{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_606/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_606","id":"gutenberg_606","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/606","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Cree Indians -- Folklore","Indian mythology -- Montana","Native America","Ojibwa Indians -- Folklore","Siksika Indians -- Folklore","Tales -- Montana"],"text":"Produced by Judith Boss.  HTML version by Al Haines.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nINDIAN WHY STORIES\n\n\nSPARKS FROM WAR EAGLE'S LODGE-FIRE\n\n\nFRANK B. LINDERMAN\n\n[CO SKEE SEE CO COT]\n\n\n\n\n  I DEDICATE THIS LITTLE BOOK TO MY FRIEND\n  CHARLES M. RUSSELL\n  THE COWBOY ARTIST\n  GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL\n  THE INDIAN'S FRIEND\n\n  AND TO ALL OTHERS WHO HAVE KNOWN AND LOVED OLD MONTANA\n\n  FOR I HOLD THEM ALL AS KIN\n  WHO HAVE BUILDED FIRES WHERE NATURE\n  WEARS NO MAKE-UP ON HER SKIN\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nThe great Northwest--that wonderful frontier that called to itself a\nworld's hardiest spirits--is rapidly becoming a settled country; and\nbefore the light of civilizing influences, the blanket-Indian has\ntrailed the buffalo over the divide that time has set between the\npioneer and the crowd.  With his passing we have lost much of the\naboriginal folk-lore, rich in its fairy-like characters, and its\nrelation to the lives of a most warlike people.\n\nThere is a wide difference between folk-lore of the so-called Old World\nand that of America.  Transmitted orally through countless generations,\nthe folk-stories of our ancestors show many evidences of distortion and\nof change in material particulars; but the Indian seems to have been\ntoo fond of nature and too proud of tradition to have forgotten or\nchanged the teachings of his forefathers.  Childlike in simplicity,\nbeginning with creation itself, and reaching to the whys and wherefores\nof nature's moods and eccentricities, these tales impress me as being\nwell worth saving.\n\nThe Indian has always been a lover of nature and a close observer of\nher many moods.  The habits of the birds and animals, the voices of the\nwinds and waters, the flickering of the shadows, and the mystic\nradiance of the moonlight--all appealed to him.  Gradually, he\nformulated within himself fanciful reasons for the myriad\nmanifestations of the Mighty Mother and her many children; and a poet\nby instinct, he framed odd stories with which to convey his\nexplanations to others.  And these stories were handed down from father\nto son, with little variation, through countless generations, until the\nwhite man slaughtered the buffalo, took to himself the open country,\nand left the red man little better than a beggar.  But the tribal\nstory-teller has passed, and only here and there is to be found a\npatriarch who loves the legends of other days.\n\nOld-man, or Napa, as he is called by the tribes of Blackfeet, is the\nstrangest character in Indian folk-lore.  Sometimes he appears as a god\nor creator, and again as a fool, a thief, or a clown.  But to the\nIndian, Napa is not the Deity; he occupies a somewhat subordinate\nposition, possessing many attributes which have sometimes caused him to\nbe confounded with Manitou, himself.  In all of this there is a curious\necho of the teachings of the ancient Aryans, whose belief it was that\nthis earth was not the direct handiwork of the Almighty, but of a mere\nmember of a hierarchy of subordinate gods.  The Indian possesses the\nhighest veneration for the Great God, who has become familiar to the\nreaders of Indian literature as Manitou.  No idle tales are told of\nHim, nor would any Indian mention Him irreverently.  But with Napa it\nis entirely different; he appears entitled to no reverence; he is a\nstrange mixture of the fallible human and the powerful under-god.  He\nmade many mistakes; was seldom to be trusted; and his works and pranks\nrun from the sublime to the ridiculous.  In fact, there are many\nstories in which Napa figures that will not bear telling at all.\n\nI propose to tell what I know of these legends, keeping as near as\npossible to the Indian's style of story-telling, and using only tales\ntold me by the older men of the Blackfeet, Chippewa, and Cree tribes.\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n  WHY THE CHIPMUNK'S BACK IS STRIPED\n  HOW THE DUCKS GOT THEIR FINE FEATHERS\n  WHY THE KINGFISHER ALWAYS WEARS A WAR-BONNET\n  WHY THE CURLEW'S BILL IS LONG AND CROOKED\n  OLD-MAN REMARKS THE WORLD\n  WHY BLACKFEET NEVER KILL MICE\n  HOW THE OTTER SKIN BECAME GREAT MEDICINE\n  OLD-MAN STEALS THE SUN'S LEGGINGS\n  OLD-MAN AND HIS CONSCIENCE\n  OLD-MAN'S TREACHERY\n  WHY THE NIGHT-HAWK'S WINGS ARE BEAUTIFUL\n  WHY THE MOUNTAIN-LION IS LONG AND LEAN\n  THE FIRE-LEGGINGS\n  THE MOON AND THE GREAT SNAKE\n  WHY THE DEER HAS NO GALL\n  WHY INDIANS WHIP THE BUFFALO-BERRIES FROM THE BUSHES\n  OLD-MAN AND THE FOX\n  WHY THE BIRCH-TREE WEARS THE SLASHES IN ITS BARK\n  MISTAKES OF OLD-MAN\n  HOW THE MAN FOUND HIS MATE\n  DREAMS\n  RETROSPECTION\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\nIt was the moon when leaves were falling, for Napa had finished\npainting them for their dance with the North wind.  Just over the\nragged mountain range the big moon hung in an almost starless sky, and\nin shadowy outline every peak lay upon the plain like a giant pattern.\nSlowly the light spread and as slowly the shadows stole away until the\nOctober moon looked down on the great Indian camp--a hundred lodges,\neach as perfect in design as the tusks of a young silver-tip, and all\nlooking ghostly white in the still of the autumn night.\n\nBack from the camp, keeping within the ever-moving shadows, a\nbuffalo-wolf skulked to a hill overlooking the scene, where he stopped\nto look and listen, his body silhouetted against the sky.  A dog howled\noccasionally, and the weird sound of a tom-tom accompanying the voice\nof a singer in the Indian village reached the wolf's ears, but caused\nhim no alarm; for not until a great herd of ponies, under the eyes of\nthe night-herder, drifted too close, did he steal away.\n\nNear the centre of the camp was the big painted lodge of War Eagle, the\nmedicine-man, and inside had gathered his grandchildren, to whom he was\ntelling the stories of the creation and of the strange doings of Napa,\nthe creator.  Being a friend of the old historian, I entered\nunhindered, and with the children listened until the hour grew late,\nand on the lodge-wall the dying fire made warning shadows dance.\n\n\n\nWHY THE CHIPMUNK'S BACK IS STRIPED\n\nWhat a splendid lodge it was, and how grand War Eagle looked leaning\nagainst his back-rest in the firelight!  From the tripod that supported\nthe back-rest were suspended his weapons and his medicine-bundle, each\nshowing the wonderful skill of the maker.  The quiver that held the\narrows was combined with a case for the bow, and colored quills of the\nporcupine had been deftly used to make it a thing of beauty.  All about\nthe lodge hung the strangely painted linings, and the firelight added\nrichness to both color and design.  War Eagle's hair was white, for he\nhad known many snows; but his eyes were keen and bright as a boy's, as\nhe gazed in pride at his grandchildren across the lodge-fire.  He was\nwise, and had been in many battles, for his was a warlike tribe.  He\nknew all about the world and the people in it.  He was deeply\nreligious, and every Indian child loved him for his goodness and brave\ndeeds.\n\nAbout the fire were Little Buffalo Calf, a boy of eleven years;\nEyes-in-the-Water, his sister, a girl of nine; Fine Bow, a cousin of\nthese, aged ten, and Bluebird, his sister, who was but eight years old.\n\nNot a sound did the children make while the old warrior filled his\ngreat pipe, and only the snapping of the lodge-fire broke the\nstillness.  Solemnly War Eagle lit the tobacco that had been mixed with\nthe dried inner bark of the red willow, and for several minutes smoked\nin silence, while the children's eyes grew large with expectancy.\nFinally he spoke:\n\n\"Napa, OLD-man, is very old indeed.  He made this world, and all that\nis on it.  He came out of the south, and travelled toward the north,\nmaking the birds and animals as he passed.  He made the perfumes for\nthe winds to carry about, and he even made the war-paint for the people\nto use.  He was a busy worker, but a great liar and thief, as I shall\nshow you after I have told you more about him.  It was OLD-man who\ntaught the beaver all his cunning.  It was OLD-man who told the bear to\ngo to sleep when the snow grew deep in winter, and it was he who made\nthe curlew's bill so long and crooked, although it was not that way at\nfirst.  OLD-man used to live on this world with the animals and birds.\nThere was no other man or woman then, and he was chief over all the\nanimal-people and the bird-people.  He could speak the language of the\nrobin, knew the words of the bear, and understood the sign-talk of the\nbeaver, too.  He lived with the wolves, for they are the great hunters.\nEven to-day we make the same sign for a smart man as we make for the\nwolf; so you see he taught them much while he lived with them.  OLD-man\nmade a great many mistakes in making things, as I shall show you after\na while; yet he worked until he had everything good.  But he often made\ngreat mischief and taught many wicked things.  These I shall tell you\nabout some day.  Everybody was afraid of OLD-man and his tricks and\nlies--even the animal-people, before he made men and women.  He used to\nvisit the lodges of our people and make trouble long ago, but he got so\nwicked that Manitou grew angry at him, and one day in the month of\nroses, he built a lodge for OLD-man and told him that he must stay in\nit forever.  Of course he had to do that, and nobody knows where the\nlodge was built, nor in what country, but that is why we never see him\nas our grandfathers did, long, long ago.\n\n\"What I shall tell you now happened when the world was young.  It was a\nfine summer day, and OLD-man was travelling in the forest.  He was\ngoing north and straight as an arrow--looking at nothing, hearing\nnothing.  No one knows what he was after, to this day.  The birds and\nforest-people spoke politely to him as he passed but he answered none\nof them.  The Pine-squirrel, who is always trying to find out other\npeople's business, asked him where he was going, but OLD-man wouldn't\ntell him.  The woodpecker hammered on a dead tree to make him look that\nway, but he wouldn't.  The Elk-people and the Deer-people saw him pass,\nand all said that he must be up to some mischief or he would stop and\ntalk a while.  The pine-trees murmured, and the bushes whispered their\ngreeting, but he kept his eyes straight ahead and went on travelling.\n\n\"The sun was low when OLD-man heard a groan\" (here War Eagle groaned to\nshow the children how it sounded), \"and turning about he saw a warrior\nlying bruised and bleeding near a spring of cold water.  OLD-man knelt\nbeside the man and asked: 'Is there war in this country?'\n\n\"'Yes,' answered the man.  'This whole day long we have fought to kill\na Person, but we have all been killed, I am afraid.'\n\n\"'That is strange,' said OLD-man; 'how can one Person kill so many men?\nWho is this Person, tell me his name!' but the man didn't answer--he\nwas dead.  When OLD-man saw that life had left the wounded man, he\ndrank from the spring, and went on toward the north, but before long he\nheard a noise as of men fighting, and he stopped to look and listen.\nFinally he saw the bushes bend and sway near a creek that flowed\nthrough the forest.  He crawled toward the spot, and peering through\nthe brush saw a great Person near a pile of dead men, with his back\nagainst a pine-tree.  The Person was full of arrows, and he was pulling\nthem from his ugly body.  Calmly the Person broke the shafts of the\narrows, tossed them aside, and stopped the blood flow with a brush of\nhis hairy hand.  His head was large and fierce-looking, and his eyes\nwere small and wicked.  His great body was larger than that of a\nbuffalo-bull and covered with scars of many battles.\n\n\"OLD-man went to the creek, and with his buffalo-horn cup brought some\nwater to the Person, asking as he approached:\n\n\"'Who are you, Person?  Tell me, so I can make you a fine present, for\nyou are great in war.'\n\n\"'I am Bad Sickness,' replied the Person.  'Tribes I have met remember\nme and always will, for their bravest warriors are afraid when I make\nwar upon them.  I come in the night or I visit their camps in daylight.\nIt is always the same; they are frightened and I kill them easily.'\n\n\"'Ho!' said OLD-man, 'tell me how to make Bad Sickness, for I often go\nto war myself.' He lied; for he was never in a battle in his life.  The\nPerson shook his ugly head and then OLD-man said:\n\n\"'If you will tell me how to make Bad Sickness I will make you small\nand handsome.  When you are big, as you now are, it is very hard to\nmake a living; but when you are small, little food will make you fat.\nYour living will be easy because I will make your food grow everywhere.'\n\n\"'Good,' said the Person, 'I will do it; you must kill the fawns of the\ndeer and the calves of the elk when they first begin to live.  When you\nhave killed enough of them you must make a robe of their skins.\nWhenever you wear that robe and sing--\"now you sicken, now you sicken,\"\nthe sickness will come--that is all there is to it.'\n\n\"'Good,' said OLD-man, 'now lie down to sleep and I will do as I\npromised.'\n\n\"The Person went to sleep and OLD-man breathed upon him until he grew\nso tiny that he laughed to see how small he had made him.  Then he took\nout his paint sack and striped the Person's back with black and yellow.\nIt looked bright and handsome and he waked the Person, who was now a\ntiny animal with a bushy tail to make him pretty.\n\n\"'Now,' said OLD-man, 'you are the Chipmunk, and must always wear those\nstriped clothes.  All of your children and their children, must wear\nthem, too.'\n\n\"After the Chipmunk had looked at himself, and thanked OLD-man for his\nnew clothes, he wanted to know how he could make his living, and\nOLD-man told him what to eat, and said he must cache the pine-nuts when\nthe leaves turned yellow, so he would not have to work in the winter\ntime.\n\n\"'You are a cousin to the Pine-squirrel,' said OLD-man, 'and you will\nhunt and hide as he does.  You will be spry and your living will be\neasy to make if you do as I have told you.'\n\n\"He taught the Chipmunk his language and his signs, showed him where to\nlive, and then left him, going on toward the north again.  He kept\nlooking for the cow-elk and doe-deer, and it was not long before he had\nkilled enough of their young to make the robe as the Person told him,\nfor they were plentiful before the white man came to live on the world.\nHe found a shady place near a creek, and there made the robe that would\nmake Bad Sickness whenever he sang the queer song, but the robe was\nplain, and brown in color.  He didn't like the looks of it.  Suddenly\nhe thought how nice the back of the Chipmunk looked after he had\nstriped it with his paints.  He got out his old paint sack and with the\nsame colors made the robe look very much like the clothes of the\nChipmunk.  He was proud of the work, and liked the new robe better; but\nbeing lazy, he wanted to save himself work, so he sent the South-wind\nto tell all the doe-deer and the cow-elk to come to him.  They came as\nsoon as they received the message, for they were afraid of OLD-man and\nalways tried to please him.  When they had all reached the place where\nOLD-man was he said to them:\n\n\"'Do you see this robe?'\n\n\"'Yes, we see it,' they replied.\n\n\"'Well, I have made it from the skins of your children, and then\npainted it to look like the Chipmunk's back, for I like the looks of\nthat Person's clothes.  I shall need many more of these robes during my\nlife; and every time I make one, I don't want to have to spend my time\npainting it; so from now on and forever your children shall be born in\nspotted clothes.  I want it to be that way to save me work.  On all the\nfawns there must be spots of white like this (here he pointed to the\nspots on Bad Sickness's robe) and on all of the elk-calves the spots\nshall not be so white and shall be in rows and look rather yellow.'\nAgain he showed them his robe, that they might see just what he wanted.\n\n\"'Remember,' he said, 'after this I don't want to see any of your\nchildren running about wearing plain clothing, because that would mean\nmore painting for me.  Now go away, and remember what I have said, lest\nI make you sick.'\n\n\"The cow-elk and the doe-deer were glad to know that their children's\nclothes would be beautiful, and they went away to their little ones who\nwere hidden in the tall grass, where the wolves and mountain-lions\nwould have a hard time finding them; for you know that in the tracks of\nthe fawn there is no scent, and the wolf cannot trail him when he is\nalone.  That is the way Manitou takes care of the weak, and all of the\nforest-people know about it, too.\n\n\"Now you know why the Chipmunk's back is striped, and why the fawn and\nelk-calf wear their pretty clothes.\n\n\"I hear the owls, and it is time for all young men who will some day be\ngreat warriors to go to bed, and for all young women to seek rest, lest\nbeauty go away forever.  Ho!\"\n\n\n\nHOW THE DUCKS GOT THEIR FINE FEATHERS\n\nAnother night had come, and I made my way toward War Eagle's lodge.  In\nthe bright moonlight the dead leaves of the quaking-aspen fluttered\ndown whenever the wind shook the trees; and over the village great\nflocks of ducks and geese and swan passed in a never-ending procession,\ncalling to each other in strange tones as they sped away toward the\nwaters that never freeze.\n\nIn the lodge War Eagle waited for his grandchildren, and when they had\nentered, happily, he laid aside his pipe and said:\n\n\"The Duck-people are travelling to-night just as they have done since\nthe world was young.  They are going away from winter because they\ncannot make a living when ice covers the rivers.\n\n\"You have seen the Duck-people often.  You have noticed that they wear\nfine clothes but you do not know how they got them; so I will tell you\nto-night.\n\n\"It was in the fall when leaves are yellow that it happened, and long,\nlong ago.  The Duck-people had gathered to go away, just as they are\ndoing now.  The buck-deer was coming down from the high ridges to visit\nfriends in the lowlands along the streams as they have always done.  On\na lake OLD-man saw the Duck-people getting ready to go away, and at\nthat time they all looked alike; that is, they all wore the same\ncolored clothes.  The loons and the geese and the ducks were there and\nplaying in the sunlight.  The loons were laughing loudly and the diving\nwas fast and merry to see.  On the hill where OLD-man stood there was a\ngreat deal of moss, and he began to tear it from the ground and roll it\ninto a great ball.  When he had gathered all he needed he shouldered\nthe load and started for the shore of the lake, staggering under the\nweight of the great burden.  Finally the Duck-people saw him coming\nwith his load of moss and began to swim away from the shore.\n\n\"'Wait, my brothers!' he called, 'I have a big load here, and I am\ngoing to give you people a dance.  Come and help me get things ready.'\n\n\"'Don't you do it,' said the gray goose to the others; 'that's OLD-man\nand he is up to something bad, I am sure.'\n\n\"So the loon called to OLD-man and said they wouldn't help him at all.\n\n\"Right near the water OLD-man dropped his ball of moss and then cut\ntwenty long poles.  With the poles he built a lodge which he covered\nwith the moss, leaving a doorway facing the lake.  Inside the lodge he\nbuilt a fire and when it grew bright he cried:\n\n\"'Say, brothers, why should you treat me this way when I am here to\ngive you a big dance?  Come into the lodge,' but they wouldn't do that.\nFinally OLD-man began to sing a song in the duck-talk, and keep time\nwith his drum.  