{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_36241/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_36241","id":"gutenberg_36241","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36241","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Short Stories","Fairy tales -- Canada","Folklore -- Canada","Indians of North America -- Canada -- Folklore"],"text":"</pre>\n\n\n\nProduced by David Edwards, Josephine Paolucci and the\nOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net.\n(This file was produced from images generously made\navailable by The Internet Archive.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCANADIAN FAIRY TALES\n\n\nBY THE SAME AUTHOR\n\nCANADIAN WONDER TALES\nWith Illustrations in Colour by GEORGE SHERINGHAM\nand a Foreword by Sir WILLIAM PETERSON.               Crown 4to.\n\nMcGILL AND ITS STORY, 1821-1921\nIllustrated.                                          Demy 8vo.\n\nTHE BODLEY HEAD\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n[Illustration: AND MANY OTHERS CAME, BUT THEY MET THE SAME FATE]\n\n\n\n\nCANADIAN FAIRY TALES\n\nBY CYRUS MACMILLAN\n\nWith Illustrations by MARCIA LANE FOSTER\n\nAnd an Introduction by JOHN GRIER HIBBEN\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTORONTO: S. B. GUNDY\nLONDON: JOHN LANE THE BODLEY HEAD LTD\n\nFIRST PUBLISHED IN 1922\n\n_Printed in Great Britain by_ Butler & Tanner, _Frome and London_\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTO\n\nTHE MEMORY\n\nOF\n\nMY FATHER\n\nDESCENDANT OF CANADIAN PIONEERS\nWHO UPHELD THE OLD TRADITIONS\nAND USED THE ANCIENT SPEECH.\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nProfessor Macmillan has placed all lovers of fairy tales under a deep\ndebt of obligation to him. The fairy tale makes a universal appeal\nboth to old and young; to the young because it is the natural world in\nwhich their fancy delights to range, and to the old because they are\nconscious again of the spirit of youth as they read such tales to\ntheir children and grandchildren over and over again, and rejoice in\nthe illusion that after all there is not a great difference of age\nwhich separates the generations.\n\nThe fairy tale makes this universal appeal because it deals with the\nelemental in our natures that is the same in every age and in every\nrace. In the Canadian Tales which Professor Macmillan has so admirably\ngathered from Indian sources, we find the same types of character and\nscenes of adventure that we do in the tales of the German forests, of\nScandinavia, England or France.\n\nThere is in us all an instinctive admiration for the adventurous\nspirit of the fairy tale which challenges the might that is cruel and\ndevastating, and for the good offices of the fairies which help to\nvindicate the cause of the noble in its conflict with the ignoble,\nright with wrong.\n\nThe origin of the fairy tale is to be traced always to the early\nstages of civilization, and it is very gratifying to be assured from\ntime to time that man possesses certain natural impulses which spring\nfrom an inherent sense of honour, and the desire to redress the wrongs\nof the world.\n\nProfessor Macmillan has been successful in presenting the Indian\nfolk-lore in a most engaging manner. The stories have all the\ndelightful charm and mystery of the Canadian forests; they have\npenetrated into the heart of nature, but also into the heart of man.\n\n                                        JOHN GRIER HIBBEN.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nThe tales in this collection, like those in \"Canadian Wonder Tales,\"\nwere gathered in various parts of Canada--by river and lake and ocean\nwhere sailors and fishermen still watch the stars; in forest clearings\nwhere lumbermen yet retain some remnant of the old vanished voyageur\nlife and where Indians still barter for their furs; in remote country\nplaces where women spin while they speak with reverence of their\nfathers' days. The skeleton of each story has been left for the most\npart unchanged, although the language naturally differs somewhat from\nthat of the story-tellers from whose lips the writer heard them.\n\nIt is too often forgotten that long before the time of Arthur and his\nRound Table these tales were known and treasured by the early\ninhabitants of our land. However much they may have changed in the\noral passing from generation to generation the germ of the story goes\nback to very early days beyond the dawn of Canadian history. Canada is\nrich in this ancient lore. The effort to save it from oblivion needs\nno apology. Fairy literature has an important place in the development\nof the child mind, and there is no better fairy lore than that of our\nown country. Through the eyes of the Indian story-teller and the\nIndian dreamer, inheriting his tales from a romantic past, we can\nstill look through \"magic casements opening on the foam of perilous\nseas in fairy lands forlorn\"; we can still feel something of the\natmosphere of that mysterious past in which our ancestors dwelt and\nlaboured. The author's sincerest hope in publishing this volume is\nthat to the children of to-day the traditions of our romantic Canadian\npast will not be lost in our practical Canadian present.\n\n                                        MCGILL UNIVERSITY,\n                                        _May, 1921_.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                                                        PAGE\n\nHOW GLOOSKAP MADE THE BIRDS                                1\n\nRABBIT AND THE GRAIN BUYERS                               10\n\nSAINT NICHOLAS AND THE CHILDREN                           19\n\nTHE FALL OF THE SPIDER MAN                                31\n\nTHE BOY WHO WAS CALLED THICK-HEAD                         40\n\nRABBIT AND THE INDIAN CHIEF                               47\n\nGREAT HEART AND THE THREE TESTS                           58\n\nTHE BOY OF THE RED TWILIGHT SKY                           67\n\nHOW RAVEN BROUGHT FIRE TO THE INDIANS                     73\n\nTHE GIRL WHO ALWAYS CRIED                                 82\n\nERMINE AND THE HUNTER                                     89\n\nHOW RABBIT DECEIVED FOX                                   96\n\nTHE BOY AND THE DRAGON                                   104\n\nOWL WITH THE GREAT HEAD AND EYES                         112\n\nTHE TOBACCO FAIRY FROM THE BLUE HILLS                    122\n\nRAINBOW AND THE AUTUMN LEAVES                            127\n\nRABBIT AND THE MOON-MAN                                  134\n\nTHE CHILDREN WITH ONE EYE                                140\n\nTHE GIANT WITH THE GREY FEATHERS                         146\n\nTHE CRUEL STEPMOTHER                                     153\n\nTHE BOY WHO WAS SAVED BY THOUGHTS                        160\n\nTHE SONG-BIRD AND THE HEALING WATERS                     167\n\nTHE BOY WHO OVERCAME THE GIANTS                          172\n\nTHE YOUTH AND THE DOG-DANCE                              180\n\nSPARROW'S SEARCH FOR THE RAIN                            187\n\nTHE BOY IN THE LAND OF SHADOWS                           195\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR\n\n\nAnd many others came, but they met the same fate            _Frontispiece_\n\n                                                              TO FACE PAGE\n\nAnd the children all came to him each asking for a boon               6\n\nSo Duck crawled under the over-turned basket and sat very still      14\n\nThey stood for a time in the shadow of the great trees before\nthe door and made ready to blow together                             24\n\nHe came one day upon a man clad in scarlet sitting on the\nside of a rocky hill tying stones to his feet                        60\n\nThe coat of Ermine was replaced by a sleek and shining white\ncoat as spotless as the new snow in winter                           94\n\nThen Fox untied the bag and let Rabbit out and got into the bag\nhimself                                                             100\n\nThe giant frowning angrily, the woman carrying the stick,\nand the boy leading the dog                                         148\n\nFor some days the boy lay in terror in the nest ... and far\nout on the ocean he could see great ships going by                  162\n\n\"Strike hard,\" said the boy, \"or it will do you no good\"            178\n\nAnd they sat down together on the edge of the lake                  182\n\nThen the old man gave the boy a large pipe and some tobacco         198\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN BLACK AND WHITE\n\n                                                           TO FACE PAGE\n\nHe said farewell to the sky-country and let himself down to\nearth by one of his own strands of yarn                              32\n\nThat night an old Wolf came through the forest in search of food     44\n\nHe went to Beaver's house by the stream, hobbling along\nwith a stick                                                         56\n\nAnd she makes to him an offering of tiny white feathers plucked\nfrom the breasts of birds                                            70\n\nThen Raven asked Mole to try, but Mole said: \"Oh no, I am better\nfitted for other work. My fur would all be singed\"                   78\n\nAnd with his magic power he changed her into a Fish-Hawk, and\nsent her out to the ocean                                            86\n\nThe man gave him another pair of mocassins in exchange for\nthose he was wearing                                                108\n\nWolf trotting along like a little horse, and Rabbit laughing\nto himself, sitting in the saddle                                   116\n\nSuddenly a large flock of birds, looking like great black clouds,\ncame flying from the blue hills                                     124\n\nThroughout the long winter months Deer looked longingly\nfor Rainbow                                                         128\n\nHe sat very quiet, waiting for the man of the long foot to\nappear                                                              136\n\nThe boy went into the forest with his bow and arrows.... He\nhad not gone far when he saw a fat young deer, which he killed      142\n\nThe bull rushed at the mountain with all his force                  158\n\nThen the young man lay down to sleep, and the Fox stood\nguard beside him                                                    170\n\n\n\n\nCANADIAN FAIRY TALES\n\n\n\n\nHOW GLOOSKAP MADE THE BIRDS\n\n\nOnce upon a time long before the white men came to Canada there lived\na wicked giant who caused great trouble and sorrow wherever he went.\nMen called him Wolf-Wind. Where he was born no man knows, but his home\nwas in the Cave of the Winds, far in the north country in the\nNight-Night Land, and there men knew he was hiding on calm days when\nthe sun was hot and the sea was still, and on quiet nights when not a\nleaf or a flower or a blade of grass was stirring. But whenever he\nappeared, the great trees cracked in fear and the little trees\ntrembled and the flowers bent their heads close to the earth, trying\nto hide from his presence. Often he came upon them without warning and\nwith little sign of his coming. And then the corn fell flat never to\nrise again, and tall trees crashed in the forest, and the flowers\ndropped dead because of their terror; and often the great waters grew\nwhite and moaned or screamed loudly or dashed themselves against the\nrocks trying to escape from Wolf-Wind. And in the darkness of the\nnight when Wolf-Wind howled, there was great fear upon all the earth.\n\nIt happened once in those old times that Wolf-Wind was in a great\nrage, and he went forth to kill and devour all who dared to come in\nhis path. It chanced in that time that many Indian families were\nliving near the sea. The men and women were fishing far off the coast.\nThey were catching fish to make food for the winter. They went very\nfar away in small canoes, for the sea had long been still and they\nthought there was no danger. The little children were alone on shore.\nSuddenly as the sun went down, without a sign of his coming, out of\nthe north came Wolf-Wind in his great rage looking for prey, and\nroaring loudly as he came. \"I am Wolf-Wind, the giant,\" he howled,\n\"cross not my path, for I will kill all the people I meet, and eat\nthem all up.\" His anger only grew as he stalked along, and he splashed\nand tossed the waters aside in his fury as he came down upon the\nfishermen and fisher-women far out to sea. The fishers had no time to\nget out of his reach or to paddle to the shore, so quick was\nWolf-Wind's coming, and the giant caught them in his path and broke up\ntheir boats and killed them all. All night long he raged over the\nocean looking for more fishers.\n\nIn the morning Wolf-Wind's anger was not yet spent. Far away in front\nof him he saw the little children of the fishers playing on the shore.\nHe knew they were alone, for he had killed their fathers and mothers.\nHe resolved to catch them and kill them too, and after them he went,\nstill in a great rage. He went quickly towards the land, roaring as he\nwent and dashing the waters against the rocks in his madness. As he\ncame near the beach he howled in his anger, \"I will catch you and kill\nyou all and eat you and bleach your bones upon the sand.\" But the\nchildren heard him and they ran away as fast as they could, and they\nhid in a cave among the great rocks and placed a big stone at the\nmouth of the cave and Wolf-Wind could not get in. He howled loudly at\nthe door all day and all night long, but the stone was strong and he\ncould not break it down. Then he went on his way still very angry and\nstill roaring, and he howled, \"I will come back and catch you yet. You\ncannot escape from me.\"\n\nThe children were very frightened and they stayed long in the cave\nafter Wolf-Wind had gone, for far away they could still hear him\nhowling and crashing in the forest. Then they came out. They knew that\nWolf-Wind had killed their fathers and mothers on the sea. They ran\naway into the forest, for they thought that there they would be safe.\nThey went to the Willow-Willow Land where they found a pleasant place\nwith grass and flowers and streams. And between them and the north\ncountry where Wolf-Wind lived were many great trees with thick leaves\nwhich they knew would protect them from the giant.\n\nBut one day Wolf-Wind, true to his promise, came again in a rage to\nfind them. He came into the land killing all he met in his path. But\nhe could not catch the children, for the trees with their thick leaves\nkept him away. They heard him howling in the forest far distant. For\nmany days in the late summer he tried to find them but their home was\nclose to the trees, and the great branches spread over them and the\nthick leaves saved them, and only the sun from the south, coming from\nthe Summer-Flower country, could look in upon them. Try as he could\nwith all his might old Wolf-Wind could not harm them although he knew\nthat they were there; and they were always safe while they lived in\nthe Willow-Willow Land.\n\nWolf-Wind was more angry than ever because of his failure, for he\nliked to feed on his little children, and rage knew no bounds. He\nswore that he would have vengeance on the trees. So he came back again\nand he brought with him to aid him another giant from the north\ncountry who had with him a strange and powerful charm, the Charm of\nthe Frost. And the two giants tried to kill the trees that had saved\nthe little children. But over many of the trees they had no power, for\nwhen they came, the trees only laughed and merely swayed and creaked\nand said, \"You cannot harm us; we are strong, for we came at first\nfrom the Night-Night Land in the far north country, and over us the\nCharm of the Frost has no power.\" These were the Spruce and the Fir,\nthe Hemlock and the Pine and the Cedar. But on the other trees\nWolf-Wind had vengeance as he had vowed. One night when the harvest\nmoon was shining in the sky he came without warning, and with the help\nof the giant bearing the Charm of the Frost he killed all the leaves\nthat had kept him from the children, and threw them to the ground. One\nafter one the leaves came off from the Beech and the Birch, the Oak\nand the Maple, the Alder and the Willow. Some fell quickly, some\nfluttered slowly down, and some took a long time in dying. But at last\nthe trees stood bare and cold against the sky and there was stillness\nand sadness in the forest. And Wolf-Wind laughed and played in silence\nthrough the leafless branches with the giant from Night-Night Land.\nAnd he said, \"Now I have overcome the leaves that kept me away, and\nnow when I please I can kill the children.\" But the children only\nmoved closer to the strong and sturdy trees that had come at first\nfrom the far north country and over which the Charm of the Frost had\nno power, and Wolf-Wind could not reach them and they were still for\never safe from the giants.\n\nThe children were very sad when they saw what Wolf-Wind had done to\ntheir friends and protectors, the trees. Summer had gone back to the\nSouthland following as she always did the Rainbow Road to her home in\nthe Wilderness of Flowers. It was lonely now in the forest and silent;\nthere was not a whisper in the trees; there were no leaves, for it\nwas autumn and Wolf-Wind had killed them all.\n\nAt last it came to that time of year when Glooskap, who ruled upon the\nearth and was very great in those days, gave his yearly gifts to\nlittle children. And he came into the land on a sled drawn by his\nfaithful dogs to find out for himself what the children wished for.\nAnd the children all came to him each asking for a boon. Now Glooskap\nhad great power upon the earth in that old time. He could always do\nwhat he willed. And the little children whom Wolf-Wind had tried to\nharm in his rage came to Glooskap, the Magic Master of gifts, and they\nwere all very sad because the leaves had gone.\n\n\"What do you wish?\" said Glooskap. \"We wish nothing for ourselves,\"\nsaid the children, \"but we ask that the leaves that were killed by\nWolf-Wind because they saved us from his rage be brought back to life\nand put back again in their old home in the trees.\" Glooskap was\nsilent for a long time and he sat and thought as was his custom, and\nhe smoked hard at his mighty pipe, for he was a great smoker. Now in\nthat time there were no little forest birds upon the earth, for\nGlooskap had not yet brought them into being. There were only the\nbirds that dwelt near the sea and over whom Wolf-Wind had no\npower--Sea-gull and Crane, Wild-duck and Loon, Kingfisher and Brant\nand Curlew. These only laughed at the giant in his rage and screamed\nin mockery as they flew from him and hid when he came, among the\nshallows or the rocks or the thick grass in the marshes. And there\nwere also the sturdy birds that dwelt with men and worked for them,\ngiving them eggs and food. These were Hen and Goose and Duck and Wild\nTurkey. They gave men food, but they were not fair to look upon; they\nwaddled along and could not fly well and they made no sweet music upon\nthe earth, for their song was a quack and a cackle.\n\n[Illustration: AND THE CHILDREN ALL CAME TO HIM EACH ASKING FOR A\nBOON]\n\nGlooskap decided to bring other birds into the world, not to give food\nbut to bring happiness to the children on the days when summer dwells\nin the land, with their pretty feathers and their pleasant songs. So\nafter he had smoked long in silence he hit upon a plan. And he said to\nthe children asking for their yearly gifts, \"I cannot bring back to\nthe trees the leaves that Wolf-Wind has killed and stripped off, for\nit is now too late. But I will take the fallen leaves and change them\ninto little birds. And the birds shall never forget how they were\nborn. When autumn comes they shall go with summer far away to the\nSummer-Flower Land, but in the spring-time they shall always come back\nand they shall live as close as they can to the leaves from which they\nhave sprung. And they shall nest, most of them, in the trees under the\nleaves, and even those that nest in the grass shall love the trees and\nlinger in them. And they shall all be beautiful in colour like the\nleaves that gave them birth; and they shall have power to rest at\ntimes upon the air like a leaf fluttering; and the voice of the air\nand the laughing waters shall be in their throats and they shall sing\nsweet songs for little children. And I give the children charge over\nthem to keep them from harm just as the leaves which gave them birth\nhave saved the little children from the giants. And I will give the\ntrees that Wolf-Wind has stripped power to bring forth new leaves\nevery spring-time so that when Summer comes back from the Wilderness\nof Flowers the trees shall not be bare. And although Wolf-Wind may\nstrip them off when the Giant of the Frost comes with him from the\nNight-Night Land they shall always be replaced in the spring-time. And\nI will take away much of Wolf-Wind's power so that he can no longer\nharm little children as wickedly as he has done before.\"\n\nGlooskap waved his magic wand as was his custom, and at once great\nflocks of little birds sprang from the ground where the fallen leaves\nhad lain. And they twittered and sang in a great chorus and flew back\nto the trees. They were of beautiful colours like the leaves that had\ngiven them birth. There were Robin Red-breasts and Thrushes all brown\nand red, from the red and brown leaves of the Oak. And there were\nFinches and Humming-birds all yellow and green and brown from the\nleaves of the Alder and the Willow, and they glowed like willows in\nthe sunlight and fluttered like a leaf upon the air. There were\nYellowbirds and Canadian Warblers from the golden Beech and Birch\nleaves. And there were Scarlet Tanagers and Orioles and Grosbeaks all\nof changing colours, red and purple and brown, from the leaves of the\nCanadian Maple. And they all sang to the children and the children\nwere all very happy again.\n\nThen Glooskap sent the little birds all away to a warm country until\nthe rule of the Giant of the Frost from the Night-Night Land was over,\nfor it was winter in all the land and it was very cold. But in the\nspring-time the little birds always come back from the Summer-Flower\nLand. And they build their nests among the trees as close as they can\nto their kindred, the leaves from which they came. And all day long\nthey sing among the leaves for little children. At day-break they wake\nthe children with their choir of dawn, and at twilight they lisp and\ntwitter to lull the children to sleep. And at night they hide among\nthe leaves from Wolf-Wind and are very still with never a twitter or a\nsong. For they do not forget that they are the children's gift from\nGlooskap and that they came from the leaves stripped from the trees by\nWolf-Wind because the leaves saved the little children from the giant\nlong ago.\n\n\n\n\nRABBIT AND THE GRAIN BUYERS\n\n\nOnce long ago when the Indians lived in Canada before the white men\ncame, Rabbit was very lazy. He had worked long for Glooskap, the great\nruler of the people, as a forest guide, but his toil was not\nappreciated or rewarded. He saw all the other animals idling their\ntime away, taking their ease all day long, and doing nothing but\nfilling their bellies with food, and sleeping all the afternoon in the\nhot sunshine. And he said, \"Why should I work for other people when\nnobody works for me? I will take mine ease like all the other\nanimals.\" So he sulked in his little house for a long time and could\nnot be coaxed or driven to do any work. But as he was a lonely fellow\nwho always lived by himself with very few friends in the world except\nlittle children, he soon got tired of this lazy life. For by nature he\nwas industrious and energetic and he always liked to be doing\nsomething or prowling alone in the forest. So he said, \"I must find\nsome work to do or I shall surely lose my wits. But it must be labour\nthat brings profit to myself and not to other people.\"\n\nFor a long time Rabbit puzzled his brains thinking on a business or a\nprofession to follow. But nothing seemed to be to his liking. At last\none day he saw some Indians trading skins and knives. One was selling\nand others were buying and they seemed to be making a great deal of\nmoney without doing very much work. Rabbit thought that here indeed\nwas an easy way to make a living. Then he saw Duck coming along\ncarrying a basket of eggs. He said to Duck, \"How do you get along in\nthe world? You seem to do nothing but eat and cackle and swim in the\npond. You never seem to work.\" And Duck said, \"I lay eggs and sell\nthem in exchange for corn. Why don't you lay eggs? It is all very\neasy.\" But Rabbit knew that Duck was only laughing at him, and that he\nwas not meant to make a living in that way.\n\nThen he met Bee on the forest path and he said, \"How do you make a\nliving, you wandering bee? You do nothing but gad about all day long,\ngoing from flower to flower dressed in your good clothes of yellow and\nblack and always singing your tuneless song?\" And Bee said, \"I make\nhoney and wax and sell them. I have a great store for sale now. Why\ndon't you do as I do? I am always happy. I always sing at my work, and\nwhat's more, my song is not tuneless. And just for your impudence,\ntake that.\" And so saying he stung Rabbit on the nose and went on his\nway, singing his droning song. Rabbit rubbed his nose in the earth to\nease his pain and he swore vengeance on Bee, for he knew that Bee too\nwas only laughing at him. But he could think of no way to make an easy\nliving, for he had nothing to sell but his coat, and he could not very\nwell barter that, for winter would soon be coming on. He was very\nangry and troubled and he envied Duck and Bee their good fortune\nbecause of their eggs and honey and wax.\n\nAt last he thought of the Indians he had watched buying and selling\nskins. \"I have it,\" he cried, \"I have it. I will become a great\nmerchant. I will be a great trader. I will live on a farm where they\ngrow corn and vegetables, and I will steal them and sell them to the\nother animals and thereby make a great store of money. I shall be very\nrich in a short time.\" So, very happy, he went to a field near which\nwas a vegetable garden. And in it were growing Indian corn and all\nkinds of grain which he knew the other birds and animals would gladly\nbuy. So he made a sign and put it up in front of his house, and it\nsaid, \"Buy Rabbit's corn, the best in all the land; it will grow\nwithout rain; there is only a small quantity left. Orders taken here.\"\nThen he sat in his house and waited.\n\nSoon many buyers began to arrive. They were curious, and they wanted\nto see what kind of a merchant Rabbit would make. Rabbit explained to\nthem that he was only an agent, that they must pay him their money,\nand he would take it to the farmer, and deliver their grain at his\nhouse one week from that day. The buyers paid him the money and went\naway, for they were afraid the farmer would kill them if they went\nthemselves for the corn. They left a great store of money with Rabbit.\nThat night when the moon rose over the hills Rabbit went to the field\nof corn near-by. But the farmer had spied him thieving that afternoon,\nand he had placed around his corn a fence of strong netting which poor\nRabbit could not get through. And he had also placed around the field\nmany watch-dogs which growled and snarled and frightened thieves away.\nNight after night Rabbit tried to slip into the field, but without\nsuccess, and the week passed and still he had no corn for the\ncustomers who, he knew, would soon be arriving for their goods. And\nmeanwhile he had spent all their money and he knew they would all fall\nupon him and kill him if he failed to keep his word and deliver their\npurchases.\n\nAt last when the day agreed on arrived, he saw his customers coming\nfor their grain. And he hoped that his tricks would save him as they\nhad saved him many times before. He sat in his yard playing his flute,\nwhen Earth-Worm, the first customer arrived. \"Good day,\" said Rabbit.\n\"Good day,\" said Earth-Worm, \"I have come for my corn, for a week has\ngone by.\" \"Very good,\" said Rabbit, \"but first we shall have dinner.\nIt will be ready in a few minutes. You must be hungry after your long\njourney.\" As they sat waiting for their dinner they saw Duck, another\ncustomer, waddling up the path with her basket on her neck. And\nRabbit said, \"Will not old Duck who comes here want to eat you up?\"\nAnd Earth-Worm said, \"Yes, yes, where shall I hide?\" and he was much\nexcited. \"Hide under this clam-shell,\" said Rabbit. So Earth-Worm\ncrawled under the clam-shell and sat very still, trembling for his\nlife.\n\nWhen Duck arrived, Rabbit said, \"Good morning.\" \"Good morning, Mr.\nMerchant,\" said Duck, wishing to be polite. \"I have come for my corn,\nfor it is the appointed day of delivery.\" \"True, true,\" said Rabbit,\n\"but first we shall have dinner. It will be ready in a few minutes. It\nwill be an honour for me to have you dine with me.\" As they sat\nwaiting for their dinner, Rabbit said, \"Would you care to eat an\nEarth-Worm before your dinner? It would be a good appetizer for you.\"\nAnd Duck said, \"Thank you very much. I am very fond of Earth-Worms.\"\nRabbit lifted the clam-shell and poor Earth-Worm was quickly gobbled\nup by Duck. And Rabbit, laughing to himself, thought, \"Now I am\ngetting rid of my customers.\"\n\nAs Rabbit and Duck sat talking, they saw Fox trotting up the path. He\nwas another customer coming for his corn. And Rabbit said courteously,\n\"Madam, I see your old enemy Fox approaching. He will probably wish to\neat you up; you had better hide.\" And Duck with her feathers all\nruffled with excitement said, \"Yes, yes, where shall I hide?\" And\nRabbit said, \"Hide under this basket.\" So Duck crawled under the\nover-turned basket and sat very still.\n\n[Illustration: SO DUCK CRAWLED UNDER THE OVER-TURNED BASKET AND SAT\nVERY STILL]\n\nFox soon came in and said, \"Good day, Rabbit. I have come for my corn,\nfor I am in sore need of it to catch chickens, and the seven days have\npassed.\" \"You are very punctual,\" said Rabbit, \"but first let us have\ndinner. It will be ready in a few minutes. It will make you stronger\nto carry your heavy load.\" As they sat waiting for their dinner,\nRabbit said, \"Listen, Fox. Would you care to eat a fat Duck now? It\nwould be a tasty bit for you before you dine.\" And Fox said, \"You are\nvery kind. I always like to eat a Duck before my dinner.\" Rabbit\nknocked over the basket and Fox quickly devoured poor Duck until not a\nfeather remained. And Rabbit laughed to himself and said, \"Surely I am\ngetting rid of my customers very easily.\"\n\nAs Rabbit and Fox sat talking over old times in the forest, they saw\nBear coming lumbering up the path, tossing his head from side to side,\nand sniffing the air. And Rabbit said, \"Bear is in a bad temper\nto-day. I wonder what can be the cause.\" And Fox said, \"This morning I\nstole all his honey and he saw me running away.\" \"He scents you here,\"\nsaid Rabbit, \"will he not kill you if he finds you? Perhaps you ought\nto hide.\" \"Yes, yes,\" said Fox, \"but where shall I hide?\" \"Hide in\nthis box,\" said Rabbit, and Fox sprang into the box, and Rabbit closed\ndown the lid.\n\nWhen Bear arrived he said gruffly, for he was in a bad temper, \"Good\nday, Rabbit. I have come for my corn and I must have it quickly, for I\nmust be on my way. It is the appointed time.\" \"It is indeed the\nappointed time,\" said Rabbit, \"but first we shall have dinner. It will\nbe ready in a few minutes and I never let a wayfarer leave my house\nwithout first taking nourishment. I have to-day a dish of fresh fish\nwhich you like very well, and we have never yet dined together.\" And\nBear agreed to wait and his gruffness left him at the thought of his\ngood meal, for he was a great fish-eater, and he talked pleasantly.\nThen Rabbit said, \"I have a secret to tell you. Let me whisper it.\" He\nput his mouth close to Bear's ear and said, \"Old Fox, the sly thief\nwho stole all your honey this morning is hiding in the box by your\nside. He came here to boast about his theft and he laughed loudly to\nme as he told me how easily you were cheated. He called you\nLack-Brains.\" Bear was very angry and at once he knocked the lid from\nthe box and killed Fox with one blow of his powerful paw. And Rabbit\nsaid to himself, \"What luck I am having; there is another of my\ncustomers gone.\" But he wondered how he was to get rid of Bear, and he\nscratched his head in thought.\n\nWhile Bear and Rabbit sat talking, they saw Rabbit's last customer,\nthe Hunter, coming along. Bear would have run away, but it was too\nlate. \"Will the Hunter not want to kill you?\" said Rabbit, glad to\nthink that here was the end of poor Bear. \"Indeed he will,\" said Bear.\n\"Oh dear, oh dear, where shall I hide?\" \"Hide under my bed in my\nhouse,\" said Rabbit. Poor Bear quickly dashed into the house and\ncrawled under Rabbit's bed with great difficulty for he was very fat\nand the bed was very low and he had to lay himself out flat on the\nfloor, but he was comfortable in the thought that he would soon\nescape. When Hunter arrived he said, \"Good day, Rabbit, I have come\nfor my corn, for my children need bread.\" \"You shall have it,\" said\nRabbit. \"But first we must have a bite to eat. I have not very much to\noffer you, but I can give you in a few minutes some hot pancakes and\nfresh maple syrup.\" The Hunter was well pleased with the thought of\nsuch a good meal and he said he would be glad to wait. Then Rabbit\nsaid, \"Would you like some bear meat for your children, and a good\nwarm bear skin for your hearth?\" And the Hunter said, \"Indeed I would.\nBut in these days such luxuries are hard to find.\" And Rabbit said,\n\"Oh no, they are not; under my bed in my house, a good fat bear is\nhiding. He is lying flat on his back, and you can easily kill him.\"\nThe Hunter hurried to the house, and sure enough there he found Bear\nhiding under the bed, flat upon his back. He killed him with a blow\nand skinned him and cut him up into small pieces and put the meat and\nthe skin into a bag to take home to his children. But while he was\nabout it, Rabbit slipped away into the forest, saying to himself, \"Now\nI have got rid of all my customers and I am safe. But the life of a\nmerchant is not to my liking. I will not be a trader any more. I will\ngather corn for myself, but not to sell to others.\" And he ran quickly\naway and hid himself in a dense thicket.