But the Red Swan was already out\nof sight.  On he went through the forest, across streams, and over the\nprairie.  At nightfall he reached a town where many Indians lived.  The\nchief made him welcome and let him stay the night.  In the morning, he\nset out once more, and by night he had reached a second town.  He\nstayed there till morning and then continued his race.\n\nBy the next night, he had reached a lodge where a magician lived.  The\nold man treated him very kindly.  He made him sit down by the fire.\nThen he spoke a few words, and a metal pot with legs walked out and\nstood by the fire.  He spoke a few more words and put one grain of corn\nand one berry into the pot.  At once it became full of porridge.  He\ntold Odjibaa to eat this, and when he had done so, the pot became full\nagain.  It continued to do this until Odjibaa had eaten all he could.\nThen the magician told the hunter to lie down and rest, and in the\nmorning he said to him:\n\n\"My grandchild, you are in search of the Red Swan.  Be brave and travel\non, and at last you will be successful.  When you near the end, you\nwill come to a lodge of another magician, and he will tell you what to\ndo.\"\n\nOdjibaa thanked the old man, and went once more on his way.\n\nWhen he had gone some distance, he shot an arrow ahead of him and it\nfell behind him, so he knew that he was still going his best.  He went\non for some days and at last saw the lodge of the magician.  This\nsecond old man was as kind as the first and treated him in much the\nsame way.  He gave him food from a magic kettle exactly like the first,\nand then bade him stay the night.  Then in the morning he said to him:\n\n\"My grandchild, you are following the Red Swan.  Many a hunter has done\nthe same and has never returned.  For she is the sister of a great\nchief.  He once had a wampum cap which was fastened to his scalp.  One\nday some warriors came and told him that the daughter of their chief\nwas very sick.  She said the only thing that would cure her was this\ncap of wampum and that the sight of it would make her better at once.\nThe chief did not like to lend his cap, for if he took it off, his head\nwould be bare and bloody.  But he thought again of the sick girl and at\nlast gave it to the warriors.\n\n\"That is many years ago, but they have not returned the cap yet.  They\nwere cheats and are keeping it to make fun of it.  They carry it from\none village to another to dance around it, and at every mean thing they\nsay, the old man groans with pain.  Many young men have tried to get it\nfor him, but all have failed.  He has offered many gifts to the one who\ngets it, and even the Red Swan will belong to the successful one.  She\nis a very beautiful maiden, and for her many young men have risked\ntheir lives.  You are very brave and will face great dangers.  Go as\nyou have come, and you will be the one to win the precious wampum.\"\n\nSo Odjibaa travelled for several more days.  At last he saw a lodge,\nbut before he came up to it he could hear the groans of some one\ninside.  Coming up to the door, he knocked, and a voice bade him come\nin.  On entering he saw a very old man seated in one corner.  His face\nwas withered and his head bare and bloody.  He seemed to be in great\npain.\n\nThe young man spoke kindly to him and asked him how he lost his scalp.\nThen the old man told his story: how the young men had cheated him, and\nhow they were abusing the scalp now.  Odjibaa looked very sorry, and\nwhen the old man saw this, he began to coax him to try and get it back.\nHe promised him blankets and many other things that make an Indian\nrich.  But he did not mention the Red Swan.  Odjibaa noticed that a\nwall divided the lodge into two parts.  He guessed that the Red Swan\nwas behind the wall, for he thought he heard her dress rustle.  After\nhe had talked with the old man, and had learned many things about the\nunfriendly Indians, he said:\n\n\"I shall go in search of the cap.  When you hear the noise of a hawk,\nput your head out of the door, so I may put the scalp on you quickly.\"\n\nEarly next morning he set out, and before the day was over had come\nnear the Indian village.  As he drew near he could hear the sound of\nmuch shouting, and in a few minutes could see hundreds of warriors\ndancing and yelling around a pole.  On the top of this pole was the\nscalp.  He changed himself into a humming-bird and flew by their heads.\nWhen they heard the soft, humming noise, they said, \"What is that?\"  He\nflew on, until he came near the pole.  Then he changed himself into a\nblue butterfly and fluttered up to it.  He took the scalp in his mouth\nand lifted it from the pole.  A mighty shout went up from the Indians\nwhen they saw what was happening.  But they could not reach the\nbutterfly, as it was so high up in the air.  It began to float slowly\naway with the scalp.  This was hard work, and the load was almost too\nheavy for Odjibaa, but he hung on until he was safe outside the\nvillage.  Then he changed himself into a hawk and flew rapidly away.\nWhen he came near the lodge of the old man, he uttered the cry of the\nhawk.  The old man put his head out, and with a great blow Odjibaa\nclapped his scalp on.  The old man fell senseless and lay very still\nfor a long time.\n\nOdjibaa entered the lodge and sat down to wait.  At length the old man\nopened his eyes and arose.  But he was no longer an old man.  Instead\nthere stood a handsome, young warrior.  He reached out his hand to\nOdjibaa and said:\n\n\"I can never thank you for all you have done for me.  See, you have\ngiven me back my youth and strength.  Now I shall never grow old.  You\nmust stay and live with me and I shall make you a great chief.\"\nOdjibaa replied:\n\n\"No, I must go back to my brothers.  I shall leave early to-morrow\nmorning.\"  Then the magician began to get ready a bundle for Odjibaa.\nHe put blankets, beads, feathers, and paints in it, but he said no word\nabout the Red Swan, and Odjibaa did not like to ask him.  The next\nmorning the hunter said good-bye to the magician and prepared to go.\n\n\"Wait, my friend,\" he said, as he opened the door in the wall.  A\nbeautiful maiden stepped forth.  \"This is my sister, Red Swan.  She is\nto be yours, as you saved my scalp.\"\n\nOdjibaa was overjoyed at this.  He thanked the magician again; then\ntaking the maiden by the hand, they set out for his home.\n\n\n\n\nTHE WHISPERING GRASS\n\nOnce, many long years ago, there was a green hill covered with long\ngrass, which whispered and talked as the wind blew through it.  It was\nthe great friend of all the animals, especially the wild deer, the gray\nwolf, and the fox.\n\nOne summer day the whispering grass was very excited.  The south wind\nhad brought strange news to it, and now, as the sun rose up to noonday,\nthey could see this strange thing for themselves.  It meant great\ndanger to their friends the animals, and they must send a message to\nwarn them.  So the grass called to the butterflies, and told them to go\nat once to the deer, the wolf, and the fox, and tell them to come to\nthe green hill.  Away flew the butterflies, and soon the animals had\ngathered to hear what this message might mean.\n\n\"Listen, my brothers,\" said the whispering grass.  \"There is great\ndanger for you this day, for across the prairie there comes a band of\nhunters to take your lives.