The Duck-people liked the music, and swam a little\nnearer to the shore, watching for trouble all the time, but OLD-man\nsang so sweetly that pretty soon they waddled up to the lodge and went\ninside.  The loon stopped near the door, for he believed that what the\ngray goose had said was true, and that OLD-man was up to some mischief.\nThe gray goose, too, was careful to stay close to the door but the\nducks reached all about the fire.  Politely, OLD-man passed the pipe,\nand they all smoked with him because it is wrong not to smoke in a\nperson's lodge if the pipe is offered, and the Duck-people knew that.\n\n\"'Well,' said Old-man, 'this is going to be the Blind-dance, but you\nwill have to be painted first.\n\n\"'Brother Mallard, name the colors--tell how you want me to paint you.'\n\n\"'Well,' replied the mallard drake, 'paint my head green, and put a\nwhite circle around my throat, like a necklace.  Besides that, I want a\nbrown breast and yellow legs: but I don't want my wife painted that\nway.'\n\n\"OLD-man painted him just as he asked, and his wife, too.  Then the\nteal and the wood-duck (it took a long time to paint the wood-duck) and\nthe spoonbill and the blue-bill and the canvasback and the goose and\nthe brant and the loon--all chose their paint.  OLD-man painted them\nall just as they wanted him to, and kept singing all the time.  They\nlooked very pretty in the firelight, for it was night before the\npainting was done.\n\n\"'Now,' said OLD-man, 'as this is the Blind-dance, when I beat upon my\ndrum you must all shut your eyes tight and circle around the fire as I\nsing.  Every one that peeks will have sore eyes forever.'\n\n\"Then the Duck-people shut their eyes and OLD-man began to sing: 'Now\nyou come, ducks, now you come--tum-tum, tum; tum-tum, tum.'\n\n\"Around the fire they came with their eyes still shut, and as fast as\nthey reached OLD-man, the rascal would seize them, and wring their\nnecks.  Ho!  things were going fine for OLD-man, but the loon peeked a\nlittle, and saw what was going on; several others heard the fluttering\nand opened their eyes, too.  The loon cried out, 'He's killing us--let\nus fly,' and they did that.  There was a great squawking and quacking\nand fluttering as the Duck-people escaped from the lodge.  Ho! but\nOLD-man was angry, and he kicked the back of the loon-duck, and that is\nwhy his feet turn from his body when he walks or tries to stand.  Yes,\nthat is why he is a cripple to-day.\n\n\"And all of the Duck-people that peeked that night at the dance still\nhave sore eyes--just as OLD-man told them they would have.  Of course\nthey hurt and smart no more but they stay red to pay for peeking, and\nalways will.  You have seen the mallard and the rest of the\nDuck-people.  You can see that the colors OLD-man painted so long ago\nare still bright and handsome, and they will stay that way forever and\nforever.  Ho!\"\n\n\n\nWHY THE KINGFISHER ALWAYS WEARS A WAR-BONNET\n\nAutumn nights on the upper Missouri river in Montana are indescribably\nbeautiful, and under their spell imagination is a constant companion to\nhim who lives in wilderness, lending strange, weird echoes to the voice\nof man or wolf, and unnatural shapes in shadow to commonplace forms.\n\nThe moon had not yet climbed the distant mountain range to look down on\nthe humbler lands when I started for War Eagle's lodge; and dimming the\nstars in its course, the milky-way stretched across the jewelled sky.\n\"The wolf's trail,\" the Indians call this filmy streak that foretells\nfair weather, and to-night it promised much, for it seemed plainer and\nbrighter than ever before.\n\n\"How--how!\" greeted War Eagle, making the sign for me to be seated near\nhim, as I entered his lodge.  Then he passed me his pipe and together\nwe smoked until the children came.\n\nEntering quietly, they seated themselves in exactly the same positions\nthey had occupied on the previous evenings, and patiently waited in\nsilence.  Finally War Eagle laid the pipe away and said: \"Ho!  Little\nBuffalo Calf, throw a big stick on the fire and I will tell you why the\nKingfisher wears a war-bonnet.\"\n\nThe boy did as he was bidden.  The sparks jumped toward the smoke-hole\nand the blaze lighted up the lodge until it was bright as daytime, when\nWar Eagle continued:\n\n\"You have often seen Kingfisher at his fishing along the rivers, I\nknow; and you have heard him laugh in his queer way, for he laughs a\ngood deal when he flies.  That same laugh nearly cost him his life\nonce, as you will see.  I am sure none could see the Kingfisher without\nnoticing his great head-dress, but not many know how he came by it\nbecause it happened so long ago that most men have forgotten.\n\n\"It was one day in the winter-time when OLD-man and the Wolf were\nhunting.  The snow covered the land and ice was on all of the rivers.\nIt was so cold that OLD-man wrapped his robe close about himself and\nhis breath showed white in the air.  Of course the Wolf was not cold;\nwolves never get cold as men do.  Both OLD-man and the Wolf were hungry\nfor they had travelled far and had killed no meat.  OLD-man was\ncomplaining and grumbling, for his heart is not very good.  It is never\nwell to grumble when we are doing our best, because it will do no good\nand makes us weak in our hearts.  When our hearts are weak our heads\nsicken and our strength goes away.  Yes, it is bad to grumble.\n\n\"When the sun was getting low OLD-man and the Wolf came to a great\nriver.  On the ice that covered the water, they saw four fat Otters\nplaying.\n\n\"'There is meat,' said the Wolf; 'wait here and I will try to catch one\nof those fellows.'\n\n\"'No!--No!' cried OLD-man, 'do not run after the Otter on the ice,\nbecause there are air-holes in all ice that covers rivers, and you may\nfall in the water and die.'  OLD-man didn't care much if the Wolf did\ndrown.  He was afraid to be left alone and hungry in the snow--that was\nall.\n\n\"'Ho!' said the Wolf, 'I am swift of foot and my teeth are white and\nsharp.  What chance has an Otter against me?  Yes, I will go,' and he\ndid.\n\n\"Away ran the Otters with the Wolf after them, while OLD-man stood on\nthe bank and shivered with fright and cold.  Of course the Wolf was\nfaster than the Otter, but he was running on the ice, remember, and\nslipping a good deal.  Nearer and nearer ran the Wolf.  In fact he was\njust about to seize an Otter, when SPLASH!--into an air-hole all the\nOtters went.  Ho! the Wolf was going so fast he couldn't stop, and\nSWOW!  into the air-hole he went like a badger after mice, and the\ncurrent carried him under the ice.  The Otters knew that hole was\nthere.  That was their country and they were running to reach that same\nhole all the time, but the Wolf didn't know that.\n\n\"Old-man saw it all and began to cry and wail as women do.  Ho!  but he\nmade a great fuss.  He ran along the bank of the river, stumbling in\nthe snowdrifts, and crying like a woman whose child is dead; but it was\nbecause he didn't want to be left in that country alone that he\ncried--not because he loved his brother, the Wolf.  On and on he ran\nuntil he came to a place where the water was too swift to freeze, and\nthere he waited and watched for the Wolf to come out from under the\nice, crying and wailing and making an awful noise, for a man.\n\n\"Well--right there is where the thing happened.  You see, Kingfisher\ncan't fish through the ice and he knows it, too; so he always finds\nplaces like the one OLD-man found.  He was there that day, sitting on\nthe limb of a birch-tree, watching for fishes, and when OLD-man came\nnear to Kingfisher's tree, crying like an old woman, it tickled the\nFisher so much that he laughed that queer, chattering laugh.\n\n\"OLD-man heard him and--Ho!  but he was angry.  He looked about to see\nwho was laughing at him and that made Kingfisher laugh again, longer\nand louder than before.  This time OLD-man saw him and SWOW!  he threw\nhis war-club at Kingfisher; tried to kill the bird for laughing.\nKingfisher ducked so quickly that OLD-man's club just grazed the\nfeathers on his head, making them stand up straight.\n\n\"'There,' said OLD-man, 'I'll teach you to laugh at me when I'm sad.\nYour feathers are standing up on the top of your head now and they will\nstay that way, too.  As long as you live you must wear a head-dress, to\npay for your laughing, and all your children must do the same.\n\n\"This was long, long ago, but the Kingfishers have not forgotten, and\nthey all wear war-bonnets, and always will as long as there are\nKingfishers.\n\n\"Now I will say good night, and when the sun sleeps again I will tell\nyou why the curlew's bill is so long and crooked.  Ho!\"\n\n\n\nWHY THE CURLEW'S BILL IS LONG AND CROOKED\n\nWhen we reached War Eagle's lodge we stopped near the door, for the old\nfellow was singing--singing some old, sad song of younger days and\nkeeping time with his tom-tom.  Somehow the music made me sad and not\nuntil it had ceased, did we enter.\n\n\"How!  How!\"--he greeted us, with no trace of the sadness in his voice\nthat I detected in his song.\n\n\"You have come here to-night to learn why the Curlew's bill is so long\nand crooked.  I will tell you, as I promised, but first I must smoke.\"\n\nIn silence we waited until the pipe was laid aside, then War Eagle\nbegan:\n\n\"By this time you know that OLD-man was not always wise, even if he did\nmake the world, and all that is on it.  He often got into trouble but\nsomething always happened to get him out of it.  What I shall tell you\nnow will show you that it is not well to try to do things just because\nothers do them.  They may be right for others, and wrong for us, but\nOLD-man didn't understand that, you see.\n\n\"One day he saw some mice playing and went near to watch them.  It was\nspring-time, and the frost was just coming out of the ground.  A big\nflat rock was sticking out of a bank near a creek, and the sun had\nmelted the frost from the earth about it, loosening it, so that it was\nabout to fall.  The Chief-Mouse would sing a song, while all the other\nmice danced, and then the chief would cry 'now!' and all the mice would\nrun past the big rock.  On the other side, the Chief-Mouse would sing\nagain, and then say 'now!'--back they would come--right under the\ndangerous rock.  Sometimes little bits of dirt would crumble and fall\nnear the rock, as though warning the mice that the rock was going to\nfall, but they paid no attention to the warning, and kept at their\nplaying.  Finally OLD-man said:\n\n\"'Say, Chief-Mouse, I want to try that.  I want to play that game.  I\nam a good runner.'\n\n\"He wasn't, you know, but he thought he could run.  That is often where\nwe make great mistakes--when we try to do things we were not intended\nto do.\n\n\"'No--no!' cried the Chief-Mouse, as OLD-man prepared to make the race\npast the rock.  'No!--No!--you will shake the ground.  You are too\nheavy, and the rock may fall and kill you.  My people are light of foot\nand fast.  We are having a good time, but if you should try to do as we\nare doing you might get hurt, and that would spoil our fun.'\n\n\"'Ho!' said OLD-man, 'stand back!  I'll show you what a runner I am.'\n\n\"He ran like a grizzly bear, and shook the ground with his weight.\nSwow!--came the great rock on top of OLD-man and held him fast in the\nmud.  My! how he screamed and called for aid.  All the Mice-people ran\naway to find help.  It was a long time before the Mice-people found\nanybody, but they finally found the Coyote, and told him what had\nhappened.  Coyote didn't like OLD-man very much, but he said he would\ngo and see what he could do, and he did.  The Mice-people showed him\nthe way, and when they all reached the spot--there was OLD-man deep in\nthe mud, with the big rock on his back.  He was angry and was saying\nthings people should not say, for they do no good and make the mind\nwicked.\n\n\"Coyote said: 'Keep still, you big baby.  Quit kicking about so.  You\nare splashing mud in my eyes.  How can I see with my eyes full of mud?\nTell me that.  I am going to try to help you out of your trouble.'  He\ntried but OLD-man insulted Coyote, and called him a name that is not\ngood, so the Coyote said, 'Well, stay there,' and went away.\n\n\"Again OLD-man began to call for helpers, and the Curlew, who was\nflying over, saw the trouble, and came down to the ground to help.  In\nthose days Curlew had a short, stubby bill, and he thought that he\ncould break the rock by pecking it.  He pecked and pecked away without\nmaking any headway, till OLD-man grew angry at him, as he did at the\nCoyote.  The harder the Curlew worked, the worse OLD-man scolded him.\nOLD-man lost his temper altogether, you see, which is a bad thing to\ndo, for we lose our friends with it, often.  Temper is like a bad dog\nabout a lodge--no friends will come to see us when he is about.\n\n\"Curlew did his best but finally said: 'I'll go and try to find\nsomebody else to help you.  I guess I am too small and weak.  I shall\ncome back to you.'  He was standing close to OLD-man when he spoke, and\nOLD-man reached out and grabbed the Curlew by the bill.  Curlew began\nto scream--oh, my--oh, my--oh, my--as you still hear them in the air\nwhen it is morning.  OLD-man hung onto the bill and finally pulled it\nout long and slim, and bent it downward, as it is to-day.  Then he let\ngo and laughed at the Curlew.\n\n\"'You are a queer-looking bird now.  That is a homely bill, but you\nshall always wear it and so shall all of your children, as long as\nthere are Curlews in the world.'\n\n\"I have forgotten who it was that got OLD-man out of his trouble, but\nit seems to me it was the bear.  Anyhow he did get out somehow, and\nlived to make trouble, until Manitou grew tired of him.\n\n\"There are good things that OLD-man did and to-morrow night, if you\nwill come early, I will tell you how OLD-man made the world over after\nthe water made its war on the land, scaring all the animal-people and\nthe bird-people.  I will also tell you how he made the first man and\nthe first woman and who they were.  But now the grouse is fast asleep;\nnobody is stirring but those who were made to see in the dark, like the\nowl and the wolf.--  Ho!\"\n\n\n\nOLD-MAN REMAKES THE WORLD\n\nThe sun was just sinking behind the hills when we started for War\nEagle's lodge.\n\n\"To-morrow will be a fine day,\" said Other-person, \"for grandfather\nsays that a red sky is always the sun's promise of fine weather, and\nthe sun cannot lie.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said Bluebird, \"and he said that when this moon was new it\ntravelled well south for this time of year and its points were up.\nThat means fine, warm weather.\"\n\n\"I wish I knew as much as grandfather,\" said Fine-bow with pride.\n\nThe pipe was laid aside at once upon our entering the lodge and the old\nwarrior said:\n\n\"I have told you that OLD-man taught the animals and the birds all they\nknow.  He made them and therefore knew just what each would have to\nunderstand in order to make his living.  They have never forgotten\nanything he told them--even to this day.  Their grandfathers told the\nyoung ones what they had been told, just as I am telling you the things\nyou should know.  Be like the birds and animals--tell your children and\ngrandchildren what I have told you, that our people may always know how\nthings were made, and why strange things are true.\n\n\"Yes--OLD-man taught the Beaver how to build his dams to make the water\ndeeper; taught the Squirrel to plant the pine-nut so that another tree\nmight grow and have nuts for his children; told the Bear to go to sleep\nin the winter, when the snow made hard travelling for his short\nlegs--told him to sleep, and promised him that he would need no meat\nwhile he slept.  All winter long the Bear sleeps and eats nothing,\nbecause OLD-man told him that he could.  He sleeps so much in the\nwinter that he spends most of his time in summer hunting.\n\n\"It was OLD-man who showed the Owl how to hunt at night and it was\nOLD-man that taught the Weasel all his wonderful ways--his bloodthirsty\nways--for the Weasel is the bravest of the animal-people, considering\nhis size.  He taught the Beaver one strange thing that you have\nnoticed, and that is to lay sticks on the creek-bottoms, so that they\nwill stay there as long as he wants them to.\n\n\"Whenever the animal-people got into trouble they always sought OLD-man\nand told him about it.  All were busy working and making a living, when\none day it commenced to rain.  That was nothing, of course, but it\ndidn't stop as it had always done before.  No, it kept right on raining\nuntil the rivers overran their banks, and the water chased the Weasel\nout of his hole in the ground.  Yes, and it found the Rabbit's\nhiding-place and made him leave it.  It crept into the lodge of the\nWolf at night and frightened his wife and children.  It poured into the\nden of the Bear among the rocks and he had to move.  It crawled under\nthe logs in the forest and found the Mice-people.  Out it went to the\nplains and chased them out of their homes in the buffalo skulls.  At\nlast the Beavers' dams broke under the strain and that made everything\nworse.  It was bad--very bad, indeed.  Everybody except the fish-people\nwere frightened and all went to find OLD-man that they might tell him\nwhat had happened.  Finally they found his fire, far up on a timbered\nbench, and they said that they wanted a council right away.\n\n\"It was a strange sight to see the Eagle sitting next to the Grouse;\nthe Rabbit sitting close to the Lynx; the Mouse right under the very\nnose of the Bobcat, and the tiny Humming-bird talking to the Hawk in a\nwhisper, as though they had always been great friends.  All about\nOLD-man's fire they sat and whispered or talked in signs.  Even the\nDeer spoke to the Mountain-lion, and the Antelope told the Wolf that he\nwas glad to see him, because fear had made them all friends.\n\n\"The whispering and the sign-making stopped when OLD-man raised his\nhand-like that\" (here War Eagle raised his hand with the palm\noutward)--\"and asked them what was troubling them.\n\n\"The Bear spoke first, of course, and told how the water had made him\nmove his camp.  He said all the animal-people were moving their homes,\nand he was afraid they would be unable to find good camping-places,\nbecause of the water.  Then the Beaver spoke, because he is wise and\nall the forest-people know it.  He said his dams would not hold back\nthe water that came against them; that the whole world was a lake, and\nthat he thought they were on an island.  He said he could live in the\nwater longer than most people, but that as far as he could see they\nwould all die except, perhaps, the fish-people, who stayed in the water\nall the time, anyhow.  He said he couldn't think of a thing to do--then\nhe sat down and the sign-talking and whispering commenced again.\n\n\"OLD-man smoked a long time--smoked and thought hard.  Finally he\ngrabbed his magic stone axe, and began to sing his war-song.  Then the\nrest knew he had made up his mind and knew what he would do.  Swow!  he\nstruck a mighty pine-tree a blow, and it fell down.  Swow!  down went\nanother and another, until he had ten times ten of the longest,\nstraightest, and largest trees in all the world lying side by side\nbefore him.  Then OLD-man chopped off the limbs, and with the aid of\nmagic rolled the great logs tight together.  With withes of willow that\nhe told the Beaver to cut for him, he bound the logs fast together\nuntil they were all as one.  It was a monstrous raft that OLD-man had\nbuilt, as he sang his song in the darkness.  At last he cried, 'Ho!\neverybody hurry and sit on this raft I have made'; and they did hurry.\n\n\"It was not long till the water had reached the logs; then it crept in\nbetween them, and finally it went on past the raft and off into the\nforest, looking for more trouble.\n\n\"By and by the raft began to groan, and the willow withes squeaked and\ncried out as though ghost-people were crying in the night.  That was\nwhen the great logs began to tremble as the water lifted them from the\nground.  