\n\nWhen the Hunter went to look for Rabbit, he could not find him, nor\nwas he able to find his grain. And although he thought he had fared\npretty well by getting so much bear meat, he swore vengeance on Rabbit\nfor his deceit, and to this day he searches for him, and if he meets\nhim, he will not let him escape. And Rabbit lives by himself and keeps\naway from the Hunter as far as he can, for he fears him because of the\ntrick he played upon him in the olden days.\n\n\n\n\nSAINT NICHOLAS AND THE CHILDREN\n\n\nTwo little children lived with their old grandmother in a remote place\nin the Canadian forest. They were twin children--a boy and a girl,\nPierre and Estelle by name--and except for their dress it was not easy\nto tell them apart. Their father and mother had died in the\nspring-time, and in the summer they had left their old home because of\nits many sad memories and had gone to live with their old grandmother\nin a new home elsewhere. In this new home in the forest where they now\nlived they were very poor, but they were not unhappy. Times were hard,\nand there was very little food to be had no matter how well their old\ngrandmother worked; but they caught fish in the streams and gathered\nberries and fruit and birds' eggs on the wooded hills, and somehow\nthroughout the summer they kept themselves from want. But when late\nautumn came and the streams were frozen over and the berries were all\ngone and there were no eggs, for the birds had all flown south, they\nwere often hungry because they had so little to eat.\n\nTheir grandmother worked so hard to provide for herself and the\nchildren that at last she fell very sick. For several days she could\nnot leave her bed. And she said, \"I want meat broth to make me well\nand I must have good meat to make it. If I do not get meat I can have\nno broth, and if I do not get broth I shall not get well, and if I do\nnot get well I shall die, and if I die you two children will surely\nstarve and die too. So meat and meat alone can save us all from\nstarvation and death.\" So the two children, to keep themselves and\ntheir grandmother alive, set out one morning in search of meat to make\nthe broth. They lived far from other people and they did not know\nwhere to go, but they followed the forest path. The snow lay deep on\nthe ground and sparkled brightly in the sunlight. The children had\nnever before been away from home alone and every sight was of great\ninterest to them. Here and there a rabbit hopped over the snow, or a\nsnowbird hovered and twittered overhead, all looking for food like the\nchildren. And there were holly-berries growing in many places, and\nthere was mistletoe hanging from the trees. And Pierre when he saw the\nholly-berries and the mistletoe said, \"Saint Nicholas will be soon\nhere, for the trees are dressed and ready for his coming.\" And Estelle\nsaid, \"Yes, Saint Nicholas will be soon here.\" And they were both very\nglad thinking of his coming.\n\nAs they went along in the afternoon, they came upon an old man sitting\nat the door of a small house of spruce-boughs under the trees close to\nthe forest path. He was busy making whistles, whittling willow wands\nwith a knife and tapping gently on the bark until the bark loosened\nfrom the wood and slipped easily off. The children stood and watched\nhim at his strange work, for he had merry twinkling eyes, and a kindly\nweather-beaten face, and thick white hair, and they were not afraid.\n\n\"Hello,\" said the old man.\n\n\"Hello,\" said Pierre, \"why are you making willow whistles?\"\n\n\"I am making them for Saint Nicholas,\" said the old man; \"he is coming\nsoon for his yearly visit; indeed he is already in the land; when he\nmakes his rounds he always gives whistles, among other things, to good\nchildren, and I must have a great store of them ready for him when he\ncomes, for there are many children to supply.\"\n\nThen he went on whittling busily with his knife. The children watched\nhim for a long time in silence, and they thought what a fine thing it\nmust be to work like the old man for Saint Nicholas, in his little\nhouse of boughs under the forest trees. Then the old man said, \"You\nare very small children; what are you seeking so far away from\npeople?\" And Estelle answered, \"Our old grandmother is very sick, and\nwe are looking for meat to make broth to make her well.\" The old man\nwas sorry he had no meat, for he lived on other food. He told them\nthat some distance farther along there was a butcher who always kept\nmeat; but the butcher, he said, was a very wicked fellow and\nsometimes little children who entered his shop never came out again.\nThe children were very frightened when they heard what the old man\nsaid and they wondered if they had better go back home. But the old\nman thought for a long time in silence as he whittled his willow\nwands, and then he said, \"I will give you each a whistle, and when you\nblow it, Saint Nicholas will always hear it; you must never blow it\nexcept when you are in great trouble or distress, and when Saint\nNicholas hears it he will know that you are coming to grief or that\nharm is already upon you and he will come himself or send some one to\nyour assistance. But you must blow only one blast. The whistle should\nbe given only by Saint Nicholas himself when he comes at holly-time\ninto the land. But you are good children and your old grandmother is\nsick, and you are trying to make her well, and I know that Saint\nNicholas will not say that I have done wrong.\" So he gave the children\neach a whistle, and then fear left them, for they knew they could now\ncome to no harm if they had the aid of Saint Nicholas.\n\nIt was growing late in the afternoon and the children set out on their\nway to find the wicked butcher. But they had many misgivings, and as\nthey went on they grew faint of heart, for they wondered if the old\nman had told them the truth about the whistles or if he was in reality\na secret agent of the wicked butcher trying to lure them to their\ndeath. They resolved to search for meat elsewhere and to keep away\nfrom the butcher's shop.\n\nFor a long time they searched, but without success. There was no meat\nto be had in all the land at any of the places they stopped to ask.\nSoon they came in sight of the butcher's shop. They were very\nfrightened. But the sun had already gone down behind the trees, and\nnight was coming on, and they had still no meat. And they knew that if\ntheir old grandmother was to get well she must have meat to make\nbroth. The shop, too, looked very pleasant and attractive in the cold\nwinter evening. Warm light was shining from a fire through the door,\nand in the windows were sausages, and fat birds, and big yellow\npumpkins and cakes with red berries on the top. The children were\nhungry and wished for something to eat by the warm shop fire. They\ndecided to enter the shop notwithstanding their fear, to buy some\nfood, and to get meat for their grandmother's broth as quickly as they\ncould. But before they entered the shop they thought it would be well,\nin order to be safe, to blow a blast on their whistle as the old man\nhad told them so that Saint Nicholas would know that they were in\ndread of harm. They stood for a time in the shadow of the great trees\nbefore the door and made ready to blow together. Pierre gave the\nsignal and blew a long soft blast. But Estelle could not get her\nwhistle from her pocket and Pierre had finished his blast, all out of\nbreath, before she was ready to blow. \"Don't blow now,\" he said, \"you\nare just like a girl, always too late.\" But blow she would, as the old\nman had told her, and before Pierre could stop her she blew a long\nsoft blast on her whistle. Pierre was very cross, for he thought that\nnow no good could come of it, as two blasts had sounded, but with his\nsister he entered the butcher's shop.\n\nThe wicked butcher was in his shop, but not another person was about\nthe place. It was all very quiet. The man was very glad to see the\nchildren and he seated them by the warm fire, and gave them food, and\nalthough he shut the door tight behind them, their fear soon vanished.\nAfter they had eaten well and were warm again, they asked for meat to\nmake broth for their old grandmother, and the butcher said he would\ngive them plenty of good meat although it was very scarce in all the\nland. There was a barrel standing in one corner; in another corner was\na large hogshead reaching almost to the ceiling, and the butcher said\nthat both of these were full of meat.\n\nNow the butcher was really the friend and partner of a wicked giant\nwho lived in the forest. The giant's greatest delight was to eat\nlittle children. He liked no meal so well as a meal of little\nchildren, two at a time, pickled first in brine. He ate them always\nwhen he could get them, but he was not always successful in his\nsearch, for children were scarce in the land. He was a great hunter\nand he was able to kill many animals in the forest and to secure much\nmeat, so great was his strength, and once a week regularly he brought\na great load of meat to the butcher and traded it for any little\nchildren the butcher managed to entice into his shop. So the butcher\ngot much meat at little cost. And the old man of the house of boughs\nwas right when he said that many little children who entered the shop\nnever came out again.\n\n[Illustration: THEY STOOD FOR A TIME IN THE SHADOW OF THE GREAT TREES\nBEFORE THE DOOR AND MADE READY TO BLOW TOGETHER]\n\nThe butcher was very glad when he saw the two pretty little children.\nHe was expecting the giant that evening on his weekly visit, and he\nthought gleefully of the great load of meat he would get from the\ngiant in exchange for the children, for he would ask a big price, and\nhe knew the giant would give all the meat he had for so good a meal.\nAnd he thought too of all the money he would get for the giant's load\nof meat. So he resolved to kill the children and pickle them in brine\nto await the giant's coming.\n\nWhen the children had finished their meal and had warmed themselves by\nthe fire they made ready to go home and they asked for their meat. The\nbutcher said he would get it for them. They looked up at the shelves,\nladen with more food than they had ever seen before--hams and cabbages\nand strings of onions. And the little children said, \"There are good\nonions up there; we will buy some and take them home to our\ngrandmother to put in her broth.\" The butcher said, \"There are many\nkinds of onions in the box on the high shelf. You must pick out the\nkind you want. I will lift you up to the shelf so that you can see for\nyourselves.\" So he caught them each by the coat between the\nshoulders, and because of his great strength he lifted them high until\nthey could look into the box and pick out the onions they wanted. As\nhe took them down he thrust them straight out from his body at arm's\nlength and held them there and they laughed because of his great\nstrength. Then he brought them together with terrible force so that\ntheir heads struck one against the other and they were stunned by the\ncruel blow. Then he threw them head first into the barrel in the\ncorner which was filled with brine, not with meat as he had said, and\nhe left them there to pickle well. He was greatly pleased with the\nfine load of meat he would get in exchange from the giant, who, he\nknew, would appear before many minutes had passed.\n\nSoon the giant arrived. He carried on his back a great load of meat\nand he also drew a sled heavily laden with many dressed carcasses of\nanimals he had killed. \"What cheer for me to-night and what fortune?\"\nhe said to the butcher as he entered the warm shop with his load. And\nthe butcher said, \"Good cheer and fine fortune. I have a good fat pair\nfor you to-night already pickling in the brine.\" Then he uncovered the\nbarrel in the corner and showed the giant the two little children\nsticking head first in the pickle. The giant smacked his fat lips and\nchuckled and rubbed his great hands, so pleased was he with the sight\nof so good a meal. And he said, \"We will let them steep well in the\nbrine until to-morrow. I always like them very salt.\" They covered up\nthe barrel, and then they bargained about the purchase of the meat.\n\nThe giant agreed to give the butcher all his meat in exchange for the\nchildren. Then they sat by the fire drinking and eating until far on\ninto the night. And the giant said that before they went to bed he\nwould take another look at the children to see how they were pickling.\nSo they went and uncovered the barrel.\n\nNow it chanced that Saint Nicholas was in the land at that time, as\nthe old man of the House-of-boughs had said. He had come into the land\nto bring his yearly gifts to little children. In the evening he was\nmany miles away from the butcher's shop. But he heard the long soft\nblast of a whistle, borne on the still evening wind. He knew it to be\none of his own whistles, and it told him that little children were in\ndanger. But it was followed by another soft blast--the late blast of\nEstelle's whistle--and the two blasts meant that the danger was not\nyet very near to the children, that indeed it was far off, so he\nthought that there was no need to hurry to the children's aid.\nMoreover, Saint Nicholas was just then leaving tiny dolls for little\nbabies in many little houses in the forest and he decided to take his\ntime and finish the giving of all these gifts before he set out to the\nplace from which the whistle-blast had come.\n\nAt last he was able to go on his way. The snow lay deep in the\nforest, and travelling was hard, but the white winter moon was\nshining, and the path was bright and Saint Nicholas moved along\nquickly on his snow-shoes. Far on in the night he reached the\nbutcher's shop from which he knew the children's note of fear had\ncome. As he entered the shop, the giant and the butcher were just\ntaking their last look before going to bed at the children sticking in\nthe barrel of brine. They did not know Saint Nicholas, but when they\nsaw him they quickly placed the cover on the barrel and were very much\nconfused. Saint Nicholas was suspicious that they were about some\nwickedness, and he knew well that in some way or other the barrel was\nconnected with the dreaded harm of which the children's whistle had\ntold him, and he thought that perhaps the children were hidden in it.\nSo he said, \"I have come for meat. I want meat that has been pickled\nin brine. I should like a piece from that barrel.\" But the butcher\nsaid, \"It is not good meat. I have better meat in the inner room, and\nI will get it for you.\" So the butcher and Saint Nicholas entered the\ninner room and closed the door behind them while the giant sat on the\nbarrel in the corner, trying to hide it with his great fat legs.\n\nIn the inner room was a barrel filled with brine, but with only a\nsmall piece of meat at the bottom. Saint Nicholas said he would take\nthat piece. The butcher bent far into the barrel to reach down in\nsearch of the meat. But as he did so, Saint Nicholas picked him up by\nthe legs and pushed him head first into the barrel of brine. He\nspluttered and kicked, but he stuck fast in the barrel, and could not\nget out. Saint Nicholas placed the cover on the barrel, with a great\nweight on top of it, and that was the end of the wicked butcher.\n\n[Illustration: \"STRIKE HARD,\" SAID THE BOY, \"OR IT WILL DO YOU NO\nGOOD\"]\n\nThen Saint Nicholas returned to the shop where the giant was waiting,\nstill sitting on the barrel. He told the giant that he wanted a piece\nof meat that lay in the bottom of the large hogshead of pickle in the\nother corner. He asked the giant to get it for him, as the hogshead\nwas so high that neither he nor the butcher could reach down into it.\n\nThe giant bent far into the hogshead and began groping for the meat at\nthe bottom. Saint Nicholas took a large bone that lay on the floor,\nand standing on a box beside the hogshead he struck the giant a\npowerful blow on the head. The giant was only slightly stunned, but in\nhis surprise he lost his balance, and fell head first into the brine.\nHe yelled and kicked for a time, but his huge shoulders stuck fast.\nSaint Nicholas covered the hogshead, leaving the giant sticking fast\nin the pickle, and that was the end of the giant.\n\nThen Saint Nicholas uncovered the barrel in the corner into which he\nhad seen the butcher and the giant looking when he had first entered\nthe shop. There were the two children standing on their heads in the\npickle with their feet sticking out at the top. He caught them by the\nlegs and pulled them out and by his magic power he soon brought them\nback to life. He gave them food and warmed them by the fire and soon\nthey were none the worse for their hour in the barrel of brine.\n\nThen he gave them meat and brought them back to their grandmother. And\nthey made broth for her and soon made her well, and they were all\nhappy again. And the land was troubled no more by giants, for Saint\nNicholas never again allowed great harm to come to little children if\nthey always kept his whistle near them and blew softly upon it when\nthey were in trouble or distress.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FALL OF THE SPIDER MAN\n\n\nIn olden times the Spider Man lived in the sky-country. He dwelt in a\nbright little house all by himself, where he weaved webs and long\nflimsy ladders by which people went back and forth from the sky to the\nearth. The Star-people often went at night to earth where they roamed\nabout as fairies of light, doing good deeds for women and little\nchildren, and they always went back and forth on the ladder of the\nSpider Man. The Spider Man had to work very hard, weaving his webs,\nand spinning the yarn from which his ladders were made. One day when\nhe had a short breathing-time from his toil he looked down at the\nearth-country and there he saw many of the earth-people playing at\ngames, or taking sweet sap from the maple trees, or gathering berries\non the rolling hills; but most of the men were lazily idling and doing\nnothing. The women were all working, after the fashion of Indians in\nthose days; the men were working but little. And Spider Man said to\nhimself, \"I should like to go to the earth-country where men idle\ntheir time away. I would marry four wives who would work for me while\nI would take life easy, for I need a rest.\"\n\nHe was very tired of his work for he was kept at it day and night\nalways spinning and weaving his webs. But when he asked for a rest he\nwas not allowed to stop; he was only kicked for his pains and called\nSleepy Head, and Lazy-bones and other harsh names, and told to work\nharder. Then he grew angry and he resolved to punish the Star-people\nbecause they kept him so hard at work. He thought that if he punished\nthem and made himself a nuisance, they would be glad to be rid of him.\nSo he hit upon a crafty plan. Each night when a Star-fairy was\nclimbing back to the sky-country, just as he came near the top of the\nladder, the Spider Man would cut the strands and the fairy would fall\nto earth with a great crash. Night after night he did this, and he\nchuckled to himself as he saw the sky-fairies sprawling through the\nair and kicking their heels, while the earth-people looked up\nwonderingly at them and called them Shooting Stars. Many Star-people\nfell to earth in this way because of the Spider Man's tricks, and they\ncould never get back to the sky-country because of their broken limbs\nor their disfigured faces, for in the sky-country the people all must\nhave beautiful faces and forms. But Spider Man's tricks brought him no\ngood; the people would not drive him away because they needed his webs\nand he was kept always at his tasks. At last he decided to run away of\nhis own accord, and, one night when the Moon and the Stars had gone to\nwork and the Sun was asleep, he said farewell to the sky-country and\nlet himself down to earth by one of his own strands of yarn, spinning\nit as he dropped down.\n\n[Illustration: HE SAID FAREWELL TO THE SKY COUNTRY AND LET HIMSELF\nDOWN TO EARTH--BY ONE OF HIS OWN STRANDS OF YARN]\n\nIn the earth-country he married four wives as he had planned, for he\nwanted them to work for him while he took his ease. He thought he had\nworked long enough. All went well for a time and the Spider Man was\nquite happy living his lazy and contented life. Not a strand did he\nspin, nor a web did he weave. No men on earth were working; only the\nwomen toiled. At last, Glooskap, who ruled upon the earth in that\ntime, became very angry because the men in these parts were so lazy,\nand he sent Famine into their country to punish them for their sins.\nFamine came very stealthily into the land and gathered up all the corn\nand carried it off; then he called to him all the animals, and the\nbirds, and the fish of the sea and river, and he took them away with\nhim. In all the land there was nothing left to eat. Only water\nremained. The people were very hungry and they lived on water for many\ndays. Sometimes they drank the water cold, sometimes hot, sometimes\nluke-warm, but at best it was but poor fare. The Spider Man soon grew\ntired of this strange diet, for it did not satisfy his hunger to live\nalways on water. It filled his belly and swelled him to a great size,\nbut it brought him little nourishment or strength. So he said, \"There\nmust be good food somewhere in the world; I will go in search of it.\"\n\nThat night when all the world was asleep he took a large bag, and\ncrept softly away from his four wives and set out on his quest for\nfood. He did not want any one to know where he was going. For several\ndays he travelled, living only on water; but he found no food, and the\nbag was still empty on his back. At last one day he saw birds in the\ntrees and he knew that he was near the border of the Hunger-Land. That\nnight in the forest when he stopped at a stream to drink, he saw a\ntiny gleam of light far ahead of him through the trees. He hurried\ntowards the light and soon he came upon a man with a great hump on his\nshoulders and scars on his face, and a light hanging at his back, with\na shade on it which he could close and open at his will. The Spider\nMan said, \"I am looking for food; tell me where I can find it.\" And\nthe humped man with the light said, \"Do you want it for your people?\"\nBut the Spider Man said, \"No, I want it for myself.\" Then the humped\nman laughed and said, \"You are near to the border of the Land of\nPlenty; follow me and I will give you food.\" Then he flashed the light\nat his back, opening and closing the shade so that the light\nflickered, and he set off quickly through the trees. The Spider Man\nfollowed the light flashing in the darkness, but he had to go so fast\nthat he was almost out of breath when he reached the house where the\nhumped man had stopped. But the humped man only laughed when he saw\nthe Spider Man coming puffing wearily along with his fat and swollen\nbelly. He gave him a good fat meal and the Spider Man soon felt\nbetter after his long fast. Then the humped man said, \"You are the\nSpider Man who once weaved webs in the sky. I, too, once dwelt in the\nstar-country, and one dark night as I was climbing back from the\nearth-country on your ladder, carrying my lamp on my back to light the\nway, when I was near the sky you cut the strands of the web and I fell\nto the earth with a great crash. That is why I have a great hump on my\nback and scars on my face, and because of this I have never been\nallowed to go back to the sky-country of the stars. I roam the earth\nat nights as a forest fairy just as I did in the olden days, for I\nhave my former power still with me, and I still carry my lamp at my\nback; it is the starlight from the sky-country. I shall never get back\nto the star-country while I have life. But some day when my work on\nearth is done I shall go back. But although you were cruel to me I\nwill give you food.\" The Spider Man remembered the nights he had cut\nthe ladder strands, and he laughed to himself at the memory of the\nstar-fairies falling to earth with a great crash. But the man with the\nlight knew that now he had his chance to take vengeance on the Spider\nMan. The latter did not suspect evil. He was glad to get food at last.\n\nThen the humped man said, \"I will give you four pots. You must not\nopen them until you get home. They will then be filled with food, and\nthereafter always when you open them they will be packed with good\nfood. And the food will never grow less.\" The Spider Man put the four\npots in his bag and slinging it over his shoulder he set out for his\nhome, well pleased with his success. After he had gone away, the\nhumped man used his power to make him hungry. Yet for several days he\ntravelled without opening the pots, for although he was almost\nstarving he wished to do as the humped man had told him. At last he\ncould wait no longer. He stopped near his home, took the pots out of\nthe bag and opened them. They were filled with good food as he had\nbeen promised. In one was a fine meat stew; in another were many\ncooked vegetables; in another was bread made from Indian corn; and in\nanother was luscious ripe fruit. He ate until he was full. He covered\nthe pots, put them back in the bag, and hid the bag among the trees.\nThen he went home. He had meanwhile taken pity on his people and he\ndecided to invite the Chief and all the tribe to a feast the next\nevening, for the pots would be full, and the food would never\ndecrease, and there would be enough for all. He thought the people\nwould regard him as a very wonderful man if he could supply them all\nwith good food in their hunger.\n\nWhen he reached his home his wives were very glad to see him back, and\nthey at once brought him water, the only food they had. But he laughed\nthem to scorn, and threw the water in their faces and said, \"Oh,\nfoolish women, I do not want water; it is not food for a great man\nlike me. I have had a good meal of meat stew and corn bread and\ncooked vegetables and luscious ripe fruit. I know where much food is\nto be found, but I alone know. I can find food when all others fail,\nfor I am a great man. Go forth and invite the Chief and all the people\nto a feast which I shall provide for them to-morrow night--a feast for\nall the land, for my food never grows less.\" They were all amazed when\nthey heard his story, and the thought of his good meal greatly added\nto their hunger. But they went out and summoned all the tribe to a\nfeast as he had told them.\n\nThe next night all the people gathered for the feast, for the news of\nit had spread through all the land. They had taken no water that day,\nfor they wished to eat well, and they were very hungry. They were as\nhungry as wild beasts in search of food. The Spider Man was very glad\nbecause the people praised him, and he proudly brought in his bag of\npots. The people all waited hungrily and eagerly. But when he\nuncovered the first pot there was no food there; he uncovered the\nsecond pot, but there was no food there; he uncovered all the pots,\nbut not a bit of food was in any of them. They were all empty, and in\nthe bottom of each was a great gaping hole. Now it had happened in\nthis way. When the humped man, the Star-fairy, had given the pots to\nthe Spider Man, he knew well that the Spider Man would disobey his\norders and that he would open the pots before he reached his home. He\nchuckled to himself, for he knew that now he could take vengeance on\nthe web-weaver who had injured him. So when the Spider Man had left\nthe pots among the trees, the humped man used his magic power and made\nholes in the pots, and the charm of the food was broken and all the\nfood disappeared. When the people saw the empty pots they thought they\nhad been purposely deceived. The remains of the food and the smell of\nstew and of fruit still clung to the pots. They thought the Spider Man\nhad eaten all the food himself. So in their great hunger and their\nrage and their disappointment they fell upon him and beat him and bore\nhim to the ground, while the humped man with the lamp at his back\nhiding behind the trees looked on and laughed in his glee. Then the\npeople split the Spider Man's arms to the shoulders, and his legs to\nthe thighs, so that he had eight limbs instead of four. And the humped\nman--the star-fairy named Fire-fly--came forth from behind the trees\nand standing over the fallen Spider Man he said, \"Henceforth because\nof your cruelty to the star-people you will always crawl on eight\nlegs, and you will have a fat round belly because of the water you\nhave drunk; and sometimes you will live on top of the water. But you\nshall always eat only flies and insects. And you will always spin\ndownwards but never upwards, and you will often try to get back to the\nstar-country, but you shall always slip down again on the strand of\nyarn you have spun.\" Then Fire-fly flashed his light and went quickly\naway, opening and closing the shade of his lamp as he flitted among\nthe trees. And to this day the Spider Man lives as the humped man of\nthe lamp had spoken, because of the cruelty he practised on the\nstar-fairies in the olden days.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOY WHO WAS CALLED THICK-HEAD\n\n\nThree brothers lived with their old Indian mother in the forest near\nthe sea. Their father had long been dead. At his death he had little\nof the world's goods to his credit and his widow and her sons were\nvery poor. In the place where they dwelt, game was not plentiful, and\nto get food enough to keep them from want they had often to go far\ninto the forest. The youngest boy was smaller and weaker than the\nothers, and when the two older sons went far away to hunt, they always\nleft him behind, for although he always wished to accompany them they\nwould never allow him to go. He had to do all the work about the\nhouse, and all day long he gathered wood in the forest and carried\nwater from the stream. And even when his brothers went out in the\nspring-time to draw sap from the maple trees he was never permitted to\ngo with them. He was always making mistakes and doing foolish things.\nHis brothers called him Thick-head, and all the people round about\nsaid he was a simpleton because of his slow and queer ways. His mother\nalone was kind to him and she always said, \"They may laugh at you and\ncall you fool, but you will prove to be wiser than all of them yet,\nfor so it was told me by a forest fairy at your birth.\"\n\nThe Chief of the people had a beautiful daughter who had many suitors.\nBut her father spurned them all from his door and said, \"My daughter\nis not yet of age to marry; and when her time of marriage comes, she\nwill only marry the man who can make great profit from hunting.\" The\ntwo older sons of the old woman decided that one of them must win the\ngirl. So they prepared to set out on a great hunting expedition far\naway in the northern forest, for it was now autumn, and the hunter's\nmoon had come. The youngest boy wanted to go with them, for he had\nnever been away from home and he wished to see the world. And his\nmother said he might go. His brothers were very angry when they heard\nhis request, and they said, \"Much good Thick-head can do us in the\nchase. He will only bring us bad luck. He is not a hunter but a\nscullion and a drudge fit only for the fireside.\" But his mother\ncommanded them to grant the boy's wish and they had to obey. So the\nthree brothers set out for the north country, the two older brothers\ngrumbling loudly because they were accompanied by the boy they thought\na fool.\n\nThe two older brothers had good success in the chase and they killed\nmany animals--deer and rabbits and otters and beavers. And they came\nhome bearing a great quantity of dried meat and skins. They each\nthought, \"Now we have begun to prove our prowess to the Chief, and if\nwe succeed as well next year when the hunter's moon comes again, one\nof us will surely win his daughter when she is old enough to marry.\"\nBut all the youngest boy brought home as a result of his journey into\nthe game country was a large Earth-Worm as thick as his finger and as\nlong as his arm. It was the biggest Earth-Worm he had ever seen. He\nthought it a great curiosity as well as a great discovery, and he was\nso busy watching it each day that he had no time to hunt. When he\nbrought it home in a box, his brothers said to their mother, \"What did\nwe tell you about Thick-head? He has now surely proved himself a fool.\nHe has caught only a fat Earth-Worm in all these weeks.\" And they\nnoised it abroad in the village and all the people laughed loudly at\nthe simpleton, until \"Thick-head's hunt\" became a by-word in all the\nland. But the boy's mother only smiled and said, \"He will surprise\nthem all yet.\"\n\nThe boy kept the Earth-Worm in a tiny pen just outside the door of his\nhome. One day a large Duck came waddling along, and sticking her bill\nover the little fence of the pen she quickly gobbled up the Worm. The\nboy was very angry and he went to the man who owned the Duck, and\nsaid, \"Your Duck ate up my pet Worm. I want my Worm.\" The man offered\nto pay him whatever price he asked, but the boy said, \"I do not want\nyour price. I want my Worm.\" But the man said, \"How can I give you\nyour Worm when my Duck has eaten it up? It is gone for ever.\" And the\nboy said, \"It is not gone. It is in the Duck's belly. So I must have\nthe Duck.\" Then to avoid further trouble the man gave Thick-head the\nDuck, for he thought to himself, \"What is the use of arguing with a\nfool.\"\n\nThe boy took the Duck home and kept it in a little pen near his home\nwith a low fence around it. And he tied a great weight to its foot so\nthat it could not fly away. He was quite happy again, for he thought,\n\"Now I have both my Worm and the Duck.\" But one day a Fox came\nprowling along looking for food. He saw the fat Duck tied by the foot\nin the little pen. And he said, \"What good fortune! There is a choice\nmeal for me,\" and in a twinkling he was over the fence. The Duck\nquacked and made a great noise, but she was soon silenced. The Fox had\njust finished eating up the Duck when the boy, who had heard the\nquacking, came running out of the house. The Fox was smacking his lips\nafter his good meal, and he was too slow in getting away. The boy fell\nto beating him with a stout club and soon killed him and threw his\nbody into the yard behind the house. And he thought, \"That is not so\nbad. Now I have my Worm and the Duck and the Fox.\"\n\nThat night an old Wolf came through the forest in search of food. He\nwas very hungry, and in the bright moonlight he saw the dead Fox\nlying in the yard. He pounced upon it greedily and devoured it until\nnot a trace of it was left. But the boy saw him before he could get\naway, and he came stealthily upon him and killed him with a blow of\nhis axe. \"I am surely in good luck,\" he thought, \"for now I have the\nWorm and the Duck and the Fox and the Wolf.\" But the next day when he\ntold his brothers of his good fortune and his great skill, they\nlaughed at him loudly and said, \"Much good a dead Wolf will do you.