\"\n\n\"Hunters?  What are they?\" asked the animals.  \"We have never heard of\nsuch things.\"\n\n\"They are Indians,\" returned the grass, \"with bows and arrows--deadly\narrows that will pierce your hearts.  These hunters are very near, and\nonce they see you they will shoot their arrows at you, and that is your\nend.\"\n\n\"What must we do?\" asked the animals.  \"You are wise, whispering grass;\ntell us what we may do to save ourselves.\"\n\n\"Go to your homes,\" answered the grass, \"and remain there until sundown\nto-morrow.  If all is safe, I shall send my messengers, the\nbutterflies, to you at that hour to tell you to come to me.\"\n\nThe animals did as they were commanded, and by the time the hunters\nreached the foot of the hill, there was nothing living to be seen but\nsome dainty butterflies that hovered above the grass.  The remainder of\nthat day and all the next the hunters searched for game in the hills,\nbut not a deer could they see, not a wolf, not a fox.  In the late\nafternoon they returned to their camp at the foot of the hill.  They\nwere tired and very hungry, for they had not brought food with them, as\nthey expected to find game.\n\n\"Let us return,\" said one hunter.  \"There is no game in this land, and\nI am hungry.  Let us go back to our village.\"\n\n\"Not so,\" said the second hunter.  \"Let us wait until to-morrow.\nPerhaps to-morrow we shall see game.\"\n\n\"Yes, let us wait until to-morrow,\" said a third hunter, \"and to-night\nwe shall eat grass.  See, yonder is a hill well covered with grass.  If\nthe animals eat it, why can not we?\"\n\n\"But it is whispering grass,\" said the first hunter, in a low voice.\n\"And he who eats of whispering grass can no longer kill anything with\nhis arrows.\"\n\n\"Not so, brother,\" said the second hunter.  \"It is not whispering\ngrass.  Listen; there is a west wind blowing through it, and yet we can\nhear no sound of whispering.\"\n\nThey all listened intently, and as the second hunter had said, there\nwas no sound of whispering.  The wind was waving the grass blades and\nbending them low, and not a sound came from them.\n\n\"You are right.  It is not whispering grass,\" said the first hunter,\n\"and I am hungry; let us eat.\"\n\nSo they all gathered many handfuls of the green grass, and putting it\ninto a pot, they boiled it, then gathering around the pot, they ate the\ngrass with much relish.  Then, rolling themselves in their deerskins,\nthey fell asleep.\n\nIt was now the sunset hour; so, calling the butterflies to it, the\nwhispering grass gave them a message for the animals.\n\n\"Go to your brothers,\" it said, \"and tell them all is safe now; that at\nsunrise to-morrow morning they may come forth from their homes and\nwander as usual among the hills.  Their enemies, the hunters, will try\nto shoot them with their arrows, but they must not be afraid, for now\nthese arrows can never touch them.\"\n\nThe butterflies flew away quickly and gave the message to the deer, the\nwolf, and the fox.\n\nAt sunrise the next morning the animals came forth gladly, and they had\nnot gone far, when they saw the hunters coming towards them.\nRemembering the message of their friend, the grass, they did not fear\nto remain, and soon saw that the grass had been right.  The hunters\naimed their arrows at them and shot, but every arrow flew through the\nair and fell harmlessly at their feet.  All day this strange thing\nhappened, and at last the hunters, tired and discouraged, went back to\ntheir camp at the foot of the hill.\n\n\"My brothers,\" said the first hunter, \"that was indeed whispering grass\nwhich we ate last night.  For see, all day our arrows have failed to\nhit their mark, though the game has been many.\"\n\n\"Why did the grass not whisper, then?\" asked the second hunter.  \"It\ndeceived us.\"\n\n\"Yes, it deceived us,\" said the third hunter.  \"It kept silence while\nwe listened, so that we might be tempted to eat of it.  Now we have\nlost our power of hunting and shall be laughed at by the other hunters.\"\n\n\"We must fight this whispering grass,\" said the first hunter.  \"Let us\ngo and pull it up by the roots, so that never again it may be able to\ndeceive any hunter.\"\n\n\"Let us wait until the moon rises high in the sky,\" said the second\nhunter.  \"Then, indeed, we shall uproot the whispering grass and leave\nthe green hill bare and naked.\"\n\nThe butterflies, who had been hovering near, heard what the Indians\nwere saying, and now they flew with all speed to the animals and told\nthem what was going to happen to the whispering grass.\n\n\"Oh, my brothers,\" said the butterflies, \"your enemies, the hunters,\nhave planned to kill the whispering grass to-night.  Can you not save\nit?\"\n\n\"We must save it,\" said the deer.  \"The whispering grass is our friend.\nIt saved our lives, and now we must save it.\"  Turning to the fox, the\ndeer said, \"Oh, brother, you are wise and great.  Can you not think of\na plan to save the grass?\"\n\n\"I am not wise enough for that,\" said the fox, \"but I know one who is\nwise.  You, my brothers, remain here, while I run with all speed to the\nDark Hills where the Manitou of the Bright Fire lives.  He is wise and\ngreat, and he will help us.\"\n\nSaying this, the fox ran at full speed in the direction of a long line\nof hills, and it was not long before he reached a small opening which\nled down under them.  Entering this, he found himself in a long\npassage, at the end of which a red light could be seen.  When he\nreached the end of the passage, he found himself in a large, low cave.\nIn the centre of this cave a bright red fire glowed, and by its light\nhe could see a dark figure seated on the floor near the fire.  It\nturned its face as the fox entered, and he saw the kind face of the\nManitou of the Bright Fire.\n\n\"You have come to me for help,\" said the Manitou, in a deep, soft\nvoice.  \"What is wrong, my brother?\"\n\n\"Our friend, the whispering grass, is going to be uprooted to-night by\nthe hunters,\" said the fox.  \"Can you tell us how to save the grass,\nfor it has been kind and has saved us from these same hunters?\"\n\n\"My brother,\" said the Manitou, \"do you see these things which look\nlike dark stones?\"  As he said this, he pointed to where a heap of\nblack objects resembling stones was lying on the floor of the cave.  \"I\nhave gathered these from the bowels of the earth.  Many years ago\nGitche Manitou, the Mighty Spirit, put them there.  He took pieces of\nthe midnight sky and mixed with each piece a million sunbeams.  Then He\nhid these deep in the earth, where man would find them when he needed\nlight and heat.  I shall place some of these dark stones in my fire,\nwhile you return to your brothers, the wolf and the deer.  Bid them\nreturn with you, and when you again reach my cave these stones shall be\nready for you.  Now go, and waste no time, for you must have everything\nready before the hunters awaken.\"\n\nThe fox needed no second bidding.  Away he went like the wind.  When he\nreached the deer and the wolf, he found them anxiously waiting for him.\nQuickly giving them the Manitou's message, they all ran back to the\ncave.  When they reached it, they found that the Manitou had placed a\nnumber of the dark stones in his fire, and that now they were no longer\ndark stones but bright red ones.