Rain was falling--night was there, and fear made cowards of\nthe bravest on the raft.  All through the forest there were bad\nnoises--noises that make the heart cold--as the raft bumped against\ngreat trees rising from the earth that they were leaving forever.\n\n\"Higher and higher went the raft; higher than the bushes; higher than\nthe limbs on the trees; higher than the Woodpecker's nest; higher than\nthe tree tops, and even higher than the mountains.  Then the world was\nno more, for the water had whipped the land in the war it made against\nit.\n\n\"Day came, and still the rain was falling.  Night returned, and yet the\nrain came down.  For many days and nights they drifted in the falling\nrain; whirling and twisting about while the water played with the great\nraft, as a Bear would play with a Mouse.  It was bad, and they were all\nafraid--even OLD-man himself was scared.\n\n\"At last the sun came but there was no land.  All was water.  The water\nwas the world.  It reached even to the sky and touched it all about the\nedges.  All were hungry, and some of them were grumbling, too.  There\nare always grumblers when there is great trouble, but they are not the\nones who become great chiefs--ever.\n\n\"OLD-man sat in the middle of the raft and thought.  He knew that\nsomething must be done, but he didn't know what.  Finally he said: 'Ho!\nChipmunk, bring me the Spotted Loon.  Tell him I want him.'\n\n\"The Chipmunk found the Spotted Loon and told him that OLD-man wanted\nhim, so the Loon went to where OLD-man sat.  When he got there, OLD-man\nsaid:\n\n\"'Spotted Loon you are a great diver.  Nobody can dive as you can.  I\nmade you that way and I know.  If you will dive and swim down to the\nworld I think you might bring me some of the dirt that it is made\nof--then I am sure I can make another world.'\n\n\"'It is too deep, this water,' replied the Loon, 'I am afraid I shall\ndrown.'\n\n\"'Well, what if you do?' said OLD-man.  'I gave you life, and if you\nlose it this way I will return it to you.  You shall live again!'\n\n\"'All right, OLD-man,' he answered, 'I am willing to try'; so he\nwaddled to the edge of the raft.  He is a poor walker--the Loon, and\nyou know I told you why.  It was all because OLD-man kicked him in the\nback the night he painted all the Duck-people.\n\n\"Down went the Spotted Loon, and long he stayed beneath the water.  All\nwaited and watched, and longed for good luck, but when he came to the\ntop he was dead.  Everybody groaned--all felt badly, I can tell you, as\nOLD-man laid the dead Loon on the logs.  The Loon's wife was crying,\nbut OLD-man told her to shut up and she did.\n\n\"Then OLD-man blew his own breath into the Loon's bill, and he came\nback to life.\n\n\"'What did you see, Brother Loon?' asked OLD-man, while everybody\ncrowded as close as he could.\n\n\"'Nothing but water,' answered the Loon, 'we shall all die here, I\ncannot reach the world by swimming.  My heart stops working.'\n\n\"There were many brave ones on the raft, and the Otter tried to reach\nthe world by diving; and the Beaver, and the Gray Goose, and the Gray\nGoose's wife; but all died in trying, and all were given a new life by\nOLD-man.  Things were bad and getting worse.  Everybody was cross, and\nall wondered what OLD-man would do next, when somebody laughed.\n\n\"All turned to see what there could be to laugh at, at such a time, and\nOLD-man turned about just in time to see the Muskrat bid good-by to his\nwife--that was what they were laughing at.  But he paid no attention to\nOLD-man or the rest, and slipped from the raft to the water.\nFlip!--his tail cut the water like a knife, and he was gone.  Some\nlaughed again, but all wondered at his daring, and waited with little\nhope in their hearts; for the Muskrat wasn't very great, they thought.\n\n\"He was gone longer than the Loon, longer than the Beaver, longer than\nthe Otter or the Gray Goose or his wife, but when he came to the\nsurface of the water he was dead.\n\n\"OLD-man brought Muskrat back to life, and asked him what he had seen\non his journey.  Muskrat said: 'I saw trees, OLD-man, but I died before\nI got to them.'\n\n\"OLD-man told him he was brave.  He said his people should forever be\ngreat if he succeeded in bringing some dirt to the raft; so just as\nsoon as the Muskrat was rested he dove again.\n\n\"When he came up he was dead, but clinched in his tiny hand OLD-man\nfound some dirt--not much, but a little.  A second time OLD-man gave\nthe Muskrat his breath, and told him that he must go once more, and\nbring dirt.  He said there was not quite enough in the first lot, so\nafter resting a while the Muskrat tried a third time and a third time\nhe died, but brought up a little more dirt.\n\n\"Everybody on the raft was anxious now, and they were all crowding\nabout OLD-man; but he told them to stand back, and they did.  Then he\nblew his breath in Muskrat's mouth a third time, and a third time he\nlived and joined his wife.\n\n\"OLD-man then dried the dirt in his hands, rubbing it slowly and\nsinging a queer song.  Finally it was dry; then he settled the hand\nthat held the dirt in the water slowly, until the water touched the\ndirt.  The dry dirt began to whirl about and then OLD-man blew upon it.\nHard he blew and waved his hands, and the dirt began to grow in size\nright before their eyes.  OLD-man kept blowing and waving his hands\nuntil the dirt became real land, and the trees began to grow.  So large\nit grew that none could see across it.  Then he stopped his blowing and\nsang some more.  Everybody wanted to get off the raft, but OLD-man said\n'no.'\n\n\"'Come here, Wolf,' he said, and the Wolf came to him.\n\n\"'You are swift of foot and brave.  Run around this land I have made,\nthat I may know how large it is.'\n\n\"The Wolf started, and it took him half a year to get back to the raft.\nHe was very poor from much running, too, but OLD-man said the world\nwasn't big enough yet so he blew some more, and again sent the Wolf out\nto run around the land.  He never came back--no, the OLD-man had made\nit so big that the Wolf died of old age before he got back to the raft.\nThen all the people went out upon the land to make their living, and\nthey were happy, there, too.\n\n\"After they had been on the land for a long time OLD-man said: 'Now I\nshall make a man and a woman, for I am lonesome living with you people.\nHe took two or three handfuls of mud from the world he had made, and\nmoulded both a man and a woman.  Then he set them side by side and\nbreathed upon them.  They lived!--and he made them very strong and\nhealthy--very beautiful to look upon.  Chippewas, he called these\npeople, and they lived happily on that world until a white man saw an\nEagle sailing over the land and came to look about.  He stole the\nwoman--that white man did; and that is where all the tribes came from\nthat we know to-day.  None are pure of blood but the two humans he made\nof clay, and their own children.  And they are the Chippewas!\n\n\"That is a long story and now you must hurry to bed.  To-morrow night I\nwill tell you another story--Ho!\"\n\n\n\nWHY BLACKFEET NEVER KILL MICE\n\nMuskrat and his grandmother were gathering wood for the camp the next\nmorning, when they came to an old buffalo skull.  The plains were\ndotted with these relics of the chase, for already the hide-hunting\nwhite man had played havoc with the great herds of buffalo.  This skull\nwas in a grove of cottonwood-trees near the river, and as they\napproached two Mice scampered into it to hide.  Muskrat, in great glee,\nsecured a stick and was about to turn the skull over and kill the Mice,\nwhen his grandmother said: \"No, our people never kill Mice.  Your\ngrandfather will tell you why if you ask him.  The Mice-people are our\nfriends and we treat them as such.  Even small people can be good\nfriends, you know--remember that.\"\n\nAll the day the boy wondered why the Mice-people should not be harmed;\nand just at dark he came for me to accompany him to War Eagle's lodge.\nOn the way he told me what his grandmother had said, and that he\nintended to ask for the reason, as soon as we arrived.  We found the\nother children already there, and almost before we had seated\nourselves, Muskrat asked:\n\n\"Grandfather, why must we never kill the Mice-people?  Grandmother said\nthat you knew.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" replied War Eagle, \"I do know and you must know.  Therefore I\nshall tell you all to-night why the Mice-people must be let alone and\nallowed to do as they please, for we owe them much; much more than we\ncan ever pay.  Yes--they are great people, as you will see.\n\n\"It happened long, long ago, when there were few men and women on the\nworld.  OLD-man was chief of all then, and the animal-people and the\nbird-people were greater than our people, because we had not been on\nearth long and were not wise.\n\n\"There was much quarrelling among the animals and the birds.  You see\nthe Bear wanted to be chief, under OLD-man, and so did the Beaver.\nAlmost every night they would have a council and quarrel over it.\nBeside the Bear and Beaver, there were other animals, and also birds,\nthat thought they had the right to be chief.  They couldn't agree and\nthe quarrelling grew worse as time went on.  Some said the greatest\nthief should be chosen.  Others thought the wisest one should be the\nleader; while some said the swiftest traveller was the one they wanted.\nSo it went on and on until they were most all enemies instead of\nfriends, and you could hear them quarrelling almost every night, until\nOLD-man came along that way.\n\n\"He heard about the trouble.  I forget who told him, but I think it was\nthe Rabbit.  Anyhow he visited the council where the quarrelling was\ngoing on and listened to what each one had to say.  It took until\nalmost daylight, too.  He listened to it all--every bit.  When they had\nfinished talking and the quarrelling commenced as usual, he said,\n'stop!' and they did stop.\n\n\"Then he said to them: 'I will settle this thing right here and right\nnow, so that there will be no more rows over it, forever.'\n\n\"He opened his paint sack and took from it a small, polished bone.\nThis he held up in the firelight, so that they might all see it, and he\nsaid:\n\n\"'This will settle the quarrel.  You all see this bone in my right\nhand, don't you?'\n\n\"'Yes,' they replied.\n\n\"'Well, now you watch the bone and my hands, too, for they are quick\nand cunning.'\n\n\"OLD-man began to sing the gambling song and to slip the bone from one\nhand to the other so rapidly and smoothly that they were all puzzled.\nFinally he stopped singing and held out his hands--both shut tight, and\nboth with their backs up.\n\n\"'Which of my hands holds the bone now?' he asked them.\n\n\"Some said it was in the right hand and others claimed that it was the\nleft hand that held it.  OLD-man asked the Bear to name the hand that\nheld the bone, and the Bear did; but when OLD-man opened that hand it\nwas empty--the bone was not there.  Then everybody laughed at the Bear.\nOLD-man smiled a little and began to sing and again pass the bone.\n\n\"'Beaver, you are smart; name the hand that holds the bone this time.'\n\n\"The Beaver said: 'It's in your right hand.  I saw you put it there.'\n\n\"OLD-man opened that hand right before the Beaver's eyes, but the bone\nwasn't there, and again everybody laughed--especially the Bear.\n\n\"'Now, you see,' said OLD-man, 'that this is not so easy as it looks,\nbut I am going to teach you all to play the game; and when you have all\nlearned it, you must play it until you find out who is the cleverest at\nthe playing.  Whoever that is, he shall be chief under me, forever.'\n\n\"Some were awkward and said they didn't care much who was chief, but\nmost all of them learned to play pretty well.  First the Bear and the\nBeaver tried it, but the Beaver beat the Bear easily and held the bone\nfor ever so long.  Finally the Buffalo beat the Beaver and started to\nplay with the Mouse.  Of course the Mouse had small hands and was\nquicker than the Buffalo--quicker to see the bone.  The Buffalo tried\nhard for he didn't want the Mouse to be chief but it didn't do him any\ngood; for the Mouse won in the end.\n\n\"It was a fair game and the Mouse was chief under the agreement.  He\nlooked quite small among the rest but he walked right out to the centre\nof the council and said:\n\n\"'Listen, brothers--what is mine to keep is mine to give away.  I am\ntoo small to be your chief and I know it.  I am not warlike.  I want to\nlive in peace with my wife and family.  I know nothing of war.  I get\nmy living easily.  I don't like to have enemies.  I am going to give my\nright to be chief to the man that OLD-man has made like himself.'\n\n\"That settled it.  That made the man chief forever, and that is why he\nis greater than the animals and the birds.  That is why we never kill\nthe Mice-people.\n\n\"You saw the Mice run into the buffalo skull, of course.  There is\nwhere they have lived and brought up their families ever since the\nnight the Mouse beat the Buffalo playing the bone game.  Yes--the\nMice-people always make their nests in the heads of the dead\nBuffalo-people, ever since that night.\n\n\"Our people play the same game, even today.  See,\" and War Eagle took\nfrom his paint sack a small, polished bone.  Then he sang just as\nOLD-man did so long ago.  He let the children try to guess the hand\nthat held the bone, as the animal-people did that fateful night; but,\nlike the animals, they always guessed wrong.  Laughingly War Eagle said:\n\n\"Now go to your beds and come to see me to-morrow night.  Ho!\"\n\n\n\nHOW THE OTTER SKIN BECAME GREAT \"MEDICINE\"\n\nIt was rather late when we left War Eagle's lodge after having learned\nwhy the Indians never kill the Mice-people; and the milky way was white\nand plain, dimming the stars with its mist.  The children all stopped\nto say good night to little Sees-in-the-dark, a brand-new baby sister\nof Bluebird's; then they all went to bed.\n\nThe next day the boys played at war, just as white boys do; and the\ngirls played with dolls dressed in buckskin clothes, until it grew\ntiresome, when they visited relatives until it came time for us all to\ngo to their grandfather's lodge.  He was smoking when we entered, but\nsoon laid aside the pipe and said:\n\n\"You know that the otter skin is big medicine, no doubt.  You have\nnoticed that our warriors wear it sometimes and you know that we all\nthink it very lucky to wear the skin of the Otter.  But you don't know\nhow it came to be great; so I shall tell you.\n\n\"One time, long before my grandfather was born, a young-man of our\ntribe was unlucky in everything.  No woman wanted to marry him, because\nhe couldn't kill enough meat to keep her in food and clothes.  Whenever\nhe went hunting, his bow always broke or he would lose his lance.  If\nthese things didn't happen, his horse would fall and hurt him.\nEverybody talked about him and his bad luck, and although he was\nfine-looking, he had no close friends, because of his ill fortune.  He\ntried to dream and get his medicine but no dream would come.  He grew\nsour and people were sorry for him all the time.  Finally his name was\nchanged to 'The Unlucky-one,' which sounds bad to the ear.  He used to\nwander about alone a good deal, and one morning he saw an old woman\ngathering wood by the side of a River.  The Unlucky-one was about to\npass the old woman when she stopped him and asked:\n\n\"'Why are you so sad in your handsome face?  Why is that sorry look in\nyour fine eyes?'\n\n\"'Because,' replied the young-man, 'I am the Unlucky-one.  Everything\ngoes wrong with me, always.  I don't want to live any longer, for my\nheart is growing wicked.'\n\n\"'Come with me,' said the old woman, and he followed her until she told\nhim to sit down.  Then she said: 'Listen to me.  First you must learn a\nsong to sing, and this is it.' Then she sang a queer song over and over\nagain until the young-man had learned it well.\n\n\"'Now do what I tell you, and your heart shall be glad some day.'  She\ndrew from her robe a pair of moccasins and a small sack of dried meat.\n'Here,' she said, 'put these moccasins on your feet and take this sack\nof meat for food, for you must travel far.  Go on down this river until\nyou come to a great beaver village.  Their lodges will be large and\nfine-looking and you will know the village by the great size of the\nlodges.  When you get to the place, you must stand still for a long\ntime, and then sing the song I taught you.  When you have finished the\nsinging, a great white Beaver, chief of all the Beavers in the world,\nwill come to you.  He is wise and can tell you what to do to change\nyour luck.  After that I cannot help you; but do what the white Beaver\ntells you, without asking why.  Now go, and be brave!'\n\n\"The young-man started at once.  Long his steps were, for he was young\nand strong.  Far he travelled down the river--saw many beaver villages,\ntoo, but he did not stop, because the lodges were not big, as the old\nwoman told him they would be in the right village.  His feet grew tired\nfor he travelled day and night without resting, but his heart was brave\nand he believed what the old woman had told him.\n\n\"It was late on the third day when he came to a mighty beaver village\nand here the lodges were greater than any he had ever seen before.  In\nthe centre of the camp was a monstrous lodge built of great sticks and\ntowering above the rest.  All about, the ground was neat and clean and\nbare as your hand.  The Unlucky-one knew this was the white Beaver's\nlodge--knew that at last he had found the chief of all the Beavers in\nthe world; so he stood still for a long time, and then sang that song.\n\n\"Soon a great white Beaver--white as the snows of winter--came to him\nand asked: 'Why do you sing that song, my brother?  What do you want of\nme?  I have never heard a man sing that song before.  You must be in\ntrouble.'\n\n\"'I am the Unlucky-one,' the young-man replied.  'I can do nothing\nwell.  I can find no woman who will marry me.  In the hunt my bow will\noften break or my lance is poor.  My medicine is bad and I cannot\ndream.  The people do not love me, and they pity me as they do a sick\nchild.'\n\n\"'I am sorry for you,' said the white Beaver--chief of all the Beavers\nin the world--'but you must find my brother the Coyote, who knows where\nOLD-man's lodge is.  The Coyote will do your bidding if you sing that\nsong when you see him.  Take this stick with you, because you will have\na long journey, and with the stick you may cross any river and not\ndrown, if you keep it always in your hand.  That is all I can do for\nyou, myself.'\n\n\"On down the river the Unlucky-one travelled and the sun was low in the\nwest on the fourth day, when he saw the Coyote on a hillside near by.\nAfter looking at Coyote for a long time, the young-man commenced to\nsing the song the old woman had taught him.  When he had finished the\nsinging, the Coyote came up close and asked:\n\n\"'What is the matter?  Why do you sing that song?  I never heard a man\nsing it before.  What is it you want of me?'\n\n\"Then the Unlucky-one told the Coyote what he had told the white\nBeaver, and showed the stick the Beaver-chief had given him, to prove\nit.\n\n\"'I am hungry, too,' said the Unlucky-one, 'for I have eaten all the\ndried meat the old woman gave me.'\n\n\"'Wait here,' said the Coyote, 'my brother the Wolf has just killed a\nfat Doe, and perhaps he will give me a little of the meat when I tell\nhim about you and your troubles.'\n\n\"Away went the Coyote to beg for meat, and while he was gone the\nyoung-man bathed his tired feet in a cool creek.  Soon the Coyote came\nback with meat, and young-man built a fire and ate some of it, even\nbefore it was warm, for he was starving.  When he had finished the\nCoyote said:\n\n\"'Now I shall take you to OLD-man's lodge, come.'\n\n\"They started, even though it was getting dark.  Long they travelled\nwithout stopping--over plains and mountains--through great forests and\nacross rivers, until they came to a cave in the rough rocks on the side\nof a mighty mountain.