\nBefore two days have passed it will be but an evil-smelling thing and\nwe shall have to bury it deep. You are indeed a great fool.\" The boy\npondered for a long time over what they had said, and he thought,\n\"Perhaps they are right. The dead Wolf cannot last long. I will save\nthe skin.\"\n\nSo he skinned the Wolf and dried the skin and made a drum from it. For\nthe drum was one of the few musical instruments of the Indians in\nthose old times, and they beat it loudly at all their dances and\nfestivals. The boy beat the drum each evening, and made a great noise,\nand he was very proud because he had the only drum in the whole\nvillage. One day the Chief sent for him and said to him, \"I want to\nborrow your drum for this evening. I am having a great gathering to\nannounce to all the land that my daughter is now of age to marry and\nthat suitors may now seek her hand in marriage. But we have no musical\ninstruments and I want your drum, and I myself will beat it at the\ndance.\" So Thick-head brought his drum to the Chief's house, but he\nwas not very well pleased, because he was not invited to the feast,\nwhile his brothers were among the favoured guests. And he said to the\nChief, \"Be very careful. Do not tear the skin of my drum, for I can\nnever get another like it. My Worm and my Duck and my Fox and my Wolf\nhave all helped to make it.\"\n\n[Illustration: THAT NIGHT AN OLD WOLF CAME THROUGH THE FOREST IN\nSEARCH OF FOOD]\n\nThe next day he went for his drum. But the Chief had struck it too\nhard and had split it open so that it would now make no sound and it\nwas ruined beyond repair. He offered to pay the boy a great price for\nit, but the boy said, \"I do not want your price. I want my drum. Give\nme back my drum, for my Worm and the Duck and the Fox and the Wolf are\nall in it.\" The Chief said, \"How can I give you back your drum when it\nis broken? It is gone for ever. I will give you anything you desire in\nexchange for it. Since you do not like the price I offer, you may name\nyour own price and you shall have it.\" And the boy thought to himself,\n\"Here is a chance for good fortune. Now I shall surprise my brothers.\"\nAnd he said, \"Since you cannot give me my drum, I will take your\ndaughter in marriage in exchange.\" The Chief was much perplexed, but\nhe had to be true to his word. So he gave his daughter to Thick-head,\nand they were married, and the girl brought him much treasure and they\nlived very happily. And his brothers were much amazed and angered\nbecause they had failed. But his mother said, \"I told you he was wiser\nthan you and that he would outwit you yet although you called him\nThick-head and fool. For the forest fairy said it to me at his\nbirth.\"\n\n\n\n\nRABBIT AND THE INDIAN CHIEF\n\n\nLong ago an Indian Chief was living with his people far in the\nCanadian forest. Life was good and food was plentiful and the people\nwere all very happy. But one day a wicked giant and his old witch wife\ncame crashing into the land from a far country beyond the prairies.\nThey devoured all the food they could lay their hands on and soon\nthere was little left to eat in all the country; and often they\ncarried off little children to their hiding-place and ate them up\nuntil not a trace of them remained. Somewhere far in the forest they\ndwelt in a hidden cave; they slept all day long, but at night they\nalways stalked forth in search of plunder. The Chief was much\ntroubled, and with his warriors he tried in every way to discover\ntheir hiding-place, but no one ever succeeded in finding it. For by\nthe use of their magic power the giant and his old witch wife could\nmake themselves invisible when they walked abroad among men and they\ncould not be caught. The Chief called all his warriors to a council,\nand he said, \"Who can rid me of this pest? Who can kill the giant?\"\nBut not a man replied. And when he saw his people's store of food\nrapidly growing smaller and the little children of his tribe slowly\ndisappearing, he was greatly puzzled as to what he should do.\n\nOne night of bright moonlight Rabbit was prowling through the woods,\nas was his custom, in search of some one on whom he could play a\nprank, for he was a great joker. Suddenly he came upon the giant and\nhis old witch wife standing by an opening in the side of a low\nmountain. He watched them for a long time from the shadow of a great\ntree, and at last he saw them enter a large hole in the side of the\nhill. He knew now that he had hit by accident upon the giant's cave\nand he was well pleased by his discovery. But he kept his secret to\nhimself, for he thought, \"Here is a good chance for me to win fame. I\nwill kill the giants by a crafty trick and I will then be looked upon\nas a great warrior, the foremost in all the land, for all the Chief's\nmen have failed to find the giants.\"\n\nSo he went to the Chief and said, \"Oh, Chief, I know where the giants\nlive and I swear to you that I am going to kill them. It is I alone\nwho can rid you of these pests.\" \"You!\" said the Chief in great\nsurprise; \"little harm the like of you can do to giants; they will eat\nyou up in one mouthful,\" and he laughed loudly at Rabbit's boldness.\nAnd he called to his warriors saying, \"See what a stout fighter we\nhave here! Little Rabbit says he can do what we have failed to do; he\nswears that he will kill the giants; he is better fitted to kill a\nmouse!\" And they all laughed loud haw-haws at Rabbit's vanity.\n\nPoor Rabbit's pride was deeply hurt by the Chief's scorn and the\nwarriors' cruel laughter, but it all made him more determined than\never to slay the thieving giants. So he went to an old woman who lived\nnear-by and said, \"Give me an old faded dress and a ragged old shawl\nand your coloured spectacles and a hat with a feather in it.\" The old\nwoman wondered what tricks he was up to now, but she gave him what he\nasked for. He put on the tattered old dress and the battered old hat\nwith a red feather sticking from the top, and he wrapped the old shawl\nabout his face, and he wore the woman's coloured spectacles and he\ncarried a crooked stick. And dressed in this fashion he set out\ntowards evening for the giants' home. When he reached the mouth of the\ncave, he stood still and waited, leaning on his crooked stick, for\nnight was coming on and he knew that the giants would soon be going\nout on their plundering rounds.\n\nAfter a time when it was quite dark except for the moonlight, the\ngiant's old witch wife came out of the cave. When she saw Rabbit in\nthe dim light she said gruffly, \"Who are you, standing there in the\nshadows?\" \"Oh, my dear niece,\" said Rabbit, \"I have found you at last.\nI am your poor old aunt. I thought I had lost my way. I have come to\nsee you from your home in the far country. It was a long journey and\nmy poor old legs and back are stiff and sore, and I am very hungry and\ntired;\" and he moved slowly towards the woman, hobbling along with his\ncrooked stick. The giant woman was deceived, and she threw her arms\naround Rabbit and kissed him, and she did not feel his whiskers or his\nsplit lip because of the old shawl that was wrapped around his face.\n\"I have a pain in my jaw from sleeping out of doors,\" said Rabbit,\n\"and I must keep my face wrapped up.\"\n\n\"Come in and rest, and you will soon feel better,\" said the giant\nwoman.\n\n\"You will have to lead me in,\" said Rabbit, not wishing to take off\nthe shawl, \"for my eyesight is very bad.\"\n\nSo she led Rabbit into the warm cave, which was so dark that they\ncould scarcely see each other, and she called her husband and said,\n\"Here is my dear old aunt who has come all the way from the far\ncountry beyond the prairies.\" And the giant, believing Rabbit to be\nhis wife's kindred, for he could not see him very clearly, treated him\nvery kindly. And they showed him the bed where he was to sleep.\n\nThe woman then gave Rabbit a large piece of dried meat to eat. But\nRabbit said, \"I cannot eat it, for I am old and I have lost all my\nteeth. Give me an axe to cut it up small.\" So the woman brought him a\nsharp axe and he chopped the meat into small pieces and ate it all up.\nAnd he said, \"I will keep the axe by me, for I shall need it at all my\nmeals,\" and he placed it beside his bed. The giant said, \"We are\ngoing away to see some friends, but we shall be back before midnight.\"\nBut before they went away Rabbit said to the woman, \"I hope your\nhusband sleeps soundly; I have a bad cough and I sometimes moan\nbecause of the pain in my face and head and I do not wish to disturb\nhim.\"\n\nAnd the old giant woman answered, \"He slumbers too well. When we sleep\nwe both snore loudly, and when you hear us snoring you may cough as\nmuch as you please, for then you will know that we are sound asleep.\"\nThen the man and his witch wife went away.\n\nWhen the giants came home, Rabbit pretended to be fast asleep. They\nbrought back with them much food which they hid in a secret place at\nthe side of the cave. Rabbit watched them through the holes in the old\nshawl around his head. Soon they went to bed, drowsy after their fat\nmeal. When Rabbit heard them snoring loudly like a great waterfall,\n\"chr-r-r, chr-r-r,\" he arose very quietly and crept softly to their\nbedside. With two blows of his axe he killed the giant and his wife,\none after the other. Then he ran away as fast as he could, carrying\nwith him his old dress and hat and shawl, for he thought he might need\nthem again.\n\nIn the morning he went to the Chief's house and told the Chief what he\nhad done. The Chief laughed scornfully and he would not believe it\nuntil Rabbit brought him to the cave and showed him the slain giants\ncold and stiff in their bed. The Chief's men then took back to the\nvillage the great store of food the giants had hidden in the secret\nplace. But the Chief and his warriors, although they were glad to be\nrid of the thieves, were angry at heart because Rabbit whom they had\nlaughed at had done what they had failed to do, for they were very\njealous of Rabbit's power.\n\nOne day soon afterwards the Chief called all the birds and the animals\nto a council, and he said, \"Now that the giants who robbed us of our\nfood are dead and gone, and that we shall never again want for\nnourishment in my country, I am going to let each animal and bird\nchoose the kind of food he would most like to live on if he could get\nit. And they shall never want for that kind of food if it can be\nprovided.\" And he called on each to make the choice. And the birds\nsaid \"Grain and seeds and worms,\" and the Squirrel said \"Nuts,\" and\nthe Fox said \"Chickens,\" and the cat said \"Milk,\" and the dog said\n\"Meat and bones,\" and the weasel said \"Eggs,\" and the wolf said\n\"Lambs,\" and the bear said \"Fish from the frozen sea,\" and so on until\neach animal was called upon and declared his liking. And the Chief\nsaid, \"It shall be as you have chosen.\" But the Chief had purposely\nneglected to summon poor Rabbit to the council, and Rabbit was absent\non a long journey. When he came home, he was very angry when he heard\nwhat had happened, for only the left-over in the world's food remained\nfor him to choose. So he went to the Chief and said in great wrath,\n\"This is a fine return for ridding your land of giants. But that is a\nway you have; you always reward good deeds with evil.\"\n\nThe Chief was very angry because of Rabbit's insolence, and he said,\n\"You are telling lies again.\" But Rabbit called as witnesses to the\ntruth of what he said Sheep and Goat and Duck who chanced to be\npassing by and who stood listening to the quarrel. And old Sheep said,\n\"Rabbit has spoken truly. When I was young I gave the Chief much wool\nto make clothes for his back and he used me well. But now that I am\nold he is going to kill me and eat me up. That is my reward.\" And old\nGoat said, \"Rabbit has spoken wisely and justly. I served the Chief\nwell in my time and gave him milk, but now that I am old and have no\nmore milk he is fattening me and getting me ready for slaughter. That\nis my reward.\" And old Duck said, \"That is a true saying of Rabbit.\nOnce upon a time I gave the Chief many eggs and young ducklings, but\nnow that I have stopped laying he is soon going to roast me in a pot.\nThat is my reward.\" The Chief could make no answer to these charges,\nfor he knew them to be true, and he offered to do what was in his\npower for Rabbit. But Rabbit refused to make choice of food, for he\nsaid the best was already gone. He sulked for many months and lived\nalone by his own efforts as best he could.\n\nAt last he decided to take vengeance on the Chief. And he hit, as was\nhis custom, on a crafty trick. The Chief had an old Bear which he\nprized very highly, for the Bear did for him many wondrous tricks and\nbrought laughter to him and his warriors when he danced at their\nfeasts. In those olden times Bear had a long bushy tail of which he\nwas very proud. One day as Rabbit sat on the ice fishing--for it was\nnow winter--Bear came along. There was to be a feast that night and he\nwas going to dance for the Chief, and he was in very good spirits.\n\"Where did you get all the fine fish?\" he asked, for he was a great\nfish eater. \"I caught them through the hole in the ice,\" said Rabbit.\n\"It is very easy. Just drop your tail down through the hole and it\nwill soon be covered with fine big fish.\"\n\nBear did as he was told, and he sat on the ice for a long time waiting\nfor his prey. He sat so long that the hole froze up, for it was very\ncold, and in it was frozen poor Bear's long bushy tail. \"Now,\" said\nRabbit, \"jump quick, for many fish are hanging to you.\" Bear jumped\nwith all his might, but his tail was held fast in the ice and it broke\noff close to the root. Rabbit laughed in great glee and ran away. And\npoor Bear howled with pain and shame. He could not dance at the feast\nbecause his stub of a tail was sore, and the Chief and the warriors\nwere very angry at Rabbit because he had harmed their dancing pet. And\nsince that time Bear has had a short stubby tail which to this day he\ntries to wag feebly.\n\nRabbit then hid for some days far from the Chief and his warriors.\nThen he decided to try another trick. The Chief's wood-cutter was old\nBeaver, who lived in a little house of reeds on the bank of a stream.\nHe was very busy now cutting down trees for the Chief, for it was near\nto spring-time and the people were in need of logs for building roads\nover the rivers. One day Rabbit went to Beaver and said, \"The Chief\nsent me to you to bring you to a great tree he wishes you to cut down\nat once.\" So Beaver went along with him. But when Beaver was busy at\nhis task cutting down the tree, Rabbit hit him a savage blow on the\nhead with a big stick hoping to kill him and thus again to anger the\nChief. Poor Beaver fell to the ground and Rabbit ran away. But Beaver\nwas only stunned. He got up after a time and went home muttering to\nhimself and rubbing his sore head. Soon Rabbit came back to the tree\nand found Beaver gone. He knew that his blow had failed. Then he put\non again his tattered old dress and his ragged shawl and his coloured\nspectacles and the hat with the red feather sticking to the top, and\nhe went to Beaver's house by the stream, hobbling along with a stick.\n\"The Chief sent me to you to bring you to a great tree he wishes you\nto cut down at once,\" he called. And Beaver said, \"I have already\ntried to cut a great tree for him to-day and I should have finished it\nhad I not been beaten with a stick until I was stunned by the blow.\"\n\"Who struck you?\" asked Rabbit, laughing to himself. \"Rabbit struck\nme,\" answered Beaver. \"He is a great brigand and a liar and a thief,\"\nsaid Rabbit. \"He is all that,\" said Beaver, rubbing the lump on his\nhead. So Beaver went along with Rabbit. And Rabbit asked as they went\nalong, \"How is it that you are alive after that cruel blow?\" And\nBeaver said, \"Rabbit hit me on the head. If he had hit me on the back\nof my neck he would have killed me, for there I keep the secret of my\nlife.\"\n\nWhen Beaver was busy again at his task cutting down the tree, Rabbit\nhit him a powerful blow on the back of the neck and poor Beaver fell\ndown dead. Then he cut off his tail that was made like a file, and\nwent away happy, for he knew that the Chief would be very angry when\nhe found what had happened to his wood-cutter.\n\n[Illustration: HE WENT TO BEAVER'S HOUSE BY THE STREAM, HOBBLING ALONG\nWITH A STICK]\n\nWhen the Chief learned that Beaver had been killed, his wrath knew no\nbounds, for he could ill afford at this time to lose his best\nwood-chopper. He blamed Rabbit for the deed, but he could not be sure\nthat his suspicions were well-founded. Rabbit kept out of the Chief's\nsight for some weeks. But one day in early summer he was very hungry.\nHe saw all the other animals filling their bellies with their\nfavourite food, and he decided to forget his sulks and to ask the\nChief for help. So he went to the Chief and said haughtily, \"I want\nyou to give me food for my own special use as you have done with the\nother animals. You must do it at once or I will do you much harm.\"\nThen the Chief remembered what Rabbit had done to his dancing Bear,\nand he thought of the death of Beaver, for which he blamed Rabbit\nwithout proof, and he grew red with anger. He seized Rabbit by the\nheels and said, \"Henceforth the dogs will always chase you, and you\nwill never have peace when they are near. And you will live for the\nmost part on whatever food I throw you into now.\" Then he whirled\nRabbit around his head by the heels, and he threw him from him with\ngreat force, hoping to drop him in a great black swamp near-by. Poor\nRabbit went flying through the air for a great distance, farther than\nthe Chief had hoped, and he dropped with a thud into a field of clover\non the edge of which cabbages and lettuce were growing. And since that\ntime the dogs have always chased Rabbit and he has lived for the most\npart on cabbages and lettuce and clover which he steals on moonlight\nnights from farmers' fields.\n\n\n\n\nGREAT HEART AND THE THREE TESTS\n\n\nSomewhere near the sea in olden times a boy was living with his father\nand mother. He had no brothers or sisters. His father was a great\nhunter and the boy inherited something of his power, for he was always\nvery successful in the killing of game. And his mother said, \"Some day\nhe will be a great man, for before his birth a vision came to me in\nthe night and told me that my son would win wide fame. And fairy gifts\nwere laid by the fairies in his cradle.\" And his father, listening to\nher boasting, said, \"Time will tell; time will tell; but if he is to\nbe a great man it is his own deeds and not your boasting that must\nprove it.\" As the boy grew up he became strangely beautiful and he had\ngreat strength. And his father said, \"It is time he set out to seek\nhis fortune. I was in the forest doing for myself when I was no older\nthan he.\" And his mother said, \"Wait a little and be not so impatient.\nHe is yet young and there is yet much time.\" So the boy remained at\nhome a while longer.\n\nNow it happened that far away in a distant village there lived a young\ngirl of very great beauty and grace. Her father had been a great\nChief, but he was now dead. Her mother too was dead, and she was all\nalone in the world. But her parents had left her vast lands and a\ngreat store of goods and many servants, and because of her treasures\nand her great beauty she had many suitors. But she was not easily\npleased by men and on all who came to seek her hand she imposed severe\nfeats of skill to test their sincerity and their worth. She was\ncarefully guarded by an old woman and many servants who kept\ntroublesome and meddlesome people away.\n\nSoon the fame of the girl's wealth and beauty spread through all the\nland. It reached the sea coast village where the young man dwelt. His\nfather thought to himself, \"Here is a good chance for my son to prove\nhis worth.\" So he called his boy to him and said, \"It is time you were\nsetting out to seek your fortune in the world and to find a wife, for\nyour spring-time is passing and your summer of life will soon be here,\nand before you know it your autumn will be upon you and your winter\nwill be near. There is no time to lose. Seek out the beautiful girl of\nthe rich treasures in the distant inland village and try to win her as\nyour wife.\" And his mother gave him the fairy gifts which had been\nlaid in his cradle at his birth, and he said good-bye to his parents\nand set out on his long journey. He had no misgivings, for he was very\nvain of his beauty and he was sure, too, of his strength.\n\nAs he travelled inland he came one day upon a man clad in scarlet\nsitting on the side of a rocky hill tying stones to his feet. \"Hello,\"\nhe said to the man, \"why are you tying these heavy rocks to your\nankles?\" \"I am a hunter,\" replied the man, \"but when I follow the deer\nI run so fast that I am soon far in front of them instead of behind\nthem, and I am putting heavy weights on my feet so that I will not run\nso rapidly.\" \"You are indeed a wonderful man,\" said the boy; \"but I am\nalone and I need a companion. Let us go along together.\" \"Who are\nyou?\" said the man. \"I am Lad of the Great Heart,\" said the boy, \"and\nI can do great deeds and I can win for you great treasure.\" So the\nScarlet Runner went along with him.\n\nTowards evening when they were now far inland, they came to a large\nlake. Among the trees on the fringe of the lake a large fat man was\nlying flat on his stomach with his mouth in the water drinking as hard\nas he could. For some time they watched him, but still he drank and\nthe lake grew smaller and smaller and still his thirst was not\nquenched. They laughed at such a strange sight, and as they approached\nhim the boy said, \"Hello! Why do you lie there drinking so much\nwater?\" \"Oh,\" answered the fat man, \"there are times when I cannot get\nenough water to drink. When I have drunk this lake dry I shall still\nbe thirsty.\" \"Who are you?\" asked the boy. \"I am Man of the Great\nThirst,\" said the fat man. \"That is well,\" said Great Heart, \"we two\nneed a third companion. We can do great deeds and we can win for you\ngreat treasure.\" So the three went along together.\n\n[Illustration: HE CAME ONE DAY UPON A MAN CLAD IN SCARLET SITTING ON\nTHE SIDE OF A ROCKY HILL TYING STONES TO HIS FEET]\n\nThey had not gone far when they came to a wide open plain where they\nsaw a man walking along with his face raised upwards, peering at the\nsky. He moved along rapidly and seemed to find his way without his\neyes, for he gazed steadily at the heavens. \"Hello,\" said Great Heart\nas the sky-gazer rushed past him and almost knocked him over, \"what\nare you looking at so intently?\" \"Oh,\" said the man, \"I have shot an\narrow into the sky and I am waiting for it to fall. It has gone so far\nthat it will be some time before it drops.\" \"Who are you?\" asked the\nboy. \"I am the Far-Darter,\" said the sky-gazer. \"We three need a\nfourth companion,\" said the boy. \"We can do great deeds and win for\nyou much treasure. Come along with us.\" So the four went along\ntogether.\n\nThey had gone but a short distance across the plain to the edge of a\nforest when they came upon a man lying down at full length with his\nhead upon his hand. The edge of his hand was on the ground and it was\nhalf closed around his ear, which rested upon it. As he saw the four\nmen approaching him he placed a finger of his other hand upon his lips\nand signalled to them to keep quiet. \"Hello,\" said Great Heart in a\nwhisper, \"what are you doing there with your ear to the ground?\" \"I am\nlistening to the plants growing far away in the forest,\" he answered.\n\"There is a beautiful flower I wish to find, and I am trying to hear\nit breathing so that I may go and get it. Aha! I hear it now.\" So\nsaying he rose from the ground. The boy said, \"Who are you?\" \"I am\nKeen Ears,\" said the listener. \"We four need another companion,\" said\nGreat Heart. \"We can do great deeds and win for you much treasure.\nCome along with us.\" So the four men and the boy went along together,\nKeen Ears, and Scarlet Runner, and Far Darter, and Man of the Great\nThirst, and Lad of the Great Heart. Then Great Heart unfolded to the\nothers his plan to win the beautiful girl who lived with her treasures\nin the distant village. And they gladly agreed to help him in his\ndangerous undertaking.\n\nWhen they reached the village, the people were all very curious when\nthey saw the five strangers. They marvelled at Great Heart's beauty.\nBut when they heard that he wished to marry the daughter of the former\nChief they shook their heads gravely and said, \"It will never be. She\nplaces hard conditions on all who seek her hand. He who fails in the\ntests is doomed to death. Many suitors have tried and failed and\ndied.\" But Great Heart was not alarmed, and with his four companions\nhe went to the girl's home. The old woman who guarded her met him at\nthe door and he made known his wishes. She laughed scornfully when she\nsaw his great beauty, and she said, \"You look more like a girl than\nlike a warrior. You cannot endure the tests.\" But the young man\ninsisted on making the trials.\n\nThe old woman said, \"If you fail in the tests you will die,\" and Great\nHeart said, \"It is so agreed.\" Then the woman said, \"If you wish to\nwin the maiden you must first push away this great rock from before\nher window. It keeps the sunlight from her in the mornings.\" Then\nGreat Heart, calling to his aid the fairy gifts of his cradle, placed\nhis shoulder against the huge stone which rose higher than the house,\nand he pushed with all his strength. With a mighty crash it rolled\ndown the hill and broke into millions of pieces. The bits of rock flew\nall over the earth so great was the fall, and the little pebbles and\nstones that came from it are seen throughout the world to this day.\nThe sunlight streamed in at the window, and the maiden knew that the\nfirst test had been successfully passed by a suitor.\n\nThen came the second test. The old woman and her servants brought\ngreat quantities of food and drink and bade the strangers consume it\nall at one meal. They were very hungry, for they had eaten nothing all\nday and they easily ate up the food. But when Great Heart saw the\ngreat barrels of water, his spirits sank, and he said, \"I fear I am\nbeaten.\" But Man of the Great Thirst said, \"Not so fast, my friend.\nThe spell of great stomach-burning is again upon me. I am very dry as\nif there was a fire in my belly. Give me a chance to drink.\" He went\nfrom barrel to barrel and in a twinkling he had drained them all of\nevery drop. And the people wondered greatly.\n\nBut there was still another test. \"You must have one of your party run\na race,\" said the old woman to Great Heart. And she brought out a man\nwho had never been beaten in running. \"Who is your choice of runners?\"\nshe asked; \"he must race with this man, and if he wins you may have\nthe maiden for your wife and all the treasure with her, for this is\nthe final test. But if he loses the race you shall die.\" Great Heart\ncalled Scarlet Runner to the mark and told the old woman that this was\nthe man selected. Then he untied the rocks from the runner's feet, and\nwhen all was ready the race began. The course lay far across the\nplains for many miles until the runners should pass from sight, and\nback again to the starting point. The two runners kept together for\nsome distance, talking together in a friendly way as they ran. When\nthey had passed from sight of the village the maiden's runner said,\n\"Now we are out of sight of the village. Let us rest here a while on\nthis grassy bank, for the day is hot.\" The Scarlet Runner agreed to\nthis and they both stretched out on the grass. Now this was an old\ntrick of the maiden's runner, who always won by craft rather than by\nspeed. They had not lain down long on the grass when Scarlet Runner\nfell asleep under the hot sun, just as his rival had hoped. When the\nlatter was sure that his rival was sound asleep, he set out for the\nvillage, running as fast as he could. The people soon saw their runner\napproaching far off on the plains, but there was no sign of the\nstranger, and they thought that the new suitor for the girl's hand\nhad at last failed like all the others before him.\n\nGreat Heart was much puzzled when Scarlet Runner did not appear, and\nas he saw the maiden's runner coming nearer, he said, \"What can have\nhappened? I fear I am beaten.\" But Keen Ears threw himself flat on the\nground and listened. \"Scarlet Runner is asleep,\" he called; \"I hear\nhim snoring on the plains far away.\" And with his keen sense of sound\nhe located the exact spot where the runner was lying. \"I will soon\nwake him,\" said Far-Darter, as he fitted an arrow to his bow-string.\nThe people all thought him mad, for they had never seen an arrow shot\nso great a distance beyond their sight. But Far-Darter was not\ndismayed. He quickly shot an arrow from his bow to the spot which Keen\nEars had indicated. His aim was so true that the arrow hit Scarlet\nRunner on the nose and aroused him from his sleep. But when he rose to\nhis feet he found that his rival was gone and he knew that he had been\ndeceived. So in a great rage because of the trick and the pain in his\nnose, he set out for the village running like the wind. His rival had\nalmost reached the end of the race, but by putting all his strength\ninto his effort, Scarlet Runner quickly over-took him and passed him\nnear the winning-post and won the race. And the people wondered\ngreatly at these great deeds of the strangers.\n\nThen the old woman said to Great Heart, \"You have won the maiden as\nyour wife, for you alone have succeeded in these tests.\" So the two\nwere married with great ceremony. Great Heart gave much treasure to\nhis companions, and they promised to help him always in his need. Then\nwith his wife and her servants and her great store of goods he went\nback to his native village by the sea. His father and mother were glad\nto see him again and to hear of his success, and his mother said, \"I\ntold you he would win great fame because of the fairy gifts that were\nlaid in his cradle at his birth.\" And they all lived together and were\nhenceforth very happy.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOY OF THE RED TWILIGHT SKY\n\n\nLong ago there dwelt on the shores of the Great Water in the west a\nyoung man and his younger wife. They had no children and they lived\nall by themselves far from other people on an island not far from the\ncoast. The man spent his time in catching the deep-sea fish far out on\nthe ocean, or in spearing salmon in the distant rivers. Often he was\ngone for many days and his wife was very lonely in his absence. She\nwas not afraid, for she had a stout spirit, but it was very dismal in\nthe evenings to look only at the grey leaden sky and to hear only the\nsound of the surf as it beat upon the beach. So day after day she said\nto herself, \"I wish we had children. They would be good company for me\nwhen I am alone and my husband is far away.\"\n\nOne evening at twilight when she was solitary because of her husband's\nabsence on the ocean catching the deep-sea fish, she sat on the sand\nbeach looking out across the water. The sky in the west was pale grey;\nit was always dull and grey in that country, and when the sun had gone\ndown there was no soft light. In her loneliness the woman said to\nherself, \"I wish we had children to keep me company.\" A Kingfisher,\nwith his children, was diving for minnows not far away. And the woman\nsaid, \"Oh, sea bird with the white collar, I wish we had children like\nyou.\" And the Kingfisher said, \"Look in the sea-shells; look in the\nsea-shells,\" and flew away. The next evening the woman sat again upon\nthe beach looking westward at the dull grey sky. Not far away a white\nSea-gull was riding on the waves in the midst of her brood of little\nones. And the woman said, \"Oh, white sea bird, I wish we had children\nlike you to keep us company.\" And the Sea-gull said, \"Look in the\nsea-shells; look in the sea-shells,\" and flew away.\n\nThe woman wondered greatly at the words of the Kingfisher and the\nSea-Gull. As she sat there in thought she heard a strange cry coming\nfrom the sand dunes behind her. She went closer to the sound and found\nthat the cry came from a large sea-shell lying on the sand. She picked\nup the shell, and inside of it was a tiny boy, crying as hard as he\ncould. She was well pleased with her discovery, and she carried the\nbaby to her home and cared for him. When her husband came home from\nthe sea, he, too, was very happy to find the baby there, for he knew\nthat they would be lonely no more.\n\nThe baby grew very rapidly, and soon he was able to walk and move\nabout where he pleased. One day the woman was wearing a copper\nbracelet on her arm and the child said to her, \"I must have a bow\nmade from the copper on your arm.\" So to please him she made him a\ntiny bow from the bracelet, and two tiny arrows. At once he set out to\nhunt game, and day after day he came home bearing the products of his\nchase. He brought home geese and ducks and brant and small sea birds,\nand gave them to his mother for food. As he grew older the man and his\nwife noticed that his face took on a golden hue brighter than the\ncolour of his copper bow. Wherever he went there was a strange light.\nWhen he sat on the beach looking to the west the weather was always\ncalm and there were strange bright gleams upon the water. And his\nfoster-parents wondered greatly at this unusual power. But the boy\nwould not talk about it; when they spoke of it he was always silent.\n\nIt happened once that the winds blew hard over the Great Water and the\nman could not go out to catch fish because of the turbulent sea. For\nmany days he stayed on shore, for the ocean, which was usually at\npeace, was lashed into a great fury and the waves were dashing high on\nthe beach. Soon the people were in need of fish for food. And the boy\nsaid, \"I will go out with you, for I can overcome the Storm Spirit.\"\nThe man did not want to go, but at last he listened to the boy's\nentreaties and together they set out for the fishing grounds far\nacross the tossing sea. They had not gone far when they met the Spirit\nof the Storm coming madly from the south-west where the great winds\ndwelt. He tried hard to upset their boat, but over them he had no\npower, for the boy guided the frail craft across the water and all\naround them the sea was calm and still. Then the Storm Spirit called\nhis nephew Black Cloud to help him, and away in the south-east they\nsaw him hurrying to his uncle's aid. But the boy said to the man, \"Be\nnot afraid, for I am more than a match for him.