\n\n\"My children,\" said the Manitou, \"take these burning coals and place\nthem in a circle on the hillside among the whispering grass.  They will\nnot harm the grass and their heat will not burn you as you journey\nback.  But after this, always beware of a glowing fire, for I can give\nyou my protection this time only.\"\n\nThe animals at once seized as many of the burning coals as they could\ncarry and raced back to the hill.  The night was dark, as the moon had\nnot yet risen, and when at length they gained the hillside, they saw\nthat the hunters still slept.  Obeying the Manitou, they placed the\ncoals in a circle on the side of the hill, and then hid behind some\ntrees.\n\nScarcely had they done this, when the hunters awakened.  At once they\nnoticed the strange, glowing circle on the hillside.  They rubbed their\neyes and looked again; it was still there, burning and yet having no\nflame.  Terrified, they gazed at it, not daring to climb the hillside.\nAt last one said:\n\n\"My brothers, let us return at once to our village.  This whispering\ngrass must be a great friend of Gitche Manitou, and we have done wrong\nto eat of it.  Let us return and warn our brothers.\"\n\n\"You are right, my brother,\" said the other hunter.  \"We will return\nand tell of this strange, terrible warning which Gitche Manitou has\nsent to us.\"\n\nSo saying, they turned and disappeared rapidly in the darkness, while\nthe circle on the hillside glowed brightly until the sun rose.  When\ndaylight came there was nothing to be seen of the coals, but on the\nhillside where they had been there was a large, brown circle, which\ncould be seen quite plainly from the valley.  And there it can be seen\nto this day.\n\nOn climbing the hill, the circle vanishes, and not a spot of burnt\ngrass is to be found, but always from the valley below the brown circle\ncan be seen.  And the animals from that night have been afraid of\nglowing fire, for they know the Manitou cannot give his protection\nanother time.\n\nBut he has been their greatest friend ever since that night.  When they\nare in any trouble they go at once to the Dark Hills, and, creeping\nthrough the long passage, reach the cave where the bright fire glows.\nThere they tell the kind Manitou all that makes them sad, and he\ncomforts them.  In the autumn he tells the deer where to hide in the\nhills, so that the hunters cannot kill them.  In the long, cold winter\nhe tells the hungry gray wolf where to find food, and in the summer he\nshows the red fox how to double on his trail so that none may catch\nhim.  And to all of them he has taught the secret of the glowing fire,\nthat its brightness means danger, save when they rest beside it in his\ncave under the Dark Hills.\n\n\n\n\nTHE LEGEND OF MACKINAC ISLAND\n\nMany years ago, a party of wild Ojibwa Indians were resting on the\nshore of Lake Huron.  The story-tellers of the tribe were telling many\nof their magic tales.  One of them spoke, and said, \"A wigwam stands in\nthe deep.  At the bottom of the lake a big turtle lies asleep in this\nwigwam.  Around him swim white fish and trout, and the slow-worm goes\ncreeping by.  The scream of the sea gull and the shouts of the rovers\ndo not waken him.  Nothing can disturb his slumber but the magic song.\"\n\nThen one of the Indians spoke, \"Let us sing the magic song.  Let us\nwaken this big turtle from his long sleep.\"\n\nSo they all began to sing a strange, wild song.  The sound floated out\nover the quiet waters of the lake.  Suddenly the waves began to rise\nand roll to the shore, although there was no wind blowing.  The centre\nof the lake seemed to rise higher; then slowly there appeared above the\nwaters the curved back of the big turtle called Mishini-Makinak,\ntoiling up to answer their call.  Then the dragging tail appeared like\na fleshy cape, and the jowl like a headland of dark rock.  The Indians\nstood along the shore, staring in frightened surprise, as the monster\narose like an island in the midst of the waves.\n\nAs the days went by, the turtle called his children from their silent\nhomes to come and play around him.  Up the lake and down over the falls\ncame the dappled trout and the white fish, to play in the silvery tide,\nand by night the fairies danced on the rocky cliffs.  For many days the\nred men watched eagerly, afraid to go to the magic island, but at last\nthey paddled their birch-bark canoes across the waves to the pebbly\nbeach.  From that time Mishini-Makinak was their home.\n\n\n\n\nTHE ADVENTURES OF WESAKCHAK\n\nI.  THE WONDERFUL BALL\n\nWesakchak was once the only person living.  He found himself floating\nall alone on the water.  Above him was the sky, and all around and\nabout stretched water.  He called aloud, but no one answered.  Then he\nnoticed a little, dark object floating near him.  It was a rat.\n\n\"My little brother,\" said Wesakchak, \"we are all alone in this world of\nsky and water.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said the rat.  \"But I am not afraid, for you are with me.  Are\nyou afraid?\"\n\n\"No,\" said Wesakchak, \"for the Mighty One will take care of us both.\nDo you go below and see if you can find any land.\"\n\nThe rat quickly obeyed Wesakchak and sank down through the water in\nsearch of dry land.  He was gone a long time, and Wesakchak began to\nwonder if he were ever coming back.  At last he floated up, but he was\ndead, and in his paws there was a little bit of clay.  Wesakchak was\nvery sorry when he saw that his little comrade was dead.  He took the\nclay from the rat's paws and breathed upon it.  Now Wesakchak was\ngreater than a human being; he was really a spirit.  So when he\nbreathed upon the clay, it formed itself into a ball and began to grow.\nHe rolled the ball in his hands, and when it grew a little larger, he\nsaid a few words over it.  At once there came forth a little mouse, who\nbegan running around the ball.  The mouse was just the color of the\nearth.  Wesakchak said to it, \"Your name shall be The Mouse and you\nshall always live amid the people, and your color shall be the color of\nthe earth.\" So to this day we find the mouse in the homes of people,\nand it always is the same dark gray color.\n\nAs the mouse continued running, the ball kept growing.  In a few\nminutes Wesakchak said some more words and out ran a little chipmunk.\nHe began chasing around the ball too, but he could not stay on as well\nas the mouse.  He slipped and nearly fell off several times.  Wesakchak\ncaught him and put him safely on again, but in doing so left the marks\nof his fingers on the chipmunk's back.  And there they have remained\never since, and look like dark brown stripes.\n\nThe two little animals kept on running and Wesakchak now brought forth\na red squirrel.  There was a strong wind blowing, and the squirrel\nseemed timid.  He would run for a little distance and then sit down.\nThe wind would catch his bushy tail and blow it up over his head as he\nsat there, and so ever afterwards the squirrel curled his tail up when\nhe sat down.\n\nThe ball kept growing larger and larger, and Wesakchak brought forth\none animal after another.  The rabbit, the fox, the wolf, the bear, and\nall the rest of them came out as they were called, until at last the\nball was as big as the earth.  Then he called forth the moose, and when\nit came and saw miles and miles of prairie, it ran for five miles\nwithout stopping.  