\n\n\"'In there,' said the Coyote, 'you will find OLD-man and he can tell\nyou what you want to know.'\n\n\"The Unlucky-one stood before the black hole in the rocks for a long\ntime, because he was afraid; but when he turned to speak to the Coyote\nhe found himself to be alone.  The Coyote had gone about his own\nbusiness--had silently slipped away in the night.\n\n\"Slowly and carefully the young-man began to creep into the cave,\nfeeling his way in the darkness.  His heart was beating like a tom-tom\nat a dance.  Finally he saw a fire away back in the cave.\n\n\"The shadows danced about the stone sides of the cave as men say the\nghosts do; and they frightened him.  But looking, he saw a man sitting\non the far side of the fire.  The man's hair was like the snow and very\nlong.  His face was wrinkled with the seams left by many years of life\nand he was naked in the firelight that played about him.\n\n\"Slowly the young-man stood upon his feet and began to walk toward the\nfire with great fear in his heart.  When he had reached the place where\nthe firelight fell upon him, the OLD-man looked up and said:\n\n\"'How, young-man, I am OLD-man.  Why did you come here?  What is it you\nwant?'\n\n\"Then the Unlucky-one told OLD-man just what he had told the old woman\nand the white Beaver and the Coyote, and showed the stick the Beaver\nhad given him, to prove it.\n\n\"'Smoke,' said OLD-man, and passed the pipe to his visitor.  After they\nhad smoked OLD-man said:\n\n\"'I will tell you what to do.  On the top of this great mountain there\nlive many ghost-people and their chief is a great Owl.  This Owl is the\nonly one who knows how you can change your luck, and he will tell you\nif you are not afraid.  Take this arrow and go among those people,\nwithout fear.  Show them you are unarmed as soon as they see you.  Now\ngo!'\n\n\"Out into the night went the Unlucky-one and on up the mountain.  The\nway was rough and the wind blew from the north, chilling his limbs and\nstinging his face, but on he went toward the mountain-top, where the\nstorm-clouds sleep and the winter always stays.  Drifts of snow were\npiled all about, and the wind gathered it up and hurled it at the young\nman as though it were angry at him.  The clouds waked and gathered\naround him, making the night darker and the world lonelier than before,\nbut on the very top of the mountain he stopped and tried to look\nthrough the clouds.  Then he heard strange singing all about him; but\nfor a long time there was no singer in sight.  Finally the clouds\nparted and he saw a great circle of ghost-people with large and ugly\nheads.  They were seated on the icy ground and on the drifts of snow\nand on the rocks, singing a warlike song that made the heart of the\nyoung-man stand still, in dread.  In the centre of the circle there sat\na mighty Owl--their chief.  Ho!--when the ghost-people saw the\nUnlucky-one they rushed at him with many lances and would have killed\nhim but the Owl-chief cried, 'Stop!'\n\n\"The young-man folded his arms and said: 'I am unarmed--come and see\nhow a Blackfoot dies.  I am not afraid of you.'\n\n\"'Ho!' said the Owl-chief, 'we kill no unarmed man.  Sit down, my son,\nand tell me what you want.  Why do you come here?  You must be in\ntrouble.  You must smoke with me.'\n\n\"The Unlucky-one told the Owl-chief just what he had told the old woman\nand the Beaver and the Coyote and OLD-man, and showed the stick that\nthe white Beaver had given him and the arrow that OLD-man had given to\nhim to prove it.\n\n\"'Good,' said the Owl-chief, 'I can help you, but first you must help\nyourself.  Take this bow.  It is a medicine-bow; then you will have a\nbow that will not break and an arrow that is good and straight.  Now go\ndown this mountain until you come to a river.  It will be dark when you\nreach this river, but you will know the way.  There will be a great\ncottonwood-tree on the bank of the stream where you first come to the\nwater.  At this tree, you must turn down the stream and keep on\ntravelling without rest, until you hear a splashing in the water near\nyou.  When you hear the splashing, you must shoot this arrow at the\nsound.  Shoot quickly, for if you do not you can never have any good\nluck.  If you do as I have told you the splasher will be killed and you\nmust then take his hide and wear it always.  The skin that the splasher\nwears will make you a lucky man.  It will make anybody lucky and you\nmay tell your people that it is so.\n\n\"'Now go, for it is nearly day and we must sleep.'\n\n\"The young-man took his bow and arrow and the stick the white Beaver\nhad given him and started on his journey.  All the day he travelled,\nand far into the night.  At last he came to a river and on the bank he\nsaw the great cottonwood-tree, just as the ghost Owl had told him.  At\nthe tree the young-man turned down the stream and in the dark easily\nfound his way along the bank.  Very soon he heard a great splashing in\nthe water near him, and--zipp--he let the arrow go at the sound--then\nall was still again.  He stood and looked and listened, but for a long\ntime could see nothing--hear nothing.\n\n\"Then the moon came out from under a cloud and just where her light\nstruck the river, he saw some animal floating--dead.  With the magic\nstick the young-man walked out on the water, seized the animal by the\nlegs and drew it ashore.  It was an Otter, and the young-man took his\nhide, right there.\n\n\"A Wolf waited in the brush for the body of the Otter, and the\nyoung-man gave it to him willingly, because he remembered the meat the\nWolf had given the Coyote.  As soon as the young-man had skinned the\nOtter he threw the hide over his shoulder and started for his own\ncountry with a light heart, but at the first good place he made a camp,\nand slept.  That night he dreamed and all was well with him.\n\n\"After days of travel he found his tribe again, and told what had\nhappened.  He became a great hunter and a great chief among us.  He\nmarried the most beautiful woman in the tribe and was good to her\nalways.  They had many children, and we remember his name as one that\nwas great in war.  That is all--Ho!\"\n\n\n\nOLD-MAN STEALS THE SUN'S LEGGINGS\n\nFirelight--what a charm it adds to story-telling.  How its moods seem\nto keep pace with situations pictured by the oracle, offering shadows\nwhen dread is abroad, and light when a pleasing climax is reached; for\ninterest undoubtedly tends the blaze, while sympathy contributes or\nwithholds fuel, according to its dictates.\n\nThe lodge was alight when I approached and I could hear the children\nsinging in a happy mood, but upon entering, the singing ceased and\nembarrassed smiles on the young faces greeted me; nor could I coax a\ncontinuation of the song.\n\nSeated beside War Eagle was a very old Indian whose name was Red Robe,\nand as soon as I was seated, the host explained that he was an honored\nguest; that he was a Sioux and a friend of long standing.  Then War\nEagle lighted the pipe, passing it to the distinguished friend, who in\nturn passed it to me, after first offering it to the Sun, the father,\nand the Earth, the mother of all that is.\n\nIn a lodge of the Blackfeet the pipe must never be passed across the\ndoorway.  To do so would insult the host and bring bad luck to all who\nassembled.  Therefore if there be a large number of guests ranged about\nthe lodge, the pipe is passed first to the left from guest to guest\nuntil it reaches the door, when it goes back, unsmoked, to the host, to\nbe refilled ere it is passed to those on his right hand.\n\nBriefly War Eagle explained my presence to Red Robe and said:\n\n\"Once the Moon made the Sun a pair of leggings.  Such beautiful work\nhad never been seen before.  They were worked with the colored quills\nof the Porcupine and were covered with strange signs, which none but\nthe Sun and the Moon could read.  No man ever saw such leggings as they\nwere, and it took the Moon many snows to make them.  Yes, they were\nwonderful leggings and the Sun always wore them on fine days, for they\nwere bright to look upon.\n\n\"Every night when the Sun went to sleep in his lodge away in the west,\nhe used the leggings for a pillow, because there was a thief in the\nworld, even then.  That thief and rascal was OLD-man, and of course the\nSun knew all about him.  That is why he always put his fine leggings\nunder his head when he slept.  When he worked he almost always wore\nthem, as I have told you, so that there was no danger of losing them in\nthe daytime; but the Sun was careful of his leggings when night came\nand he slept.\n\n\"You wouldn't think that a person would be so foolish as to steal from\nthe Sun, but one night OLD-man--who is the only person who ever knew\njust where the Sun's lodge was--crept near enough to look in, and saw\nthe leggings under the Sun's head.\n\n\"We have all travelled a great deal but no man ever found the Sun's\nlodge.  No man knows in what country it is.  Of course we know it is\nlocated somewhere west of here, for we see him going that way every\nafternoon, but OLD-man knew everything--except that he could not fool\nthe Sun.\n\n\"Yes--OLD-man looked into the lodge of the Sun and saw the leggings\nthere--saw the Sun, too, and the Sun was asleep.  He made up his mind\nthat he would steal the leggings so he crept through the door of the\nlodge.  There was no one at home but the Sun, for the Moon has work to\ndo at night just as the children, the Stars, do, so he thought he could\nslip the leggings from under the sleeper's head and get away.\n\n\"He got down on his hands and knees to walk like the Bear-people and\ncrept into the lodge, but in the black darkness he put his knee upon a\ndry stick near the Sun's bed.  The stick snapped under his weight with\nso great a noise that the Sun turned over and snorted, scaring OLD-man\nso badly that he couldn't move for a minute.  His heart was not\nstrong--wickedness makes every heart weaker--and after making sure that\nthe Sun had not seen him, he crept silently out of the lodge and ran\naway.\n\n\"On the top of a hill OLD-man stopped to look and listen, but all was\nstill; so he sat down and thought.\n\n\"'I'll get them to-morrow night when he sleeps again'; he said to\nhimself.  'I need those leggings myself, and I'm going to get them,\nbecause they will make me handsome as the Sun.'\n\n\"He watched the Moon come home to camp and saw the Sun go to work, but\nhe did not go very far away because he wanted to be near the lodge when\nnight came again.\n\n\"It was not long to wait, for all the OLD-man had to do was to make\nmischief, and only those who have work to do measure time.  He was\nclose to the lodge when the Moon came out, and there he waited until\nthe Sun went inside.  From the bushes OLD-man saw the Sun take off his\nleggings and his eyes glittered with greed as he saw their owner fold\nthem and put them under his head as he had always done.  Then he waited\na while before creeping closer.  Little by little the old rascal\ncrawled toward the lodge, till finally his head was inside the door.\nThen he waited a long, long time, even after the Sun was snoring.\n\n\"The strange noises of the night bothered him, for he knew he was doing\nwrong, and when a Loon cried on a lake near by, he shivered as with\ncold, but finally crept to the sleeper's side.  Cautiously his fingers\nfelt about the precious leggings until he knew just how they could best\nbe removed without waking the Sun.  His breath was short and his heart\nwas beating as a war-drum beats, in the black dark of the lodge.\nSweat--cold sweat, that great fear always brings to the\nweak-hearted--was dripping from his body, and once he thought that he\nwould wait for another night, but greed whispered again, and listening\nto its voice, he stole the leggings from under the Sun's head.\n\n\"Carefully he crept out of the lodge, looking over his shoulder as he\nwent through the door.  Then he ran away as fast as he could go.  Over\nhills and valleys, across rivers and creeks, toward the east.  He\nwasted much breath laughing at his smartness as he ran, and soon he\ngrew tired.\n\n\"'Ho!' he said to himself, 'I am far enough now and I shall sleep.\nIt's easy to steal from the Sun--just as easy as stealing from the Bear\nor the Beaver.'\n\n\"He folded the leggings and put them under his head as the Sun had\ndone, and went to sleep.  He had a dream and it waked him with a start.\nBad deeds bring bad dreams to us all.  OLD-man sat up and there was the\nSun looking right in his face and laughing.  He was frightened and ran\naway, leaving the leggings behind him.\n\n\"Laughingly the Sun put on the leggings and went on toward the west,\nfor he is always busy.  He thought he would see OLD-man no more, but it\ntakes more than one lesson to teach a fool to be wise, and OLD-man hid\nin the timber until the Sun had travelled out of sight.  Then he ran\nwestward and hid himself near the Sun's lodge again, intending to wait\nfor the night and steal the leggings a second time.\n\n\"He was much afraid this time, but as soon as the Sun was asleep he\ncrept to the lodge and peeked inside.  Here he stopped and looked\nabout, for he was afraid the Sun would hear his heart beating.  Finally\nhe started toward the Sun's bed and just then a great white Owl flew\nfrom off the lodge poles, and this scared him more, for that is very\nbad luck and he knew it; but he kept on creeping until he could almost\ntouch the Sun.\n\n\"All about the lodge were beautiful linings, tanned and painted by the\nMoon, and the queer signs on them made the old coward tremble.  He\nheard a night-bird call outside and he thought it would surely wake the\nSun; so he hastened to the bed and with cunning fingers stole the\nleggings, as he had done the night before, without waking the great\nsleeper.  Then he crept out of the lodge, talking bravely to himself as\ncowards do when they are afraid.\n\n\"'Now,' he said to himself, 'I shall run faster and farther than\nbefore.  I shall not stop running while the night lasts, and I shall\nstay in the mountains all the time when the Sun is at work in the\ndaytime!'\n\n\"Away he went--running as the Buffalo runs--straight ahead, looking at\nnothing, hearing nothing, stopping at nothing.  When day began to break\nOLD-man was far from the Sun's lodge and he hid himself in a deep gulch\namong some bushes that grew there.  He listened a long time before he\ndared to go to sleep, but finally he did.  He was tired from his great\nrun and slept soundly and for a long time, but when he opened his\neyes--there was the Sun looking straight at him, and this time he was\nscowling.  OLD-man started to run away but the Sun grabbed him and\nthrew him down upon his back.  My! but the Sun was angry, and he said:\n\n\"'OLD-man, you are a clever thief but a mighty fool as well, for you\nsteal from me and expect to hide away.  Twice you have stolen the\nleggings my wife made for me, and twice I have found you easily.  Don't\nyou know that the whole world is my lodge and that you can never get\noutside of it, if you run your foolish legs off?  Don't you know that I\nlight all of my lodge every day and search it carefully?  Don't you\nknow that nothing can hide from me and live?  I shall not harm you this\ntime, but I warn you now, that if you ever steal from me again, I will\nhurt you badly.  Now go, and don't let me catch you stealing again!'\n\n\"Away went OLD-man, and on toward the west went the busy Sun.  That is\nall.\n\n\"Now go to bed; for I would talk of other things with my friend, who\nknows of war as I do.  Ho!\"\n\n\n\nOLD-MAN AND HIS CONSCIENCE\n\nNot so many miles away from the village, the great mountain range so\ndivides the streams that are born there, that their waters are offered\nas tribute to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic Oceans.  In this\nwonderful range the Indians believe the winds are made, and that they\nbattle for supremacy over Gunsight Pass.  I have heard an old story,\ntoo, that is said to have been generally believed by the Blackfeet, in\nwhich a monster bull-elk that lives in Gunsight Pass lords it over the\nwinds.  This elk creates the North wind by \"flapping\" one of his ears,\nand the South wind by the same use of his other.  I am inclined to\nbelieve that the winds are made in that Pass, myself, for there they\nare seldom at rest, especially at this season of the year.\n\nTo-night the wind was blowing from the north, and filmy white clouds\nwere driven across the face of the nearly full moon, momentarily\nveiling her light.  Lodge poles creaked and strained at every heavy\ngust, and sparks from the fires inside the lodges sped down the wind,\nto fade and die.\n\nIn his lodge War Eagle waited for us, and when we entered he greeted us\nwarmly, but failed to mention the gale.  \"I have been waiting,\" he\nsaid.  \"You are late and the story I shall tell you is longer than many\nof the others.\"  Without further delay the story-telling commenced.\n\n\"Once OLD-man came upon a lodge in the forest.  It was a fine one, and\npainted with strange signs.  Smoke was curling from the top, and thus\nhe knew that the person who lived there was at home.  Without calling\nor speaking, he entered the lodge and saw a man sitting by the fire\nsmoking his pipe.  The man didn't speak, nor did he offer his pipe to\nOLD-man, as our people do when they are glad to see visitors.  He\ndidn't even look at his guest, but OLD-man has no good manners at all.\nHe couldn't see that he wasn't wanted, as he looked about the man's\nlodge and made himself at home.  The linings were beautiful and were\npainted with fine skill.  The lodge was clean and the fire was bright,\nbut there was no woman about.\n\n\"Leaning against a fine back-rest, OLD-man filled his own pipe and\nlighted it with a coal from the man's fire.  Then he began to smoke and\nlook around, wondering why the man acted so queerly.  He saw a star\nthat shone down through the smoke-hole, and the tops of several trees\nthat were near the lodge.  Then he saw a woman--way up in a tree top\nand right over the lodge.  She looked young and beautiful and tall.\n\n\"'Whose woman is that up there in the tree top?' asked OLD-man.\n\n\"'She's your woman if you can catch her and will marry her,' growled\nthe man; 'but you will have to live here and help me make a living.'\n\n\"'I'll try to catch her, and if I do I will marry her and stay here,\nfor I am a great hunter and can easily kill what meat we want,' said\nOld-man.\n\n\"He went out of the lodge and climbed the tree after the woman.  She\nscreamed, but he caught her and held her, although she scratched him\nbadly.  He carried her into the lodge and there renewed his promise to\nstay there always.  The man married them, and they were happy for four\ndays, but on the fifth morning OLD-man was gone--gone with all the\ndried meat in the lodge--the thief.\n\n\"When they were sure that the rascal had run away the woman began to\ncry, but not so the man.  He got his bow and arrows and left the lodge\nin anger.  There was snow on the ground and the man took the track of\nOLD-man, intending to catch and kill him.\n\n\"The track was fresh and the man started on a run, for he was a good\nhunter and as fast as a Deer.  Of course he gained on OLD-man, who was\na much slower traveller; and the Sun was not very high when the old\nthief stopped on a hilltop to look back.  He saw the man coming fast.\n\n\"'This will never do,' he said to himself.  'That queer person will\ncatch me.  I know what I shall do; I shall turn myself into a dead\nBull-Elk and lie down.  Then he will pass me and I can go where I\nplease.'\n\n\"He took off his moccasins and said to them: 'Moccasins, go on toward\nthe west.  Keep going and making plain tracks in the snow toward the\nbig-water where the Sun sleeps.  The queer-one will follow you, and\nwhen you pass out of the snowy country, you can lose him.  Go quickly\nfor he is close upon us.'\n\n\"The moccasins ran away as OLD-man wanted them to, and they made plain\ntracks in the snow leading away toward the big-water.  