\" So the two met, but\nwhen Black Cloud saw the boy he quickly disappeared. Then the Spirit\nof the Storm called Mist of the Sea to come and cover the water, for\nhe thought the boat would be lost if he hid the land from the man and\nthe boy. When the man saw Mist of the Sea coming like a grey vapour\nacross the water he was very frightened, for of all his enemies on the\nocean he feared this one most. But the boy said, \"He cannot harm you\nwhen I am with you.\" And sure enough, when Mist of the Sea saw the boy\nsitting smiling in the boat he disappeared as quickly as he had come.\nAnd the Storm Spirit in great anger hurried away to other parts, and\nthat day there was no more danger on the sea near the fishing grounds.\n\nThe boy and the man soon reached the fishing grounds in safety. And\nthe boy taught his foster-father a magic song with which he was able\nto lure fish to his nets. Before evening came the boat was filled with\ngood fat fish and they set out for their home. The man said, \"Tell me\nthe secret of your power.\" But the boy said, \"It is not yet time.\"\n\n[Illustration: AND SHE MAKES TO HIM AN OFFERING OF TINY WHITE FEATHERS\nPLUCKED FROM THE BREASTS OF BIRDS]\n\nThe next day the boy killed many birds. He skinned them all and dried\ntheir skins. Then he dressed himself in the skin of a plover and rose\ninto the air and flew above the sea. And the sea under him was grey\nlike his wings. Then he came down and dressed himself in the skin of a\nblue-jay and soared away again. And the sea over which he was flying\nwas at once changed to blue like the blue of his wings. When he came\nback to the beach, he put on the skin of a robin with the breast of a\ngolden hue like his face. Then he flew high and at once the waves\nunder him reflected a colour as of fire and bright gleams of light\nappeared upon the ocean, and the sky in the west was golden red. The\nboy flew back to the beach and he said to his foster-parents, \"Now it\nis time for me to leave you. I am the offspring of the sun. Yesterday\nmy power was tested and it was not found wanting, so now I must go\naway and I shall see you no more. But at evening I shall appear to you\noften in the twilight sky in the west. And when the sky and the sea\nlook at evening like the colour of my face, you will know that there\nwill be no wind nor storm and that on the morrow the weather will be\nfair. But although I go away, I shall leave you a strange power. And\nalways when you need me, let me know your desires by making white\nofferings to me, so that I may see them from my home far in the west.\"\n\nThen he gave to his foster-mother a wonderful robe. He bade his\nparents good-bye, and soared away to the west, leaving them in\nsadness. But the woman still keeps a part of the power he gave her,\nand when she sits on the island in a crevice in the dunes and loosens\nher wonderful robe, the wind hurries down from the land, and the sea\nis ruffled with storm; and the more she loosens the garment the\ngreater is the tempest. But in the late autumn when the cold mists\ncome in from the sea, and the evenings are chill, and the sky is dull\nand grey, she remembers the promise of the boy. And she makes to him\nan offering of tiny white feathers plucked from the breasts of birds.\nShe throws them into the air, and they appear as flakes of snow and\nrise thickly into the winds. And they hurry westward to tell the boy\nthat the world is grey and dreary as it yearns for the sight of his\ngolden face. Then he appears to the people of earth. He comes at\nevening and lingers after the sun has gone, until the twilight sky is\nred, and the ocean in the west has gleams of golden light. And the\npeople then know that there will be no wind and that on the morrow the\nweather will be fair, as he promised them long ago.\n\n\n\n\nHOW RAVEN BROUGHT FIRE TO THE INDIANS\n\n\nMany ages ago when the world was still young, Raven and White Sea-gull\nlived near together in Canada, far in the north country on the shores\nof the Great Water in the west. They were very good friends and they\nalways worked in harmony and they had much food and many servants in\ncommon. White Sea-gull knew no guile; he was always very open and\nfrank and honest in his dealings with others. But Raven was a sly\nfellow, and at times he was not lacking in treachery and deceit. But\nSea-gull did not suspect him, and the two lived always on very\nfriendly terms. In these far-back times in the north country all the\nworld was dark and there was no light but that of the stars. Sea-gull\nowned all the daylight, but he was very stingy and he kept it always\nlocked up in a box. He would give none of it to anyone else, and he\nnever let it out of the box except when he needed a little of it to\nhelp himself when he went far away on his journeys.\n\nAfter a time Raven grew envious of Sea-gull's possession. And he said,\n\"It is not fair that Sea-gull should keep the daylight all to himself\nlocked up in a box. It was meant for all the world and not for him\nalone, and it would be of great value to all of us if he would\nsometimes let a little of it out.\" So he went to Sea-gull and said,\n\"Give me some of your daylight. You do not need it all and I can use\nsome of it with advantage.\" But Sea-gull said, \"No. I want it all for\nmyself. What could you do with daylight, you with your coat as black\nas night?\" and he would not give him any of it. So Raven made up his\nmind that he would have to get some daylight from Sea-gull by stealth.\n\nSoon afterwards Raven gathered some prickly thorns and burdocks and\nscattered them on the ground between Sea-gull's house and the beach\nwhere the canoes were lying. Then he went to Sea-gull's window and\ncried loudly, \"Our canoes are going adrift in the surf. Come quickly\nand help me to save them.\" Sea-gull sprang out of bed and ran\nhalf-asleep on his bare feet. But as he ran to the beach the thorns\nstuck in his bare flesh, and he howled with pain. He crawled back to\nhis house, saying, \"My canoe may go adrift if it pleases; I cannot\nwalk because of the splinters in my feet.\" Raven chuckled to himself,\nand he moved away, pretending to go to the beach to draw up the\ncanoes. Then he went into Sea-gull's house. Sea-gull was still howling\nwith pain; he was sitting crying on the side of his bed and he was\ntrying to pull the thorns from his feet as best he could. \"I will help\nyou,\" said Raven, \"for I have often done this before. I am a very good\ndoctor.\" So he took an awl made from whale-bone and he caught hold of\nSea-gull's foot, with the pretence of removing the thorns. But instead\nof taking them out he only pushed them in farther until poor Sea-gull\nhowled louder than ever. And Raven said, \"It is so dark I cannot see\nto pull these thorns from your feet. Give me some daylight and I will\nsoon cure you. A doctor must always have a little light.\" So Sea-gull\nunlocked the box and lifted the cover just a little bit so that a\nfaint gleam of light came out. \"That is better,\" said Raven. But\ninstead of picking out the thorns he pushed them in as he had done\nbefore, until Sea-gull howled and kicked in pain. \"Why are you so\nstingy with your light?\" snapped Raven. \"Do you think I am an owl and\nthat I can see well enough in the darkness to heal your feet? Open the\nbox wide and I will soon make you well.\" So saying he purposely fell\nheavily against Sea-gull and knocked the box on the floor. The cover\nflew open and daylight escaped and spread quickly over all the world.\nPoor Sea-gull tried his best to lure it back again into the box, but\nhis efforts proved fruitless, for it had gone for ever. Raven said he\nwas very sorry for the accident, but after he had taken all the thorns\nfrom Sea-gull's feet he went home laughing to himself and well pleased\nbecause of the success of his trick.\n\nSoon there was light in all the world. But Raven could not see very\nwell, for the light was too bright and his eyes were not accustomed to\nit. He sat for a time looking towards the east, but he saw there\nnothing of interest. The next day he saw a bit farther, for he was now\ngetting used to the new conditions. The third day he could see\ndistinctly a line of hills far in the east, rising against the sky,\nand covered with a blue mist. He looked long at the strange sight.\nThen he saw far away towards the hill a thin column of smoke lifting\nheavenwards. He had never seen smoke before, but he had often heard of\nit from travellers in strange places. \"That must be the country of\nwhich I have been told,\" he said. \"In that land dwell the people who\nalone possess Fire. We have searched for it for many ages and now I\nthink we have found it.\" Then he thought, \"We now have the daylight,\nand what a fine thing it would be if we could also have Fire,\" and he\ndetermined to set out to find it.\n\nOn the following day he called his servants together and told them of\nhis plans. He said, \"We shall set out at once, for the distance is\nfar.\" And he asked three of his best servants, Robin, Mole and Flea,\nto go with him. Flea brought out his little wagon and they all tried\nto get into it, but it was much too small to hold them. Then they\ntried Mole's carriage, but it was much too frail, and it had scarcely\nstarted to move when it broke down and they all fell out in a heap.\nThen they tried Robin's carriage, but it was much too high and it\ntoppled over under its heavy load and threw them all to the ground.\nThen Raven stole Sea-gull's large strong carriage, for Sea-gull was\nasleep, and it did very well, and they started on their journey,\ntaking turns pushing the carriage along with a pole over the flat\nplain.\n\nAfter a strange journey in queer places they reached the land of the\npeople who owned Fire, guided along by the thin column of smoke. The\npeople were not people of earth. Some say they were the Fish people,\nbut that, no man knows. They sat around in a large circle with Fire in\ntheir midst, for it was autumn and the days and nights were chill. And\nFire was in many places. Raven looked on for a while from afar\nthinking of the best plan to obtain Fire. Then he said to Robin, \"You\ncan move faster than any of us. You must steal Fire. You can fly in\nquickly, pick it up in your bill and take it back to us and the people\nwill not see nor hear you.\" So Robin picked out a spot where there\nwere few people, and he darted in quickly and picked up fire in a\ntwinkling and flew back unharmed towards his companions. But he had\nonly taken a very little bit of it. When he got half-way back to his\nfriends, Fire was so hot in his bill that it gave him a strange pain\nand he had to drop it on the ground. It fell to the earth with a crash\nand it was so small that it flickered faintly. Robin called to his\ncompanions to bring the carriage. Then he stood over Fire and fanned\nit with his wings to keep it alive. It was very hot, but he stood\nbravely to his task until his breast was badly scorched and he had to\nmove away. His efforts to save Fire were of no avail, and before his\ncompanions reached him Fire had died, and only a black coal remained.\nAnd poor Robin's breast was singed, and to this day the breasts of his\ndescendants are a reddish-brown colour because he was scorched while\ntrying to steal Fire ages ago.\n\nThen Raven asked Flea to make the attempt to steal Fire. But Flea\nsaid, \"I am too little. The heat would roast me to death; and,\nfurther, I might miscalculate the distance and hop into the flame.\"\nThen Raven asked Mole to try, but Mole said, \"Oh no, I am better\nfitted for other work. My fur would all be singed like Robin's\nbreast.\" Raven took good care that he would not go himself, for he was\na great coward. So he said, \"There is a better and easier way. We will\nsteal the baby of the Chief and hold him for ransom. Perhaps they will\ngive us Fire in exchange for him,\" and they all thought this was a\nvery good idea. Raven asked, \"Who will volunteer to steal the baby?\"\nfor he always made the others do all the work. Flea said, \"I will go.\nIn one jump I will be into the house, and in another jump I will be\nout again, for I can hop a great distance.\" But the others laughed and\nsaid, \"You could not carry the baby; you are too small.\" The Mole\nsaid, \"I will go. I can tunnel a passage very quietly under the house\nand right up to the baby's cradle. I can then steal the baby and no\none will hear me or see me.\" So it was agreed that Mole should go. In\na few minutes Mole made his tunnel, and he was soon back with the\nbaby. Then they got into their carriage and hurried home with their\nprize.\n\n[Illustration: THEN RAVEN ASKED THE MOLE TO TRY, BUT MOLE SAID, \"OH,\nNO, I AM BETTER FITTED FOR OTHER WORK,--MY FUR WOULD ALL BE SINGED\"]\n\nWhen the Chief of the Fire people discovered the loss of his child he\nwas very angry. And in all the land there was great sorrow because the\nChief's heir, the hope of the tribe, had gone. And the child's mother\nand her women wept so bitterly that their tears fell like rain on all\nthe land. The Chief said he would give anything he possessed to find\nhis child. But although his people searched far and near, they could\nnot find the baby. After many days a wayfarer who had come far from\nthe Great Water in the west brought them news that a strange child was\nliving far to the westward in the village by the sea. He said, \"He is\nnot of their tribe. He looks like the children of your village,\" and\nhe advised them to go to see him for themselves. So the Chief sent his\nmen to search for them guided by the wayfarer. When they reached\nRaven's village they were told that a strange baby was indeed there;\nthe child was described to them, but he was kept out of sight, and\nRaven would not tell how he had happened to come there. And Raven\nsaid, \"How do I know he is your Chief's child? People tell strange\nlies these days. If you want him you can pay for him, for he has\ncaused us much trouble and expense.\" So the messengers went back and\nreported to the Chief what they had heard. From the description, the\nChief knew that the child was his, so he gave the messengers very\nvaluable presents of pearls and rich robes and sent them back again to\nransom his boy. But Raven, when he saw the presents, said, \"No, I do\nnot want these gifts; they do not pay me for my trouble,\" and he would\nnot part with the baby. The messengers again reported to the Chief\nwhat had happened. Then the Chief gave them still richer gifts, the\nbest he had in all his land, and sent them back. But again Raven said,\n\"No, your gifts are valueless, compared with my trouble and expense.\nSay this to your Chief.\"\n\nWhen the Chief heard this from his messengers he was sore perplexed,\nfor he had offered the best he had, and he thought that he had reached\nthe end of his resources. So he said, \"Go back and ask the people to\ndemand what they wish in exchange for my boy and they will receive it\nif it can be provided.\" So the messengers went back to Raven and spoke\nas they had been commanded. And Raven said, \"Only one thing can pay\nfor the child, and that is Fire. Give me Fire and you can take the\nbaby.\" The messenger laughed and said, \"Why did you not say so at\nfirst and save us all this trouble and anxiety? Fire is the most\nplentiful thing in our kingdom, and we hold it in no value.\" So they\nreturned happy to the Chief. And he sent back much Fire and received\nhis child unharmed from Raven in exchange. And he sent Raven two small\nstones which the messengers taught Raven how to use. And they said,\n\"If you ever lose Fire or if it dies for lack of food you can always\ncall it back to life with these two little stones.\" Then they showed\nhim how to make Fire with the two little stones and withered grass,\nand birch-bark and dry pine, and Raven thought it was very easy. And\nhe felt very proud because he had brought Fire and Light to the earth.\nHe kept Fire for himself for a long time, and although the people\nclamoured loudly for it, he would not give any of it away. Soon,\nhowever, he decided to sell a quantity of it, for he now had the power\nof making it. So he said to himself, \"This is a good way to get many\nwives,\" and he announced that he would only sell some of his fire in\nreturn for a wife. And many families bought his fire and in exchange\nhe received many wives. And to this day he still has many wives and he\nstill moves about from place to place with a flock of them always\naround him. But the Indians when they arrived took Fire away from him.\nThus Fire came to the Indians in the olden days. And when it has died,\nas it often does, they still sometimes use Raven's flint stones to\nbring it back to life.\n\n\n\n\nTHE GIRL WHO ALWAYS CRIED\n\n\nOn the bank of a stream far in the West, Owl-man lived long ago in a\nlittle house under the ground. He had very strange habits. He always\nkept away from the Great Water and he dwelt for the most part in the\nforest. He had very few friends, and he usually went hunting by\nhimself. He lived on toads and frogs and flies. He would say but\nlittle, and when other people sat around him talking pleasantly, he\nwas always silent, gazing into space with wide-open eyes, and trying\nto look wiser than he really was. Because of this, people thought he\nwas very queer, and strange stories about him soon spread far and\nwide. It was said that he was very cruel, and that he was silent\nbecause he was always brooding over his past wickedness or thinking\nabout some evil deed he was soon going to do. And when children were\ntroublesome or disobedient, their mothers always frightened them into\ngoodness by saying, \"The Owl-man from the stream will come and take\nyou if you do not mend your ways.\" And although the Owl-man was a\nsolitary fellow he thus had great influence in all the land.\n\nNot far away lived a man and a woman who had one adopted daughter.\nBecause she was the only child in the house she was much petted, and\nshe was never satisfied, and she cried and fretted all the time, and\nkept always asking for things she could not get. She disturbed all the\nneighbours round about so that they could not sleep because of her\nconstant wailing and complaining. At last her foster-parents grew\ntired of her weeping and they said, \"The Owl-man will carry you off if\nyou do not stop crying.\" But still she pouted and fretted. And the old\nman of the house said, \"I wish the Owl-man would come and take her\naway.\" Now the old man was a great magician, and as he wished, so it\ncame to pass.\n\nThat evening it happened that the people were gathered at a feast of\nshell-fish on the beach by the bright moonlight, as was their weekly\ncustom. But the sorrowful girl would not go with the others. She\nstayed at home and sulked. As she sat alone in the house, old Owl-man\ncame along carrying his basket full of toads and frogs. The girl was\nstill crying when he came in. \"I have come for you,\" he said, \"as the\nold man wished.\" And he put her in his basket with the toads and frogs\nand carried her off. She yelled and kicked and scratched, but the lid\nof the basket was tightly closed and Owl-man laughed to himself and\nsaid, \"Now I have a wife at last. I shall be alone no more, and the\npeople will not now think I am so queer.\" So he took her to his\nunderground house by the stream. That night the people noticed that\nthe girl's cries were no longer heard and they said, \"What can have\ncured Sour-face; what can have pleased Cry-Baby into silence?\" And the\ngirl's foster-mother wondered where she had gone. But only the old man\nknew that it had happened as he had wished, because of his magic\npower, and that Owl-man had taken her away.\n\nThe girl was not happy in her new home, for she would not be happy in\nany place. She still kept up her caterwauling and there was no peace\nin the house. Owl-man was a great hunter. Every day he went out\nhunting with his big basket on his arm, but he always locked his wife\nin the house before he went away. He was always very successful in the\nchase, and each night he came back with his basket full of toads and\nfrogs and field-mice and flies. But his wife would eat none of them\nand she threw them in his face when he offered them to her, and said\nin a bad temper, \"I will not eat your filthy food. It is not fit food\nfor gentle-folk.\" And Owl-man said, \"Gentle-folk indeed! You should\nfind a more suitable name; you are not gentle; you are a wild evil\nthing, but I am going to tame you.\" And the girl wept again and sulked\nand stamped her feet in her temper.\n\nAt last the girl became very hungry, for there was little to eat\nexcept the food that Owl-man brought home for himself. He gathered a\nfew berries for her, but even these did not satisfy her hunger. So she\nthought out a plan of escape. One day when Owl-man was away, she took\nsome oil she found in the house and rubbed it all over her face and\nhair. When Owl-man came home in the evening, he said, \"You are very\npretty to-night. What have you done to make yourself look so sleek and\nshiny?\" And she answered, \"I have put on my face and hair gum which I\npicked from the trees last night when I went walking with you.\" And he\nsaid, \"I should like to put some on too, for perhaps it would make me\nbeautiful.\" The girl told him that if he would go out and gather some\ngum she would put it on his face and hair for him. So he went out and\ngathered a great store of gum from the trees and brought it back to\nher. She melted it on a hot stove until it was balsam again and would\npour easily out. Then she said, \"Shut your eyes so that it will not\nharm your sight, and I will make your face and hair beautiful and\nshining like mine.\" Owl-man shut his eyes, and the girl soon covered\nhis face and head with the soft gum. She put it on very thick, and she\nsaid, \"Keep your eyes shut until it dries or it may blind you.\"\nOwl-man did as he was told, but when the gum dried he could not open\nhis eyes, and while he was trying to rub it off, the girl slipped out\nthe door and ran back to her parents, far away by the Great Water.\n\nOwl-man scraped the gum from his face and head as best he could, and\nwhen he could open his eyes again and could see pretty well, he went\nout into the night in search of his wife. And as he went along he\ncried, \"Oh, oh, oh, where is my wife? Where is my girl? I have lost my\nwife. I have lost my girl. Oh, oh, oh.\" And when the people heard him\ncalling they thought they would play a trick on him. So they said,\n\"She is here, she is here.\" But when he entered their houses, the\nwoman they showed him was not his wife, and he went away sorrowful.\nAnd the people all laughed at his confusion, and said, \"Owl-man is\ngetting queerer each day. He is far gone in his head.\" Owl-man went\nfrom house to house, but he could not find his wife. Then he went to\nthe trees and searched among the branches. He pulled the trees up by\nthe roots, thinking she might be hiding underneath. And he looked into\nthe salmon-traps in the rivers, and kicked them to pieces in his\nfrenzy. But nowhere was his wife to be found.\n\nThen he went to the girl's house, where she was hiding, and he yelled,\n\"Oh, oh, oh, give me my wife. Give me my girl. I know she is here. Oh,\noh, oh.\" But the girl's foster-mother would not give her up. Then he\nbegan to tear down the house over their heads, for the old man of the\nhouse was away and there was no one else strong enough to stop Owl-man\nin his rage. When the woman saw her house in danger of falling about\nher ears, she cried, \"Stop; your wife is here.\" And she brought forth\nthe girl from her hiding-place. When Owl-man saw her, his rage left\nhim and he was happy again.\n\n[Illustration: AND WITH HIS MAGIC POWER HE CHANGED HER INTO A\nFISH-HAWK AND SENT HER OUT TO THE OCEAN]\n\nBut just then the old man of magic power came home. He had heard the\nhub-bub from a distance. When he came in and saw the great holes in\nthe roof and the side of his house where Owl-man had torn away the\nlogs, he was very angry and he said to himself, \"I will punish both\nOwl-man and the girl for this night's work.\" And he hit upon a plan.\nHe said to Owl-man, \"We must give you a hot bath to melt the gum and\ntake it from your hair, for it will do you no good, and it will take\nall the hair off your head.\" And Owl-man gladly agreed. So they filled\na great bark tub with water and heated it by placing at the bottom of\nit many red-hot stones, after the fashion of Indians in those old\ndays. But the old man put so many hot stones in the water that it was\nsoon almost boiling with the heat, and when they put Owl-man into the\ntub he was almost scalded to death and he yelled loudly in pain. Then\nthe old man said, \"Now I will take vengeance. You will trouble me no\nmore. You have broken my house. Henceforth you will be not a man but\nan Owl, and you will dwell alone in the forest with few friends, and\nyou will live always on frogs and toads and field-mice, and people\nwill hear you at night crying for your wife all over the land, but you\nshall never find her.\" Then with his magic power he changed him to an\nOwl and sent him on his way.\n\nHe said to the girl, \"You have done me much harm too, and you have\nbrought all this trouble upon me. Henceforth you will be not a girl\nbut a Fish-Hawk, and you will always cry and fret and scream as you\nhave done before, and you will never be satisfied.\" And with his magic\npower he changed her into a Fish-Hawk, and sent her out to the ocean.\nAnd there she screams always, and she is a great glutton, for she can\nnever get enough to eat. And since that time, Owl and Fish-Hawk have\nnot dwelt together and have not been on friendly terms. They live far\napart, and Owl keeps to the forest and the mountains, while the other\nkeeps to the sea. Thus was the old man avenged, and thus was the\nweeping maiden punished for her tears. And the cries of Owl and\nFish-Hawk are still heard in many places, one calling for his wife,\nthe other screaming unsatisfied for something she cannot get.\n\n\n\n\nERMINE AND THE HUNTER\n\n\nFar away in the Canadian North Country an old man lived with his wife\nand children. They lived far from other people, but they were never\nlonely, for they had much work to do. The old man was a great hunter,\nand in summer he and his wife and children lived on the fish and game\nhe captured in the winter. In the spring-time he gathered sap from the\nmaple trees, from which he made maple syrup and maple sugar with which\nto sweeten their food. One day in summer he found three small bears\neating his stock of sugar. When he came upon them, his sugar was all\ngone, and he was very cross. With a stout club he killed the little\nbears and skinned them and dried their meat. But his wife said, \"No\ngood can come of it. You should not have killed the three little\nbears, for they were too young for slaughter.\"\n\nThe next day the old Bear came along, looking for his lost children.\nWhen he saw their skins hanging up to dry he knew that they had been\nkilled by the hunter. He was very sad and angry, and he called to the\nhunter, \"You have killed my little motherless cubs, and in return for\nthat wickedness, some night when you are off your guard I will kill\nyour children, and then I will kill you and your wife, and I will\ndevour all your food.\" The old man shot at him with his arrows, but\nthe arrows did not harm him, for he was Brown Bear of the Stony Heart,\nand he could not be killed by man. For many nights and days the old\nman tried to trap him, but he met with no success. And each day he saw\nhis store of food growing smaller, for Bear of the Stony Heart stole\nit always in the night. And he thought, \"We shall all surely starve\nbefore the winter comes, and game is plentiful again.\"\n\nOne day in despair he resolved to look about him for some one who\nwould tell him how to kill the Bear. He went to the bank of the river\nand sat there in thought and smoked long at his pipe. And he called to\nthe God of the River and said, \"Oh, River-God, help me to drown Bear\nwhen he comes to fish.\" The river came from the Lime Stone country far\nback among the rocks, and it was flowing rapidly to the sea. And the\nRiver-God said, \"My water cannot tarry. There are millions of oysters\ndown on the ocean shore waiting for shells, and I am hurrying down\nthere with the lime to make them,\" and he rushed quickly past.\n\nThen the old man called to the Spirit of the Wind, and he said, \"Oh,\nSpirit of the Wind, stay here with me to-night and help me to kill\nBear of the Stony Heart. You can knock down great trees upon his back\nand crush him to the earth.\" But the Wind Spirit said, \"I cannot\nlinger. Many ships with rich cargoes lie silent on the ocean waiting\nto sail, and I must hurry along with the force to drive them.\" And\nlike the River-God he hastened on his way.\n\nThen the old man called to Storm Cloud, which was just then passing\nover his head, and he said, \"Oh, Spirit of the Storm Cloud, stay here\nwith me to-night and help me to kill Bear of the Stony Heart, for he\nseeks to destroy my children. You can send lightning and thunder to\nstrike him dead.\" But the Storm Cloud said, \"I cannot loiter on the\nway. Far from here there are millions of blades of corn and grass\ndying from thirst in the summer heat, for I see the heat waves rising\non the earth, and I am hurrying there with rain to save them.\" And\nlike the River-God and the Wind Spirit he hurried along on his\nbusiness. The poor old man was in great sorrow, for it seemed that no\none would help him to rid the land of Bear of the Stony Heart.\n\nAs he sat wondering what he should do, an old woman came along. She\nsaid, \"I am very hungry and tired, for I have come far. Will you give\nme food and let me rest here a while?\" And he said, \"We have very\nlittle food, for Bear of the Stony Heart steals it from us nightly,\nbut you may share with us what little we have.\" So he went away and\nbrought back to her a good fat meal. While she was eating her dinner\nhe told her of his troubles with Bear, and he said that no one would\nhelp him to get rid of the pest, and that Bear could not be killed by\nman. And the old woman said, \"There is a little animal who can kill\nBear of the Stony Heart. He alone can save you. You have done well to\nme. Here is a wand which I will give you. Go to sleep here, soon, on\nthe bank of the river. Wave this wand before you sleep and say what I\nshall teach you, and when you awake call to you the first animal you\nsee when you open your eyes. He will be the animal of which I speak,\nand he will rid you of the Bear.\" She taught him a little rhyme and\ngave him a wand which she took from the basket on her arm; then she\nhobbled away, and the old man knew that she was the weird woman of the\nFairy Blue Mountain, of whom he had often heard. He marvelled greatly,\nbut he resolved to do as she had told him.\n\nAfter the old woman had gone, the man waved the little wand three\ntimes, and cried:\n\n    \"Animal, animal, come from your lair,\n    Help me to slaughter the old Brown Bear!\n    Make with my magic a little white dart,\n    To pierce in the centre old Bear's Stony Heart!\"\n\nHe repeated the rhyme three times. Then he felt himself getting drowsy\nand sleep soon came upon him. He slept but a short time when the heat\nwoke him up, for the hot sun beat down upon him. He rubbed his eyes\nand looked about him. Watching him from behind a tree was a little\nanimal with a shaggy brown coat. The old man thought to himself,\n\"Surely the weird fairy woman of the Blue Mountain has played a trick\non me. That scraggy little animal with the dirty coat cannot kill the\nBear.\" But he resolved to test her word. He repeated his rhyme again,\nand the little animal came quickly towards him. \"Who are you?\" said\nthe man. \"I am Ermine,\" said the little animal. \"Are you the animal of\nwhich the fairy woman of the Blue Hills has told me?\" asked the man.\n\"I am indeed the same,\" said Ermine. \"I have been sent to you to kill\nthe Bear, and here I have the little darts made powerful because of\nyour magic wand.\" He pointed to his mouth and showed the old man his\nsharp white teeth. \"So now to your task,\" said the old man in high\nspirits. \"Oh, not so fast,\" said Ermine, \"you must first pay me for my\nwork.\" \"What can I do for you?\" asked the man. \"I am ashamed of my\ndirty brown coat, which I have worn for a long time,\" said the animal;\n\"you have great magic from the wand you received from the fairy woman\nof the Blue Hills. I want a sleek and shining white coat that I can\nwear always, for I want to be clean.\" The man waved his wand again and\nwished for what the animal had asked him, and at once the shaggy brown\ncoat of Ermine was replaced by a sleek and shining white coat as\nspotless as the new snow in winter. Then the animal said, \"I have one\nmore condition to impose on you. You must promise never to kill a\nbear's young cubs when they are still following their mother in the\nsummer time. You must give them a chance to grow strong, so that they\nmay be able to fight for their own lives.\" And the man promised,\nplacing his hand upon the wand to bind his oath. Then, when he looked\nagain, the wand had vanished from his hand. It had gone back through\nthe air to the fairy woman of the Blue Hills.\n\n[Illustration: THE COAT OF ERMINE WAS REPLACED BY A SLEEK AND SHINING\nWHITE COAT, AS SPOTLESS AS THE NEW SNOW IN WINTER]\n\nThen Ermine set out on his search for Bear. The afternoon was very\nhot, and the forest was still, and not a leaf or a blade of grass was\nstirring, and there was not a ripple on the stream. The whole world\nwas drowsy in the dry summer heat. But Ermine did not feel the heat,\nhe was in such high spirits because of his new white coat. Soon he\ncame upon Bear, stretched out at full length on the bank of the river,\ntaking his afternoon nap, as was his custom after his fat midday meal.\nHe was lying on his back, and his mouth was open wide, and he was\nsnoring loudly like a waterfall. \"This is your last sleep,\" said\nErmine, creeping softly to his side, \"for you are a dangerous thief;\nyou shall snore no more.\" And with a bound he jumped down Bear's\nthroat, and in an instant had pierced with his teeth his strong stony\nheart, which the arrows of the Indians could never reach. Then as\nquickly as he had entered the Bear's mouth Ermine jumped out again and\nran from the place. Bear snored no more; he was quite dead, and the\nland was rid of his thefts and terrors. Then Ermine went back to the\nold man and told him that the deed was done; and that night was a\ngreat feast night in the old man's home. And since that time Ermine in\nthe North Country has worn a sleek white coat as spotless as the new\nsnow in winter. And to this day the hunters in the far north will not\nkill, if they can avoid it, the young Bear cubs while they are still\nfollowing their mothers through the forest. They give them a chance to\ngrow up and grow strong, so that they may be able to fight for their\nown lives, as the fairy woman of the Blue Hills had asked.