To this day the moose, when chased, always runs five\nmiles before it stops.\n\nWhen Wesakchak had all the animals on the earth, he gave them all their\nhomes.  Some were to live in the forests, some among the mountains, and\nothers were to live on the prairies.  He made little creeks to flow to\ndivide their feeding-grounds, and they were told not to cross these\nwater lines.  The water in the creeks was not clean.  It had green\nslime floating on the top, and reeds and rushes grew thickly amongst\nit.  He made the water this way because he did not wish the animals to\ndrink it.  Then he made beautiful, clear rivers flow through the land\nto be their drinking water.  In the rivers he made fish swim, and\ncalled all the animals who lived on fish to come and live near the\nbanks of the rivers.  In the trees he told the birds to build their\nnests, and soon all the animals and birds were happy and contented in\ntheir homes.\n\nThey all loved Wesakchak, for he was so wise and good.  He was kind to\nthem all and called them his brothers.  He knew the secrets of the\nanimals: why the moose is ungainly and has no flesh on his bones, why\nthe rabbit's ears are long and have each a little roll of flesh behind\nit, and why the rat has no hair upon its tail.  He understood all the\nlanguages of the animals, and each came to him when it was in trouble.\n\nThere was one animal who was very smart and clever.  He was about the\nsize of the wolf and was called the wolverine.  He had beautiful, soft\nfur, long, straight legs, and firm feet.  But he was not liked by the\nother animals, for he was very conceited.  He was always talking about\nhis beautiful fur and his long legs.  He would ask the other animals to\nrace with him, because he knew he could always win.  Then he would\nlaugh at them for not being able to run as fast as he could.  He was\nalways getting into mischief, too, and never seemed happy unless he was\nplaying a trick on some other animal.  The other animals often came and\ntold Wesakchak how mean the wolverine was to them.  He would tell them\nto try to be patient, and then he would scold the wolverine for being\nso unkind.  The wolverine would pretend he was very sorry, but the very\nnext day he would do some more mean tricks.\n\nOne day he came past the wigwam of Wesakchak.  Looking in, he saw that\nit was empty, and that the Fire Bag, where Wesakchak always kept his\nsteel and flint and his pipe and tobacco-pouch, was hanging on the\nwall.  The wolverine looked around and saw that no one was near, so he\nsneaked in and grabbed the bag.  He ran away through the bush with it\nuntil he came to a tall tamarac tree.  He climbed the tree and hung the\nbag on one of the branches.  Then he jumped down and ran away, laughing\nto himself at the trick he had played on Wesakchak.\n\nWhen Wesakchak returned home, it was nearly evening, and he was tired\nand hungry.  He looked around for his Fire Bag, for he wished to make a\nfire.  The way they got a spark in those days was to strike the steel\nand flint together; a spark would fly forth and set the dry bark on\nfire.  But Wesakchak could not find his bag.  He looked all over the\nwigwam, still he could not find it.  Then he noticed footmarks on the\nground near the door.  Looking closely, he saw whose they were.  \"It is\nthat mischief-maker, the wolverine, who has taken my bag,\" he said.  \"I\nshall go in search of it.  And if I meet him, I shall punish him well\nfor all his mischief-making.\"  He set forth in search of the precious\nbag.  All night he wandered through the forest, but could not find it.\nWhen the morning came, he went back to his wigwam and sat down to think\nwhat he was to do.  \"If I had my pipe,\" he said to himself, \"I would\nnot feel so sad.\"\n\nAs he sat there, he thought he heard a noise like the wolverine behind\nhis lodge.  Going out quickly, he saw the scamp among the trees.\nWesakchak followed, but could see nothing more of the animal.  He\ntramped on until he was tired, then turned homewards again.\n\nAs he was passing near a tall tree, he looked up, and there was his\nFire Bag hanging from one of the highest branches.  The tree was smooth\nand tall, and as Wesakchak began to climb he found himself slipping\ndown very often.  Then he would catch hold quickly with his feet and\nhands.  After very hard work he succeeded at last in reaching the bag.\nThen he slid quickly down the tree.  But when he looked up at it, he\nsaw that its bark was hanging in torn pieces where he had caught it\nwith his feet and hands.  So, to this day, the tamarac bark hangs in\ntattered shreds to show that Wesakchak once climbed it.\n\nOn the way home he heard the wolverine, who was just trying to sneak\naway among the bushes.\n\n\"Come forth here, brother wolverine,\" called Wesakchak.  \"I want to\ntalk to you.\"\n\nThe wolverine came out and stood in front of him.  He did not look a\nbit sorry for what he had done.\n\n\"You are always getting into mischief,\" said Wesakchak.  \"Now, I am\ngoing to punish you for playing so many mean tricks.  After this your\nlegs will be very short and crooked, and you will not be able to run as\nfast as you did before.\"\n\nAs he said this, the wolverine's legs grew short and bent, and with an\nangry growl the animal disappeared among the trees.\n\n\n\nII.  A WONDERFUL JOURNEY\n\nOne day Wesakchak decided to go on a long journey.  He knew that\nsomewhere, many miles away, there was a village where people lived, and\nhe made up his mind to go and see them.\n\nThe birds all loved Wesakchak, so a great many of them had given him\ntheir feathers to make into a suit.  When it was finished, it was very\nbeautiful.  The vest was of snow-white feathers from the pigeons'\nbreasts, the coat, of shining blue ones, given by the bluebirds.  The\nleggings were made of black and brown feathers, which the blackbirds\nand thrushes had gladly sent to him.  Around his neck and wrists he put\nbright yellow feathers, the gift of the canaries.  In his hair he wore\nthe eagle's feathers, for he was a great chief.\n\nHe set off early one morning, and as he travelled on, the birds and\nanimals whom he passed all spoke to him.  By and by he met a\nprairie-chicken.  In those days the prairie-chicken was a pale gray\ncolor.\n\n\"Good-morning, brother prairie-chicken,\" said Wesakchak.  \"I have been\nhearing strange tales about you.  The animals tell me that you are very\nproud of the way that you can startle them.\"\n\n\"But I only remain still in the grass until they come close to me and\nthen fly up suddenly,\" replied the prairie-chicken.  \"I do not mean to\nfrighten them, but it is great fun to see them jump.\"\n\n\"That may be so,\" said Wesakchak.  \"But it is not kind of you to fly up\nin their faces.  Then I hear that you are so proud of this, that you\ncall yourself 'Kee-koo,' or the Startsome Bird.\"\n\nThe prairie-chicken did not reply to this, but remained still in the\ngrass.\n\n\"Why do you not fly up in front of me?\" asked Wesakchak.  Still the\nprairie-chicken did not move or speak.  Suddenly Wesakchak leaned down\nand gathered a handful of little stones.\n\n\"Start now,\" he said, as he threw them at the chicken.  The small\npebbles lit on its back and it flew up suddenly.  The stones rolled\noff, but their marks remained, and so after that the prairie-chicken\nwas always speckled.