OLD-man turned\ninto a dead Bull-Elk and stretched himself near the tracks the\nmoccasins had made.\n\n\"Up the hill came the man, his breath short from running.  He saw the\ndead Elk, and thought it might be OLD-man playing a trick.  He was\nabout to shoot an arrow into the dead Elk to make sure; but just as he\nwas about to let the arrow go, he saw the tracks the moccasins had\nmade.  Of course he thought the moccasins were on OLD-man's feet, and\nthat the carcass was really that of a dead Elk.  He was badly fooled\nand took the tracks again.  On and on he went, following the moccasins\nover hills and rivers.  Faster than before went the man, and still\nfaster travelled the empty moccasins, the trail growing dimmer and\ndimmer as the daylight faded.  All day long, and all of the night the\nman followed the tracks without rest or food, and just at daybreak he\ncame to the shore of the big-water.  There, right by the water's edge,\nstood the empty moccasins, side by side.\n\n\"The man turned and looked back.  His eyes were red and his legs were\ntrembling.  'Caw--caw, caw,' he heard a Crow say.  Right over his head\nhe saw the black bird and knew him, too.\n\n\"'Ho!  OLD-man, you were in that dead Bull-Elk.  You fooled me, and now\nyou are a Crow.  You think you will escape me, do you?  Well, you will\nnot; for I, too, know magic, and am wise.'\n\n\"With a stick the man drew a circle in the sand.  Then he stood within\nthe ring and sang a song.  OLD-man was worried and watched the strange\ndoings from the air overhead.  Inside the circle the man began to whirl\nabout so rapidly that he faded from sight, and from the centre of the\ncircle there came an Eagle.  Straight at the Crow flew the Eagle, and\naway toward the mountains sped the Crow, in fright.\n\n\"The Crow knew that the Eagle would catch him, so that as soon as he\nreached the trees on the mountains he turned himself into a Wren and\nsought the small bushes under the tall trees.  The Eagle saw the\nchange, and at once began turning over and over in the air.  When he\nhad reached the ground, instead of an Eagle a Sparrow-hawk chased the\nWren.  Now the chase was fast indeed, for no place could the Wren find\nin which to hide from the Sparrow-hawk.  Through the brush, into trees,\namong the weeds and grass, flew the Wren with the Hawk close behind.\nOnce the Sparrow-hawk picked a feather from the Wren's tail--so close\nwas he to his victim.  It was nearly over with the Wren, when he\nsuddenly came to a park along a river's side.  In this park were a\nhundred lodges of our people, and before a fine lodge there sat the\ndaughter of the chief.  It was growing dark and chilly, but still she\nsat there looking at the river.  The Sparrow-hawk was striking at the\nWren with his beak and talons, when the Wren saw the young-woman and\nflew straight to her.  So swift he flew that the young-woman didn't see\nhim at all, but she felt something strike her hand, and when she looked\nshe saw a bone ring on her finger.  This frightened her, and she ran\ninside the lodge, where the fire kept the shadows from coming.  OLD-man\nhad changed into the ring, of course, and the Sparrow-hawk didn't dare\nto go into the lodge; so he stopped outside and listened.  This is what\nhe heard OLD-man say:\n\n\"'Don't be frightened, young-woman, I am neither a Wren nor a ring.  I\nam OLD-man and that Sparrow-hawk has chased me all the day and for\nnothing.  I have never done him harm, and he bothers me without reason.'\n\n\"'Liar--forked-tongue,' cried the Sparrow-hawk.  'Believe him not,\nyoung-woman.  He has done wrong.  He is wicked and I am not a\nSparrow-hawk, but conscience.  Like an arrow I travel, straight and\nfast.  When he lies or steals from his friends I follow him.  I talk\nall the time and he hears me, but lies to himself, and says he does not\nhear.  You know who I am, young-woman, I am what talks inside a person.'\n\n\"OLD-man heard what the Sparrow-hawk said, and he was ashamed for once\nin his life.  He crawled out of the lodge.  Into the shadows he ran\naway--away into the night, and the darkness--away from himself!\n\n\"You see,\" said War Eagle, as he reached for his pipe, \"OLD-man knew\nthat he had done wrong, and his heart troubled him, just as yours will\nbother you if you do not listen to the voice that speaks within\nyourselves.  Whenever that voice says a thing is wicked, it is\nwicked--no matter who says it is not.  Yes--it is very hard for a man\nto hide from himself.  Ho!\"\n\n\n\nOLD-MAN'S TREACHERY\n\nThe next afternoon Muskrat and Fine Bow went hunting.  They hid\nthemselves in some brush which grew beside an old game trail that\nfollowed the river, and there waited for a chance deer.\n\nChickadees hopped and called, \"chick-a-de-de-de\" in the willows and\nwild-rose bushes that grew near their hiding-place; and the gentle\nlittle birds with their pretty coats were often within a few inches of\nthe hands of the young hunters.  In perfect silence they watched and\nadmired these little friends, while glance or smile conveyed their\nappreciation of the bird-visits to each other.\n\nThe wind was coming down the stream, and therefore the eyes of the boys\nseldom left the trail in that direction; for from that quarter an\napproaching deer would be unwarned by the ever-busy breeze.  A rabbit\ncame hopping down the game trail in believed perfect security, passing\nso close to Fine Bow that he could not resist the desire to strike at\nhim with an arrow.  Both boys were obliged to cover their mouths with\ntheir open hands to keep from laughing aloud at the surprise and speed\nshown by the frightened bunny, as he scurried around a bend in the\ntrail, with his white, pudgy tail bobbing rapidly.\n\nThey had scarcely regained their composure and silence when, \"snap!\"\nwent a dry stick.  The sharp sound sent a thrill through the hearts of\nthe boys, and instantly they became rigidly watchful.  Not a leaf could\nmove on the ground now--not a bush might bend or a bird pass and escape\nbeing seen by the four sharp eyes that peered from the brush in the\ndirection indicated by the sound of the breaking stick.  Two hearts\nbeat loudly as Fine Bow fitted his arrow to the bowstring.  Tense and\nexpectant they waited--yes, it was a deer--a buck, too, and he was\ncoming down the trail, alert and watchful--down the trail that he had\noften travelled and knew so well.  Yes, he had followed his mother\nalong that trail when he was but a spotted fawn--now he wore antlers,\nand was master of his own ways.  On he came--nearly to the brush that\nhid the hunters, when, throwing his beautiful head high in the air, he\nstopped, turning his side a trifle.\n\nZipp--went the arrow and, kicking out behind, away went the buck,\ncrashing through willows and alders that grew in his way, until he was\nout of sight.  Then all was still, save the chick-a-de-de-de,\nchick-a-de-de-de, that came constantly from the bushes about them.\n\nOut from the cover came the hunters, and with ready bow they followed\nalong the trail.  Yes--there was blood on a log, and more on the dead\nleaves.  The arrow had found its mark and they must go slowly in their\ntrailing, lest they lose the meat.  For two hours they followed the\nwounded animal, and at last came upon him in a willow thicket--sick\nunto death, for the arrow was deep in his paunch.  His sufferings were\nended by another arrow, and the chase was done.\n\nWith their knives the boys dressed the buck, and then went back to the\ncamp to tell the women where the meat could be found--just as the men\ndo.  It was their first deer; and pride shone in their faces as they\ntold their grandfather that night in the lodge.\n\n\"That is good,\" War Eagle replied, as the boys finished telling of\ntheir success.  \"That is good, if your mother needed the meat, but it\nis wrong to kill when you have plenty, lest Manitou be angry.  There is\nalways enough, but none to waste, and the hunter who kills more than he\nneeds is wicked.  To-night I shall tell you what happened to OLD-man\nwhen he did that.  Yes, and he got into trouble over it.\n\n\"One day in the fall when the leaves were yellow, and the Deer-people\nwere dressed in their blue robes--when the Geese and Duck-people were\ntravelling to the country where water does not freeze, and where\nflowers never die, OLD-man was travelling on the plains.\n\n\"Near sundown he saw two Buffalo-Bulls feeding on a steep hillside; but\nhe had no bow and arrow with him.  He was hungry, and began to think of\nsome way to kill one of the Bulls for meat.  Very soon he thought out a\nplan, for he is cunning always.\n\n\"He ran around the hill out of sight of the Bulls, and there made two\nmen out of grass and sage-brush.  They were dummies, of course, but he\nmade them to look just like real men, and then armed each with a wooden\nknife of great length.  Then he set them in the position of fighting;\nmade them look as though they were about to fight each other with the\nknives.  When he had them both fixed to suit, he ran back to the place\nwhere the Buffalo were calling:\n\n\"'Ho! brothers, wait for me--do not run away.  There are two fine men\non the other side of this hill, and they are quarrelling.  They will\nsurely fight unless we stop them.  It all started over you two Bulls,\ntoo.  One of the men says you are fat and fine, and the other claims\nyou are poor and skinny.  Don't let our brothers fight over such a\nfoolish thing as that.  It would be wicked.  Now I can decide it, if\nyou will let me feel all over you to see if you are fat or poor.  Then\nI will go back to the men and settle the trouble by telling them the\ntruth.  Stand still and let me feel your sides--quick, lest the fight\nbegin while I am away.'\n\n\"'All right,' said the Bulls, 'but don't you tickle us.'  Then OLD-man\nwalked up close and commenced to feel about the Bulls' sides; but his\nheart was bad.  From his robe he slipped his great knife, and slyly\nfelt about till he found the spot where the heart beats, and then\nstabbed the knife into the place, clear up to the hilt.\n\n\"Both of the Bulls died right away, and OLD-man laughed at the trick he\nhad played upon them.  Then he gave a knife to both of his hands, and\nsaid:\n\n\"'Get to work, both of you!  Skin these Bulls while I sit here and boss\nyou.'\n\n\"Both hands commenced to skin the Buffalo, but the right hand was much\nthe swifter worker.  It gained upon the left hand rapidly, and this\nmade the left hand angry.  Finally the left hand called the right hand\n'dog-face.' That is the very worst thing you can call a person in our\nlanguage, you know, and of course it made the right hand angry.  So\ncrazy and angry was the right hand that it stabbed the left hand, and\nthen they began to fight in earnest.\n\n\"Both cut and slashed till blood covered the animals they were\nskinning.  All this fighting hurt OLD-man badly, of course, and he\ncommenced to cry, as women do sometimes.  This stopped the fight; but\nstill OLD-man cried, till, drying his tears, he saw a Red Fox sitting\nnear the Bulls, watching him.  'Hi, there, you--go away from there!  If\nyou want meat you go and kill it, as I did.'\n\n\"Red Fox laughed--'Ha!--Ha!--Ha!--foolish OLD-man--Ha!--ha!'  Then he\nran away and told the other Foxes and the Wolves and the Coyotes about\nOLD-man's meat.  Told them that his own hands couldn't get along with\nthemselves and that it would be easy to steal it from him.\n\n\"They all followed the Red Fox back to the place where OLD-man was, and\nthere they ate all of the meat--every bit, and polished the bones.\n\n\"OLD-man couldn't stop them, because he was hurt, you see; but it all\ncame about through lying and killing more meat than he needed.  Yes--he\nlied and that is bad, but his hands got to quarrelling between\nthemselves, and family quarrels are always bad.  Do not lie; do not\nquarrel.  It is bad.  Ho!\"\n\n\n\nWHY THE NIGHT-HAWK'S WINGS ARE BEAUTIFUL\n\nI was awakened by the voice of the camp-crier, and although it was yet\ndark I listened to his message.\n\nThe camp was to move.  All were to go to the mouth of the Maria's--\"The\nRiver That Scolds at the Other\"--the Indians call this stream, that\ndisturbs the waters of the Missouri with its swifter flood.\n\nOn through the camp the crier rode, and behind him the lodge-fires\nglowed in answer to his call.  The village was awake, and soon the\nthunder of hundreds of hoofs told me that the pony-bands were being\ndriven into camp, where the faithful were being roped for the journey.\nFires flickered in the now fading darkness, and down came the lodges as\nthough wizard hands had touched them.  Before the sun had come to light\nthe world, we were on our way to \"The River That Scolds at the Other.\"\n\nNot a cloud was in the sky, and the wind was still.  The sun came and\ntouched the plains and hilltops with the light that makes all wild\nthings glad.  Here and there a jack-rabbit scurried away, often\nfollowed by a pack of dogs, and sometimes, though not often, they were\novertaken and devoured on the spot.  Bands of graceful antelope bounded\nout of our way, stopping on a knoll to watch the strange procession\nwith wondering eyes, and once we saw a dust-cloud raised by a moving\nherd of buffalo, in the distance.\n\nSo the day wore on, the scene constantly changing as we travelled.\nWolves and coyotes looked at us from almost every knoll and hilltop;\nand sage-hens sneaked to cover among the patches of sage-brush,\nscarcely ten feet away from our ponies.  Toward sundown we reached a\ngrove of cottonwoods near the mouth of the Maria's, and in an\nincredibly short space of time the lodges took form.  Soon, from out\nthe tops of a hundred camps, smoke was curling just as though the\nlodges had been there always, and would forever remain.\n\nAs soon as supper was over I found the children, and together we sought\nWar Eagle's lodge.  He was in a happy mood and insisted upon smoking\ntwo pipes before commencing his story-telling.  At last he said:\n\n\"To-night I shall tell you why the Nighthawk wears fine clothes.  My\ngrandfather told me about it when I was young.  I am sure you have seen\nthe Night-hawk sailing over you, dipping and making that strange noise.\nOf course there is a reason for it.\n\n\"OLD-man was travelling one day in the springtime; but the weather was\nfine for that time of year.  He stopped often and spoke to the\nbird-people and to the animal-people, for he was in good humor that\nday.  He talked pleasantly with the trees, and his heart grew tender.\nThat is, he had good thoughts; and of course they made him happy.\nFinally he felt tired and sat down to rest on a big, round stone--the\nkind of stone our white friend there calls a bowlder.  Here he rested\nfor a while, but the stone was cold, and he felt it through his robe;\nso he said:\n\n\"'Stone, you seem cold to-day.  You may have my robe.  I have hundreds\nof robes in my camp, and I don't need this one at all.' That was a lie\nhe told about having so many robes.  All he had was the one he wore.\n\n\"He spread his robe over the stone, and then started down the hill,\nnaked, for it was really a fine day.  But storms hide in the mountains,\nand are never far away when it is springtime.  Soon it began to\nsnow--then the wind blew from the north with a good strength behind it.\nOLD-man said:\n\n\"'Well, I guess I do need that robe myself, after all.  That stone\nnever did anything for me anyhow.  Nobody is ever good to a stone.\nI'll just go back and get my robe.'\n\n\"Back he went and found the stone.  Then he pulled the robe away, and\nwrapped it about himself.  Ho! but that made the stone angry--Ho!\nOLD-man started to run down the hill, and the stone ran after him.  Ho!\nit was a funny race they made, over the grass, over smaller stones, and\nover logs that lay in the way, but OLD-man managed to keep ahead until\nhe stubbed his toe on a big sage-brush, and fell--swow!\n\n\"'Now I have you!' cried the stone--'now I'll kill you, too!  Now I\nwill teach you to give presents and then take them away,' and the stone\nrolled right on top of OLD-man, and sat on his back.\n\n\"It was a big stone, you see, and OLD-man couldn't move it at all.  He\ntried to throw off the stone but failed.  He squirmed and twisted--no\nuse--the stone held him fast.  He called the stone some names that are\nnot good; but that never helps any.  At last he began to call:\n\n\"'Help!--Help!--Help!' but nobody heard him except the Night-hawk, and\nhe told the OLD-man that he would help him all he could; so he flew\naway up in the air--so far that he looked like a black speck.  Then he\ncame down straight and struck that rock an awful blow--'swow!'--and\nbroke it in two pieces.  Indeed he did.  The blow was so great that it\nspoiled the Night-hawk's bill, forever--made it queer in shape, and\njammed his head, so that it is queer, too.  But he broke the rock, and\nOLD-man stood upon his feet.\n\n\"'Thank you, Brother Night-hawk,' said OLD-man, 'now I will do\nsomething for you.  I am going to make you different from other\nbirds--make you so people will always notice you.'\n\n\"You know that when you break a rock the powdered stone is white, like\nsnow; and there is always some of the white powder whenever you break a\nrock, by pounding it.  Well, Old-man took some of the fine powdered\nstone and shook it on the Night-hawk's wings in spots and stripes--made\nthe great white stripes you have seen on his wings, and told him that\nno other bird could have such marks on his clothes.\n\n\"All the Night-hawk's children dress the same way now; and they always\nwill as long as there are Night-hawks.  Of course their clothes make\nthem proud; and that is why they keep at flying over people's\nheads--soaring and dipping and turning all the time, to show off their\npretty wings.\n\n\"That is all for to-night.  Muskrat, tell your father I would run\nBuffalo with him tomorrow--Ho!\"\n\n\n\nWHY THE MOUNTAIN-LION IS LONG AND LEAN\n\nHave you ever seen the plains in the morning--a June morning, when the\nspurred lark soars and sings--when the plover calls, and the curlew\npipes his shriller notes to the rising sun?   Then is there music,\nindeed, for no bird outsings the spurred lark; and thanks to OLD-man he\nis not wanting in numbers, either.  The plains are wonderful then--more\nwonderful than they are at this season of the year; but at all times\nthey beckon and hold one as in a spell, especially when they are backed\nor bordered by a snow-capped mountain range.  Looking toward the east\nthey are boundless, but on their western edge superb mountains rear\nthemselves.\n\nAll over this vast country the Indians roamed, following the great\nbuffalo herds as did the wolves, and making their living with the bow\nand lance, since the horse came to them.  In the very old days the\n\"piskun\" was used, and buffalo were enticed to follow a fantastically\ndressed man toward a cliff, far enough to get the herd moving in that\ndirection, when the \"buffalo-man\" gained cover, and hidden Indians\nraised from their hiding places behind the animals, and drove them over\nthe cliff, where they were killed in large numbers.\n\nNot until Cortez came with his cavalry from Spain, were there horses on\nthis continent, and then generations passed ere the plains tribes\npossessed this valuable animal, that so materially changed their lives.\nDogs dragged the Indian's travois or packed his household goods in the\ndays before the horse came, and for hundreds--perhaps thousands of\nyears, these people had no other means of transporting their goods and\nchattels.  As the Indian is slow to forget or change the ways of his\nfather, we should pause before we brand him as wholly improvident, I\nthink.\n\nHe has always been a family-man, has the Indian, and small children had\nto be carried, as well as his camp equipage.  Wolf-dogs had to be fed,\ntoo, in some way, thus adding to his burden; for it took a great many\nto make it possible for him to travel at all.\n\nWhen the night came and we visited War Eagle, we found he had other\ncompany--so we waited until their visit was ended before settling\nourselves to hear the story that he might tell us.\n\n\"The Crows have stolen some of our best horses,\" said War Eagle, as\nsoon as the other guests had gone.  \"That is all right--we shall get\nthem back, and more, too.  The Crows have only borrowed those horses\nand will pay for their use with others of their own.  To-night I shall\ntell you why the Mountain lion is so long and thin and why he wears\nhair that looks singed.  I shall also tell you why that person's nose\nis black, because it is part of the story.\n\n\"A long time ago the Mountain-lion was a short, thick-set person.  I am\nsure you didn't guess that.  He was always a great thief like OLD-man,\nbut once he went too far, as you shall see.\n\n\"One day OLD-man was on a hilltop, and saw smoke curling up through the\ntrees, away off on the far side of a gulch.  'Ho!' he said, 'I wonder\nwho builds fires except me.  I guess I will go and find out.'\n\n\"He crossed the gulch and crept carefully toward the smoke.  When he\ngot quite near where the fire was, he stopped and listened.  He heard\nsome loud laughing but could not see who it was that felt so glad and\ngay.  Finally he crawled closer and peeked through the brush toward the\nfire.  Then he saw some Squirrel-people, and they were playing some\nsort of game.  They were running and laughing, and having a big time,\ntoo.  What do you think they were doing?   They were running about the\nfire--all chasing one Squirrel.  As soon as the Squirrel was caught,\nthey would bury him in the ashes near the fire until he cried; then\nthey would dig him out in a hurry.  Then another Squirrel would take\nthe lead and run until he was caught, as the other had been.  In turn\nthe captive would submit to being buried, and so on--while the racing\nand laughing continued.  They never left the buried one in the ashes\nafter he cried, but always kept their promise and dug him out, right\naway.\n\n\"'Say, let me play, won't you?'  asked OLD-man.  But the\nSquirrel-people all ran away, and he had a hard time getting them to\nreturn to the fire.\n\n\"'You can't play this game,' replied the Chief-Squirrel, after they had\nreturned to the fire.\n\n\"'Yes, I can,' declared OLD-man, 'and you may bury me first, but be\nsure to dig me out when I cry, and not let me burn, for those ashes are\nhot near the fire.'\n\n\"'All right,' said the Chief-Squirrel, 'we will let you play.  Lie\ndown,'--and OLD-Man did lie down near the fire.  Then the Squirrels\nbegan to laugh and bury OLD-man in the ashes, as they did their own\nkind.  In no time at all OLD-man cried: 'Ouch!--you are burning\nme--quick!--dig me out.'\n\n\"True to their promise, the Squirrel-people dug OLD-man out of the\nashes, and laughed at him because he cried so quickly.\n\n\"'Now, it is my turn to cover the captive,' said OLD-man, 'and as there\nare so many of you, I have a scheme that will make the game funnier and\nshorter.  All of you lie down at once in a row.  Then I will cover you\nall at one time.  When you cry--I will dig you out right away and the\ngame will be over.'\n\n\"They didn't know OLD-man very well; so they said, 'all right,' and\nthen they all laid down in a row about the fire.\n\n\"OLD-man buried them all in the ashes--then he threw some more wood on\nthe fire and went away and left them.  Every Squirrel there was in the\nworld was buried in the ashes except one woman Squirrel, and she told\nOLD-man she couldn't play and had to go home.  If she hadn't gone,\nthere might not be any Squirrels in this world right now.  Yes, it is\nlucky that she went home.\n\n\"For a minute or so OLD-man watched the fire as it grew hotter, and\nthen went down to a creek where willows grew and made himself a great\nplate by weaving them together.  When he had finished making the plate,\nhe returned to the fire, and it had burned low again.  He laughed at\nhis wicked work, and a Raven, flying over just then, called him\n'forked-tongue,' or liar, but he didn't mind that at all.  OLD-man cut\na long stick and began to dig out the Squirrel-people.  One by one he\nfished them out of the hot ashes; and they were roasted fine and were\nready to eat.  As he fished them out he counted them, and laid them on\nthe willow plate he had made.  When he had dug out the last one, he\ntook the plate to the creek and there sat down to eat the Squirrels,\nfor he was hungry, as usual.  OLD-man is a big eater, but he couldn't\neat all of the Squirrels at once, and while eating he fell asleep with\nthe great plate in his lap.\n\n\"Nobody knows how long it was that he slept, but when he waked his\nplate of Squirrels was gone--gone completely.  He looked behind him; he\nlooked about him; but the plate was surely gone.  Ho!  But he was\nangry.  He stamped about in the brush and called aloud to those who\nmight hear him; but nobody answered, and then he started to look for\nthe thief.  OLD-man has sharp eyes, and he found the trail in the grass\nwhere somebody had passed while he slept.  'Ho!' he said, 'the\nMountain-lion has stolen my Squirrels.  I see his footprints; see where\nhe has mashed the grass as he walked with those soft feet of his; but I\nshall find him, for I made him and know all his ways.'\n\n\"OLD-man got down on his hands and knees to walk as the Bear-people do,\njust as he did that night in the Sun's lodge, and followed the trail of\nthe Mountain-lion over the hills and through the swamps.  At last he\ncame to a place where the grass was all bent down, and there he found\nhis willow plate, but it was empty.  That was the place where the\nMountain-lion had stopped to eat the rest of the Squirrels, you know;\nbut he didn't stay there long because he expected that OLD-man would\ntry to follow him.\n\n\"The Mountain-lion had eaten so much that he was sleepy and, after\ntravelling a while after he had eaten the Squirrels, he thought he\nwould rest.  He hadn't intended to go to sleep; but he crawled upon a\nbig stone near the foot of a hill and sat down where he could see a\nlong way.  Here his eyes began to wink, and his head began to nod, and\nfinally he slept.\n\n\"Without stopping once, OLD-man kept on the trail.  That is what\ncounts--sticking right to the thing you are doing--and just before\nsundown OLD-man saw the sleeping Lion.  Carefully, lest he wake the\nsleeper, OLD-man crept close, being particular not to move a stone or\nbreak a twig; for the Mountain-lion is much faster than men are, you\nsee; and if OLD-man had wakened the Lion, he would never have caught\nhim again, perhaps.  Little by little he crept to the stone where the\nMountain-lion was dreaming, and at last grabbed him by the tail.  It\nwasn't much of a tail then, but enough for OLD-man to hold to.  Ho!\nThe Lion was scared and begged hard, saying:\n\n\"'Spare me, OLD-man.  You were full and I was hungry.  I had to have\nsomething to eat; had to get my living.  Please let me go and do not\nhurt me.'  Ho! OLD-man was angry--more angry than he was when he waked\nand found that he had been robbed, because he had travelled so far on\nhis hands and knees.\n\n\"'I'll show you.  I'll teach you.  I'll fix you, right now.  Steal from\nme, will you?  Steal from the man that made you, you night-prowling\nrascal!'\n\n\"OLD-man put his foot behind the Mountain-lion's head, and, still\nholding the tail, pulled hard and long, stretching the Lion out to\ngreat length.  He squalled and cried, but OLD-man kept pulling until he\nnearly broke the Mountain-lion in two pieces--until he couldn't stretch\nhim any more.  Then OLD-man put his foot on the Mountain-lion's back,\nand, still holding the tail, stretched that out until the tail was\nnearly as long as the body.\n\n\"'There, you thief--now you are too long and lean to get fat, and you\nshall always look just like that.  Your children shall all grow to look\nthe same way, just to pay you for your stealing from the man that made\nyou.  Come on with me'; and he dragged the poor Lion back to the place\nwhere the fire was, and there rolled him in the hot ashes, singeing his\nrobe till it looked a great deal like burnt hair.  Then OLD-man stuck\nthe Lion's nose against the burnt logs and blackened it some--that is\nwhy his face looks as it does to-day.\n\n\"The Mountain-lion was lame and sore, but OLD-man scolded him some more\nand told him that it would take lots more food to keep him after that,\nand that he would have to work harder to get his living, to pay for\nwhat he had done.  Then he said, 'go now, and remember all the\nMountain-lions that ever live shall look just as you do.'  And they do,\ntoo!\n\n\"That is the story--that is why the Mountain-lion is so long and lean,\nbut he is no bigger thief than OLD-man, nor does he tell any more lies.\nHo!\"\n\n\n\nTHE FIRE-LEGGINGS\n\nThere had been a sudden change in the weather.  A cold rain was\nfalling, and the night comes early when the clouds hang low.  The\nchildren loved a bright fire, and to-night War Eagle's lodge was light\nas day.  Away off on the plains a wolf was howling, and the rain\npattered upon the lodge as though it never intended to quit.  It was a\nsplendid night for story-telling, and War Eagle filled and lighted the\ngreat stone pipe, while the children made themselves comfortable about\nthe fire.\n\nA spark sprang from the burning sticks, and fell upon Fine Bow's bare\nleg.  They all laughed heartily at the boy's antics to rid himself of\nthe burning coal; and as soon as the laughing ceased War Eagle laid\naside the pipe.  An Indian's pipe is large to look at, but holds little\ntobacco.\n\n\"See your shadows on the lodge wall?\" asked the old warrior.  The\nchildren said they saw them, and he continued:\n\n\"Some day I will tell you a story about them, and how they drew the\narrows of our enemies, but to-night I am going to tell you of the great\nfire-leggings.\n\n\"It was long before there were men and women on the world, but my\ngrandfather told me what I shall now tell you.\n\n\"The gray light that hides the night-stars was creeping through the\nforests, and the wind the Sun sends to warn the people of his coming\nwas among the fir tops.  Flowers, on slender stems, bent their heads\nout of respect for the herald-wind's Master, and from the dead top of a\npine-tree the Yellowhammer beat upon his drum and called 'the Sun is\nawake--all hail the Sun!'\n\n\"Then the bush-birds began to sing the song of the morning, and from\nalders the Robins joined, until all live things were awakened by the\ngreat music.  Where the tall ferns grew, the Doe waked her Fawns, and\ntaught them to do homage to the Great Light.  In the creeks, where the\nwater was still and clear, and where throughout the day, like a\ndelicate damaskeen, the shadows of leaves that overhang would lie, the\nSpeckled Trout broke the surface of the pool in his gladness of the\ncoming day.  Pine-squirrels chattered gayly, and loudly proclaimed what\nthe wind had told; and all the shadows were preparing for a great\njourney to the Sand Hills, where the ghost-people dwell.\n\n\"Under a great spruce-tree--where the ground was soft and dry, OLD-man\nslept.  The joy that thrilled creation disturbed him not, although the\nSun was near.  The bird-people looked at the sleeper in wonder, but the\nPine squirrel climbed the great spruce-tree with a pine-cone in his\nmouth.  Quickly he ran out on the limb that spread over OLD-man, and\ndropped the cone on the sleeper's face.  Then he scolded OLD-man,\nsaying: 'Get up--get up--lazy one--lazy one--get up--get up.'\n\n\"Rubbing his eyes in anger, OLD-man sat up and saw the Sun coming--his\nhunting leggings slipping through the thickets--setting them afire,\ntill all the Deer and Elk ran out and sought new places to hide.\n\n\"'Ho, Sun!' called OLD-man, 'those are mighty leggings you wear.  No\nwonder you are a great hunter.  Your leggings set fire to all the\nthickets, and by the light you can easily see the Deer and Elk; they\ncannot hide.  Ho!  Give them to me and I shall then be the great hunter\nand never be hungry.'\n\n\"'Good,' said the Sun, 'take them, and let me see you wear my leggings.'\n\n\"OLD-man was glad in his heart, for he was lazy, and now he thought he\ncould kill the game without much work, and that he could be a great\nhunter--as great as the Sun.  He put on the leggings and at once began\nto hunt the thickets, for he was hungry.  Very soon the leggings began\nto burn his legs.  The faster he travelled the hotter they grew, until\nin pain he cried out to the Sun to come and take back his leggings; but\nthe Sun would not hear him.  On and on OLD-man ran.  Faster and faster\nhe flew through the country, setting fire to the brush and grass as he\npassed.  Finally he came to a great river, and jumped in.\nSizzzzzzz--the water said, when OLD-man's legs touched it.  It cried\nout, as it does when it is sprinkled upon hot stones in the\nsweat-lodge, for the leggings were very hot.  But standing in the cool\nwater OLD-man took off the leggings and threw them out upon the shore,\nwhere the Sun found them later in the day.\n\n\"The Sun's clothes were too big for OLD-man, and his work too great.\n\n\"We should never ask to do the things which Manitou did not intend us\nto do.  If we keep this always in mind we shall never get into trouble.\n\n\"Be yourselves always.  That is what Manitou intended.  Never blame the\nWolf for what he does.  He was made to do such things.  Now I want you\nto go to your fathers' lodges and sleep.  To-morrow night I will tell\nyou why there are so many snakes in the world.  Ho!\"\n\n\n\nTHE MOON AND THE GREAT SNAKE\n\nThe rain had passed; the moon looked down from a clear sky, and the\nbushes and dead grass smelled wet, after the heavy storm.  A cottontail\nran into a clump of wild-rose bushes near War Eagle's lodge, and some\ndogs were close behind the frightened animal, as he gained cover.\nLittle Buffalo Calf threw a stone into the bushes, scaring the rabbit\nfrom his hiding-place, and away went bunny, followed by the yelping\npack.  We stood and listened until the noise of the chase died away,\nand then went into the lodge, where we were greeted, as usual, by War\nEagle.  To-night he smoked; but with greater ceremony, and I suspected\nthat it had something to do with the forthcoming story.  Finally he\nsaid:\n\n\"You have seen many Snakes, I suppose?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" replied the children, \"we have seen a great many.  In the summer\nwe see them every day.\"\n\n\"Well,\" continued the story-teller, \"once there was only one Snake on\nthe whole world, and he was a big one, I tell you.  He was pretty to\nlook at, and was painted with all the colors we know.  This snake was\nproud of his clothes and had a wicked heart.  Most Snakes are wicked,\nbecause they are his relations.\n\n\"Now, I have not told you all about it yet, nor will I tell you\nto-night, but the Moon is the Sun's wife, and some day I shall tell you\nthat story, but to-night I am telling you about the Snakes.\n\n\"You know that the Sun goes early to bed, and that the Moon most always\nleaves before he gets to the lodge.  Sometimes this is not so, but that\nis part of another story.\n\n\"This big Snake used to crawl up a high hill and watch the Moon in the\nsky.  He was in love with her, and she knew it; but she paid no\nattention to him.  She liked his looks, for his clothes were fine, and\nhe was always slick and smooth.  This went on for a long time, but she\nnever talked to him at all.  The Snake thought maybe the hill wasn't\nhigh enough, so he found a higher one, and watched the Moon pass, from\nthe top.  Every night he climbed this high hill and motioned to her.\nShe began to pay more attention to the big Snake, and one morning\nearly, she loafed at her work a little, and spoke to him.  He was\nflattered, and so was she, because he said many nice things to her, but\nshe went on to the Sun's lodge, and left the Snake.\n\n\"The next morning very early she saw the Snake again, and this time she\nstopped a long time--so long that the Sun had started out from the\nlodge before she reached home.  He wondered what kept her so long, and\nbecame suspicious of the Snake.  He made up his mind to watch, and try\nto catch them together.  So every morning the Sun left the lodge a\nlittle earlier than before; and one morning, just as he climbed a\nmountain, he saw the big Snake talking to the Moon.  That made him\nangry, and you can't blame him, because his wife was spending her time\nloafing with a Snake.\n\n\"She ran away; ran to the Sun's lodge and left the Snake on the hill.\nIn no time the Sun had grabbed him.  My, the Sun was angry!  The big\nSnake begged, and promised never to speak to the Moon again, but the\nSun had him; and he smashed him into thousands of little pieces, all of\ndifferent colors from the different parts of his painted body.  The\nlittle pieces each turned into a little snake, just as you see them\nnow, but they were all too small for the Moon to notice after that.\nThat is how so many Snakes came into the world; and that is why they\nare all small, nowadays.\n\n\"Our people do not like the Snake-people very well, but we know that\nthey were made to do something on this world, and that they do it, or\nthey wouldn't live here.\n\n\"That was a short story, but to-morrow night I will tell you why the\nDeer-people have no gall on their livers; and why the Antelope-people\ndo not wear dew-claws, for you should know that there are no other\nanimals with cloven hoofs that are like them in this.\n\n\"I am tired to-night, and I will ask that you go to your lodges, that I\nmay sleep, for I am getting old.  Ho!\"\n\n\n\nWHY THE DEER HAS NO GALL\n\nBright and early the next morning the children were playing on the bank\nof \"The River That Scolds the Other,\" when Fine Bow said:\n\n\"Let us find a Deer's foot, and the foot of an Antelope and look at\nthem, for to-night grandfather will tell us why the Deer has the\ndew-claws, and why the Antelope has none.\"\n\n\"Yes, and let us ask mother if the Deer has no gall on its liver.\nMaybe she can show both the liver of a Deer and that of an Antelope;\nthen we can see for ourselves,\" said Bluebird.\n\nSo they began to look about where the hides had been grained for\ntanning; and sure enough, there were the feet of both the antelope and\nthe deer.  On the deer's feet, or legs, they found the dew-claws, but\non the antelope there were none.  This made them all anxious to know\nwhy these animals, so nearly alike, should differ in this way.\n\nBluebird's mother passed the children on her way to the river for\nwater, and the little girl asked: \"Say, mother, does the Deer have gall\non his liver?\"\n\n\"No, my child, but the Antelope does; and your grandfather will tell\nyou why if you ask him.\"\n\nThat night in the lodge War Eagle placed before his grandchildren the\nleg of a deer and the leg of an antelope, as well as the liver of a\ndeer and the liver of an antelope.\n\n\"See for yourselves that this thing is true, before I tell you why it\nis so, and how it happened.\"\n\n\"We see,\" they replied, \"and to-day we found that these strange things\nare true, but we don't know why, grandfather.\"\n\n\"Of course you don't know why.  Nobody knows that until he is told, and\nnow I shall tell you, so you will always know, and tell your children,\nthat they, too, may know.\n\n\"It was long, long ago, of course.  All these things happened long ago\nwhen the world was young, as you are now.  It was on a summer morning,\nand the Deer was travelling across the plains country to reach the\nmountains on the far-off side, where he had relatives.  He grew\nthirsty, for it was very warm, and stopped to drink from a water-hole\non the plains.  When he had finished drinking he looked up, and there\nwas his own cousin, the Antelope, drinking near him.\n\n\"'Good morning, cousin,' said the Deer.  'It is a warm morning and\nwater tastes good, doesn't it?'\n\n\"'Yes,' replied the Antelope, 'it is warm to-day, but I can beat you\nrunning, just the same.'\n\n\"'Ha-ha!' laughed the Deer--'you beat me running?   Why, you can't run\nhalf as fast as I can, but if you want to run a race let us bet\nsomething.  What shall it be?'\n\n\"'I will bet you my gall-sack,' replied the Antelope.\n\n\"'Good,' said the Deer, 'but let us run toward that range of mountains,\nfor I am going that way, anyhow, to see my relations.'