\n\n\n\n\nHOW RABBIT DECEIVED FOX\n\n\nLong ago in Indian days in Canada, when Rabbit worked for Glooskap as\nhis forest guide, he was a great thief. He liked most of all to steal\nby moonlight, and he crept quietly into gardens and fields where\nIndian vegetables were growing, for he was very fond of cabbage and\nlettuce and beans. Not far from his home there lived alone an old\nwidow woman who had no children. She could not hunt game because she\nwas a woman, and she had never been trained to the chase, so she kept\na little garden from which she made a good living. All day long from\ndawn until sunset she toiled hard, tilling her little garden, watering\nher vegetables and keeping them free from weeds. And she grew green\ncabbages and red carrots and yellow beans and big fat pumpkins and\nIndian corn, which she traded with Indian hunters in return for fish\nand meat. In this way she always had plenty of food, and she lived\nvery well on good fare. But Rabbit, going his rounds one day,\ndiscovered her garden, although it was deep in the forest, and every\nnight by moonlight or starlight he robbed it, and grew sleek and fat\nfrom the results of his thefts. And morning after morning the old\nwidow woman found that many cabbages and carrots were missing and that\nmuch harm had been done to her plants. She had an idea that Rabbit was\nthe pilferer, for she had heard that he was a great thief, but she was\nnot very sure. She watched many nights, but she was never able to\ncatch the robber, so stealthily did he come, and it was not easy to\nsee him in the shadows. So she said to herself, \"I will set up a\nscarecrow, a figure in the shape of a little man, and I will place it\nat my garden gate, and it will frighten away the robber, whoever he\nmay be, for I must save my vegetables or I shall starve when the cold\nwinter comes.\"\n\nShe picked from the spruce and the fir trees close by a great store of\ngum and balsam. This she formed into a figure in the shape of a little\nman. She made two eyes from glass beads that would shine like fire in\nthe starlight, and a nose from a pine cone, and hair from the corn\ntassels and yellow moss. Then she placed the figure at the entrance to\nthe garden where she knew the robber would come. \"Now,\" she thought,\n\"I will scare away the thief.\"\n\nWhen night fell and the moon rose above the trees, Rabbit came along,\nas was his custom, to steal his nightly meal. As he came near the\ngarden very softly, he saw in the moonlight what he thought was a man\nstanding in the path by the garden gate. The moon hung low over the\nforest, and there was a thin grey mist on the earth, for it was near\nto autumn and the nights were already cool; and the figure of the\nlittle man looked larger than human in the misty light, and it cast a\nlong black shadow like that of a giant on the grass. Rabbit was much\nafraid and he trembled like an aspen leaf, but he stood quiet behind a\ntree and watched the strange figure. For a long time he stood still\nand watched and listened. But the strange figure did not move, and not\na sound did Rabbit hear but the chirp of a cricket. Then with great\ncaution he came closer. But still the figure did not move. Then his\nfear left him and he grew bolder, for he was very hungry, and he could\nsmell the vegetables and the wild honeysuckle in the still night air.\nSo he walked bravely up to the little dummy man and said, \"Get out of\nmy way and let me pass.\" But the man did not move. Then Rabbit struck\nthe man a sharp blow with his fist. But still the figure did not move.\nRabbit's fist stuck fast in the gum and he could not pull it away.\nThen he struck out with his other fist, and it too, like the other,\nwas held firm. \"I shall kick you,\" said Rabbit in a rage. \"Take that,\"\nand he struck out wildly with his foot. But his foot, like his fists,\nstuck fast. Then he kicked with the other foot, but that too was held\nin the gum. Rabbit was now very cross, and in his anger he said, \"Now\nI shall bite you,\" but when he bit the little man, his teeth, like his\nfeet and hands, stuck fast. Then he pushed with his body with all his\nmight, hoping to knock the little man down, but his whole body stuck\nto the dummy figure.\n\nHe cried out loudly, for he was now beside himself with fear, and the\nold woman, when she heard his yells, came running out of her house.\n\"Aha!\" she said, \"so you are the robber who has been stealing from my\ngarden. I will rid the world of a pilfering pest, for I will kill you\nthis very night.\" Then she pulled him away from the gum figure and put\nhim in a strong bag and tied the mouth of the bag with a stout string.\nShe left the bag on the path by the garden gate and went to look for\nher axe to kill Rabbit. While Rabbit lay there wondering how he was\ngoing to escape, Fox came prowling along. He stumbled over the bag,\nfor he did not see it in the shadows, and he plunged forward headlong\nto the ground with a great thud. He got up and rained kicks upon the\nbag. He was mad because he had been tripped. He kicked poor Rabbit's\nback until Rabbit cried in pain. \"Who are you in the bag?\" asked Fox\nwhen he heard the cries. \"I am your friend Rabbit,\" was the answer.\n\"What are you doing, hiding in the bag?\" asked Fox. Then Rabbit\nsuddenly thought of a way of escape. He knew that Fox had long been\nlooking for a wife, but that no one would have him as no one trusted\nhim because his fame for treachery and slyness was so great. \"I am not\nhiding,\" he said. \"The old woman who owns this garden wants me to\nmarry her grand-daughter, and when I refused to do it she caught me\nand shut me up in this bag; she has just gone to bring the girl from\nher house, for she is determined to make me marry her here in the\nmoonlight this very night. I don't want to marry her, for she is very\nbig and fat, and I am very small and lean.\" Then he cried\n\"Boo-hoo-hoo\" again, and Fox said, \"I have been looking for a wife for\na long time, and I like fat people. Let me get into the bag in your\nplace, and I will marry the grand-daughter instead, for the old woman\nwill not know me in the shadows.\" And Rabbit gladly agreed. Then Fox\nuntied the bag and let Rabbit out and got into the bag himself, and\nRabbit tied up the mouth of the bag and hurried away as quickly as he\ncould.\n\nSoon the old woman came back, carrying her axe. She sharpened it on a\nstone and said, \"Now I will kill you, and you will thieve no more in\nmy garden. A poor woman must live untroubled by such pilfering\nrogues.\" When Fox heard these words and the sound of the stone upon\nthe axe, he knew that he had been deceived by Rabbit, and when the old\nwoman opened the bag he sprang nimbly out with a sudden bound and was\naway before she could catch him. He swore by the Starlight that he\nwould have vengeance on Rabbit. All night long he searched for him and\nall the next day, but he could not find him. At last in the gathering\ntwilight he came upon him in an open space in the forest, on the other\nside of a stream, eating his fill of wild vegetables. Fox tried to\ncoax him across the stream to his side, for he himself was afraid of\nthe water, but Rabbit would not go. \"Why don't you eat some cheese?\"\nsaid Rabbit; \"there is a big round cheese in the stream.\" Fox looked\ninto the stream where Rabbit pointed, and there he saw the reflection\nof the big round yellow moon. He thought it was a round cheese, and he\nplunged in after it, for he was very fond of cheese. Rabbit hoped he\nwould be drowned, but the stream was shallow and Fox climbed out with\nno cheese and with only a bad fright and a wet coat for his pains. He\nwas very cross, for he knew that Rabbit wished to do him harm, but he\nkept his anger to himself. Rabbit was still eating contentedly.\n\n[Illustration: THEN FOX UNTIED THE BAG AND LET RABBIT OUT AND GOT INTO\nTHE BAG HIMSELF]\n\n\"What are you eating?\" said Fox, trying to hold him in talk until he\ncould think of a plan to catch him. \"I am eating good ripe fruit,\"\nsaid Rabbit. \"I am eating Indian melons.\" \"Throw me one,\" said Fox,\nfor he was hungry. Rabbit threw him a large round wild cucumber all\ncovered with green prickles. \"Swallow it whole at a mouthful,\" said\nRabbit; \"it is very good that way.\" It was night and the moon shone\ndimly through the trees, and Fox could not see what he was eating. He\nswallowed the cucumber at one gulp, as Rabbit had told him, but the\nprickles stuck in his throat and he almost choked to death. And while\nhe was choking and spluttering and trying to cough up the cucumber,\nRabbit ran away as fast as he could, laughing heartily to himself. Fox\nknew that he had been tricked again, and this time he swore he would\nkill Rabbit as soon as he could find him; he resolved that when next\nhe saw him he would not give him a moment to live.\n\nRabbit hid among the dry underbrush all the next day. But when the day\nwent down and the sky was red in the west and the wind was very still,\nhe sat on a log, as was his custom, and played softly on his flute,\nfor he was a great player on the Indian pipe. While he was playing,\nFox suddenly came upon him unawares. Rabbit saw him watching him\nthrough the trees close at hand, but although taken by surprise, he\nwas not to be outdone. Fox was just about to spring upon him when\nRabbit said, \"The Chief's daughter has just been married to a great\nwarrior, and the wedding party will soon be along this way. They asked\nme to sit here and make music for them with my flute as they pass by.\nThey have promised to pay me well, and they have invited me to the\nwedding feast. Come and join me and play too, and you will be well\npaid, and we will go to the wedding feast together and get good things\nto eat.\" Fox thought he would let Rabbit get the pay he had been\npromised, for he was a very greedy fellow; then he would rob him and\nkill him, and he would take his flute and go to the wedding feast\nalone, and his vengeance would then be complete. So he decided to let\nhis anger cool for a little time. And he said, \"I have no flute, and I\ncannot therefore make music; but I will sit with you to see the\nwedding guests go by.\" But Rabbit said, \"Take my flute. I have\nanother at home. I will go and get it, for there is yet time.\"\n\nSo Fox took the flute and began to play loudly, and Rabbit slipped\nhurriedly out of sight, pretending to go for his Indian pipe. But he\nresolved to make an end of Fox, for he feared for his own life, and\ninstead of going home, he set the underbrush on fire. He kindled the\nfire at many places all around the log on which Fox sat. Fox could not\nhear the fire crackling because of the loud music of his flute, and he\nthought the light was but the bright light of the moon. And the fire\nwas almost upon him before he knew that he was in danger. Then he\ntried to get away, but on all sides his escape was stopped by the\nflames and he could not find an opening. At last, in despair, to save\nhis life, he jumped through the ring of fire. He escaped with his\nlife, but his eyelids were singed, and his sleek black coat with its\nsilver spots was scorched to a red-brown colour. He was in great pain.\nHe concluded that Rabbit was too clever for him to cope with, and he\nresolved to leave him alone and to forego his revenge, for he was glad\nto get away with his life. But he decided never again to live on\nfriendly terms with Rabbit. And since that night Rabbit and Fox have\nnever hunted together. And to the present day the descendants of this\nFox have red eyes and a red-brown coat, because Rabbit scorched their\nancestor in the olden times.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOY AND THE DRAGON\n\n\nOnce, long ago, before the white man came to Canada, a boy was living\nwith his parents in a village near the ocean. As he had no brothers or\nsisters, he was often lonely, and he longed for adventure and\ncompanionship. At last he decided to set out to seek his fortune\nelsewhere. He was just on the point of leaving his home when it was\nnoised abroad one day that there had come into the land a great\ndragon, who was doing great havoc and damage wherever he went. The\ncountry was in great terror, for the dragon carried off women and\nchildren and devoured them one by one. And what was still more\nmystifying, he had power to take on human form, and often he changed\nhimself into a man of pleasing shape and manner and came among the\npeople to carry out his cruel designs before they knew that he was\nnear. The Chief of the tribe called for volunteers to meet the\ndragon-man, but none of his warriors responded. They were strong and\nmighty in combat with men, but it was a different matter to encounter\na dragon.\n\nWhen the youth heard this dreadful story and saw the terror of his\npeople, he said, \"Here is my chance to do a great deed,\" for somehow\nhe felt that he had more than human power. So he said good-bye to his\nparents and set out on his adventure. He travelled all day inland\nthrough the forest, until at evening he came to a high hill in the\ncentre of an open space. He said, \"I will climb this hill, and perhaps\nI can see all the country round about me.\" So he went slowly to the\ntop. As he stood there, looking over the country which he could see\nfor many miles around, a man suddenly appeared beside him. He was a\nvery pleasant fellow, and they talked together for some time. The boy\nwas on his guard, but he thought, \"Surely this man with the good looks\ncannot be the dragon,\" and he laughed at his suspicions and put them\nfrom his mind.\n\nThe stranger said, \"Where are you going?\" And the boy answered, \"I am\ngoing far away. I am seeking adventure in the forest for it is very\nlonely down by the sea.\" But he did not tell him of his real errand.\n\"You may stay with me to-night,\" said the new-comer. \"I have a very\ncomfortable lodge not far from here, and I will give you food.\" The\nboy was very hungry and tired, and he went along with the man to his\nlodge. When they reached the house the boy was surprised to see a\ngreat heap of bleached bones lying before the door. But he showed no\nfear nor did he comment on the horrible sight. Inside the lodge sat a\nvery old and bent woman, tending a pot. She was stirring it with a big\nstick, and the boy saw that it contained meat stew. When she placed\nthe stew before them, the boy said he would rather have corn, for he\nfeared to taste the meat. The old woman fried some corn for him, and\nhe had a good meal.\n\nAfter they had eaten, the man went out to gather wood for the fire,\nand the boy sat talking to the old woman. And she said to him, \"You\nare very young and beautiful and innocent--the most handsome I have\nyet seen in this place. And because of that, I will take pity on you\nand warn you of your danger. The man whom you met in the forest and\nwhom you supped with to-night is none other than the dragon-man of\nwhom you have often heard. He cannot be killed in ordinary combat, and\nit would be folly for you to try. To-morrow he will kill you if you\nare still here. Take these moccasins that I will give you, and in the\nmorning when you get up put them on your feet. With one step you will\nreach by their power the hill you see in the distance. Give this piece\nof birch bark with the picture on it to a man you will meet there, and\nhe will tell you what next to do. But remember that no matter how far\nyou go, the dragon-man will overtake you in the evening.\" The youth\ntook the moccasins and the birch bark bearing the mystic sign and hid\nthem under his coat, and said, \"I will do as you advise.\" But the\nwoman said, \"There is one more condition. You must kill me in the\nmorning before you go, and put this robe over my body. Then the\ndragon-man's spell over me will be broken, and when he leaves me, I\nwill rouse myself with my power back to life.\"\n\nThe youth went to sleep, and the dragon-man slept all night beside him\nso as not to let him escape. The next morning, when the dragon-man was\nout to get water from the stream some distance away, the boy at once\ncarried out the old woman's orders of the night before. First of all\nhe killed the old woman with a blow and covered her body with a bright\ncloak, for he knew that when the dragon-man would leave the place she\nwould soon rise again. Then he put the magic moccasins on his feet and\nwith one great step he reached the distant hill. Here, sure enough, he\nmet an old man. He gave him the piece of birch bark bearing the mystic\nsign. The man looked at it closely and smiled and said, \"So it is you\nI was told to wait for. That is well, for you are indeed a comely\nyouth.\" The man gave him another pair of moccasins in exchange for\nthose he was wearing, and another piece of birch bark bearing another\ninscription. He pointed to a hill that rose blue in the distance and\nsaid, \"With one step you will reach that hill. Give this bark to a man\nyou will meet there, and all will be well.\"\n\nThe boy put the moccasins on his feet, and with one step he reached\nthe distant hill. There he met another old man, to whom he gave the\nbirch bark. This man gave him another pair of moccasins and a large\nmaple leaf bearing a strange symbol, and told him to go to another\nspot, where he would receive final instructions. He did as he was\ntold, and here he met a very old man, who said, \"Down yonder there is\na stream. Go towards it and walk straight into it, as if you were on\ndry ground. But do not look at the water. Take this piece of birch\nbark bearing these magic figures, and it will change you into whatever\nyou wish, and it will keep you from harm.\" The boy took the bark and\ndid as he was told, and soon found himself on the opposite bank of the\nstream. He followed the stream for some distance, and at evening he\ncame to a lake. As he was looking about for a warm place to pass the\nnight, he suddenly came upon the dragon-man, now in the form of a\nmonster dragon, hiding behind the trees. The old woman's words had\ncome true, for his enemy had overtaken him before nightfall, as she\nhad said. There was no time to lose, so the boy waved his magic bark,\nand at once he became a little fish with red fins, moving slowly in\nthe lake.\n\nWhen the dragon-man saw the little fish, he cried, \"Little fish of the\nred fins, have you seen the youth I am looking for?\" \"No, sir,\" said\nthe little fish, \"I have seen no one; I have been asleep. But if he\npasses this way I will tell you,\" and he moved rapidly out into the\nlake.\n\n[Illustration: THE MAN GAVE HIM ANOTHER PAIR OF MOCCASINS IN EXCHANGE\nFOR THOSE HE WAS WEARING]\n\nThe dragon-man moved down along the bank of the lake, while the youth\nwatched him from the water. He met a Toad in the path, and said,\n\"Little Toad, have you seen the youth I am looking for? If he passed\nthis way you would surely have seen him.\" \"I am minding my own\nbusiness,\" answered the Toad, and he hopped away into the moss. Then\nthe dragon-man saw a very large fish with his head above water,\nlooking for flies, and he said, \"Have you seen the boy I am looking\nfor?\" \"Yes,\" said the fish, \"you have just been talking to him,\" and\nhe laughed to himself and disappeared. The dragon-man went back and\nsearched everywhere for Toad, but he could not find him. As he looked\nhe came upon a musk-rat running along by the stream, and he said\nangrily, \"Have you seen the person I am looking for?\" \"No,\" said the\nrat. \"I think you are he,\" said the dragon-man. Then the musk-rat\nbegan to cry bitterly and said, \"No, no; the boy you are looking for\npassed by just now, and he stepped on the roof of my house and broke\nit in.\" The dragon-man was deceived again. He went on and soon came\nupon old Turtle splashing around in the mud. \"You are very old and\nwise,\" he said, hoping to flatter him, \"you have surely seen the\nperson I am looking for.\" \"Yes,\" said Turtle, \"he is farther down the\nstream. Go across the river and you will find him. But beware, for if\nyou do not know him when you see him, he will surely kill you.\" Turtle\nknew well that the dragon-man would now meet his fate.\n\nThe dragon-man followed the lake till he came to the river. For\ngreater caution, so that he might be less easily seen, he changed\nhimself to a Snake. Then he attempted to cross the stream. But the\nyouth, still in the form of a fish and still using the power of his\nmagic bark with the mystic sign, was swimming round and round in a\ncircle in the middle of the river. A rapid whirlpool arose where he\nswam, but it was not visible on the surface. As the Snake approached\nit, he saw nothing but clear water. He failed to recognize his enemy,\nand as Turtle had told him, he swam into the whirlpool before he was\naware of it, and was quickly drawn to the bottom, where he was\ndrowned.\n\nThe youth fished him up and cut off his head. Then he changed back to\nhis own form. He went to the dragon-man's lodge to see how the old\nwoman had fared, but she had gone with her bright robe, and the lodge\nwas empty. Then the youth went back to his home and reported what he\nhad done. And he received many rich gifts from the Chief for his brave\ndeed, and the land was never troubled again by dragons. But from that\ntime the snake family was hated because its shape had concealed the\ndragon-man, and to this day an Indian will not let a snake escape with\nhis life if he meets one of them in his path. For they still are\nmindful of the adventure of their ancestor in the old days, and they\nare suspicious of the evil power the snake family secretly possess.\n\n\n\n\nOWL WITH THE GREAT HEAD AND EYES\n\n\nLong ago, when Glooskap was the ruler of the Indians in Eastern\nCanada, and when the animals all worked for him and talked like men,\nWolf was one of Rabbit's enemies. On the surface they seemed to be\nfriends, but each was afraid of the other and each suspected the other\nof treachery. Rabbit was very faithful to his work as the forest guide\nwho showed people the way to far places. But he was also a great\ntrickster, and he delighted to play pranks on every one he met. He\nliked more than all to pester Wolf, for he had a hatred for his cruel\nways, and he was always able to outwit him.\n\nIt happened that Rabbit and Wolf lived close together, deep in the\nCanadian forest. Some distance from them, in a little house, lived a\npoor widow woman who had only one daughter. She was a very beautiful\ngirl, with hair as black as the raven's wing, and with eyes like the\ndark of the underwater. Rabbit and Wolf each fell in love with her,\nand each in his own way sought her as his wife. Rabbit tried hard to\nwin her love. When he went to her house he always dressed himself in\na soft brown coat, and he put a bangle around his neck and bells upon\nhis feet. And often he played sweetly on his flute, hoping to charm\nher with his music, for he was a great player upon the Indian pipe.\nAnd he tried to grow a moustache to hide his split lip; but he had\nlittle success, for his whiskers would not grow thick, and he has the\nthin scraggy moustache of a few hairs to this day. But no matter what\nRabbit did to adorn himself, the girl gave him cold looks, and old\nWolf seemed to be deeper in her favour, for she liked his willowy form\nand his sleek and bashful ways. And poor Rabbit was sore distressed.\n\nOne fine day in the spring-time, Rabbit came upon the girl and her\nmother gathering May-flowers among the moss. He crept close to listen\nto their talk. He heard the mother say, \"I have no stomach for little\nRabbit, but Wolf pleases me well. You must marry Wolf. They tell me he\nis a great hunter, and if you marry him we shall never want for food.\"\n\nWhen Rabbit heard this he was very sad; he determined that on no\naccount should Wolf marry the widow's daughter, and that he must use\nall his power to prevent it. That night he went alone to the girl's\nhouse. He spoke sneeringly of Wolf, saying with a bitter frown, \"Wolf\nis no hunter; he never catches any game because he is lazy and has no\nbrains; I always have to feed him to keep him from starving; he is\nbut a beast of burden; I always ride upon his back when I go to a far\ncountry, for he is good for nothing else.\" The girl's mother wondered\ngreatly, and she was very startled by this news, for she did not want\nher daughter to marry a good-for-nothing; but she was not sure that\nRabbit spoke the truth, for she had heard that sometimes he told great\nlies. So she said, \"If you will ride Wolf over here I will believe\nyou, and he shall not marry my daughter, and you shall marry her\nyourself.\" And Rabbit went home well pleased and sure of a happy\nending to his trick.\n\nThe next day Rabbit purposely met Wolf in the forest, and he said,\n\"Let us go together to see the widow's daughter.\" And Wolf was glad to\ngo. They had not gone far when Rabbit began to cry. Then he lay down\non the ground, and rolled and moaned and rubbed his belly as if in\ngreat distress. \"I have a sharp pain in my belly,\" he sobbed, \"I\ncannot walk any farther. If I walk I shall surely die, and I cannot go\non unless you carry me on your back.\" Wolf willingly agreed, for he\nwanted to see the beautiful girl, and he was very sorry for poor\nRabbit in his pain; and Rabbit, laughing to himself, climbed on Wolf's\nback. Wolf ran along, not feeling the load, for Rabbit was very light.\nThey had not gone far when Rabbit cried again and said, \"I cannot ride\nwithout a saddle, for your bare back hurts me and gives me blisters.\"\nSo they borrowed a little saddle from a field by the way and put it\non Wolf's back. Soon Rabbit said, \"This is fine fun; let us play that\nyou are a horse and that I am a great rider. I should like to put a\nlittle bridle on you, and to wear spurs on my feet and to carry a\nwhip.\" And Wolf, wishing to please Rabbit to make him forget his pain,\ngladly agreed. So they borrowed a little bridle and spurs and a whip\nfrom another field near by, and did as Rabbit asked, and together they\nwent to the girl's home, Wolf trotting along like a little horse, and\nRabbit laughing to himself, sitting in the saddle, with his spurs and\nhis whip, holding the bridle reins. When they drew near the house,\nRabbit made a great noise so that the mother and her daughter might\nlook out to see where the shouting came from. He called loudly, \"Whoa,\nWhoa.\" And the girl and her mother opened the door and looked out at\nthem in wonder. Then as they were looking on, Rabbit, chuckling to\nhimself, struck Wolf a stinging blow with his whip, and stuck his\nspurs deep into Wolf's sides and called him loudly a lazy beast. Wolf\njumped and plunged and kicked because of the prick of the spurs and\nthe sting of the whip; he was very cross, but he said nothing.\n\nSome distance away, Rabbit tied Wolf to a tree, saying, \"Stay here and\nI will send the girl to you.\" Then he went to the house, and he said\nto the woman, \"Now you will believe that Wolf is a beast of burden,\nfor I have ridden here on his back.\" And the woman believed him. She\ntold him to give Wolf some corn or grass. But Rabbit said, \"He doesn't\neat corn or grass; he eats only fresh meat,\" for he knew well that\nWolf would be quite contented if he got a good meal of meat. Then she\ngave him some fresh meat, which he brought to Wolf. And Wolf was\nhappy, and his anger disappeared, and he forgot the pain of the spurs\nand the whip, and he thought it was fine fun to get a good meal so\neasily. The woman promised that Rabbit should marry her daughter, and\nwhen night fell Rabbit went home well pleased, leaving Wolf still tied\nto the tree. It was so dark that Wolf did not see him leaving the\nhouse, and for a long time he thought he was still inside, and he\nwaited long in the starlight. At last he grew tired waiting, for he\nwas hungry and he was cold standing still in the chill night air of\nearly spring. He cut with his teeth the bridle rein that tied him to\nthe tree, and then he went to the woman's house. But the woman would\nnot let him in. She told him to go away, that she never wished to see\nhim again, and she called him a lazy beast of burden. He went home in\ngreat anger, for he knew now that he had been tricked, and he swore\nthat he would have vengeance on Rabbit.\n\n[Illustration: WOLF TROTTED ALONG LIKE A LITTLE HORSE, AND RABBIT\nLAUGHING TO HIMSELF SITTING IN THE SADDLE]\n\nThe next day Rabbit learned from the woman that she had spurned Wolf\nfrom her door, and he knew that Wolf realized he had been deceived. He\nwas somewhat frightened, for he dreaded Wolf's vengeance, and for\nseveral days he hid among the trees. Then hunger drove him out and he\nwent forth to look for food. One evening he entered a garden in search\nof cabbage, and he was busy robbing it, when the people who owned the\ngarden spied him. And they said, \"Here is the thief who has been\nstealing our vegetables. We will catch him and teach him a lesson.\"\nBefore Rabbit knew it, they were upon him, for he was eating heartily,\nhe was so hungry, and they caught him and bound him fast to a tree and\nwent to get scalding water to pour upon his back to teach him not to\nrob their garden again. But while they were away Wolf came along. He,\ntoo, was very hungry, for he had eaten no meal for many days, but he\nwas glad when he saw Rabbit, for now he thought he would have his\nrevenge. Rabbit saw him at a distance, and he resolved to try another\ntrick on him, and to hail him as if he thought he was still his\nfriend. And he cried out to him, \"Help me, Wolf! Help me! The people\nhere asked me to eat up a nice little lamb, and when I refused to do\nit, they tied me up to this tree, and they have gone to bring the lamb\nto me.\"\n\nWolf was too hungry to be cautious, and he forgot all about Rabbit's\ntricks, for spring lamb was his favourite food. And he said, \"I will\neat up the little lamb,\" and he smacked his lips as he spoke, and\nthought of the nice tender meal he would have. Then Rabbit said,\n\"Untie me and take my place, for the people will soon be here with\nthe lamb.\" So Wolf untied him, and Rabbit in turn bound Wolf fast to\nthe tree, and laughing to himself because he had again outwitted\nstupid Wolf, he ran rapidly away. Far off he hid behind the trees to\nsee what would happen. Soon the people came back, carrying the pots of\nscalding water. Wolf saw them coming, and he was in high spirits, for\nhe thought the lamb he was to eat was in one of the pots. It was\nmoonlight, and in the shadow of the great tree the people could not\nsee very clearly, and they thought Wolf was Rabbit, still bound fast\nwhere they had left him. So they poured the scalding water on his back\nand kicked him and knocked him on the head with a big stick, and they\nsaid, \"Now, thief, we have taught you how dangerous it is to rob\ngardens in the spring moonlight.\" Wolf howled with pain, for his back\nwas blistered and his head was sore, and Rabbit heard him, and he sat\non a log and shook with laughter because of the success of his prank.\n\nThen the people untied Wolf and let him go. He went away wearily among\nthe trees. And he again swore vengeance on Rabbit, and he resolved to\nkill him as soon as he set eyes upon him, for he knew he had been\ntricked a second time. For several days he searched for his enemy. At\nlast, one night of bright moonlight, he came upon Rabbit sitting in a\npatch of Indian tobacco plants, eating his fill and contentedly\nchewing the tobacco leaves. Rabbit's mouth was full of tobacco, but\nhe laughed loudly when he saw Wolf's back bound in bandages because of\nthe blisters, and his sore head tied up in a cloth. But when he saw\nWolf's angry eyes he was frightened, and he ran away into the woods.\nThe moon was shining in the forest, and Wolf could catch a glimpse now\nand then of his brown coat among the trees, and he chased him for a\nlong time. Rabbit tried all his tricks to shake him from his tracks,\nbut without avail. At last, when Rabbit was almost worn out, he took\nrefuge in a hollow tree, into which he slipped through a small hole,\nwhere Wolf could not follow him. And Wolf said, \"Now I have him in my\npower. I will kill him; but first I must go home to get my axe to cut\ndown the tree and to chop off his head.\" Then he looked around for\nsome one to keep watch over the tree while he was gone, so that Rabbit\ncould not escape. At last he saw Owl sitting quietly on a branch near.\nHe called to him and said, \"Watch by this hole until I get back, and\ndo not let Rabbit get away.\" So Owl came down and sat by the hole and\npromised to keep guard over the prisoner, and Wolf went away to look\nfor his axe.\n\nBut Rabbit was not caught yet; he had another trick left. After Wolf\nhad gone away, he called to Owl sitting by the hole, and said, \"Owl,\ncome and see what a nice little room I have here in the tree.\" But Owl\nreplied, \"It is too dark, I cannot see.\" Then Rabbit said, \"Open your\neyes wide and put your face close to the hole, for I have a light here\nand you can see easily.\" Owl did as he was told, for he was a curious\nfellow. Rabbit had a great mouthful of tobacco juice from the Indian\ntobacco leaves he had been chewing, and when Owl put his face close to\nthe hole he squirted the juice into Owl's eyes. Owl screamed loudly,\nfor his eyes were smarting and he was blinded by the juice; he ran\naround the tree and stamped and shrieked and rubbed his eyes, trying\nto relieve them of their pain. And while he was about it, Rabbit\nslipped out of the hole and ran away, and Owl did not know he was\ngone.\n\nSoon Wolf came back, carrying his big sharp axe. And he said, \"Now I\nshall kill him at last.\" And Owl was afraid to tell him about his sore\neyes; they were still open wide, and he could not close them. At once\nWolf chopped down the hollow tree. Then he split it open from end to\nend. But there was no sign of Rabbit. Wolf then thought Owl had\ntricked him, and that he had helped Rabbit to escape. But Owl said he\nhad not. He sat with his eyes wide open, staring stupidly and moaning\nand making strange noises because of his pain. Wolf thought he was\nlaughing at him and taunting him, for he did not know the meaning of\nOwl's strange cries, and in his rage he fell to beating him over the\nhead with his axe-handle until poor Owl's head was swollen to a great\nsize. And Owl cried, \"Hoot, Hoot, Hoot,\" and his eyes stared from his\nswollen head even larger than before. Then Wolf went on his way,\nresolved to keep away from Rabbit. And since that time Owl has cried\n\"Hoot, Hoot, Hoot\" at night, for he still remembers his pain; and his\nhead is still swollen and bigger than that of other birds because of\nthe beating Wolf gave him with his axe-handle; and his eyes are still\nlarge and they stare stupidly, and he cannot look at light, and he is\nblind in the daylight because of the tobacco juice Rabbit squirted\ninto his eyes. And since that night Rabbit and Wolf have avoided each\nother, and they have not lived in the same place, and they have never\nsince been friends.