\n\nWesakchak continued his journey, and late in the afternoon he came to a\ncreek.  The water of the little stream was not clean enough to wade\nthrough, for green slime floated on the top and reeds grew in its boggy\nmud.  It was rather too wide to jump, but Wesakchak decided to make a\nrunning jump and see if he could get across.   He ran back a pace on\nthe prairie, then forward to the bank, but the prairie-grass was so\nlong that his feet became entangled, so he went back to start again.\nHe did this two or three times, and at last had the grass packed down\nenough so that he could make a good run.  Then he came forward at a\ngreat speed and made a leap.  But just as he did so, the\nprairie-chicken flew up at his feet, and he fell face downwards in the\nswampy water.\n\nWesakchak was very vexed, and he called out to the prairie-chicken,\n\"This is a mean trick you have played on me, and in punishment you\nshall not be able to fly very well after this.\"  The prairie-chicken\nheard him and began to fly towards the forest, but its wings seemed\nshorter than they used to be and it fluttered away amid the tall grass.\n\nAs Wesakchak waded out through the reeds, each bent before him, making\na path that has remained there ever since.  When he reached the shore,\nit look him a long time to clean his beautiful suit, and by the time he\nwas ready to go on, it was nearly evening.  He was anxious to reach the\nvillage before nightfall, so he hurried on, wishing he could find some\none to take him the rest of the way, for he was feeling tired.\n\nAfter a time he came in sight of a little lake, and there saw two swans\nfloating on the water.  He called to them, but they did not seem to\nhear, so he jumped into the water and dove down to the bottom.  Then he\ncame up under the swans and caught each one by the legs.  They flew up\nwith him hanging to their feet.\n\n\"Take me to the village that is built on the river bank,\" Wesakchak\nsaid to them.  They did not answer, but flew rapidly through the air.\n\nAfter they had gone some miles, he noticed they were not taking the\nright direction.  He called to them and told them to turn to the east,\nbut they did not reply.  When he saw they were not going to obey, he\nhung on tightly by one hand, and reaching up, he caught one swan by the\nneck.  He tried to pull its head down so that he could talk to it, but\nthe harder he pulled, the firmer it held its head up, until at last its\nneck was turned into a curve.  He then tried the other swan, but with\nno more success, so now both birds had their beautiful, white necks\ncurved like the letter S.  When Wesakchak saw they would not listen to\nhim, and that they were taking him in the wrong direction, he let go\nhis hold of their feet and dropped like a stone through the air.  He\nlanded on a hollow stump, and with such force that he sank deep into\nthe soft wood.  Not a sign of him could be seen; he had disappeared\nentirely.  After some time two squaws came to get the soft, yellow wood\nfrom the stump.  They use this wood to smoke their buckskins, because\nit gives the skin a nice color.  They had brought axes with them to\nchop down the stump.  As they began chopping, they heard a noise like\ngroans coming from within the stump.  They were very frightened and\nthought it was a bear.  Just as they were turning to run away Wesakchak\ncalled to them.\n\n\"It is no bear,\" said the first woman.  \"It is the wise man, Wesakchak,\nwho is coming to visit us.\"\n\n\"It is, indeed, he,\" said the second woman.  \"We must chop him out.\"\n\nSo they set to work with their axes, and in a little while had chopped\nopen the stump and set him free.  They were overjoyed when they saw it\nwas really Wesakchak whom they had freed, and they took him with them\nto the village, where all came forth to welcome him.\n\n\n\nIII.  THE GRAY GOOSE\n\nMany years ago, when Wesakchak was the only man upon the earth, there\nwas a being, the Evil Spirit, who did not love him.  This spirit was\nvery wicked, and when he saw how much the animals loved Wesakchak, he\nmade up his mind to carry out a cunning scheme, for he wanted to become\nthe master of the animals himself, and it made him very jealous to see\nhow they obeyed Wesakchak.\n\nBut the North Wind, when it was passing by his wigwam, heard the Evil\nSpirit say what he was going to do.  The wind passed on, and when it\ncame to the birch-tree, it told her.  She told it to her leaves, and\nthey rustled in the wind, as they listened to the terrible plan.  \"Oh,\nNorth Wind,\" said the birch-tree, \"will you carry my leaves to the\nwigwam of Wesakchak, and they will tell him of his danger?\"  So the\nNorth Wind took the dried leaves of the birch-tree and carried them\nmany miles, until they reached the wigwam of Wesakchak.  There it\ndropped them at his door.\n\nWesakchak was sitting by the fire, and he heard the rustling leaves.\n\"Listen!\" they said to him, \"We have a message for you.\"  Then they\ntold him of the terrible plan the North Wind had overheard.  It was in\nthe spring the Evil Spirit was going to carry out his purpose.\n\nWesakchak hunted all winter in the forest.  When spring came, he was\nnear the edge of the woods one day, and as he stepped out into the\nprairie, he heard a little rustle at his feet.  He looked down and saw\nsome leaves of the birch-tree.  \"Remember the message we carried to\nyou, O Master,\" they said.  Wesakchak answered, \"Yes, I remember.  It\nis now spring, and I shall go back to my wigwam for my bow and arrows.\nThen I shall go in search of the Evil Spirit, my enemy.\"\n\nThe next day Wesakchak left his lodge and travelled over the prairie.\nTowards nightfall he reached a low valley.  He saw that the snow was\nmelting and that some feet of water lay in the valley.  But he did not\nstop for this.  He walked on through the water, never resting even when\nthe darkness descended.  But when the sun rose next morning, he saw\nthat the plan of the Evil Spirit was being carried out, for all around\nhim lay water.  The Evil Spirit had melted the snow during the night,\nand now every little stream was swollen as big as a river, and the\nvalley was full of water to the brim.\n\nWesakchak had to swim, and after he had gone some miles, he began to\nfeel very tired.  Then the jackfish swam up to him and said, \"My\nMaster, get on my back and I shall take you safely to the land.\"\nWesakchak at once did as he was told, and the jackfish, who was strong\nand a swift swimmer, soon brought him safely to the dry land.\n\nThen Wesakchak went home to his lodge.  It was not far away, and he\ncould see it rising out of the water like an island, for the land on\nwhich it was built was a tiny hill.  He was very glad to be inside his\nwigwam and to sit down beside the fire; but as he looked out through\nthe open door, he saw the water rising steadily, and knew that by\nmorning it would be in his lodge, and that he, if no help came, would\nbe drowned.\n\nWesakchak was very tired, and as he sat there thinking, he fell asleep,\nand he had a strange dream.  He thought Nihka, the wild goose, flew\ninto the wigwam and around and around near the top, napping her wings\nand crying.  She seemed to say, \"Give me a message!  Give me a message!\nAnd I shall save you.\"  Around and around she flew, and at last lighted\nin the ashes of the smouldering fire and disappeared.