\n\n\"'All right,' said the Antelope.  'All ready, and here we go.'\n\n\"Away they ran toward the far-off range.  All the way the Antelope was\nfar ahead of the Deer; and just at the foot of the mountains he stopped\nto wait for him to catch up.\n\n\"Both were out of breath from running, but both declared they had done\ntheir best, and the Deer, being beaten, gave the Antelope his sack of\ngall.\n\n\"'This ground is too flat for me,' said the Deer.  'Come up the\nhillside where the gulches cut the country, and rocks are in our way,\nand I will show you how to run.  I can't run on flat ground.  It's too\neasy for me.' another race with you on your own ground, and I think I\ncan beat you there, too.'\n\n\"Together they climbed the hill until they reached a rough country,\nwhen the Deer said:\n\n\"'This is my kind of country.  Let us run a race here.  Whoever gets\nahead and stays there, must keep on running until the other calls on\nhim to stop.'\n\n\"'That suits me,' replied the Antelope, 'but what shall we bet this\ntime?   I don't want to waste my breath for nothing.  I'll tell\nyou--let us bet our dew-claws.'\n\n\"'Good.  I'll bet you my dew-claws against your own, that I can beat\nyou again.  Are you all ready?--Go!'\n\n\"Away they went over logs, over stones and across great gulches that\ncut the hills in two.  On and on they ran, with the Deer far ahead of\nthe Antelope.  Both were getting tired, when the Antelope called:\n\n\"'Hi, there--you!  Stop, you can beat me.  I give up.'\n\n\"So the Deer stopped and waited until the Antelope came up to him, and\nthey both laughed over the fun, but the Antelope had to give the Deer\nhis dew-claws, and now he goes without himself.  The Deer wears\ndew-claws and always will, because of that race, but on his liver there\nis no gall, while the Antelope carries a gall-sack like the other\nanimals with cloven hoofs.\n\n\"That is all of that story, but it is too late to tell you another\nto-night.  If you will come to-morrow evening, I will tell you of some\ntrouble that OLD-man got into once.  He deserved it, for he was wicked,\nas you shall see.  Ho!\"\n\n\n\nWHY THE INDIANS WHIP THE BUFFALO-BERRIES FROM THE BUSHES\n\nThe Indian believes that all things live again; that all were created\nby one and the same power; that nothing was created in vain; and that\nin the life beyond the grave he will know all things that he knew here.\nIn that other world he expects to make his living easier, and not\nsuffer from hunger or cold; therefore, all things that die must go to\nhis heaven, in order that he may be supplied with the necessities of\nlife.\n\nThe sun is not the Indian's God, but a personification of the Deity;\nHis greatest manifestation; His light.\n\nThe Indian believes that to each of His creations God gave some\npeculiar power, and that the possessors of these special favors are His\nlieutenants and keepers of the several special attributes; such as\nwisdom, cunning, speed, and the knowledge of healing wounds.  These\nwonderful gifts, he knew, were bestowed as favors by a common God, and\ntherefore he revered these powers, and, without jealousy, paid tribute\nthereto.\n\nThe bear was great in war, because before the horse came, he would\nsometimes charge the camps and kill or wound many people.  Although\nmany arrows were sent into his huge carcass, he seldom died.  Hence the\nIndian was sure that the bear could heal his wounds.  That the bear\npossessed a great knowledge of roots and berries, the Indian knew, for\nhe often saw him digging the one and stripping the others from the\nbushes.  The buffalo, the beaver, the wolf, and the eagle--each\npossessed strange powers that commanded the Indian's admiration and\nrespect, as did many other things in creation.\n\nIf about to go to war, the Indian did not ask his God for aid--oh, no.\nHe realized that God made his enemy, too; and that if He desired that\nenemy's destruction, it would be accomplished without man's aid.  So\nthe Indian sang his song to the bear, prayed to the bear, and thus\ninvoked aid from a brute, and not his God, when he sought to destroy\nhis fellows.\n\nWhenever the Indian addressed the Great God, his prayer was for life,\nand life alone.  He is the most religious man I have ever known, as\nwell as the most superstitious; and there are stories dealing with his\nreligious faith that are startling, indeed.\n\n\"It is the wrong time of year to talk about berries,\" said War Eagle,\nthat night in the lodge, \"but I shall tell you why your mothers whip\nthe buffalo-berries from the bushes.  OLD-man was the one who started\nit, and our people have followed his example ever since.  Ho!  OLD-man\nmade a fool of himself that day.\n\n\"It was the time when buffalo-berries are red and ripe.  All of the\nbushes along the rivers were loaded with them, and our people were\nabout to gather what they needed, when OLD-man changed things, as far\nas the gathering was concerned.\n\n\"He was travelling along a river, and hungry, as he always was.\nStanding on the bank of that river, he saw great clusters of red, ripe\nbuffalo-berries in the water.  They were larger than any berries he had\never seen, and he said:\n\n\"'I guess I will get those berries.  They look fine, and I need them.\nBesides, some of the people will see them and get them, if I don't.'\n\n\"He jumped into the water; looked for the berries; but they were not\nthere.  For a time Old-man stood in the river and looked for the\nberries, but they were gone.\n\n\"After a while he climbed out on the bank again, and when the water got\nsmooth once more there were the berries--the same berries, in the same\nspot in the water.\n\n\"'Ho!--that is a funny thing.  I wonder where they hid that time.  I\nmust have those berries!' he said to himself.\n\n\"In he went again--splashing the water like a Grizzly Bear.  He looked\nabout him and the berries were gone again.  The water was rippling\nabout him, but there were no berries at all.  He felt on the bottom of\nthe river but they were not there.\n\n\"'Well,' he said, 'I will climb out and watch to see where they come\nfrom; then I shall grab them when I hit the water next time.'\n\n\"He did that; but he couldn't tell where the berries came from.  As\nsoon as the water settled and became smooth--there were the\nberries--the same as before.  Ho!--OLD-man was wild; he was angry, I\ntell you.  And in he went flat on his stomach!  He made an awful splash\nand mussed the water greatly; but there were no berries.\n\n\"'I know what I shall do.  I will stay right here and wait for those\nberries; that is what I shall do'; and he did.\n\n\"He thought maybe somebody was looking at him and would laugh, so he\nglanced along the bank.  And there, right over the water, he saw the\nsame bunch of berries on some tall bushes.  Don't you see?   OLD-man\nsaw the shadow of the berry-bunch; not the berries.  He saw the red\nshadow-berries on the water; that was all, and he was such a fool he\ndidn't know they were not real.\n\n\"Well, now he was angry in truth.  Now he was ready for war.  He\nclimbed out on the bank again and cut a club.  Then he went at the\nbuffalo-berry bushes and pounded them till all of the red berries fell\nupon the ground--till the branches were bare of berries.\n\n\"'There,' he said, 'that's what you get for making a fool of the man\nwho made you.  You shall be beaten every year as long as you live, to\npay for what you have done; you and your children, too.'\n\n\"That is how it all came about, and that is why your mothers whip the\nbuffalo-berry bushes and then pick the berries from the ground.  Ho!\"\n\n\n\nOLD-MAN AND THE FOX\n\nI am sure that the plains Indian never made nor used the stone\narrow-head.  I have heard white men say that they had seen Indians use\nthem; but I have never found an Indian that ever used them himself, or\nknew of their having been used by his people.  Thirty years ago I knew\nIndians, intimately, who were nearly a hundred years old, who told me\nthat the stone arrow-head had never been in use in their day, nor had\ntheir fathers used them in their own time.  Indians find these\narrow-points just as they find the stone mauls and hammers, which I\nhave seen them use thousands of times, but they do not make them any\nmore than they make the stone mauls and hammers.  In the old days, both\nthe head of the lance and the point of the arrow were of bone; even\nknives were of bone, but some other people surely made the arrow-points\nthat are scattered throughout the United States and Europe, I am told.\n\nOne night I asked War Eagle if he had ever known the use, by Indians,\nof the stone arrow-head, and he said he had not.  He told me that just\nacross the Canadian line there was a small lake, surrounded by trees,\nwherein there was an island covered with long reeds and grass.  All\nabout the edge of this island were willows that grew nearly to the\nwater, but intervening there was a narrow beach of stones.  Here, he\nsaid, the stone arrow-heads had been made by little ghost-people who\nlived there, and he assured me that he had often seen these strange\nlittle beings when he was a small boy.  Whenever his people were camped\nby this lake the old folks waked the children at daybreak to see the\ninhabitants of this strange island; and always when a noise was made,\nor the sun came up, the little people hid away.  Often he had seen\ntheir heads above the grass and tiny willows, and his grandfather had\ntold him that all the stone arrow-heads had been made on that island,\nand in war had been shot all over the world, by magic bows.\n\n\"No,\" he said, \"I shall not lie to you, my friend.  I never saw those\nlittle people shoot an arrow, but there are so many arrows there, and\nso many pieces of broken ones, that it proves that my grandfather was\nright in what he told me.  Besides, nobody could ever sleep on that\nisland.\"\n\nI have heard a legend wherein OLD-man, in the beginning, killed an\nanimal for the people to eat, and then instructed them to use the ribs\nof the dead brute to make knives and arrow-points.  I have seen\nlance-heads, made from shank bones, that were so highly polished that\nthey resembled pearl, and I have in my possession bone arrow-points\nsuch as were used long ago.  Indians do not readily forget their tribal\nhistory, and I have photographed a war-bonnet, made of twisted buffalo\nhair, that was manufactured before the present owner's people had, or\never saw, the horse.  The owner of this bonnet has told me that the\nstone arrow-head was never used by Indians, and that he knew that\nghost-people made and used them when the world was young.\n\nThe bow of the plains Indian was from thirty-six to forty-four inches\nlong, and made from the wood of the choke-cherry tree.  Sometimes bows\nwere made from the service (or sarvice) berry bush, and this bush\nfurnished the best material for arrows.  I have seen hickory bows among\nthe plains Indians, too, and these were longer and always straight,\ninstead of being fashioned like Cupid's weapon.  These hickory bows\ncame from the East, of course, and through trading, reached the plains\ncountry.  I have also seen bows covered with the skins of the\nbull-snake, or wound with sinew, and bows have been made from the horns\nof the elk, in the early days, after a long course of preparation.\n\nBefore Lewis and Clark crossed this vast country, the Blackfeet had\ntraded with the Hudson Bay Company, and steel knives and lance-heads,\nbearing the names of English makers, still remain to testify to the\nrelations existing, in those days, between those famous traders and men\nof the Piegan, Blood, and Blackfoot tribes, although it took many years\nfor traders on our own side of the line to gain their friendship.\nIndeed, trappers and traders blamed the Hudson Bay Company for the\nfeeling of hatred held by the three tribes of Blackfeet for the\n\"Americans\"; and there is no doubt that they were right to some extent,\nalthough the killing of the Blackfoot warrior by Captain Lewis in 1805\nmay have been largely to blame for the trouble.  Certain it is that for\nmany years after the killing, the Blackfeet kept traders and trappers\non the dodge unless they were Hudson Bay men, and in 1810 drove the\n\"American\" trappers and traders from their fort at Three-Forks.\n\nIt was early when we gathered in War Eagle's lodge, the children and I,\nbut the story-telling began at once.\n\n\"Now I shall tell you a story that will show you how little OLD-man\ncared for the welfare of others,\" said War Eagle.\n\n\"It happened in the fall, this thing I shall tell you, and the day was\nwarm and bright.  OLD-man and his brother the Red Fox were travelling\ntogether for company.  They were on a hillside when OLD-Man said: 'I am\nhungry.  Can you not kill a Rabbit or something for us to eat?   The\nway is long, and I am getting old, you know.  You are swift of foot and\ncunning, and there are Rabbits among these rocks.'\n\n\"'Ever since morning came I have watched for food, but the moon must be\nwrong or something, for I see nothing that is good to eat,' replied the\nFox.  'Besides that, my medicine is bad and my heart is weak.  You are\ngreat, and I have heard you can do most anything.  Many snows have\nknown your footprints, and the snows make us all wise.  I think you are\nthe one to help, not I.'\n\n\"'Listen, brother,' said OLD-man, 'I have neither bow nor\nlance--nothing to use in hunting.  Your weapons are ever with you--your\ngreat nose and your sharp teeth.  Just as we came up this hill I saw\ntwo great Buffalo-Bulls.  You were not looking, but I saw them, and if\nyou will do as I want you to we shall have plenty of meat.  This is my\nscheme; I shall pull out all of your hair, leaving your body white and\nsmooth, like that of the fish.  I shall leave only the white hair that\ngrows on the tip of your tail, and that will make you funny to look at.\nThen you are to go before the Bulls and commence to dance and act\nfoolish.  Of course the Bulls will laugh at you, and as soon as they\nget to laughing you must act sillier than ever.  That will make them\nlaugh so hard that they will fall down and laugh on the ground.  When\nthey fall, I shall come upon them with my knife and kill them.  Will\nyou do as I suggest, brother, or will you starve?'\n\n\"'What!  Pull out my hair?   I shall freeze with no hair on my body,\nOLD-man.  No--I will not suffer you to pull my hair out when the winter\nis so near,' cried the Fox.\n\n\"'Ho!  It is vanity, my brother, not fear of freezing.  If you will do\nthis we shall have meat for the winter, and a fire to keep us warm.\nSee, the wind is in the south and warm.  There is no danger of\nfreezing.  Come, let me do it,' replied OLD-man.\n\n\"'Well--if you are sure that I won't freeze, all right,' said the Fox,\n'but I'll bet I'll be sorry.'\n\n\"So Old-man pulled out all of the Fox's hair, leaving only the white\ntip that grew near the end of his tail.  Poor little Red Fox shivered\nin the warm breeze that OLD-man told about, and kept telling OLD-man\nthat the hair-pulling hurt badly.  Finally OLD-man finished the job and\nlaughed at the Fox, saying: 'Why, you make me laugh, too.  Now go and\ndance before the Bulls, and I shall watch and be ready for my part of\nthe scheme.'\n\n\"Around the hill went the poor Red Fox and found the Bulls.  Then he\nbegan to dance before them as OLD-man had told him.  The Bulls took one\nlook at the hairless Fox and began to laugh.  My!  How they did laugh,\nand then the Red Fox stood upon his hind legs and danced some more;\nacted sillier, as OLD-man had told him.  Louder and louder laughed the\nBulls, until they fell to the ground with their breath short from the\nlaughing.  The Red Fox kept at his antics lest the Bulls get up before\nOLD-man reached them; but soon he saw him coming, with a knife in his\nhand.\n\n\"Running up to the Bulls, OLD-man plunged his knife into their hearts,\nand they died.  Into the ground ran their blood, and then OLD-man\nlaughed and said: 'Ho, I am the smart one.  I am the real hunter.  I\ndepend on my head for meat--ha!--ha!-ha!'\n\n\"Then OLD-man began to dress and skin the Bulls, and he worked hard and\nlong.  In fact it was nearly night when he got the work all done.\n\n\"Poor little Red Fox had stood there all the time, and OLD-man never\nnoticed that the wind had changed and was coming from the north.  Yes,\npoor Red Fox stood there and spoke no word; said nothing at all, even\nwhen OLD-man had finished.\n\n\"'Hi, there, you! what's the matter with you?  Are you sorry that we\nhave meat?  Say, answer me!'\n\n\"But the Red Fox was frozen stiff--was dead.  Yes, the north wind had\nkilled him while OLD-man worked at the skinning.  The Fox had been\ncaught by the north wind naked, and was dead.  OLD-man built a fire and\nwarmed his hands; that was all he cared for the Red Fox, and that is\nall he cared for anybody.  He might have known that no person could\nstand the north wind without a robe; but as long as he was warm\nhimself--that was all he wanted.\n\n\"That is all of that story.  To-morrow night I shall tell you why the\nbirch-tree wears those slashes in its bark.  That was some of OLD-man's\nwork, too.  Ho!\"\n\n\n\nWHY THE BIRCH-TREE WEARS THE SLASHES IN ITS BARK\n\nThe white man has never understood the Indian, and the example set the\nWestern tribes of the plains by our white brethren has not been such as\nto inspire the red man with either confidence or respect for our laws\nor our religion.  The fighting trapper, the border bandit, the\nhorse-thief and rustler, in whose stomach legitimately acquired beef\nwould cause colic--were the Indians' first acquaintances who wore a\nwhite skin, and he did not know that they were not of the best type.\nBeing outlaws in every sense, these men sought shelter from the Indian\nin the wilderness; and he learned of their ways about his lodge-fire,\nor in battle, often provoked by the white ruffian in the hope of gain.\nThey lied to the Indian--these first white acquaintances, and in\nafter-years, the great Government of the United States lied and lied\nagain, until he has come to believe that there is no truth in the white\nman's heart.  And I don't blame him.\n\nThe Indian is a charitable man.  I don't believe he ever refused food\nand shelter or abused a visitor.  He has never been a bigot, and\nconcedes to every other man the right to his own beliefs.  Further than\nthat, the Indian believes that every man's religion and belief is right\nand proper for that man's self.\n\nIt was blowing a gale and snow was being driven in fine flakes across\nthe plains when we went to the lodge for a story.  Every minute the\nweather was growing colder, and an early fall storm of severity was\nupon us.  The wind seemed to add to the good nature of our host as he\nfilled and passed me the pipe.\n\n\"This is the night I was to tell you about the Birch-Tree, and the wind\nwill help to make you understand,\" said War Eagle after we had finished\nsmoking.\n\n\"Of course,\" he continued, \"this all happened in the summer-time when\nthe weather was warm, very warm.  Sometimes, you know, there are great\nwinds in the summer, too.\n\n\"It was a hot day, and OLD-man was trying to sleep, but the heat made\nhim sick.  He wandered to a hilltop for air; but there was no air.\nThen he went down to the river and found no relief.  He travelled to\nthe timberlands, and there the heat was great, although he found plenty\nof shade.  The travelling made him warmer, of course, but he wouldn't\nstay still.\n\n\"By and by he called to the winds to blow, and they commenced.  First\nthey didn't blow very hard, because they were afraid they might make\nOLD-man angry, but he kept crying:\n\n\"'Blow harder--harder--harder!  Blow worse than ever you blew before,\nand send this heat away from the world.'\n\n\"So, of course, the winds did blow harder--harder than they ever had\nblown before.\n\n\"'Bend and break, Fir-Tree!' cried OLD-man, and the Fir-Tree did bend\nand break.  'Bend and break, Pine-Tree!' and the Pine-Tree did bend and\nbreak.  'Bend and break, Spruce-Tree!' and the Spruce-Tree did bend and\nbreak.  