\n\n\n\n\nTHE TOBACCO FAIRY FROM THE BLUE HILLS\n\n\nA man and his wife and two little children were living long ago on the\nshores of a lake surrounded by large trees, deep in the Canadian\nforest. They lived very happily together, and as game was plentiful,\nthey wanted for nothing. As the children grew up they became each day\nmore beautiful and gentle, until the old women of the tribe said,\n\"They are too good and lovely for this world; their home is surely\nelsewhere in the West.\" Before they grew to maturity a cruel plague\nspread over the land and carried them off with its ravages. Their\nmother was the next to go, slowly growing weaker, and wasting away\nbefore the eyes of her husband, who was powerless to save her.\n\nThe man was now left all alone upon the earth. The joy of his life had\ngone with his wife and children, and he went about in great loneliness\nand sorrow. Life was long to him and dreary, and often he wished that\nhe too was dead. But at last he roused himself and said, \"I will go\nabout doing good. I will spend my life helping others, and perhaps in\nthat way I can find peace.\" So he worked hard and did all the good he\ncould for the weaker and the poorer people of his tribe. He was held\nin high esteem by all the people of the village, and in their\naffection for him they all called him \"Grandfather.\" He grew to be\nvery old, and because of his good deeds he found great happiness. But\nhe was still very solitary, and the days and evenings were long and\nlonely, and as he grew older and his work grew less, he found it hard\nto pass away the time, for he could only sit alone and dream of his\nvanished youth and of his absent friends.\n\nOne day he sat thinking by the lake. Many people of the village were\naround him, but as usual he sat alone. Suddenly a large flock of\nbirds, looking like great black clouds, came flying from the blue\nhills in the distance toward the shore of the lake. They wheeled and\ncircled about, and hovered long over the trees, uttering strange\ncries. The people had never before seen such large birds, and they\nwere much afraid and said, \"They are not ordinary creatures. They\nforeshadow some strange happening.\" Suddenly one of the birds\nfluttered for an instant and fell slowly to the earth with an arrow in\nits breast. No one in the village had shot at the flock, and where the\narrow had come from no man knew. The mystery frightened the people\nstill more, and they looked to the old man for counsel, for they knew\nthat he was very wise.\n\nThe fallen bird lay fluttering on the ground, seemingly in pain. The\nother birds circled about it for a short time, uttering loud cries.\nThen they screamed and called to each other and flew back to the\ndistant blue hills, leaving the fallen bird behind them with the arrow\nsticking in its breast. The old man was not frightened by the sight.\nHe said, \"I will go to the stricken bird; perhaps I can heal its\nwound.\" But the people, in great fear, said, \"Do not go, Grandfather,\nthe bird will do you harm.\" But the old man answered, \"It can do no\nharm to me. My work is ended and my life is almost done. My sky is\ndark, for I am full of sorrow, and with me it is already the twilight\nof time. I am alone in the world, for my kindred have gone. I am not\nafraid of death, for to me it would be very welcome. What matters it\nif I should die?\" And he went to the stricken bird to see if he could\nhelp it.\n\nAs he went along, his path suddenly grew dark, but as he drew nearer,\na bright flame suddenly swept down from the sky to the place where the\nbird was lying. There was a flash of fire, and when the old man looked\nhe saw that the bird had been completely burned up. When he came to\nwhere it had lain, nothing but black ashes remained. He stirred up the\nashes with his stick, and lying in the centre he found a large living\ncoal of fire. As he looked at it, in a twinkling it disappeared, and\nin its place was a strange little figure like a little man, no bigger\nthan his thumb. \"Hello, Grandfather,\" it called, \"do not strike me,\nfor I have been sent to help you.\"\n\n[Illustration: SUDDENLY A LARGE FLOCK OF BIRDS, LOOKING LIKE GREAT\nBLACK CLOUDS, CAME FLYING FROM THE BLUE HILLS]\n\n\"Who are you?\" asked the old man.\n\n\"I am one of the Little People from the distant blue hills,\" said the\ntiny boy. Then the old man knew that the little fellow was one of the\nstrange fairy people of the mountains, of whom he had often heard.\n\"What do you want?\" he asked.\n\n\"I have been sent to you with a precious gift,\" answered the little\nman. The old man wondered greatly, but he said nothing.\n\nThen the fairy from the blue hills said, \"You are old and lonely. You\nhave done many noble deeds, and you have always gone about bringing\ngood to others. In that way you have found peace. And because of your\ngood life, I have been sent to bring you more contentment. Your work\nis done, but your life is not yet ended, and you have still a long\ntime to dwell upon the earth. You must live out your mortal course.\nYou are longing always for your dead wife and children, and you are\noften thinking of your youth, and with you the days are long and time\nhangs heavy. But I have been sent to you with a gift that will help\nyou to pass the time more pleasantly.\"\n\nThen the little man gave him a number of small seeds and said, \"Plant\nthese at once, here, in the ashes from which I have just risen.\" The\nold man did as he was told. At once the seeds sprouted and great\nleaves grew from them, and soon the place where the bird had been\nburned up became a large field of Tobacco.\n\nThe fairy then gave him a large pipe and said, \"Dry these leaves and\nplace them in this pipe and smoke them. You will have great\ncontentment, and when you have nothing to do it will help you to pass\nthe time away, and when no one is with you it will be a companion. And\nit will bring you many dreams of the future and of the past. And when\nthe smoke curls upwards it will have for you many visions of those you\nloved, and you will see their faces in the smoke as you sit alone in\nthe twilight.\"\n\nThe old man was very thankful for the fairy's gift. But the little man\nsaid, \"Teach other old men how to use it, so that they, too, may\npossess it and enjoy it.\"\n\nThen the fairy quickly disappeared, going towards the distant blue\nhills, and he was never seen in the village again. And with his pipe\nand his tobacco the old man went back to his dreaming, with more\ncontentment than before. In this way Tobacco was brought to the\nIndians in the old days.\n\n\n\n\nRAINBOW AND THE AUTUMN LEAVES\n\n\nIn olden days, long before the Indians came to Canada, all the animals\ntalked and worked like men. Every year after midsummer they held a\ngreat council at which they were all present. But it happened once in\nthe summer before the council met, that they all wanted to go to the\nsky to see what the country up there was like. None of them could find\na way to go. The oldest and wisest creature on all the earth was\nTurtle. One day he prayed to the Thunder God to take him to the sky,\nand his prayer was soon answered. There was a great noise, as if the\nearth had been split asunder, and when the people next looked for\nTurtle he was nowhere to be found. They searched everywhere without\nsuccess. But that evening, when they looked upwards, they saw him in\nthe sky, moving about like a black cloud. Turtle liked the sky so well\nthat he decided to live there always and to send his descendants,\nlater, to the earth. And the sky-people agreed to keep him. They asked\nhim, \"Where do you want to dwell?\" And he answered, \"I should like to\ndwell in the Black Cloud, in which are the ponds and streams and\nlakes and springs of water, for I always dwelt near these places when\nI was young.\" So he was allowed to have his wish. But when the Great\nCouncil of the animals met on earth in the time of the harvest-moon,\nhe was always present. He came in the Black Cloud, but he always went\nback to the sky after the Council was ended. And the other animals\nenvied him his good fortune, and they wished that they could go with\nhim.\n\nAfter a time the animals were greatly distressed and angered by the\nrumour that a new race of creatures was coming from far over the ocean\nto inhabit their land. They talked it over very carefully, and they\nall thought how fortunate it would be if they could all go to the sky\nwith old Turtle, and live like him, free from fear and trouble and\ncare. But they were puzzled to know how to get there, for Turtle had\nnever told any of them the way.\n\nOne day Deer, wandering about alone in the forest, as was his custom,\ncame across Rainbow, who often built a path of many colours to the\nsky. And he said to Rainbow, \"Carry me up to the sky, for I want to\nsee Turtle.\" But Rainbow was afraid to do it, for he wished first to\nask the Thunder God for permission, and he put Deer off, and to gain\ntime he said, \"Come to me in winter, when I stay for a time on the\nmountain near the lake. Then I will gladly carry you to the place\nwhere Turtle dwells.\"\n\n[Illustration: THROUGHOUT THE LONG WINTER MONTHS DEER LOOKED LONGINGLY\nFOR RAINBOW]\n\nThroughout the long winter months Deer looked longingly for Rainbow,\nbut Rainbow did not come. Life was growing harder on the earth, and\nthe animals were in terror of the new race that was soon to come to\ntheir land, and Deer was very timid and impatient. At last, one day in\nthe early summer, Rainbow came again, and Deer hastened to meet him.\n\"Why were you false to me?\" he asked; \"I waited for you all winter\nlong on the mountain by the lake, but you did not come as you\npromised. I want to go to the sky now, for I must see Turtle.\" Rainbow\nanswered, \"I cannot take you now. But some day, when there is a Fog\nover the lake, I shall come back to drive it away. Come to me then,\nand I shall take you to the sky and to the place where Turtle dwells.\nThis time I will not deceive you.\"\n\nRainbow consulted the Thunder God, and received permission to do as\nDeer wished. Soon afterwards the Fog one day rolled in a thick bank\nacross the lake, and Deer hurried out to wait for Rainbow. Sure\nenough, Rainbow came down, as he had promised, to drive the Fog away.\nHe threw his arch of many colours from the lake to the blue hills far\naway, and the Fog at once disappeared from the place. And he said to\nDeer, who stood watching him, \"Now I will keep my promise. Follow my\nmany-coloured path over the hills and the forests and the streams, and\nbe not afraid, and you will soon reach Turtle's home in the sky.\" Deer\ndid as he was told, and soon he reached the sky. Turtle was glad to\nsee him, and Deer liked the country so well that he decided to stay\nfor ever. And he roamed over the sky everywhere, moving like the wind\nfrom place to place.\n\nWhen midsummer had passed and the harvest-moon had come and the Great\nCouncil again met together, Deer was absent for the first time in his\nlife. The animals waited long for him to appear, for they needed his\nadvice, but he did not come. They sent the Birds out to find him.\nBlack Hawk and Woodpecker and Bluejay all sought him in the forest,\nbut they could not find a trace of him. Then Wolf and Fox scoured the\nwoods far and near, but they came back and reported that he could not\nbe found anywhere. At last Turtle arrived at the meeting of the Great\nCouncil, as was his custom, coming in his Black Cloud, in which were\nthe ponds and lakes and streams and springs of water. And Bear said,\n\"Deer is absent from the Council meeting. Where is Deer? We cannot\nmeet without him, for we need his advice.\" And Turtle replied, \"Deer\nis in the sky. Have you not heard? Rainbow made a wonderful pathway\nfor him of many varied colours, and by that he came to the sky. There\nhe is now,\" and he pointed to a golden cloud scurrying across the sky\noverhead.\n\nTurtle advised that the animals should all go to the sky to live until\nthey could be sure that the new race of creatures would bring them no\nharm. And he showed them the pathway that Rainbow had made,\nstretching from the earth in wonderful colours. The animals all agreed\nat the Great Council to take Turtle's advice. But they were all very\nangry at Deer for leaving them without warning, for they thought that\nall the animals should either stay together faithfully on the earth or\ngo all together to the sky. Bear showed the greatest anger and\nannoyance. Because of his great strength, he had no fear of the new\nrace that was said soon to be coming, and he had always been inclined\nto look with scorn on Deer's timid and impatient ways. \"Deer has\nforsaken us,\" he said; \"he deserted us in the hour of our danger, and\nthat is contrary to forest laws and to our code of defence.\" And he\nthought to himself, \"I shall punish him for this when the time comes.\"\n\nIn the late autumn, the time agreed upon came for the animals to leave\nthe earth, and Rainbow again made his bright path for them to the sky.\nBear was the first to go up because he was the leader, and because\nwith his great weight he wanted to test the strength of the bridge of\nburning colours over which they had to pass. When he had almost\nreached the sky, he met Deer on the path waiting to welcome the\nanimals to their new home. And he said to him in anger, \"Why did you\nleave us behind, without warning, for the land of the Turtle? Why did\nyou desert the Great Council? Why did you not wait until all could\ncome together? You are a traitor to your comrades, and you have been\nfalse to our faith.\" And Deer answered, also in anger, \"Who are you to\ndoubt me or my faith? None but the Wolf may ask me why I came or\nquestion my fidelity. I will kill you for your insolence.\" Deer had\ngrown very proud since he had gone to live in the sky, and he was no\nlonger timid as he had been on earth. His eyes flashed in his fury,\nand he arched his neck and lowered his antlered head, and rushed madly\nat Bear to push him from the path.\n\nBut Bear was not afraid, for he had often tested his strength with\nDeer upon the earth. His low, hoarse growls sounded all over the sky,\nand he prepared to fight. They came together with a shock. For a long\ntime they battled, until the bridge of burning colours trembled and\nthe heavens shook from the force of the conflict. The animals waiting\nby the lake at the end of the path looked up and saw the battle above\nthem. They feared the results, for they wanted neither Bear nor Deer\nto die. So they sent Wolf up to the sky to put a stop to the contest.\nWhen Wolf reached the combatants, Bear was bleeding freely, for Deer\nwith his antlers had pierced his neck and side. Deer, too, was\nbleeding where Bear's strong claws had torn a great wound in his head.\nWolf soon stopped the battle, and Bear and Deer went away to dress\ntheir wounds. Then the other animals went up to the sky over Rainbow's\nflaming path. And they decided to live in the sky and to send their\ndescendants back to earth when the new race of creatures should come.\nAnd they can still sometimes be seen, like clouds hurrying across the\nsky, in the shape they had on earth.\n\nBut the blood of Bear and of Deer dropped from them as they moved to\nthe sky from the scene of their battle along the Rainbow road. It fell\nfreely upon the leaves of the trees beneath them, and changed them\ninto varied colours. And every year when autumn comes in the north\ncountry, the leaves take on again the bright and wondrous colours\ngiven to them by the blood of Bear and Deer when they fought on the\nRainbow path ages and ages ago. And Bear and Deer have never since\nbeen friends, and their descendants no longer dwell together in peace,\nas they did in the olden days.\n\n\n\n\nRABBIT AND THE MOON-MAN\n\n\nOnce, long ago, Rabbit lived with his old grandmother deep in the\nCanadian forest, far from all other people. He was a great hunter, and\nall around, far and near, he laid snares and set traps to catch game\nfor food. It was winter, and he caught many little animals and birds.\nHe brought them home daily to feed himself and his old grandmother,\nand he was well pleased with his success. But after some weeks had\npassed he was unable to catch any game. He always found his traps and\nsnares empty, although many tracks were always around them, and there\nwere many signs that animals were prowling about. He knew then that he\nwas being robbed nightly, and that a thief was pilfering his traps. It\nwas very cold and the snow lay deep in the forest, and Rabbit and his\nold grandmother were in dire need of food. Every morning Rabbit rose\nvery early and hurried off to his traps, but always he found them\nempty, for the thief had been ahead of him. He was greatly puzzled,\nfor he could not think who the thief was.\n\nAt last one morning, after a new fall of snow, he found the mark of a\nlong foot near his traps, and he knew it was the foot of the\ngame-robber. It was the longest foot-print he had ever seen, long and\nnarrow and very light, like a moonbeam. And Rabbit said, \"Now I shall\nrise earlier in the morning, and I shall go to my traps ahead of the\nthief and take my game, so that they will all be empty when he comes.\"\nEach morning he rose earlier to catch the thief, but the man of the\nlong foot was always there before him, and his game was always gone.\nNo matter how early Rabbit got up, the thief was always ahead of him\nand his traps were always empty.\n\nSo Rabbit said to his old grandmother, \"The man of the long foot, who\nrobs my traps, is always up ahead of me, no matter how early I rise. I\nwill make a snare from a bow-string, and I will watch all this night,\nand I will surely catch him.\" He made a trap from a stout bow-string\nand set it beside his snares, and took the end of the bow-string some\ndistance away to a clump of trees, behind which he hid. He hoped that\nthe thief would step into the trap; then he would pull the bow-string\nand tie him fast to a tree. He sat very quiet, waiting for the man of\nthe long foot to appear. It was moonlight when he set out, but soon it\ngrew very dark in the forest. The Moon suddenly disappeared. But the\nstars were all shining on the white snow and there were no clouds in\nthe sky, and Rabbit wondered what had happened to the Moon. He waited\nvery still and a little frightened in the starlight.\n\nSoon he heard some one coming, sneaking stealthily through the trees.\nThen he saw a white light which dazzled his eyes. The light went\ntowards the snares, until it stopped just at the trap Rabbit had set.\nThen Rabbit pulled the bow-string, closed the trap as he had hoped,\nand tied the string fast to a tree. He heard sounds of a struggle, and\nhe saw the white light move from side to side, but he knew that he had\nhis prisoner fast and that the man of the long foot was caught at\nlast. He was much afraid of the white light, and he ran home as fast\nas he could and told his old grandmother that he had caught the\ngame-robber in the trap, and that he did not know who he was, for he\nwas too frightened to look. And his grandmother said, \"You must go\nback and see who it is, and tell him he must stop robbing your\nsnares.\" But Rabbit said, \"I do not want to go until daylight, for the\nMoon has gone down and the forest is very dark.\" But his grandmother\nsaid, \"You must go.\" So poor Rabbit, although he was very frightened\nby what he had seen, set out again for his traps.\n\n[Illustration: HE SAT VERY QUIET, WAITING FOR THE MAN OF THE LONG FOOT\nTO APPEAR]\n\nWhen he drew near to his snares he saw that the white light was still\nshining. It was so bright that his eyes were dazzled and he had to\nstop far from it. Then he approached nearer, but his eyes soon became\nvery sore. There was a stream flowing beside him, and he bathed his\neyes in the cold water, but it brought him no relief, and his eyes\nfelt hot and red, and tears fell from them because of the dazzling\nlight. Then he took great handfuls of snow and threw snowballs at the\nlight, hoping thereby to put it out. But when the snowballs came near\nto the light they melted and fell down like rain. Then, with his eyes\nstill smarting, Rabbit in his rage scooped up great handfuls of soft\nblack mud from the bottom of the stream, and forming it into balls, he\nthrew them with all his force at the white light. He heard them strike\nsomething with a dull thud, and he heard loud yells from the\nprisoner--the man of the long foot--behind the shining light. Then a\nvoice came from the light, saying, \"Why did you snare me? Come and\nuntie me at once. I am the Man in the Moon. It is near to the morning,\nand before dawn I must be on my way home. You have already spotted my\nface with mud, and if you do not loose me at once I shall kill all\nyour tribe.\"\n\nPoor Rabbit was more frightened than before, and he ran home and told\nhis old grandmother what had happened. And his grandmother was also\nvery frightened, for she thought that no good could come of it. And\nshe told Rabbit to go back at once and untie the Man in the Moon, for\nthe night was almost spent, and the dawn would soon be breaking. So\npoor Rabbit, trembling in his fear, went back to his traps. From a\ngreat distance he cried, \"I will untie you if you will never again rob\nmy snares, and if you will never come back to earth.\" And the prisoner\nin the trap promised, and said, \"I swear it by my white light.\" Then\nRabbit approached very carefully. He had to shut his eyes and grope\nhis way because of the bright light, and his lip quivered because of\nthe great heat. At last he rushed in and cut the bow-string snare with\nhis teeth, and the Man in the Moon hurried on his way, for he could\nalready see the dawn in the East. But Rabbit was almost blinded while\nhe was about it, and his shoulders were badly scorched. And ever since\nthat time Rabbit blinks and his eyelids are pink, and water runs from\nhis eyes when he looks at a bright light; and his lip always quivers;\nand his shoulders are yellow, even when he wears his white winter\ncoat, because of the great light and heat on the winter night long ago\nwhen he loosed the Man in the Moon from the snare. And since that\nnight the Man in the Moon has never come back to earth. He stays at\nhis task in the sky, lighting the forest by night; but he still bears\non his face the marks of the black mud which Rabbit threw at him. And\nsometimes for several nights he goes away to a quiet place, where he\ntries to wash off the mud; and then the land is dark. But he never\nsucceeds in cleaning himself, and when he comes back to his work the\nmarks of Rabbit's mud-balls are still upon his shining face.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CHILDREN WITH ONE EYE\n\n\nTwo little children, a boy and a girl, lived long ago with their\nwidowed mother in the Canadian forest. The woman was very poor, for\nher husband had long been dead and she had to work very hard to\nprovide food for herself and her children. Often she had to go far\nfrom home in search of fish and game, and at times she was absent for\nmany days. When she went on these long journeys she left her children\nbehind her, and thus they were allowed to grow up with very little\noversight or discipline or care. They soon became very unruly because\nthey were so often left to have their own way, and when their mother\nreturned from her hunting trips she frequently found that they would\nnot obey her, and that they did pretty much as they pleased. As they\ngrew older they became more headstrong and disobedient, and their\nmother could do very little to control them. And she said, \"Some day\nthey will suffer for their waywardness.\"\n\nOne day the woman went to visit a neighbour not far away. She left a\nlarge pot of bear-fat boiling on the fire. And she said to the\nchildren, \"Do not meddle with the pot while I am gone, for the fat may\nharm you if it catches fire.\" But she was not gone long when the boy\nsaid to the girl as they played around the pot, \"Let us see if the fat\nwill burn.\" So they took a burning stick of wood and dropped it into\nthe fat, and stood looking into the large pot to see what would\nhappen. The fat sputtered for an instant; then there was a sudden\nflash, and a tongue of flame shot upwards from the pot into the faces\nof the children. Their hair was burned to a crisp and their faces were\nscorched, and they ran from the house crying with pain. But when they\nreached the outer air, they found that they could not see, for the\nfire had blinded their eyes. So they stumbled around in darkness,\ncrying loudly for help. But no help came.\n\nWhen their mother came home she tried every remedy she thought might\nrestore their sight. But all her medicine was unavailing, and she\nsaid, \"You will always be blind. That is the punishment for your\ndisobedience.\"\n\nSo the children lived in darkness for a long time. But they were no\nlonger headstrong and unruly, and although they could no longer see,\nthey were less trouble to their mother than they were when they had\ntheir sight, for they did not now refuse to do her bidding.\n\nOne day, when their mother was far away hunting in the forest, an old\nwoman came along and asked the children for food. And they brought\ngood food to her as she sat before the door. After she had eaten, she\nsaid, \"You are blind, but I can help you, for I am from the Land of\nthe Little People. I cannot give you four eyes, but I will give you\none eye between you. You can each use it at different times, and it\nwill be better than no sight at all. But handle it with great care and\ndo not leave it lying on the ground.\" Then she gave them an eye which\nshe took from her pocket, and disappeared. So they used the one eye\nbetween them, and when the boy had the eye and the girl wished to see\nanything, she would say, \"Give me the eye,\" and her brother would\ncarefully pass it to her. When their mother came home she was very\nglad when she found that they had now some means of sight.\n\n[Illustration: THE BOY WENT INTO THE FOREST WITH HIS BOW AND ARROWS.\nHE HAD NOT GONE FAR WHEN HE SAW A FAT YOUNG DEER, WHICH HE KILLED]\n\nOne day when their mother was away again, the boy went into the forest\nwith his bow and arrows. He carried the eye with him. He had not gone\nfar when he saw a fat young deer, which he killed. The deer was too\nheavy for him to carry home alone. So he said, \"I will go and get my\nsister, and we shall cut it up and put it in a basket and carry it\nhome together.\" He went home and told his sister of his good fortune,\nand he led her to where the deer lay, and they began to cut up the\nbody. But they had forgotten to bring a basket or a bag. He called to\nhis sister saying, \"You must weave a basket into which we can put the\nmeat to carry it home.\" And his sister said, \"How can I make a basket\nwhen I cannot see? If I am to weave a basket, I must have the eye.\"\nThe boy brought the eye to her and she made a large basket from green\ntwigs.\n\nWhen she had finished making the basket the boy said, \"I must finish\ncutting up the meat. Give me the eye.\" So she brought him the eye, and\nhe proceeded to chop up the meat and to put it in the basket. Then he\nsaid, \"Why can we not have a meal here? I am very hungry.\" His sister\nagreed that this was a good idea, and he said, \"You cook the meal\nwhile I pack the meat.\" The girl made a fire, but she was afraid she\nwould burn the meat, so she said, \"I cannot see to cook. I must have\nthe eye.\" By this time her brother had finished packing the meat into\nthe basket, and he brought her the eye and she went on with her\ncooking. The fire was low and she said, \"I must have some dry wood.\nBring me some dry pine.\" The boy wandered off into the forest in\nsearch of wood, but he had not gone far when he stumbled over a log\nand fell to the ground. He called to his sister in anger, saying, \"You\nalways want the eye for yourself. How can I gather dry pine when I\ncannot see? Give me the eye at once.\"\n\nHis sister ran to him and helped him up and gave him the eye. She\nfound her way back to the fire, but as she reached it she smelled the\nmeat burning on the spit. She shouted, \"The meat is burning and our\ndinner will be spoiled. Give me the eye at once, so that I may see if\nthe meat is cooked.\" The boy was some distance away, and in his anger\nhe threw the eye to her, saying, \"Find it. I am not going to walk to\nyou with it if you are too lazy to come and get it.\" The eye fell to\nthe ground between them, and neither of them knew where it lay. They\ngroped for it among the dead leaves, but as they searched for it, a\nwood-pecker, watching from a branch of a tree near by, swooped\nsuddenly down and gobbled it up and flew away.\n\nAs they were still searching for it, the old woman who had given it to\nthem came along. She had been hiding among the trees, and she had seen\nthe wood-pecker flying away with her gift. She said, \"Where is the eye\nI gave you?\" \"It dropped from my head,\" answered the boy, \"and I\ncannot find it in the grass.\" \"Yes,\" said the girl, \"it dropped from\nhis head, and we cannot find it.\" \"You have lied to me,\" said the old\nwoman, \"and you have disobeyed, and for that I shall punish you.\" And\nwith her magic power she changed the boy into a mole and the girl\ninto a bat, and said, \"Now live blind upon the earth, with only your\nsense of sound to guide you.\" At once the boy and the girl were\nchanged. And so the Mole and the Bat appeared upon the earth.\n\n\n\n\nTHE GIANT WITH THE GREY FEATHERS\n\n\nOnce long ago, when the Blackfeet Indians dwelt on the Canadian\nplains, there was a great famine in all the land. For many months no\nbuffaloes were killed, and there was no meat to be had at any price.\nOne by one the old people dropped off because of a lack of food, and\nthe young children died early because there was no nourishment, and\nthere was great sorrow everywhere. Only the strong women and the\nstronger warriors remained alive, but even they gradually grew weaker\nbecause of the pinch of the hunger sent into the land by famine. At\nlast the Chief of the tribe prayed that the Great Chieftain of the\nIndians might come into his territory to tell the people what to do to\nsave themselves.\n\n[Illustration: FOR SOME DAYS THE BOY LAY IN TERROR IN THE NEST ... AND\nFAR OUT ON THE OCEAN HE COULD SEE GREAT SHIPS GOING BY]\n\nThe Great Chief was at that time far away in the south country where\nthe warm winds were blowing and the flowers were blooming. But one\nnight he heard the Chief's prayer borne to him on the winds, and he\nhastened northward, for he knew that his people on the plains were\nsomehow in dire distress. Soon he arrived at the village of the hungry\ntribe. \"Who has called me here?\" he asked. \"It was I,\" answered the\nChief. \"My people are all starving because there are no buffaloes in\nthe country, and if you had not come we should soon have all\nperished.\" Then the Great Chief looked upon his people and he noticed\nthat the old folks and the little children had disappeared; only a few\nchildren were left and they had pinched cheeks and sunken eyes. And he\ntook pity on them and said, \"There is a great thief not far distant.\nHe is probably a wicked giant, and he has driven all the buffaloes\naway. But I will find him and soon you shall have food.\" And the\npeople were all comforted, for they knew that the Great Chief would\nkeep his word.\n\nThen the Chief took with him the young Chief's son and set out on his\nquest. The people wanted to go with him, but he said, \"No! We shall go\nalone. It is a dangerous duty, and it is better that, if need be, two\nshould die in the attempt, than that all should perish.\" They\njourneyed westwards across the prairies towards the Great Water in the\nWest, and as they went, the youth prayed to the Sun and the Moon and\nthe Morning Star to send them success. Soon they came to the rolling\nfoot-hills covered with sweet-grass and scrubby pine. But still they\nsaw no signs of buffalo. At last they reached a narrow stream, on the\nbank of which they saw a house with smoke coming from the chimney.\n\"There is the cause of all our troubles,\" said the Chief. \"In that\nhouse dwells the giant Buffalo-thief and his wife. They have driven\nall the animals from the prairies until not one is left. My magic\npower tells me it is so!\" Then by his magic power he changed his\ncompanion into a sharp-pointed straight stick, while he himself took\nthe shape of a dog, and they lay on the ground and waited.\n\nSoon the giant and his wife and their little son came along. The boy\npatted the dog on the head, and said, \"See what a nice dog I have\nfound. He must be lost. May I take him home?\" His father said, \"No, I\ndo not like his looks. Do not touch him.\" The boy cried bitterly, for\nhe had long hoped for a dog of his own, and his mother pleaded for him\nso hard that at last the giant father said, \"Oh, very well. Have your\nown way, but no good can come of it.\" The woman picked up the stick\nand said, \"I will take this nice straight stick along with me. I can\ndig roots with it to make medicine.\" So they all went to the giant's\nhouse, the giant frowning angrily, the woman carrying the stick, and\nthe boy leading the dog.\n\n[Illustration: THE GIANT FROWNING ANGRILY, THE WOMAN CARRYING THE\nSTICK AND THE BOY LEADING THE DOG]\n\nThe next morning the giant went out and soon came back with a fat\nyoung buffalo, all skinned and ready for cooking. They roasted it on a\nspit over the fire and had a good meal. The boy fed some meat to the\ndog, but his father, when he saw what the boy was doing, beat him\nsoundly, and said, \"Have I not told you the dog is an evil thing? You\nmust not disobey me.\" But again the woman pleaded for her boy, and the\ndog was fed. That night when all the world was asleep, the dog and the\nstick changed back to their human form and had a good supper of what\nwas left of the buffalo-meat. And the Chief said to the youth, \"The\ngiant is the Buffalo-thief who keeps the herds from coming to the\nprairies. It is useless to kill him until we have found where he has\nhidden them.\" So they changed back to the shapes of dog and stick and\nwent to sleep.