\n\nThen Wesakchak wakened, and as he looked around the wigwam, he knew\nthat Nihka must have been there, for everything had fallen on the floor\nas if struck by her wings, and the floor of the lodge was covered with\nashes.  The fire was out, and in the centre of it lay the quill of a\ngoose.  Wesakchak picked it up, and saw that a little piece of birch\nbark was rolled inside.  He pulled it out, and as he did so, he heard\nthe honk-honk of a wild goose, and Nihka flew in at the door.\n\n\"Write on the birch bark,\" she said, \"and I shall take it to your\nfriend the beaver.\"\n\nWesakchak did as she told him.  He wrote a message on the birch bark\nand slipped it in the hollow end of the quill.  As he gave it to Nihka,\nhe saw that she was no longer white as she had been, but was gray with\nthe ashes of the fire, and marked with black specks where the cinders\nhad touched her.  Her breast was still white, and a small patch under\nher wings.\n\nNihka took the quill and flew off at once.  It was not long before\nWesakchak saw the beaver coming to him through the water.  When he came\nclose, Wesakchak saw that he carried mud in his paws and on his broad,\nflat tail.  When he reached the door of the lodge, he put the mud down\nand patted it smooth and hard with his tail.  Then he swam away and\nbrought back more, and this he did until he had made a path across the\nwater.  Wesakchak had stood watching the beaver as he worked, and now\nas it was finished, he said:\n\n\"Brother Beaver, this is a wonderful bridge you have made for me.  How\ndid you learn to do it?  Surely the Great Spirit has taught you this,\nto make a path of land in the midst of the water.\"\n\n\"Yes, Master,\" answered the beaver, \"the Great Spirit has taught me how\nto do this, that you might escape the wicked snares of your enemy.  If\nyou cross to the other side, you will be safe.\"\n\n\"Thank you, Brother Beaver,\" said Wesakchak, \"I shall do as you say,\"\nand stepping out on the mud bridge, he walked safely to dry land.\n\nThen, in memory of this kindness, Wesakchak told the beaver that from\nthat time he might always build a path across the water to remind his\nchildren of what he had done.  Then, turning to the goose, he told her\nthat he wished her to wear always her dress of gray and black, so that\nthe world might not forget her loving service.\n\nEach spring, the Evil Spirit, who is the spring flood, grows wild with\nrage, as he remembers how his plan was spoiled, and he tries to waste\nthe lands of Wesakchak and his children.  But this is always in vain,\nfor the Evil One can never win.\n\n\n\nIV.  LITTLE BROTHER RABBIT\n\nOne autumn Wesakchak felt very sad.  All through the summer there had\nbeen no rain.  The prairie grass was burnt brown and dry.  The little\nstreams had grown smaller and narrower, until at last not a drop of\nwater was left.  The animals, finding no grass to eat and no water to\ndrink, had all gone to the far north-west, where the Great River came\ndown from the mountains.  For they knew that along its banks they would\nfind grass to eat.  Wesakchak wondered if the Great Spirit were angry\nwith the people of the plains when He sent them these long, hot days\nand nights.  Why did He let the animals go away from them, leaving the\nhunters no game to kill?  The little children were crying for food, and\nthe warriors had grown thin and sad during this summer.  And now the\nfever had come, and in the lodges many sick were lying.\n\nWesakchak felt that he must do something for his people, so he asked\nthe Great Spirit to show him where the animals lived, so that he might\ntell his hunters and save the lives of all in the tribe.  Then\nWesakchak took his canoe and carried it until he came to the Great\nRiver.  Getting in, he paddled for many days and many nights.  He\nwatched all the time, to see if any game came near the banks, but he\nsaw no sign of any.\n\nAt last, after he had gone many hundreds of miles, he felt so tired\nthat he knew he must rest.  He drew his canoe up to the side of the\nriver and made a lodge from the branches of trees.  Here he slept\nduring the night, and when morning came, he arose quite rested.  Before\nhe had gone to sleep that night he had noticed that the clouds hung\nlow, and he had wondered if there would be snow in the morning.  Now,\nwhen he came forth from his lodge, he saw that all the land was white.\nDuring the night a heavy fall of soft snow had come, and all the trees\nand the prairie were covered with it.\n\nWesakchak was greatly pleased, for this was just what he had hoped for.\nNow he would be able to see the marks of the animals and trace them to\ntheir homes.  Going down to the river, he was delighted to find the\ntrail of deer, who had been down for a drink.  There were also the\nmarks of the other animals, and now Wesakchak made up his mind to\nfollow these trails and find where the animals were living.  He set\nout, and tramped for many miles.  The sun arose and shone on the snow,\nmaking everything a dazzling white.  But Wesakchak did not mind, and\ntramped on.  At length he knew he was near the place where the animals\nwere living.  He took a good look at the trees, so that he could tell\nthe hunters where to find them.  Then he turned to hurry back, for he\nwished to let them know as soon as possible.  He tramped on again for a\nlong time, but he did not seem to be getting any nearer to the river.\nHe stopped and looked around.  Everything was glistening white, and\nnowhere could he see a river or a tree.  He wondered if he were lost\nand what he would do, for he knew that if the sick people did not get\nfood soon, they would die.  He turned in another direction and\ntravelled for some time.  Then stopping, he looked around once more.\nAgain all was glistening white, dazzling his eyes so much that he could\nsee nothing.  He knew now that he was snowblind, and felt very sad\nindeed, for how could he get the news to the hunters in time to save\nthe sick ones, when he could not find the river and his canoe?  If only\nthere was something to guide him,--some dark object that he could see;\nbut everything was a dazzling whiteness.\n\nJust then he noticed a little, brown object in front of him.  As he\nlooked at it, it hopped a few steps ahead and then stopped.\n\n\"Oh, Brother Rabbit,\" called Wesakchak, \"I am so glad to see you.  I\ncannot find the river and I want to get back and tell the hunters where\nthe game is living.\"\n\n\"Let me guide you,\" said the rabbit.  \"Keep watching me, and you can\nsee my dark fur against the white snow.\"\n\nAs he said this he hopped away, and Wesakchak, looking only at the\nlittle, dark body, was able to follow, till at last they reached the\nbank of the river.  The canoe was there, and Wesakchak stepped in at\nonce, glad that he would now be able to carry the good news to the\nwarriors and hunters.  Before he paddled away he turned to the rabbit\nand said:\n\n\"My little Brother Rabbit, you have been very kind to me, indeed, and\nthrough your kindness the lives of our tribe will be saved.  In return\nfor this your brown fur shall become white as the first snowfall, so\nthat no one will be able to see your body against the snow.  In this\nway you may protect yourself, and people will know how kind the rabbit\nwas to Wesakchak.\"\n\nAs he spoke, the rabbit's fur suddenly became pure white, and it looked\nlike a little ball of snow near the bushes.  