'Bend and break, O Birch-Tree!' and the Birch-Tree did bend,\nbut it wouldn't break--no, sir!--it wouldn't break!\n\n\"'Ho!  Birch-Tree, won't you mind me?  Bend and break!  I tell you,'\nbut all the Birch-Tree would do was to bend.\n\n\"It bent to the ground; it bent double to please OLD-man, but it would\nnot break.\n\n\"'Blow harder, wind!' cried OLD-man, 'blow harder and break the\nBirch-Tree.'  The wind tried to blow harder, but it couldn't, and that\nmade the thing worse, because OLD-man was so angry he went crazy.\n'Break!  I tell you--break!' screamed OLD-man to the Birch-Tree.\n\n\"'I won't break,' replied the Birch; 'I shall never break for any wind.\nI will bend, but I shall never, never break.'\n\n\"'You won't, hey?'  cried OLD-man, and he rushed at the Birch-Tree with\nhis hunting-knife.  He grabbed the top of the Birch because it was\ntouching the ground, and began slashing the bark of the Birch-Tree with\nthe knife.  All up and down the trunk of the tree OLD-man slashed,\nuntil the Birch was covered with the knife slashes.\n\n\"'There! that is for not minding me.  That will do you good!  As long\nas time lasts you shall always look like that, Birch-Tree; always be\nmarked as one who will not mind its maker.  Yes, and all the\nBirch-Trees in the world shall have the same marks forever.'  They do,\ntoo.  You have seen them and have wondered why the Birch-Tree is so\nqueerly marked.  Now you know.\n\n\"That is all--Ho!\"\n\n\n\nMISTAKES OF OLD-MAN\n\nAll night the storm raged, and in the morning the plains were white\nwith snow.  The sun came and the light was blinding, but the hunters\nwere abroad early, as usual.\n\nThat day the children came to my camp, and I told them several stories\nthat appeal to white children.  They were deeply interested, and asked\nmany questions.  Not until the hunters returned did my visitors leave.\n\nThat night War Eagle told us of the mistakes of OLD-man.  He said:\n\n\"OLD-man made a great many mistakes in making things in the world, but\nhe worked until he had everything good.  I told you at the beginning\nthat OLD-man made mistakes, but I didn't tell you what they were, so\nnow I shall tell you.\n\n\"One of the things he did that was wrong, was to make the Big-Horn to\nlive on the plains.  Yes, he made him on the plains and turned him\nloose, to make his living there.  Of course the Big-Horn couldn't run\non the plains, and OLD-man wondered what was wrong.  Finally, he said:\n'Come here, Big-Horn!' and the Big-Horn came to him.  OLD-man stuck his\narm through the circle his horns made, and dragged the Big-Horn far up\ninto the mountains.  There he set him free again, and sat down to watch\nhim.  Ho!  It made OLD-man dizzy to watch the Big-Horn run about on the\nragged cliffs.  He saw at once that this was the country the Big-Horn\nliked, and he left him there.  Yes, he left him there forever, and\nthere he stays, seldom coming down to the lower country.\n\n\"While OLD-man was waiting to see what the Big-Horn would do in the\nhigh mountains, he made an Antelope and set him free with the Big-Horn.\nHo!  But the Antelope stumbled and fell down among the rocks.  He\ncouldn't man called to the Antelope to come back to him, and the\nAntelope did come to him.  Then he called to the Big-Horn, and said:\n\n\"'You are all right, I guess, but this one isn't, and I'll have to take\nhim somewhere else.'\n\n\"He dragged the Antelope down to the prairie country, and set him free\nthere.  Then he watched him a minute; that was as long as the Antelope\nwas in sight, for he was afraid OLD-man might take him back to the\nmountains.\n\n\"He said: 'I guess that fellow was made for the plains, all right, so\nI'll leave him there'; and he did.  That is why the Antelope always\nstays on the plains, even to-day.  He likes it better.\n\n\"That wasn't a very long story; sometime when you get older I will tell\nyou some different stories, but that will be all for this time, I\nguess.  Ho!\"\n\n\n\nHOW THE MAN FOUND HIS MATE\n\nEach tribe has its own stories.  Most of them deal with the same\nsubjects, differing only in immaterial particulars.\n\nInstead of squirrels in the timber, the Blackfeet are sure they were\nprairie-dogs that OLD-man roasted that time when he made the\nmountain-lion long and lean.  The Chippewas and Crees insist that they\nwere squirrels that were cooked and eaten, but one tribe is essentially\na forest-people and the other lives on the plains--hence the difference.\n\nSome tribes will not wear the feathers of the owl, nor will they have\nanything to do with that bird, while others use his feathers freely.\n\nThe forest Indian wears the soft-soled moccasin, while his brother of\nthe plains covers the bottoms of his footwear with rawhide, because of\nthe cactus and prickly-pear, most likely.\n\nThe door of the lodge of the forest Indian reaches to the ground, but\nthe plains Indian makes his lodge skin to reach all about the circle at\nthe bottom, because of the wind.\n\nOne night in War Eagle's lodge, Other-person asked: \"Why don't the Bear\nhave a tail, grandfather?\"\n\nWar Eagle laughed and said: \"Our people do not know why, but we believe\nhe was made that way at the beginning, although I have heard men of\nother tribes say that the Bear lost his tail while fishing.\n\n\"I don't know how true it is, but I have been told that a long time ago\nthe Bear was fishing in the winter, and the Fox asked him if he had any\nluck.\n\n\"'No,' replied the Bear, 'I can't catch a fish.'\n\n\"'Well,' said the Fox, 'if you will stick your long tail down through\nthis hole in the ice, and sit very still, I am sure you will catch a\nfish.'\n\n\"So the Bear stuck his tail through the hole in the ice, and the Fox\ntold him to sit still, till he called him; then the Fox went off,\npretending to hunt along the bank.  It was mighty cold weather, and the\nwater froze all about the Bear's tail, yet he sat still, waiting for\nthe Fox to call him.  Yes, the Bear sat so still and so long that his\ntail was frozen in the ice, but he didn't know it.  When the Fox\nthought it was time, he called:\n\n\"'Hey, Bear, come here quick--quick!  I have a Rabbit in this hole, and\nI want you to help me dig him out.'  Ho!  The Bear tried to get up, but\nhe couldn't.\n\n\"'Hey, Bear, come here--there are two Rabbits in this hole,' called the\nFox.\n\n\"The Bear pulled so hard to get away from the ice, that he broke his\ntail off short to his body.  Then the Fox ran away laughing at the Bear.\n\n\"I hardly believe that story, but once I heard an old man who visited\nmy father from the country far east of here, tell it.  I remembered it.\nBut I can't say that I know it is true, as I can the others.\n\n\"When I told you the story of how OLD-man made the world over, after\nthe water had made its war upon it, I told you how the first man and\nwoman were made.  There is another story of how the first man found his\nwife, and I will tell you that.\n\n\"After OLD-man had made a man to look like himself, he left him to live\nwith the Wolves, and went away.  The man had a hard time of it, with no\nclothes to keep him warm, and no wife to help him, so he went out\nlooking for OLD-man.\n\n\"It took the man a long time to find OLD-man's lodge, but as soon as he\ngot there he went right in and said:\n\n\"'OLD-man, you have made me and left me to live with the Wolf-people.\nI don't like them at all.  They give me scraps of meat to eat and won't\nbuild a fire.  They have wives, but I don't want a Wolf-woman.  I think\nyou should take better care of me.'\n\n\"'Well,' replied OLD-man, 'I was just waiting for you to come to see\nme.  I have things fixed for you.  You go down this river until you\ncome to a steep hillside.  There you will see a lodge.  Then I will\nleave you to do the rest.  Go!'\n\n\"The man started and travelled all that day.  When night came he camped\nand ate some berries that grew near the river.  The next morning he\nstarted down the river again, looking for the steep hillside and the\nlodge.  Just before sundown, the man saw a fine lodge near a steep\nhillside, and he knew that was the lodge he was looking for; so he\ncrossed the river and went into the lodge.\n\n\"Sitting by the fire inside, was a woman.  She was dressed in buckskin\nclothes, and was cooking some meat that smelled good to the man, but\nwhen she saw him without any clothes, she pushed him out of the lodge,\nand dropped the door.\n\n\"Things didn't look very good to that man, I tell you, but to get even\nwith the woman, he went up on the steep hillside and commenced to roll\nbig rocks down upon her lodge.  He kept this up until one of the\nlargest rocks knocked down the lodge, and the woman ran out, crying.\n\n\"When the man heard the woman crying, it made him sorry and he ran down\nthe hill to her.  She sat down on the ground, and the man ran to where\nshe was and said:\n\n\"'I am sorry I made you cry, woman.  I will help you fix your lodge.  I\nwill stay with you, if you will only let me.'\n\n\"That pleased the woman, and she showed the man how to fix up the lodge\nand gather some wood for the fire.  Then she let him come inside and\neat.  Finally, she made him some clothes, and they got along very well,\nafter that.\n\n\"That is how the man found his wife--Ho!\"\n\n\n\nDREAMS\n\nAs soon as manhood is attained, the young Indian must secure his\n\"charm,\" or \"medicine.\"  After a sweat-bath, he retires to some lonely\nspot, and there, for four days and nights, if necessary, he remains in\nsolitude.  During this time he eats nothing; drinks nothing; but spends\nhis time invoking the Great Mystery for the boon of a long life.  In\nthis state of mind, he at last sleeps, perhaps dreams.  If a dream does\nnot come to him, he abandons the task for a time, and later on will\ntake another sweat-bath and try again.  Sometimes dangerous cliffs, or\nother equally uncomfortable places, are selected for dreaming, because\nthe surrounding terrors impress themselves upon the mind, and even in\nslumber add to the vividness of dreams.\n\nAt last the dream comes, and in it some bird or animal appears as a\nhelper to the dreamer, in trouble.  Then he seeks that bird or animal;\nkills a specimen; and if a bird, he stuffs its skin with moss and\nforever keeps it near him.  If an animal, instead of a bird, appears in\nthe dream, the Indian takes his hide, claws, or teeth; and throughout\nhis life never leaves it behind him, unless in another dream a greater\ncharm is offered.  If this happens, he discards the old \"medicine\" for\nthe new; but such cases are rare.\n\nSometimes the Indian will deck his \"medicine-bundle\" with fanciful\ntrinkets and quill-work At other times the \"bundle\" is kept forever out\nof the sight of all uninterested persons, and is altogether unadorned.\nBut \"medicine\" is necessary; without it, the Indian is afraid of his\nshadow.\n\nAn old chief, who had been in many battles, once told me his great\ndream, withholding the name of the animal or bird that appeared therein\nand became his \"medicine.\"\n\nHe said that when he was a boy of twelve years, his father, who was\nchief of his tribe, told him that it was time that he tried to dream.\nAfter his sweat-bath, the boy followed his father without speaking,\nbecause the postulant must not converse or associate with other humans\nbetween the taking of the bath and the finished attempt to dream.  On\nand on into the dark forest the father led, followed by the naked boy,\ntill at last the father stopped on a high hill, at the foot of a giant\npine-tree.\n\nBy signs the father told the boy to climb the tree and to get into an\neagle's nest that was on the topmost boughs.  Then the old man went\naway, in order that the boy might reach the nest without coming too\nclose to his human conductor.\n\nObediently the boy climbed the tree and sat upon the eagle's nest on\nthe top.  \"I could see very far from that nest,\" he told me.  \"The day\nwas warm and I hoped to dream that night, but the wind rocked the tree\ntop, and the darkness made me so much afraid that I did not sleep.\n\n\"On the fourth night there came a terrible thunder-storm, with\nlightning and much wind.  The great pine groaned and shook until I was\nsure it must fall.  All about it, equally strong trees went down with\nloud crashings, and in the dark there were many awful sounds--sounds\nthat I sometimes hear yet.  Rain came, and I grew cold and more afraid.\nI had eaten nothing, of course, and I was weak--so weak and tired, that\nat last I slept, in the nest.  I dreamed; yes, it was a wonderful dream\nthat came to me, and it has most all come to pass.  Part is yet to\ncome.  But come it surely will.\n\n\"First I saw my own people in three wars.  Then I saw the Buffalo\ndisappear in a hole in the ground, followed by many of my people.  Then\nI saw the whole world at war, and many flags of white men were in this\nland of ours.  It was a terrible war, and the fighting and the blood\nmade me sick in my dream.  Then, last of all, I saw a 'person'\ncoming--coming across what seemed the plains.  There were deep shadows\nall about him as he approached.  This 'person' kept beckoning me to\ncome to him, and at last I did go to him.\n\n\"'Do you know who I am,' he asked me.\n\n\"'No, \"person,\" I do not know you.  Who are you, and where is your\ncountry?'\n\n\"'If you will listen to me, boy, you shall be a great chief and your\npeople shall love you.  If you do not listen, then I shall turn against\nyou.  My name is \"Reason.\"'\n\n\"As the 'person' spoke this last, he struck the ground with a stick he\ncarried, and the blow set the grass afire.  I have always tried to know\nthat 'person.'  I think I know him wherever he may be, and in any camp.\nHe has helped me all my life, and I shall never turn against\nhim--never.\"\n\nThat was the old chief's dream and now a word about the sweat-bath.  A\nsmall lodge is made of willows, by bending them and sticking the ends\nin the ground.  A completed sweat-lodge is shaped like an inverted\nbowl, and in the centre is a small hole in the ground.  The lodge is\ncovered with robes, bark, and dirt, or anything that will make it\nreasonably tight.  Then a fire is built outside and near the\nsweat-lodge in which stones are heated.  When the stones are ready, the\nbather crawls inside the sweat-lodge, and an assistant rolls the hot\nstones from the fire, and into the lodge.  They are then rolled into\nthe hole in the lodge and sprinkled with water.  One cannot imagine a\nhotter vapor bath than this system produces, and when the bather has\nsatisfied himself inside, he darts from the sweat-lodge into the river,\nwinter or summer.  This treatment killed thousands of Indians when the\nsmallpox was brought to them from Saint Louis, in the early days.\n\nThat night in the lodge War Eagle told a queer yarn.  I shall modify it\nsomewhat, but in our own sacred history there is a similar tale, well\nknown to all.  He said:\n\n\"Once, a long time ago, two 'thunders' were travelling in the air.\nThey came over a village of our people, and there stopped to look about.\n\n\"In this village there was one fine, painted lodge, and in it there was\nan old man, an aged woman, and a beautiful young woman with wonderful\nhair.  Of course the 'thunders' could look through the lodge skin and\nsee all that was inside.  One of them said to the other: 'Let us marry\nthat young woman, and never tell her about it.'\n\n\"'All right,' replied the other 'thunder.'  'I am willing, for she is\nthe finest young woman in all the village.  She is good in her heart,\nand she is honest.'\n\n\"So they married her, without telling her about it, and she became the\nmother of twin boys.  When these boys were born, they sat up and told\ntheir mother and the other people that they were not people, but were\n'thunders,' and that they would grow up quickly.\n\n\"'When we shall have been on earth a while, we shall marry, and stay\nuntil we each have four sons of our own, then we shall go away and\nagain become \"thunders,\"' they said.\n\n\"It all came to pass, just as they said it would.  When they had\nmarried good women and each had four sons, they told the people one day\nthat it was time for them to go away forever.\n\n\"There was much sorrow among the people, for the twins were good men\nand taught many good things which we have never forgotten, but\neverybody knew it had to be as they said.  While they lived with us,\nthese twins could heal the sick and tell just what was going to happen\non earth.\n\n\"One day at noon the twins dressed themselves in their finest clothes\nand went out to a park in the forest.  All the people followed them and\nsaw them lie down on the ground in the park.  The people stayed in the\ntimber that grew about the edge of the park, and watched them until\nclouds and mists gathered about and hid them from view.\n\n\"It thundered loudly and the winds blew; trees fell down; and when the\nmists and clouds cleared away, they were gone--gone forever.  But the\npeople have never forgotten them, and my grandfather, who is in the\nground near Rocker, was a descendant from one of the sons of the\n'thunders.'  Ho!\"\n\n\n\nRETROSPECTION\n\nIt was evening in the bad-lands, and the red sun had slipped behind the\nfar-off hills.  The sundown breeze bent the grasses in the coulees and\ncurled tiny dust-clouds on the barren knolls.  Down in a gulch a clear,\ncool creek dallied its way toward the Missouri, where its water, bitter\nas gall, would be lost in the great stream.  Here, where Nature forbids\nman to work his will, and where the she wolf dens and kills to feed her\nlitter, an aged Indian stood near the scattered bones of two great\nbuffalo-bulls.  Time had bleached the skulls and whitened the old\nwarrior's hair, but in the solitude he spoke to the bones as to a\nboyhood friend:\n\n\"Ho!  Buffalo, the years are long since you died, and your tribe, like\nmine, was even then shrinking fast, but you did not know it; would not\nbelieve it; though the signs did not lie.  My father and his father\nknew your people, and when one night you went away, we thought you did\nbut hide and would soon come back.  The snows have come and gone many\ntimes since then, and still your people stay away.  The young-men say\nthat the great herds have gone to the Sand Hills, and that my father\nstill has meat.  They have told me that the white man, in his greed,\nhas killed--and not for meat--all the Buffalo that our people knew.\nThey have said that the great herds that made the ground tremble as\nthey ran were slain in a few short years by those who needed not.  Can\nthis be true, when ever since there was a world, our people killed your\nkind, and still left herds that grew in numbers until they often\nblocked the rivers when they passed?  Our people killed your kind that\nthey themselves might live, but never did they go to war against you.\nTell me, do your people hide, or are the young-men speaking truth, and\nhave your people gone with mine to Sand Hill shadows to come back no\nmore?\"\n\n\"Ho! red man--my people all have gone.  The young-men tell the truth\nand all my tribe have gone to feed among the shadow-hills, and your\nfather still has meat.  My people suffer from his arrows and his lance,\nyet there the herds increase as they did here, until the white man came\nand made his war upon us without cause or need.  I was one of the last\nto die, and with my brother here fled to this forbidding country that I\nmight hide; but one day when the snow was on the world, a white\nmurderer followed on our trail, and with his noisy weapon sent our\nspirits to join the great shadow-herds.  Meat?   No, he took no meat,\nbut from our quivering flesh he tore away the robes that Napa gave to\nmake us warm, and left us for the Wolves.  That night they came, and\nquarrelling, fighting, snapping 'mong themselves, left but our bones to\ngreet the morning sun.  These bones the Coyotes and the weaker ones did\ndrag and scrape, and scrape again, until the last of flesh or muscle\ndisappeared.  Then the winds came and sang--and all was done.\"","title":"Indian Why Stories: Sparks from War Eagle's Lodge-Fire","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":29547}