\n\nThe next morning the woman and her boy set off to the forest near the\nmountain, to gather berries and to dig up medicine roots. They took\nthe dog and the stick with them. At noon, after they had worked for\nsome time, they sat down to have their luncheon. The woman threw the\nstick down on the ground, and the boy let the dog run away among the\nshrubs. The dog wandered to the side of the mountain. There he found\nan opening like the mouth of a cave. Peering into the place he saw\nmany buffaloes within, and he knew that at last he had found the\nhiding place of the giant's plunder. He went back to the woman and the\nboy and began to bark. This was the signal agreed on with his\ncompanion. The woman and her son thought he was barking at a bird, and\nthey laughed at his capers as he jumped about. But he was in reality\ncalling to his comrade. The stick understood the call and wiggled like\na snake through the underbrush to the dog's side, unseen by the boy\nand his mother. They then entered the large cave in the side of the\nmountain, and there they found a great herd of buffaloes--all the\nbuffaloes that had been driven from the prairies. The dog barked at\nthem and snapped at their heels, and the stick beat them, and they\nbegan to drive them quickly out of the cavern and eastward toward the\nplains. But they still kept the shape of dog and stick. When evening\ncame, and it was time for the boy and his mother to go home, the boy\nsearched for the dog and the woman looked for her stick, but they\ncould not find them, and they had to go home without them.\n\nJust as the woman and her son reached their house on the bank of the\nriver, the giant-thief was coming home too. He chanced to look to the\neast, and there he saw, far away, many buffaloes running towards the\nfoot-hills where the sweet-grass grew. He was very angry, and he cried\nloudly to his son, \"Where is the dog? Where is the dog?\" \"I lost him\nin the underbrush,\" said the boy; \"he chased a bird and did not come\nback.\" \"It was not a bird he chased,\" said the giant; \"it was one of\nmy buffaloes. I told you he was an evil thing and not to touch him,\nbut you and your mother would have your way. Now my buffaloes are all\ngone.\" He gnashed his teeth in a great rage, and rushed off to the\nhidden cave to see if any buffaloes were left, crying as he went, \"I\nwill kill the dog if I find him.\" When he reached the cave the Chief\nand the youth, still in the form of a dog and a stick, were just\nrounding up the last of the buffaloes. The giant rushed at them to\nkill the dog and to break the stick, but they sprang upon an old\nbuffalo and hid in his long hair and, clinging on tightly, the dog bit\nthe buffalo until the old animal plunged and roared and rushed from\nthe cave, bearing the Chief and the youth concealed on his back. He\ngalloped eastward until he reached the herd far away on the prairie,\nleaving the giant far behind to make the best of his anger. Then the\nChief and the brave youth took their old form of men, and in high\nspirits they drove the herd of buffaloes back to their hungry people\nwaiting patiently on the plains.\n\nThe people were very pleased to see the Great Chief and the youth\nreturning to the village with the great herd of fat buffaloes, for\nthey knew now that the famine was ended. But as they drove the animals\ninto a great fenced enclosure, a large grey bird flew over their heads\nand swooped down upon them and pecked at them with its bill, and tried\nto frighten them and drive them away. The Great Chief knew by his\nmagic power that the grey bird was none other than the giant-thief who\nhad stolen the buffaloes, and who had changed himself into a bird to\nfly across the prairies in pursuit of them. Then the Chief changed\nhimself into an otter and lay down on the bank of the stream,\npretending to be dead. The grey bird flew down upon him, for he\nthought he would have a good meal of fat otter. But the Chief seized\nhim by the leg, and changing back to his own form, he bore him in\ntriumph to his camp. He tied him up fast to the smoke-hole of his tent\nand made a great fire inside. The giant cried, \"Spare me, spare me,\nand I shall never do you more harm.\" But the Chief left him on the\ntent pole all night long while the black smoke from the fire poured\nout around him. In the morning his feathers were all black. Then the\nChief let him down. And he said, \"You may go now, but you will never\nbe able to resume your former shape. You will henceforth be a raven, a\nbird of ill-omen upon the earth, an outlaw and a brigand among the\nbirds, despised among men because of your thefts. And you will always\nhave to steal and to hunt hard for your food.\" And to this day the\nfeathers of the raven are black, and he is a bird of ill-omen upon the\nearth because of his encounter with the Great Chieftain long ago.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CRUEL STEPMOTHER\n\n\nOnce long ago, when the Blackfeet Indians dwelt on the Canadian\nprairies, a poor Indian and his two children, a boy and a girl, were\nliving near the bank of a great river. The children's mother had long\nbeen dead and they had long been left to the care of their father.\nTheir father did not think it was right that they should grow up\nwithout a woman's kindness, and he decided at last to take another\nwife. So he went far away to a distant village and there he married a\nqueer woman of another tribe. Soon times grew hard in the North\nCountry, and it was very difficult to get food. The family lived for\nmany days on roots and berries, and often they were very hungry\nbecause there was no meat. Now it happened that the woman the man had\nmarried was a very wicked witch-woman, who was capable of doing many\nevil deeds. She had no love for her stepchildren, and she treated them\nvery cruelly. She blamed them for the lack of food in the house, and\nbeating them soundly, she said, \"You gluttonous brats; you always eat\ntoo much. It is little wonder that we cannot keep the house supplied\nwith food.\" The man saw his wife's cruelty to the children, but\nalthough it made him sad, and at times angry, he did not interfere,\nfor he thought the woman should rule her home.\n\nOne night in the early spring, as the man slept, his first wife\nappeared to him in a dream, and said, \"Hang a large spider web across\nthe trail in the forest where the animals pass and you will get plenty\nof food. But be good to my children. Their cruel stepmother is\nplanning to kill them.\" And she told him where to look for the magical\nspider web. The next day the man found the large spider web, and he\nwent far away into the forest and hung it from the trees over the\ntrail where the animals passed. That evening when he went back to the\nweb he found many animals entangled in its meshes, for it had magical\npower. He killed the animals and brought them home, and that night\nthey had a good fat supper of roast deer meat. Day after day the\nmagical spider web gave him great numbers of rabbits and deer, as the\nvision of his dead wife had told him in the night, and from that time\non the family did not want for food.\n\nBut the man's success in hunting only angered his witch-wife. She had\nnow no cause for complaint against the little children, and she could\nno longer scold them and say that because of them there was no food in\nthe house. Her hatred for them grew stronger each day, and at last\nshe decided to kill them and to kill their father as soon as she\ncould. Their father was going away on the morrow in search of wood to\nmake arrows for his bows, and she thought she would have a good chance\nto kill them while he was gone. Then she would kill their father when\nhe returned. So she laid her plans. But that night the vision of his\nfirst wife came again to the man as he slept, and it said, \"Your\npresent wife is a witch-woman. She plans to kill the children\nto-morrow when you are away, and when you come home she will kill you,\ntoo. You must kill her while there is yet time. Remember my little\nchildren.\"\n\nWhen the man awoke in the morning he was much alarmed because of the\nstory told him by the vision of the night. He no longer trusted his\nwitch-wife and he decided to get rid of her. But he feared she would\nattack the children before he could prevent it. So when the witch-wife\nwent out to get water from the stream to make breakfast, he gave each\nof the children a stick, a white stone, and a bunch of soft moss, and\nhe said, \"You must run away from here and stay away until I can find\nyou, for you are in great danger. You will find these three things I\ngive you of great use. Throw them behind you if any evil thing pursues\nyou, and they will keep you from harm.\" The children in great fear at\nonce ran away into the forest. Then the man hung his magical spider\nweb over the door of the house, and sat quietly inside waiting for\nhis wife to come back. In a little while she came home, carrying a\npail of water, but she did not see the web with its fine strands\nhanging across the door, and when she walked into it she was at once\nentangled in its meshes. She struggled hard to get free, but her head\nwas inside the door while her body was outside, and the web held her\nfast around the neck. Then the man said, \"I know now that you are a\ncruel witch-woman. You will beat my children no more.\" With his\nstone-axe he struck her a mighty blow which completely severed her\nhead from her body. Then he ran from the house as fast as he could and\nwent towards his children, who were watching him not far away.\n\nBut the man was not yet done with the cruel witch-woman. As he ran\nfrom the house her headless body, freed from the spider web, ran after\nhim, while her severed head, with eyes staring and hair flying,\nfollowed the children, sometimes bumping along the ground and\nsometimes rising through the air. The father thought it would be well\nto go in a different direction from the children, and he went west,\nwhile they went east. The children were very frightened when they saw\nthe horrible head behind them, slowly gaining upon them. Then they\nremembered their father's magic gifts. When the head was close upon\nthem, they threw their sticks on the ground at their backs and at once\na dense forest sprang up between them and their pursuer. The children\nsaid, \"Now we will rest here for a while, for we are nearly out of\nbreath. The wicked head cannot get through that dense forest.\" And\nthey sat on the grass and rested.\n\nSoon, however, the pursuing head emerged from the thick trees. The\nchildren got up and ran as hard as they could, but close behind them\ncame the severed head, rolling its eyes and gnashing its teeth in a\ngreat frenzy, and uttering terrible yells. It was very near to them,\nwhen the children again remembered their father's gifts. They threw\nthe white stones behind them, and at once a high mountain of white\nrock rose between them and their enemy. They sat on the ground and\nrested, and said, \"Oh dear, oh dear, what shall we do? We have only\none means of safety left, these little bits of moss.\" The wicked head\nhurled itself against the mountain, but it could not get through. A\nbig buffalo bull was feeding on the grass near it, and the head called\nto him to break a road through the mountain. The bull rushed at the\nmountain with all his force, but the mountain was so hard that it\nbroke his head and he fell down dead. Some moles were playing in the\nsoft earth near by, and the head called to them to make a passage\nthrough the hill. So the moles searched and found a soft earthy place\nin the midst of the rock and soon they tunnelled a hole to the other\nside of the mountain, through which the head was able to pass. When\nthe children saw their pursuer coming out of the moles' tunnel they\ncried loudly and ran away as fast as they could. At last, after a very\nlong chase, the head was almost upon them, and they decided to use\ntheir last means of protection. They threw the wet moss behind them,\nand at once a long black swamp appeared where the moss had fallen,\nbetween them and their wicked follower. The head was going at such a\ngreat speed, bumping over the ground, that it could not stop. It\nrolled into the swamp and disappeared into the soft mud and was never\nseen again.\n\n[Illustration: THE BULL RUSHED AT THE MOUNTAIN WITH ALL HIS FORCE]\n\nThe children then went home to wait for their father. It was a long\njourney, for they had run far. But their father never came. Months and\nmonths they waited, but he did not come, and they grew up to be great\nmagicians and very powerful among their tribe. At last, by their magic\npower, they learned what had happened to their father. Their\nstepmother's body continued to follow him as he ran towards the west.\nIt followed him for many days. Then by his magic power, which the\nvision of his dead wife had brought to him, he changed himself into\nthe Sun, and went to live with his wife in the sky-country. But the\nold witch-woman also had magic power, and she changed herself into the\nMoon and followed him to the land of the stars. And there she still\npursues him. And while he keeps ahead of her and she cannot catch him,\nnight follows day in all the world. But if she overtakes him she will\nkill him, and day will disappear and night shall reign for evermore\nupon the earth. And the Blackfeet of the plains pray that he will\nalways keep in front in the race with his former witch-wife, so that\nthere may be always Night and Day in succession in all the land.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOY WHO WAS SAVED BY THOUGHTS\n\n\nA poor widow woman once lived near the sea in Eastern Canada. Her\nhusband had been drowned catching fish one stormy day far off the\ncoast, and her little boy was now her only means of support. He had no\nbrothers or sisters, and he and his mother, because they lived alone,\nwere always good comrades. Although he was very young and small, he\nwas very strong, and he could catch fish and game like a man. Every\nday he brought home food to his mother, and they were never in want.\n\nNow it happened that the Great Eagle who made the Winds in these parts\nbecame very angry because he was not given enough to eat. He went\nscreaming through the land in search of food, but no food could he\nfind. And he said, \"If the people will not give me food, I will take\ncare that they get no food for themselves, and when I grow very hungry\nI shall eat up all the little children in the land. For my young ones\nmust have nourishment too.\" So he tossed the waters about with the\nwind of his great wings, and he bent the trees and flattened the corn,\nand for days he made such a hurly-burly on the earth that the people\nstayed indoors, and they were afraid to come out in search of food.\n\nAt last the boy and his mother became very hungry. And the boy said,\n\"I must go and find food, for there is not a crumb left in the house.\nWe cannot wait longer.\" And he said to his mother, \"I know where a fat\nyoung beaver lives in his house of reeds on the bank of the stream\nnear the sea. I shall go and kill him, and his flesh will feed us for\nmany days.\" His mother did not want him to make this hazardous\njourney, for the Great Eagle was still in the land. But he said to\nher, \"You must think of me always when I am gone, and I will think of\nyou, and while we keep each other in our memories I shall come to no\nharm.\" So, taking his long hunting knife, he set out for the beaver's\nhome in his house of reeds on the bank of the stream near the sea. He\nreached the place without mishap and there he found Beaver fast\nasleep. He soon killed him and slung him over his shoulder and started\nback to his mother's house. \"A good fat load I have here,\" he said to\nhimself, \"and we shall now have many a good dinner of roast\nbeaver-meat.\"\n\nBut as he went along with his load on his back the Great Eagle spied\nhim from a distance and swooped down upon him without warning. Before\nhe could strike with his knife, the Eagle caught him by the shoulders\nand soared away, holding him in a mighty grip with the beaver still\non his back. The boy tried to plunge his knife into the Eagle's\nbreast, but the feathers were too thick and tough, and he was not\nstrong enough to drive the knife through them. He could do nothing but\nmake the best of his sorry plight. \"Surely I can think of a way of\nescape,\" he said to himself, \"and my mother's thoughts will be with me\nto help me.\" Soon the Eagle arrived at his home. It was built on a\nhigh cliff overlooking the sea, hundreds of feet above the beach,\nwhere even the sound of the surf rolling in from afar could not reach\nit. There were many young birds in the nest, all clamouring for food.\nGreat Eagle threw the boy to the side of the nest and told him to stay\nthere. And he said, \"I shall first eat the beaver, and after he is all\neaten up we shall have a good fat meal from you.\" Then he picked the\nbeaver to pieces and fed part of it to his young ones.\n\nFor some days the boy lay in terror in the nest, trying to think of a\nway of escape. Birds flew high over his head, and far out on the ocean\nhe could see great ships going by. But no help came to him, and he\nthought that death would soon be upon him. And his mother sat at home\nwaiting for him to return, but day after day passed and still he did\nnot come. She thought he must surely be in great danger, or that\nperhaps he was already dead. One day, as she was weeping, thinking of\nher lost boy, an old woman came along. \"Why do you cry?\" she asked.\nAnd the weeping woman said, \"My boy has been away for many days. I\nknow that harm has come upon him. The men of my tribe have gone in\nsearch of him, and they will kill whatever holds him a prisoner, but I\nfear he will never come back alive.\" And the old woman said, \"Little\ngood the men of your tribe can do you! You must aid him with your\nthoughts, for material things are vain. I will help you, for I have\nbeen given great power by the Little People of the Hills.\" So the\nwoman used her thoughts and her wishes to bring back her boy.\n\nThat night the boy noticed that the beaver had all been eaten up and\nthat not a morsel remained. He knew that unless he could save himself\nat once he would surely die on the morrow. The Great Eagle, he knew,\nwould swoop down upon him and kill him with a blow of his powerful\nbeak and claws. But when the boy slept, he saw his mother in his\nslumber. And she said to him, \"To-morrow when Great Eagle goes from\nthe nest, brace your knife, point upwards, against the rock. When he\nswoops down to kill you his breast will strike the knife, and he will\nbe pierced to death. You are not strong enough to cut through his\nfeathers with your knife, but he is powerful enough to destroy\nhimself.\" The next morning when Great Eagle went out, the boy did as\nthe vision of the night had told him. He braced his sharp\nhunting-knife, point upwards, against the rock and sat still and\nwaited. Then he heard the young eagles making a great noise and crying\nloudly for their breakfast. He knew that his hour had come. Soon the\nGreat Eagle, hearing the screams of his young ones, came flying back\nto the nest to kill the boy. He circled around above him with loud\ncries and then with great force swooped down upon him, hoping to kill\nhim with his beak and claws. But instead, he struck the blade braced\nupwards against the rock. The knife pierced far into his breast, and\nwith a loud scream he rolled over dead into the nest. The boy then\nkilled the young eagles, and he knew that now for a time he was safe.\n\nBut he did not know how to get down from the Eagle's nest, for it\njutted out like a shelf far over the beach, and behind it was a wall\nof rock around which he could not climb. He had no means of making a\nladder, and his cries would not be heard upon the beach because of the\nconstant roaring of the surf. He thought he would surely starve to\ndeath, and that night he cried himself to sleep. But in the night he\nagain saw his mother in his slumbers. And she said, \"You are a foolish\nboy. Why do you not use the thoughts I send you? To-morrow skin the\neagle and crawl inside the skin. If the wide wings can hold the Eagle\nin the air they can likewise hold you. Drop off from the cliff and you\nwill land safely on the beach.\" The next day the boy did as the vision\nof the night had told him. He carefully skinned the Great Eagle. Then\nhe crawled inside the skin and thrust his arms through the skin just\nabove the wings, so that his extended arms would hold the wings\nstraight out beneath them. Then he prepared to drop down. But when he\nlooked over the cliff, he was very frightened, for the sight made him\ndizzy. On the beach, men looked like flies, they were so far away. But\nhe remembered the promise made to him in his slumbers. So he pushed\nhimself from the cliff and dropped down. The wings of Great Eagle let\nhim fall gently through the air and he landed safely and unhurt upon\nthe beach. He crawled out of the skin and set out for his home. It was\na long journey, for Great Eagle had carried him far away, but towards\nevening he reached his home safely, and his mother received him with\ngreat gladness.\n\nThe boy began to boast of his adventure, and he told how he had killed\nGreat Eagle and how he had dropped down unscathed from the cliff. He\nspoke of himself with great pride and of his strength and his\nshrewdness. But the old woman from the Land of the Little People, the\nfairies of the hills, who was still present with his mother, said,\n\"Oh, vain boy, do not think so highly of yourself. Your strength is\nnothing; your shrewdness is nothing. It was not these things that\nsaved you, but it was the strength of our thoughts. These alone endure\nand succeed when all else fails. I have taught you the uselessness of\nall material things, which in the end are but as ashes or as dust. Our\nthoughts alone can help us in the end, for they alone are eternal.\"\nAnd the boy listened and wondered at what the old woman from the Land\nof Little People had said, but he boasted of his strength no more.\n\n\n\n\nTHE SONG-BIRD AND THE HEALING WATERS\n\n\nOnce when the snow lay very deep on the ground and the days were grey\nwith frost, there was great sorrow in an Indian village. A dreadful\nplague had come upon the place and had carried away many of the\npeople. Neither old nor young were proof against its ravages, and the\nweak and the strong fell helpless before its power. The people tried\nevery means to get rid of the plague, but they had no success. And\nthey prayed to all their good spirits to help them, but no help came.\nIn the tribe was a young warrior who had lost his parents and all his\nbrothers and sisters because of the dreaded disease. Now his young\nwife fell sick, and he was in great sorrow, for he thought that she\nwould soon follow his parents into the Land of the Shadows. And so he\nwent about in great fear, not knowing when the end would come.\n\nOne day he met an old woman in the forest. \"Why do you look so\nsorrowful?\" she asked him. \"I am sad because my young wife is going to\ndie,\" he answered; \"the plague will carry her off like the others.\"\nBut the old woman said, \"There is something that will save your wife\nfrom death. Far away in the East is a bird of sweet song which dwells\nclose to the Healing Waters. Go until you find it. It will point you\nto the spring, the waters of which alone can heal.\" And the young man\nsaid, \"I must find the Healing Waters. Wherever they may be upon the\nearth, I must find them.\" So he went home and said good-bye to his\nfriends, and set out eastward on his quest.\n\nAll the next day he searched eagerly for the Waters, listening always\nfor the bird of the sweet song. But he found nothing. The snow lay\ndeep in the forest and he moved along with difficulty. He met a rabbit\nin his path and he said, \"Tell me where I shall find the Healing\nSpring?\" But the rabbit scurried away over the snow and made no\nanswer. Then he asked a bear, but he met with the same rebuff. Thus\nfor many days and nights he wandered on, crossing rivers and climbing\nsteep hills, but always without success.\n\nThen one day he emerged from the snow country and came to a land where\nthe airs were warmer and where little streams were flowing. Suddenly\nhe came upon the body of a dead man lying across his path. He stopped\nand buried the body, for he thought that it was not right to leave it\nlying bare upon the ground for the birds to peck at. That night as he\nwent along in the moonlight he met a Fox in his path. \"Hello,\" said\nthe Fox. \"What are you looking for so late at night in the forest?\"\nAnd he answered, \"I am looking for the bird of the sweet song, who\nwill show me the way to the Healing Waters.\" And the Fox said, \"I am\nthe spirit of the man you buried yesterday by the forest path, and in\nreturn for your kindness to me I shall do a kindness to you. You have\nalways been good to the animals and the birds, and you have never\nkilled them needlessly, nor when you did not require them for clothing\nor for food. And you have always been careful of the flowers and the\ntrees, and you have often protected them from harm. So now they want\nto be good to you, and I am going to guide you. But first you must\nrest, for you are tired from your long journey.\"\n\nThen the young man lay down to sleep and the Fox stood guard beside\nhim. As he slept he dreamed. And in his dream he saw his wife pale and\nthin and worn, and as he looked he heard her singing a song of\nwonderful melody. Then he heard a waterfall rippling near him and it\nsaid, \"Seek me, O warrior, and when you find me your wife shall live,\nfor I am the Healing Waters.\" In the morning the Fox led him but a\nshort distance through the forest and on the branch of a tree he heard\na bird singing a song of wonderful melody, just as he had heard in his\ndream of the night before. He knew now that this was the bird of the\nsweet song of which the old woman in the forest had spoken. Then, as\nhe listened, he heard the sound of a waterfall rippling not far away.\nHe searched for it, but he could not find it. And Fox said, \"You must\nseek it; you must not despair; it will not come to you unless you\nsearch.\" So he searched again, and soon he thought he heard a voice\nspeaking beneath his feet. \"Release us,\" it called, \"set us free and\nyour wife and your people shall be saved.\" He seized a sharp stick and\ndug rapidly into the earth where he had heard the voice. He worked\neagerly and quickly, and he had not dug far when the spring gushed\nforth and boiled upwards carrying to the world its healing power. And\nthe young man knew that at last he had found the cure for his ills. He\nplunged into the spring and bathed himself in the water, and all his\nweariness left him and he was strong again.\n\nThen the young man moulded from the soft earth a large pot. He baked\nit in the fire until it was quite hard. \"Now,\" said the Fox spirit, \"I\nwill leave you. Your kindness has been rewarded. You will need me no\nmore, for you have found the Healing Waters.\" And he disappeared as\nmysteriously as he had come. The young man filled his clay pot with\nthe sparkling water and hastened back to his home, running through the\nforest with the speed of the wind, because of his renewed strength.\n\n[Illustration: THEN THE YOUNG MAN LAY DOWN TO SLEEP AND FOX STOOD\nGUARD BESIDE HIM]\n\nWhen he reached his native village, the people met him with sad faces,\nfor the plague was still raging and they told him that his young wife\nwas about to pass to the Land of the Shadows. But he hurried to his\nhome, and he forced some of the Healing Waters between his wife's\nparched lips, and bathed her hands and her brow until she fell into a\ndeep slumber. He watched by her side until she awoke, and when sleep\nleft her she was well again. Then with his Healing Waters he cured all\nthe people in the village, and the cruel plague left them and there\nwas no more sickness in the land. And since that time no plague has\nspread among his tribe. In this way the Mineral Springs, the places of\nHealing Waters, came upon the earth, bearing health and happiness\nwherever they rise, and accompanied always by the songs of birds.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOY WHO OVERCAME THE GIANTS\n\n\nOnce long ago, before the white man came to Canada, an orphan boy was\nliving alone with his uncle. He was not very happy, for he had to work\nvery hard, and tasks more fitted for a man's shoulders than for a\nboy's were often placed upon him. When his parents died and left him\nwithout brother or sister, his uncle took him to his own home because\nthere was no one else to take care of him. But he treated him very\ncruelly and often he wished to get rid of him. It mattered not how\nwell the boy did his work or how many fish and animals he caught, his\nuncle was never satisfied, and often he beat the boy harshly and with\nlittle cause. The boy would have run away but he did not know where to\ngo, and he feared to wander alone in the dark forest. So he decided to\nendure his hardships as best he could.\n\nNow it happened that in a distant village near the sea there lived a\nChief who was noted far and wide for his cruelty. He had a wicked\ntemper, and he was known to have put many people to death for no\nreason whatsoever. More than all else, he hated boastfulness and he\nhad scanty patience with anyone who was vain of his own strength. He\npledged himself always to humble the proud and to debase the haughty.\nThe boy's uncle had heard of this wicked ruler, and he said, \"Here is\na chance for me to get rid of the boy. I will tell lies about him to\nthe Chief.\"\n\nIt chanced just at this time that three giants came into the Chief's\nterritory. Where they came from, no man knew, but they dwelt in a\nlarge cave near the sea, and they caused great havoc and destruction\nin all the land. They ate up great stores of food, and all the little\nchildren they could lay their hands on. The Chief used every means to\nget rid of the giants, but without success. Night after night his best\nwarriors went to the cave by the ocean to seek out the giants, but not\na man returned. A piece of birch bark bearing a picture of a warrior\nwith an arrow in his heart, found the next day at the Chief's door,\nalways told him of the warrior's fate. And the giants continued their\ncruel work, for no one could stop them.\n\nSoon all the country was in great terror. The Chief wondered greatly\nwhat was to be done. At last he thought, \"I will give my daughter to\nthe man who can rid me of these pests.\" His daughter was his only\nchild and she was very beautiful, and he knew that many suitors would\nnow appear to seek her hand, for although the task was dangerous, the\nprize was worth while. When the wicked uncle in the distant village\nheard of it, he thought, \"Now I can get rid of the boy, for I will\ntell the Chief that the boy says he can kill the giants.\" So taking\nhis nephew with him he went to the Chief's house and begged to see\nhim. \"Oh, Chief,\" he said, \"I have a boy who boasts that before many\ndays have passed he can free your land from the giants.\" And the Chief\nsaid, \"Bring him to me.\" The man said, \"Here he is.\" The Chief was\nsurprised when he saw the small boy, and he said, \"You have promised\nthat you can rid my land of giants. Now we shall see if you can do it.\nIf you succeed you may have my daughter. If you fail, you will die. If\nyou escape from the giants, I will kill you myself. I hate vain\nboasters, and they shall not live in my land.\"\n\nThe boy went and sat by the ocean, and cried as hard as he could. He\nthought that he would surely die, for he was very small and he had no\nmeans of killing the giants. But as he sat there an old woman came\nalong. She came quietly and quickly out of the grey mist of the sea.\nAnd she said, \"Why are you crying?\" And the boy said, \"I am crying\nbecause I am forced to attack the giants in the cave, and if I cannot\nkill them I shall surely die,\" and he cried louder than before. But\nthe old woman, who was the good fairy of the sea, said, \"Take this bag\nand this knife and these three little stones that I will give you, and\nwhen you go to-night to the giants' cave, use them as I tell you and\nall will be well.\" She gave him three small white stones and a small\nknife, and a bag like the bladder of a bear, and she taught him their\nuse. Then she disappeared into the grey mist that hung low on the\nocean and the boy never saw her again.\n\nThe boy lay down on the sand and went to sleep. When he awoke, the\nmoon was shining, and far along the coast in the bright light he could\nsee an opening in the rocks which he knew was the entrance to the\ngiants' cave. Taking his bag and his knife and the three little\nstones, he approached it cautiously with a trembling heart. When he\nreached the mouth of the cave he could hear the giants snoring inside,\nall making different noises, louder than the roar of the sea. Then he\nremembered the old woman's instructions. He tied the bag inside his\ncoat so that the mouth of it was close to his chin. Then he took one\nof the stones from his pocket. At once it grew to immense size, so\nheavy that the boy could scarcely hold it. He threw it at the biggest\ngiant with great force, and it hit him squarely on the head. The giant\nsat up staring wildly and rubbing his brow. He kicked his younger\nbrother, who was lying beside him, and said in great anger, \"Why did\nyou strike me?\" \"I did not strike you,\" said his brother. \"You struck\nme on the head while I slept,\" said the giant, \"and if you do it again\nI will kill you.\" Then they went to sleep again.\n\nWhen the boy heard them snoring loudly again, he took a second stone\nfrom his pocket. At once it grew great in size and the boy hurled it\nwith great force at the biggest giant. Again the giant sat up staring\nwildly and rubbing his head. But this time he did not speak. He\ngrasped his axe, which was lying beside him, and killed his brother\nwith a blow. Then he went to sleep again. When the boy heard him\nsnoring, he took the third stone from his pocket. At once it grew to\ngreat size and weight, and he hurled it with all his force at the\ngiant. Again the giant sat up with great staring eyes, rubbing the\nlump on his head. He was now in a great rage. \"My brothers have\nplotted to kill me,\" he yelled, and seizing his axe he killed his\nremaining brother with a blow. Then he went to sleep, and the boy\nslipped from the cave, first gathering up the three stones, which were\nnow of their usual small size.\n\nThe next morning when the giant went to get water from the stream, the\nboy hid in the trees and began to cry loudly. The giant soon\ndiscovered him and asked, \"Why are you crying?\" \"I have lost my way,\"\nsaid the boy, \"my parents have gone and left me. Please take me into\nyour service, for I would like to work for such a kind handsome man,\nand I can do many things.\" The giant was flattered by what the boy\nsaid, and although he liked to eat little children, he thought, \"Now\nthat I am alone, I ought to have a companion, so I will spare the\nboy's life and make him my servant.