Wesakchak smiled when he\nsaw this and said:\n\n\"Your enemies will need to have sharp eyes now, little Brother Rabbit,\nfor you will give them many a long chase over the winter prairies.\"\n\n\n\nV.  THE BALD-HEADED EAGLES\n\nOne day Wesakchak was seated at the door of his lodge, when he noticed\ntwo eagles circling high in the air above him.\n\n\"Come down, my brothers,\" he called.  \"I wish to speak to you.\"\n\nThe eagles slowly descended, and Wesakchak said, \"I wish you to take me\non your backs for a ride.  This is a very warm day and I know it must\nbe cool high up in the air where you fly.\"\n\n\"But we are going home to our nests,\" replied the eagles.  \"It is on a\nvery high cliff many miles from here, and you will not care to go\nthere.\"\n\n\"Yes, I shall,\" replied Wesakchak.  \"I should like to see your nest and\nyour young eaglets.  Take me on your backs with you.\"\n\nThe eagles did not seem very eager to take him, but Wesakchak, without\nwaiting for any more words, jumped on their backs, and they began to\nmount in the air.  Up and up they went, until at last they were as high\nas the clouds.  Wesakchak now began to feel rather cold and asked them\nto fly lower, but they gave him no answer.  On and on they went, and\nWesakchak clung tightly to their backs, for he felt very dizzy, being\nup so high in the air.  At last he began to wonder where their nest\ncould be, for he could see no sign of rocks or cliffs of any kind.\nAfter what seemed to be hours to him, the eagles began to descend, and\nin a few minutes they alighted on the top of a very high crag.\nWesakchak slipped from their backs and looked around, him.  Near him\nwas the nest of the eagles, and in it were the young, crying loudly for\nfood.\n\nBelow, Wesakchak could see the ground, which seemed miles away; above\nhim the clouds, which looked low and stormy.  The eagles fed their\nyoung, and after Wesakchak had waited awhile he said, \"Now, my\nbrothers, please take me to my home.\"\n\n\"You are tired of our cliff?\" asked the eagles.  \"Well, you must go\nhome yourself, for we are not going away for some hours.\"\n\n\"Oh, I cannot stay here that long,\" said Wesakchak.  \"Besides, I am\ntired and very hungry, and there is nothing here but bare rock.  You\nmust take me home.\"\n\nThe eagles did not dare to disobey Wesakchak, so they let him mount on\ntheir backs.  Then they began to fly slowly away.  After a while it\nseemed to him that they were going in the wrong direction.  He could\nsee snow-capped mountains, and, as his lodge was built on the prairies,\nhe said:\n\n\"My brothers, you are not taking me to my lodge.  You are going in the\nwrong direction.  Turn and fly the other way.\"  But the eagles, instead\nof answering, only flew more rapidly towards the mountains.  Again\nWesakchak called to them and again they did not reply.  He now saw that\nthey did not intend to take him home, and he began to wonder what he\ncould do.\n\nIn a few moments the eagles slowly circled around the top of a mountain\nfrom whose summit a large piece of ice was just ready to slip.  When\nthe eagles were directly above the ice, they suddenly turned with a\njerk and hurled Wesakchak from their backs.  Down, down he fell,\nalighting on the ice, which at once slipped from its place and began to\ndescend the mountain side with terrible rapidity.  Wesakchak clung\ndesperately to the icy block, and felt himself going with it and the\nloose pieces of rock and the small trees which it uprooted on its way.\nAs they came down, the speed became greater, until at last they were\nbounding over huge stones and across chasms, and with one terrible leap\nWesakchak flew through the air and alighted on the ground at the foot\nof the mountain.  Behind them their pathway down the mountain side was\nmarked by a deep ravine cut in the rocky sides of the hill.  And around\nWesakchak lay ice and stones and uprooted trees.\n\nHe lay perfectly still, for he was rendered insensible with the\nterrible force with which he had fallen.  After several hours he opened\nhis eyes, but was too weak to move.  He could hear the voices of two\nwolves near him.  One was saying, \"He is dead.  Let us go and eat him,\nfor I am very hungry.\"  Then the other wolf answered, \"No, he is not\ndead, and I think he is Wesakchak, for look, see his suit made of the\nfeathers of birds.  It is only Wesakchak who has a suit like that.\"\n\nWesakchak heard all this, but he could not move or speak.\n\nAs he lay there with his eyes open, he noticed two eagles circling high\nin the air above him.  This aroused him, and he called to the wolves in\na faint voice, \"My brothers, come near to me.\"  The wolves seemed\nsurprised, but they came slowly to his side.\n\n\"You were arguing a moment ago as to whether I was dead,\" said\nWesakchak to them.  \"Now you can see I am not dead, but I wish you to\npretend to be eating me, for I want those eagles to come down, and if\nthey think I am dead, they will come so that they can make a meal off\nme, too.\"\n\nThe wolves did as he asked them and pretended to be eating him.  When\nthe eagles saw this, they hovered lower for a moment or two, then\ndarted down.  Wesakchak was lying with his two arms stretched out at\nfull length, and now the eagles began to peck at the palms of his\nhands.  At once he grabbed them by the feathers on their heads.\n\n\"Now I have you,\" he said.  \"You shall be punished for playing such a\ntrick as this on me.\"\n\nThe eagles pulled desperately to try and get away, and Wesakchak clung\njust as desperately to their heads.  At last, with one mighty jerk,\nthey pulled their heads free, but Wesakchak still held the feathers in\nhis hands and their heads were bald.\n\n\"This shall be your punishment, then,\" said Wesakchak, very sternly.\n\"From this day you and all your race shall have no feathers on your\nheads, so that every one may know how unkind you have been to\nWesakchak.\"\n\nAnd so it has been.  From that day the two eagles and all their\nchildren have been bald-headed.\n\n\n\n\nA BATTLE WITH THE SIOUX\n\nLess than sixty years ago, the vast tracts of land which are now large\ncities and cultivated farms were prairie and forest.  Numerous tribes\nof Indians camped on these prairies in summer-time, and when the cold\nwinter came, they sought the shelter of the forest.  Most of these\ntribes were very warlike and fought with one another, but sometimes the\nwhite people were attacked by the savages.  The most warlike tribe was\nthe Sioux, and the white settlers, who were very few in number, were\nalways on the alert against their attacks.\n\nIn June, 1851, a party of three hundred hunters set out on their annual\nbuffalo hunt.  With them went the grave, kindly-faced missionary, who\nhad given up his life to work in the western wilds.  They travelled to\nthe westward, keeping a sharp lookout for Indian tribes, as their route\nnow lay through the Sioux territory.  After about three weeks' journey\nover the prairies, they decided to separate into two bands, as this is\nthe usual way in buffalo hunting.  But the older men thought this was\nnot safe, because they would need all their numbers if attacked by the\nIndians.  They talked it over for some time, and finally sixty-five\nhunters with their wives and children separated from the larger party\nand decided to go in a different direction.  Each party was to take the\ndirection of the Big Hill.\n\nAfter some time, two scouts came riding back from the larger party to\ntell the others that a tribe of Sioux had been seen by them, and to be\nvery watchful.   The hunters kept a watch, but saw nothing of the\nIndians, and at last, after about six days' journey, reached the Big\nHill.  Their chief sent five of the officers to have a look around and\nfind out the best place to pitch their camp, and also to see if there\nwere Indians in the neighborhood.  The five men rode to the top of the\nsmall ridge, and from there could see a camp in the distance.  They\ncould not tell whether it was their friends or the Indians, so they\nrode on, and on reaching the top of the higher ridge saw it was a camp\nof Sioux Indians.  Instead of going back to warn the hunters, they rode\non, and the Indians, who had sighted them at once, came forward to meet\nthem.  The Indians appeared very friendly, but while talking to the\nofficers they closed in, and the men saw that they were prisoners.  Two\nof them at once put spurs to their horses and made a dash for liberty.\nBefore the Indians could stop them, they had escaped, and had ridden\nback to the party.\n\nWhen the missionary and the hunters heard what had happened, they at\nonce pitched camp and began to fortify it.  They knew they could not\nsave the prisoners, and decided that it was better to defend themselves\nthan for all to lose their lives.\n\nThey had scarcely begun these preparations when two Sioux Indians rode\nup.  They said they had been sent to tell the hunters not to worry\nabout their companions.  The Indians would not harm them and would\nbring them back in safety the next day.  After delivering this message,\nthe Sioux rode away.  The hunters were not at all reassured, for they\nknew the Indians did not speak the truth, and had merely come as spies\nto find out how large their camp was.\n\nDuring the night the hunters continued their preparations.  They\narranged their carts in a circle, putting the shafts of one into the\nwheels of the next, so fastening them together.  Then they dug a hole\nin the centre of this fortification and in it put the women and\nchildren.   They threw the earth in little mounds, behind which they\ncould crouch and shoot.  By morning the fortification was complete.\nThe sentries, who had been watching all night, now gave warning that a\nband of Indians was approaching.  Thirty of the hunters mounted and\nrode forward to meet them.  Some of the Indians were in advance and\nhalted when the hunters reached them.  Suddenly a man on horseback came\ndashing past.  It was one of the officers who had been made prisoner.\n\n\"There is nothing but death for us all,\" he shouted.  \"They are two\nthousand strong and intend to massacre every one of us.\"  But the\nhunters did not let this daunt them; they rode up to the chief and\npretended they thought the Indians were friendly.  They gave them a few\npresents and asked them to journey back.  But the Indians, who now saw\nwhat an easy victory they could have, would not listen to this.  The\nhunters, seeing they meant to fight, turned their horses and galloped\nback to the camp.  Scarcely were they within the fortification when the\nIndians dashed up.  They had not waited for the main band to overtake\nthem, but with one fierce yell came on, expecting to overturn the\ncarts.   But the hunters, crouching behind the little mounds of earth,\naimed and fired.  Every shot was true, and the foremost warriors fell\nfrom their ponies.  The men reloaded and fired, and again the Indians\nbit the dust.  Those in the rear now withdrew to the top of the ridge\nto wait for the remainder of the band.  Another horseman came dashing\nup then, his horse all covered with foam.  It was the fourth prisoner.\nHis guard had been among the whites, and had allowed him to escape,\nfiring in the air as the prisoner escaped from the rear of the war\nparty.  The savages now came in sight, an immense number, confident of\nvictory because they were so strong.  The missionary said, \"My\nchildren, the Indians are very strong and great in number.  But fight\nbravely.  You have a Father above who sees this battle.  Trust in Him.\nDie if you must, but die bravely.\"\n\nWith fierce yells the savages surrounded the little camp.  They did not\ndream that a handful of men behind a barricade of wooden carts could\ncause them to retreat after killing the bravest of their warriors.  For\nfive hours bullets whistled back and forth over the heads of the men\nkneeling in the shelter of the carts.  The Indians had begun the battle\nconfident of victory, but as the time went on and warrior after warrior\nwas killed, their courage grew faint.  Late in the afternoon they said,\n\"Let us go back; it is of no use to fight them.  They have a Manitou\nwith them.\"\n\nThey began to retreat, and by evening all was peaceful where the battle\nhad been.  But the hunters knew that on the morrow the attack would be\nrenewed, and so did not let this deceive them.  All through the night\nthey could hear the hideous yells of the savages.  They decided to\nstart back in the morning, hoping to meet their friends, for they had\nsent two scouts, when the firing began, to tell them of the attack.\n\nThey arranged the carts in four rows and divided the hunters into four\nparties.  One party was to ride in front of the carts, another at the\nback, and the other two on the sides.  Then, if they sighted the\nIndians, they were to give the warning by two horsemen riding past each\nother on the top of the ridge.\n\nThey set out by daylight, and had not gone many miles when they saw two\nhorsemen ride past each other in their rear.  This was the signal of a\nfresh attack.  At once the party was halted; two rows of carts went to\none side, two to the other.  Then the ends were filled in, and the\ncircle was complete.  They began to dig a hole in the centre and throw\nup the mounds of dirt.  The women and children were hidden, and the\nhunters with loaded guns went behind their ramparts.  The large band of\nIndians advanced.  They were not so numerous as the day previous, but\nwere quite fierce for the fight.\n\nFor five hours the two fought.  At the end of that time the Indian\nchief advanced and signalled that the battle was over.  The hunters did\nnot believe him at first, but suddenly the tribe of Indians with their\nhorses at full gallop came dashing close to the camp.  They were\nyelling fiercely, and discharged their guns into the air as they rode\nby.  The noise was most hideous since the battle had begun, and for a\nsecond the hunters were fear-bound.  Then, as they realized that this\nwas really the end of the fight, their shouts of joy rang out in answer\nto the Indians' yells.   The Indians now retreated, and hardly had they\ndisappeared when the big party of hunters galloped up.  They were\naccompanied by two hundred Saultaux who had joined them to help to\ndrive back the Sioux.  At first they were all going to follow, but\nfinally they decided they had had enough of fighting and would go on in\nsearch of the buffalo.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Pronouncing Vocabulary - first page]\n\n[Illustration: Pronouncing Vocabulary - second page]","title":"Thirty Indian legends","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":39911}