\" And he took the boy back to his\ncave, and said, \"Cook my dinner before I come home. Make some good\nstew, for I shall be very hungry.\"\n\nWhen the giant went into the forest the boy prepared the evening meal.\nHe cut up a great store of deer meat and put it in a large pot bigger\nthan a hogshead, and made a good meat stew. When the giant came home\nin the evening he was very hungry, and he was well pleased to see the\nbig pot filled with his favourite food. He seated himself on one side\nof the pot, and the boy seated himself on the other side, and they\ndipped their spoons into the big dish. And the boy said, \"We must eat\nit all up so that I can clean the pot well and ready for the corn mush\nwe will have for breakfast.\" The stew was very hot, and to cool it\nbefore he ate it the giant blew his breath on what he dipped out. But\nthe boy poured his own share into the bag under his coat, and said,\n\"Why can't you eat hot food--a big man like you? In my country men\nnever stop to cool their stew with their breath.\" Now the giant could\nnot see very well, for his eyesight was not very good, and the cave\nwas dark, and he did not notice the boy putting the stew in the bag so\nquickly. He thought the boy was eating it. And he was shamed by the\nboy's taunts because he was so much larger than the boy, so he ate up\nthe hot stew at once in great gulps and burned his throat badly. But\nhe was too proud to stop or to complain.\n\nWhen they had eaten half the potful, the giant said, \"I am full. I\nthink I have had enough.\" \"No, indeed,\" said the boy, \"you must show\nthat you like my cooking. In my country men eat much more than that,\"\nand he kept on eating. The giant was not to be outdone by a boy, so he\nfell to eating again, and they did not stop until they had consumed\nthe whole potful of stew. But the boy had poured his share into the\nbag and when they had finished he was swelled out to an immense size.\nThe giant could scarcely move, he had eaten so much, and he said, \"I\nhave eaten too much; I feel very full, and I have a great pain in my\nbelly.\" And the boy said, \"I do not feel very comfortable myself, but\nI have a way to cure pains.\" So saying he took his little knife and\nthrust it gently into the side of the bag and the stew oozed out and\nhe was soon back to his normal size. The giant wondered greatly at the\nsight, but the boy said, \"It is a way they have in my country after\nthey have had a great feast.\" \"Does the knife not hurt?\" asked the\ngiant. \"No, indeed,\" said the boy, \"it brings great relief.\" \"My\nthroat is very sore,\" said the giant, for the hot stew had burned him.\n\"You will soon feel better,\" said the boy, \"if you will do as I have\ndone.\" The giant hesitated to do this, but soon he felt so\nuncomfortable that he could bear it no longer. He saw that the boy was\nfeeling quite well. So he took his long knife and plunged it into his\nstomach. \"Strike hard,\" said the boy, \"or it will do you no good.\"\nThe giant plunged the knife into the hilt, and in an instant he fell\ndead.\n\nThen the boy took the stones and the bag and the knife which the Woman\nof the Mist had given him and went and told the Chief what he had\ndone. The Chief sent his messengers to the cave to make sure that the\nboy spoke the truth. Sure enough, they found the three giants lying\ndead. When they told the Chief what they had seen, he said to the boy,\n\"You may have my daughter as your wife.\" But the boy said, \"I do not\nwant your daughter. She is too old and fat. I want only traps to catch\nfish and game.\" So the Chief gave the boy many good traps, and he went\ninto a far country to hunt game, and there he lived happily by\nhimself. And his wicked uncle never saw him again. But the land was\ntroubled no more by giants, because of the boy's great deeds.\n\n\n\n\nTHE YOUTH AND THE DOG-DANCE\n\n\nOnce long ago, when the Indians dwelt in the country in the\nnorth-west, a youth went far away from his native village to catch\nbirds. His people lived near a lake where only small birds nested, and\nas he wanted large and bright-coloured feathers for his arrows and his\nbonnet he had to go far into the forest, where larger birds of\nbrilliant plumage lived. When he reached the Land of Many Feathers far\nin the north country, he dug a pit on the top of a high hill. Then he\ncovered the pit with poles and over the poles he spread grass and\nleaves so that the place looked like the earth around it. He put meat\nand corn on the grass, and tied the food to the poles so that the\nbirds could not carry it away. Then he climbed down into the pit and\nwaited for the birds to come, when he could reach up and catch them by\nthe feet and kill them.\n\nAll day long and far into the night the youth waited for birds, but no\nbirds came. Towards morning he heard a distant sound like that of a\npartridge drumming. But the sound did not come nearer. The next night,\nas the youth watched and waited in the pit, he heard the same sound,\nand he said, \"I will see where the noise comes from and I will\ndiscover the cause, for it is not a partridge, and it is very\nstrange.\" So he climbed out of the pit and went in the direction of\nthe sound. He walked along rapidly through the forest until he came at\ndawn to the shore of a large lake. The drumming came from somewhere in\nthe lake, but as he stood listening to it, the sound suddenly stopped.\nThe next night the youth heard the drumming louder than before. Again\nhe went to the lake. The sound was again distinct as it rose from the\nwater, and when he looked he saw great numbers of birds and animals\nswimming in the lake in the moonlight. But there was no explanation of\nthe strange sound. As he sat watching the animals and birds, he prayed\nto his guardian spirit to tell him the cause of the drumming. Soon an\nold man came along. He was old and bent and wrinkled, but his eyes\nwere kind. The youth gave him some tobacco and they sat down together\non the edge of the lake and watched the swimmers in the dim light, and\nsmoked their pipes.\n\n\"What are you doing here?\" asked the old man. \"I am trying to learn\nthe cause of the strange drumming,\" said the youth. \"You do well\nindeed to seek it,\" said the old man, \"and to seek to know the cause\nof all things. Only in that way will you be great and wise. But\nremember there are some things the cause of which you can never find.\"\n\"Where have you come from?\" said the boy. \"Oh,\" said the man, \"I\nlived once upon a time like you in the Country of Fancy where great\nDreams dwell, and indeed I live there still, but your dreams are all\nof the future while mine are of the past. But some day you too will\nchange and your thoughts will be like mine.\" \"Tell me the cause of the\ndrumming,\" said the boy. And the old man said, \"Take this wand that I\nwill give you and wave it before you go to sleep, and maybe you will\nsee strange things.\" Then he gave the boy a wand and disappeared into\nthe forest and the boy never saw him again. The boy waved the wand and\nfell asleep on the sand as the old man had told him. When he awoke he\nfound himself in a large room in the midst of many people. Some of\nthem were dancing gracefully, and some sat around and talked. They\nwore wonderful robes of skins and feathers, of many different colours.\nThe boy wished he could get such feathers for his own clothes and his\nbonnet. But as he looked at the people he was suddenly aware that they\nwere none other than the animals and birds he had seen for two nights\nswimming in the lake in the moonlight. They were now changed into\nhuman form, through some strange and miraculous power. They were very\nkind to the youth and treated him with great courtesy.\n\nAt last the dancing ceased and the talking stopped, and one who seemed\nto be the Chief stood up at the end of the room and said, \"Oh, young\nstranger, the Great Spirit has heard your prayers, and because of\nyour magic wand we have been sent to you in these shapes. The\ncreatures you see here are the animals and birds of the world. I am\nthe Dog, whom the Great Spirit loves well. I have much power, and my\npower I shall give to you, and I shall always protect you and guard\nyou. And even if you should treat me with cruelty I shall never be\nunfaithful to you, nor shall I ever be unkind. But you must take this\nDance home with you and teach it to your people and they must\ncelebrate the Dance once a year.\" Then he taught the youth the secrets\nof their Dance.\n\nWhen the youth had learned the Dance, the Chief turned to his\ncompanions and said, \"My comrades and brothers, I have taught the\nyoung stranger the secrets of the Dance. I have given him my own\npower. Will you not have pity on a creature from earth and give him\nsome of the power of which you too are possessed?\"\n\nFor a long time no one spoke, but at last Owl arose and said, \"I too\nwill help him. I have power to see far in the darkness, and to hunt by\nnight. When he goes out at night I will be near him and he shall see a\ngreat distance. I give him these feathers to fasten in his hair.\" And\nthe Owl gave him a bunch of feathers, which the youth tied to his\nhead.\n\nThen Buffalo came forward and said, \"I too will help him. I will give\nhim my endurance and my strength, and my power to trample my enemies\nunderfoot. And I give him this belt of tanned buffalo-hide to wear\nwhen he goes to war.\" And he gave the youth a very wondrous belt to\nfasten around his waist.\n\nThe animals and birds, one after the other, gave him gladly of their\npower. Porcupine gave him quills with which to decorate his leather\nbelt and his bonnet, and he said, \"I too will aid you, and when you\nmake war I will be near you. I can make my enemies as weak as\nchildren, and they always flee when I approach, for they fear the\nshooting of my quills. When you meet your foes you will always\novercome them, for I give you power as it was given to me.\"\n\nAnd Bear said, \"I will give you my toughness and my strength, and a\nstrip of fur for your leather belt and your coat. And when you are in\ndanger, I will not be far away.\"\n\nThen Deer said, \"I give you my swiftness so that you may be fleet of\nfoot. And when you pursue your enemies you will always overtake them,\nand should you flee from them, you will always out-run them in the\nrace.\"\n\nThen the birds spoke again, and Crane said, \"I give you a bone from my\nwing to make a war-whistle to frighten your enemies away or to summon\nyour people to your assistance when you need them. And I give you my\nwings for your head-dress.\"\n\nThe giant Eagle then spoke and said, \"Oh, youth, I will be with you\nwherever you go, and I will give you my strength and my power in war.\nAnd even as I do, you will always see your enemies from afar, and you\ncan always escape them if you so desire.\" And he gave him a large\nbunch of wonderful eagle feathers to tie in his hair as a token of his\nfidelity.\n\nAnd finally, Wild-Cat said, \"I give you my power to crawl stealthily\nthrough the grass and the underbrush and to spring unexpectedly on\nyour foes and take them unawares. And I give you too my power of\nhiding from my enemies.\" And he gave him strips of his fur to decorate\nhis clothing in token of his friendship.\n\nFrom all the animals and the birds the youth received power and gifts.\nThen he waved his magic wand and lay down to sleep. When he awoke, he\nfound himself on the shore of the lake, and far in the east the dawn\nwas breaking. But he could see farther than he had ever seen before,\nand away in the distance he could make out blue hills and smoke rising\nfrom far-off villages. And he knew that strange power was upon him.\nBut not a sound came from the lake, and the drumming had for ever\nended.\n\nThe youth took his magic wand and his gifts and set out for his home.\nAnd he told his people what had happened and he taught them the\nsecrets of the Dance which was to make them strong and victorious in\nwar. And among his people it became a great ceremony and was\npractised for long ages, and was known as the Dog-Dance. And since\nthat time, the animals and birds have been friends to the Indians, and\nthe Indians have acquired much of their cunning and skill and power.\nAnd ever after the night of moonlight by the lake when the youth with\nthe magic wand received the strange gifts, the Indians have decorated\ntheir war clothes with fur and quills and feathers from the animals\nand the birds. And in the far north country, the Dog-Dance is still\nheld at intervals out of gratitude for the gifts, for the Indians do\nnot forget the promise of long ago.\n\n[Illustration: AND THEY SAT DOWN TOGETHER ON THE EDGE OF THE LAKE]\n\n\n\n\nSPARROW'S SEARCH FOR THE RAIN\n\n\nLong ago, in a village near the sea, many Indian people were living.\nAmong them was a very nice old warrior who had been given great power\nat his birth, and who, therefore, could do many wonderful deeds. There\nwas nothing that was beyond his understanding, for he knew all things.\nHis wife had long been dead, but he had one daughter. She was very\nbeautiful and gentle, and she was as nearly perfect as any woman could\nbe. She took no interest in frivolous things and she lived a very\nquiet life, but all the people liked her well, and she was always\nwelcome wherever she went. Her old father was very proud of her, and\nhe said boastfully, \"She has inherited much of my wisdom, and some day\nshe will marry a great man.\" But the girl on her part had little\nthought of marriage or of men, for she said they had small minds, and\nshe would rather live alone than listen always to their boastfulness\nand their foolish chatter.\n\nSoon the daughter's fame spread far and wide through the sea-coast\nvillages, and many suitors came seeking for her hand. But her father\nsaid, \"I have nothing to say. She will make her own choice. She must\nplease herself. For to-day children please themselves and not their\nparents.\" And she said, \"I will marry only some one who can amuse me\nand interest me and keep me company. I have scant liking for dull\npeople.\" One day Loon came to see her. He was very good looking\nalthough he was somewhat tall and skinny, and his neck was a bit\nlonger and more scrawny than ordinary, but he wore good clothes and he\nhad great skill as a fisherman. He came because he thought he was very\nhandsome, and he believed that his good looks would win the maiden.\nBut she had no love for Loon, for he had not a word to say. When she\ntalked to him he only stared, and at last he burst out into loud and\nfoolish laughter. Then the maiden said, \"You have a small mind like\nthe others,\" and in disgust she withdrew from his presence.\n\nThen Fox came in an effort to win the maiden as his wife. And for a\nwhole day he cut capers, and chased his tail round and round in a\ncircle, trying to amuse the serious girl. But he did not succeed very\nwell, and like Loon he departed in despair. And many others came, but\nthey met the same fate, and at last the girl decided to see no more of\nthem, but to live alone with her father. The young men of the village\nwere all very angry because the girl had spoken of them all so\nscornfully, and often they talked among themselves of her proud and\nhaughty air. \"She calls us Scattered-Brains,\" said one. \"She says we\nhave small minds,\" said another. \"She must pay for these insults,\"\nsaid a third. So they vowed that they would somehow break her proud\nspirit and bring her sorrow because of her ideas and her decision to\nstay single all her life. One of the great men of the village was\nWhirlwind. He could make himself invisible, and he was often guilty of\nmany wicked pranks. So the young men went to him and asked his aid in\nhumbling the pride of the haughty maiden. As they were talking to him,\nthey saw the girl approaching not far off. And quite unawares,\nWhirlwind rushed towards her and knocked her down in the mud and tore\nher hat from her head and swept it into the sea. The young men looked\non at her plight and they all laughed loudly, and the girl was very\nmuch ashamed. She went back home and told her father what had\nhappened, and showed him her soiled clothes and her blown hair falling\nabout her face. Her father was very angry, and he said, \"Whirlwind\nmust pay for this. He shall be banished at once.\"\n\nThen her father went to the Chief and made complaint against\nWhirlwind, and the Chief decreed that Whirlwind must leave the village\nforthwith. He did not consider very carefully what the result of this\ndecree might be, and he acted hastily and without thought, for he\nfeared to differ from the wise man. So Whirlwind prepared to leave the\nplace. Now his best friend was Rain. Rain had been born without eyes.\nHe was black blind, and Whirlwind always had to lead him along\nwherever he wished to go. So Rain said, \"If you are leaving the\nvillage, I want to leave it too, for I cannot live here without you. I\nwill be helpless if I have no one to lead me.\" So the two set out\ntogether, Whirlwind leading old Rain along by his side. Where they\nwent no man knew, for they had told nobody of their destination. They\nwere gone for many months before the people missed them very much.\nThen their absence began to be felt in all the land, for there was no\nwind and there was no rain.\n\nAt last the Chief summoned a council, and the decree of banishment\nagainst Whirlwind was revoked. The people decided to send messengers\nto the two wandering ones to tell them what had happened and to bring\nthem back. So they first sent Fox out on the quest. Fox went through\nthe land for many weeks, running as fast as he could over many roads,\nin and out among marshy lake shores and over high wooded mountains. He\nsearched every cave and crevice, but he had no success. Not a leaf or\na blade of grass was stirring, and the country was all parched and the\ngrass was withered brown and the streams were all getting dry. At\nlast, after a fruitless search, he came home and shamefully confessed\nthat his quest had failed.\n\nThen the people called on Bear to continue the search. And Bear went\nlumbering over the earth, sniffing the air, and turning over logs and\ngreat rocks with his powerful shoulders, and venturing into deep\ncaverns. And he made many inquiries, and he asked the Mountain Ash,\n\"Where is Whirlwind?\" But Mountain Ash said, \"I do not know. I have\nnot seen him for many months.\" And he asked the Red Fir, and the Pine,\nand the Aspen, which always sees Whirlwind first, but they were all\nignorant of his whereabouts. So Bear came home and said, \"Not a trace\nof either of them have I found.\"\n\nThe Chief was very angry because of the failure of Fox and Bear, but\nthe wise man said, \"The animals are useless in a quest like this. Let\nus try the birds. They often succeed where the animals fail.\" And the\nChief agreed, for the land was in great distress. Many fishing-boats\nlay silent on the sea near the coast unable to move because Whirlwind\nwas away, and the wells and streams were all dry because Rain was\nabsent, and the grass and the flowers were withering to decay. So they\ncalled the birds to their aid. The great Crane searched in the\nshallows and among the reeds, thrusting his long neck into deep\nplaces, and Crow looked among the hills, and Kingfisher flew far out\nto sea, but they all came back and said, \"We, too, have failed. The\nwandering ones are nowhere on the land or upon the sea.\" Then little\nSparrow took up the search. Before he set out, he plucked from his\nbreast a small down-feather and fastened it to a stick no bigger than\na wisp of hay. He held the stick in his bill and flew off. For many\ndays he went towards the south-land, all the time watching the feather\nhanging to the stick in his bill. But it hung there motionless. One\nday, after he had travelled a great distance, he saw the down-feather\nmoving very gently, and he knew that Whirlwind must be not far away.\nHe went in the direction from which the feather was blowing. Soon he\nsaw beneath him soft green grass and wonderful flowers of varied\ncolours, and trees with green leaves and many rippling streams of\nrunning water. And he said to himself, \"At last I have found the\nwanderers.\" He followed a little stream for some distance until it\nended in a cave in the hills. In front of the cave many flowers were\nblooming and the grass was soft and green, and the tall grasses were\nnodding their heads very gently. He knew that those he was seeking\nwere inside, and he entered the cave very quietly. Just beyond the\ndoor a fire was smouldering and near it lay Rain and Whirlwind both\nfast asleep. Sparrow tried to wake them with his bill and his cries,\nbut they were sleeping too soundly. Then he took a coal from the fire\nand put it on Rain's back, but it spluttered and fizzled and soon went\nout. He tried another, but the same thing happened. Then he took a\nthird coal, and this time Rain woke up. He was much surprised to hear\na stranger in the cave, but he could not see him because he was blind.\nSo he woke up Whirlwind to protect him.\n\nThen Sparrow told them of the great trouble in the north country and\nof the great hardship and sorrow their absence had brought to the\npeople, and of how sadly they had been missed and of the decision of\nthe council to call them back. And Whirlwind said, \"We shall return\nto-morrow if we are so badly needed. You may go back and tell your\npeople that we are coming. We shall be there the day after you\narrive.\" So Sparrow, feeling very proud of his success, flew back\nhome. But when he arrived after many days, he went first to his own\npeople to tell them the good news. And the Sparrow-people all gathered\ntogether and held a feast of celebration, and they twittered and\ndanced and made a great hub-bub in their excitement because Rain was\ncoming back on the morrow. Then Sparrow went to the Chief and said,\n\"Oh, Chief, I have found Rain and Whirlwind and to-morrow they will be\nhere,\" and he told the story of his flight to the south and of his\ndiscovery. And the Chief said, \"Because of your success, you will\nnever be hunted for game or killed for food.\"\n\nThe next morning the two travellers who had been so long away came\nback to the land. Whirlwind came first and great clouds of dust\nforetold his coming, and the sea dashed high against the rocks, and\nthe trees shrieked and tossed their heads, all dancing gaily because\nof his return. When Whirlwind had passed by, Rain came along following\nclose, because of his blindness. For several days Rain stayed with\nthe people and the flowers bloomed and the grass was green again and\nthe wells and streams were no longer dry. And since that time Wind and\nRain have never long been absent from the Atlantic Coast. And to this\nday the Sparrow-people know when Rain is coming, and to signal his\napproach they gather together and twitter and hop along and make a\ngreat hub-bub, just as they did when their ancestor found him by means\nof his down-feather in the olden days. But the Indians have been true\nto the Chief's promise, and they will not hunt Sparrows for game nor\nkill them for food or for their feathers. For they remember that of\nall the birds it was old Sparrow who long ago searched successfully\nfor the Rain.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BOY IN THE LAND OF SHADOWS\n\n\nTwo orphan children, a boy and a girl, lived alone near the mountains.\nTheir parents had long been dead and the children were left to look\nafter themselves without any kindred upon the earth. The boy hunted\nall day long and provided much food, and the girl kept the house in\norder and did the cooking. They had a very deep love for each other\nand as they grew up they said, \"We shall never leave each other. We\nshall always stay here together.\" But one year it happened that in the\nearly spring-time it was very cold. The snow lingered on the plains\nand the ice moved slowly from the rivers and chill winds were always\nblowing and grey vapours hovered over all the land. And there was very\nlittle food to be had, for the animals hid in their warm winter dens\nand the wild-geese and ducks were still far south. And in this cruel\nperiod of bad weather the little girl sickened and died. Her brother\nworked hard to provide her with nourishing food and he gathered all\nthe medicine roots he thought could bring her relief, but it was all\nto no purpose. And despite all his efforts, one evening in the\ntwilight his sister went away to the West, leaving him alone behind\nupon the earth.\n\nThe boy was heart-broken because of his sister's death. And when the\nlate spring came and the days grew warm and food was plentiful again,\nhe said, \"She must be somewhere in the West, for they say that our\npeople do not really die. I will go and search for her, and perhaps I\ncan find her and bring her back.\" So one morning he set out on his\nstrange quest. He journeyed many days westward towards the Great\nWater, killing game for food as he went, and sleeping at night under\nthe stars. He met many strange people, but he did not tell them the\npurpose of his travels. At last he came to the shore of the Great\nWater, and he sat looking towards the sunset wondering what next to\ndo. In the evening an old man came along. \"What are you doing here?\"\nasked the man. \"I am looking for my sister,\" said the boy; \"some time\nago she sickened and died and I am lonely without her, and I want to\nfind her and bring her back.\" And the man said, \"Some time ago she\nwhom you seek passed this way. If you wish to find her you must\nundertake a dangerous journey.\" The boy answered that he would gladly\nrisk any dangers to find his sister, and the old man said, \"I will\nhelp you. Your sister has gone to the Land of Shadows far away in the\nCountry of Silence which lies out yonder in the Island of the Blest.\nTo reach the Island you must sail far into the West, but I warn you\nthat it is a perilous journey, for the crossing is always rough and\nyour boat will be tossed by tempests. But you will be well repaid for\nyour trouble, for in that land nobody is ever hungry or tired; there\nis no death and no sorrow; there are no tears, and no one ever grows\nold.\"\n\nThen the old man gave the boy a large pipe and some tobacco and said,\n\"This will help you in your need.\" And he brought him to where a small\ncanoe lay dry upon the beach. It was a wonderful canoe, the most\nbeautiful the boy had ever seen. It was cut from a single white stone\nand it sparkled in the red twilight like a polished jewel. And the old\nman said, \"This canoe will weather all storms. But see that you handle\nit carefully, and when you come back see that you leave it in the cove\nwhere you found it.\"\n\nSoon afterwards, the boy set out on his journey. The moon was full and\nthe night was cold with stars. He sailed into the West over a rough\nand angry sea, but he was in no danger, for his canoe rode easily on\nthe waters. All around him he saw in the moonlight many other canoes\ngoing in the same direction and all white and shining like his own.\nBut no one seemed to be guiding them, and although he looked long at\nthem not a person could he make out. He wondered if the canoes were\ndrifting unoccupied, for when he called to them there was no answer.\nSometimes a canoe upset in the tossing sea and the waves rose over it\nand it was seen no more, and the boy often thought he heard an\nanguished cry. For several days he sailed on to the West, and all the\ntime other canoes were not far away, and all the time some of them\nwere dropping from sight beneath the surging waters, but he saw no\npeople in them.\n\nAt last, after a long journey, the sea grew calm and the air was sweet\nand warm. There was no trace of the storm, for the waves were quiet\nand the sky was as clear as crystal. He saw that he was near the\nIsland of the Blest of which the old man had spoken, for it was now\nplain to his view, as it rose above the ocean, topped with green grass\nand trees, and a snow-white beach. Soon he reached the shore and drew\nup his canoe. As he turned away he came upon a skeleton lying flat\nupon the sand. He stopped to look at it, and as he did so, the\nskeleton sat up and said in great surprise, \"You should not be here.\nWhy have you come?\" And the boy said, \"I seek my sister. In the early\nspring-time she sickened and died, and I am going to the Land of\nShadows in the Country of Silence in search of her.\" \"You must go far\ninland,\" said the skeleton, \"and the way is hard to find for such as\nyou.\" The boy asked for guidance and the skeleton said, \"Let me smoke\nand I will help you.\" The boy gave him the pipe and the tobacco he had\nreceived from the old man, and he laughed when he saw his strange\ncompanion with the pipe between his teeth. The skeleton smoked for\nsome time and at last, as the smoke rose from his pipe, it changed to\na flock of little white birds, which flew about like doves. The boy\nlooked on in wonder, and the skeleton said, \"These birds will guide\nyou. Follow them.\" Then he gave back the pipe and stretched out again\nflat upon the sand, and the boy could not rouse him from his sleep.\n\n[Illustration: THEN THE OLD MAN GAVE THE BOY A LARGE PIPE AND SOME\nTOBACCO]\n\nThe boy followed the little white birds as he had been told. He went\nalong through a land of great beauty where flowers were blooming and\ncountless birds were singing. Not a person did he meet on the way. The\nplace was deserted except for the song-birds and the flowers. He\npassed through the Country of Silence, and came to a mysterious land\nwhere no one dwelt. But although he saw no one he heard many voices\nand he could not tell whence they came. They seemed to be all around\nhim. At last the birds stopped at the entrance to a great garden, and\nflew around his head in a circle. They would go no further and they\nalighted on a tree close by, all except one, which perched on the\nboy's shoulder. The lad knew that here at last was the Land of\nShadows.\n\nWhen he entered the garden he heard again many low voices. But he saw\nno one. He saw only many shadows of people on the grass, but he could\nnot see from what the shadows came. He wondered greatly at the strange\nand unusual sight, for back in his homeland in that time the sunlight\nmade no shadows. He listened again to the voices and he knew now that\nthe shadows were speaking. He wandered about for some time marvelling\ngreatly at the strange place with its weird unearthly beauty. At last\nhe heard a voice which he knew to be his sister's. It was soft and\nsweet, just as he had known it when they were together on the earth,\nand it had not changed since she left him. He went to the shadow from\nwhich the voice came, and throwing himself on the grass beside it, he\nsaid, \"I have long sought you, my sister. I have come to take you\nhome. Let me see you as you were when we dwelt together.\" But his\nsister said, \"You have done wisely to keep me in your memory, and to\nseek to find me. But here we cannot appear to the people of earth\nexcept as shadows. I cannot go back with you, for it is now too late.\nI have eaten of the food of this land; if you had come before I had\neaten, perhaps you could have taken me away. Who knows? But my heart\nand my voice are unchanged, and I still remember my dear ones, and\nwith unaltered love I still watch my old home. And although I cannot\ngo to you, you can some day come to me. First you must finish your\nwork on earth. Go back to your home in the Earth Country. You will\nbecome a great Chief among your people. Rule wisely and justly and\nwell, and give freely of your food to the poor among the Indians who\nhave not as much as you have. And when your work on earth is done you\nshall come to me in this Land of Shadows beyond the Country of\nSilence, and we shall be together again and our youth and strength and\nbeauty will never leave us.\"\n\nAnd the boy, wondering greatly and in deep sorrow, said, \"Let me stay\nwith you now.\" But his sister said, \"That cannot be.\" Then she said,\n\"I will give you a Shadow, which you must keep with you as your\nguardian spirit. And while you have it with you, no harm can come to\nyou, for it will be present only in the Light, and where there is\nLight there can be no wickedness. But when it disappears you must be\non your guard against doing evil, for then there will be darkness, and\ndarkness may lead you to wrong.\"\n\nSo the boy took the Shadow, and said good-bye for a season and set out\non his homeward journey. The little white birds, which had waited for\nhim in the trees, guided him back to the beach. His canoe was still\nthere, but the skeleton-man had gone and there was not a trace of him\nto be found upon the sand. And the Island of the Blest was silent\nexcept for the songs of the birds and the ripple of the little\nstreams. The boy embarked in his canoe and sailed towards the east,\nand as he pushed off from the beach the little white birds left him\nand disappeared in the air. The sea was now calm and there was no\nstorm, as there had been on his outward journey. Soon he reached the\nshore on the other side. He left his canoe in the cove as the old man\nhad told him, and in a few days he arrived at his home, still bearing\nthe Shadow from the Country of Silence.\n\nHe worked hard for many years but he did no evil, and in the end he\nbecame a great Chief and did much good for his people. He ruled wisely\nand justly and well, as his sister had commanded him. Then one day,\nwhen he was old and his work was done, he disappeared, and his people\nknew that he had gone to join his sister in the Land of Shadows in the\nCountry of Silence far away somewhere in the West. But he left behind\nhim the Shadow his sister had given him; and while there is Light the\nIndians still have their Shadow and no harm can come to them, for\nwhere there is Light there can be no evil.\n\nBut always in the late autumn the Shadows of the Indian brother and\nsister in the Country of Silence are lonely for their former life. And\nthey think of their living friends and of the places of their youth,\nand they wish once more to follow the hunt, for they know that the\nhunter's moon is shining. And when their memory dwells with longing on\ntheir earlier days, their spirits are allowed to come back to earth\nfor a brief season from the Land of Shadows. Then the winds are silent\nand the days are very still, and the smoke of their camp fires appears\nlike haze upon the air. And men call this season Indian Summer, but it\nis really but a Shadow of the golden summer that has gone. And it\nalways is a reminder to the Indians that in the Land of Shadows, far\naway in the Country of Silence in the West, there are no dead.\n\n\nTHE END\n\n\n\n\n\n<pre id=\"pg-footer\">","title":"Canadian Fairy Tales","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":53374}