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+Project Gutenberg's Indian Legends Retold, by Elaine Goodale Eastman
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Indian Legends Retold
+
+Author: Elaine Goodale Eastman
+
+Illustrator: George Varian
+
+Release Date: April 19, 2011 [EBook #35909]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INDIAN LEGENDS RETOLD ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by K Nordquist, Sam W. and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
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+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                    INDIAN
+                LEGENDS RETOLD
+
+                      BY
+            ELAINE GOODALE EASTMAN
+
+             WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY
+                 GEORGE VARIAN
+
+
+                 [Decoration]
+
+
+                    BOSTON
+          LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY
+                     1919
+
+
+
+              _Copyright, 1919_,
+        By Little, Brown, and Company.
+
+             _All rights reserved_
+
+          Published, September, 1919
+
+
+                 Norwood Press
+          Set up and electrotyped by
+   J. S. Cushing Co., Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
+                 Presswork by
+  S. J. Parkhill & Co., Boston, Mass., U.S.A.
+
+
+
+
+                   BOOKS BY
+            ELAINE GOODALE EASTMAN
+
+                  Yellow Star
+             Indian Legends Retold
+
+
+            _In Collaboration with_
+              CHARLES A. EASTMAN
+
+                Wigwam Evenings
+
+
+
+
+  [Illustration: THE CAPTIVE
+    The murdered dove instantly became a whole flock of hawks.
+    _Frontispiece. See page 18._]
+
+
+
+
+ACKNOWLEDGMENT
+
+
+The author wishes to thank the Bureau of American Ethnology,
+Washington, D.C., for kind permission to make use of certain of the
+stories contained in their collections.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+THE SIGNIFICANCE OF INDIAN LEGENDS
+
+
+The first Indian legends, repeated by the fireside to children, deal
+with the animals humanized, their gifts and their weaknesses, in such
+a way as to be a lesson to the young. Our view of the creation allows
+a soul to all living creatures, and rocks and trees are reverenced as
+sharers in the divine. Beyond their simplicity and realism there is
+always the unexplained, the background of mystery and spirituality.
+
+These animal fables serve as an introduction to more complicated
+stories with human actors, which almost always have their hidden moral
+and are accepted by our people as guides to life. They are full of
+humor and poetry, of pride, tenderness, boastfulness, and real
+heroism. Human lives are mingled with the supernatural, with elements
+and mysterious powers, bringing swift punishment for wrong-doing. This
+is the basis of our Indian philosophy, the groundwork early laid in
+the mind of the child, for him to develop later in life by his own
+observation.
+
+One who reads these stories carefully and thoughtfully will understand
+something of Indian psychology. Mystery to the Indian is not mystery
+after all, but a reflection of the Great Mystery which opens out as
+simply as a flower. To us nothing is strange or impossible. It seems
+natural that an animal or even a rock should speak; God is in it and
+speaks through it.
+
+It must be remembered that these are only fragments of what were once
+consecutive and continued stories, too long and involved to be set
+down here in full. With just such stories the foundation of my early
+education was laid in the cold winter evenings, and the impression
+made was permanent. The characters were real people to me, and the
+tales of the old men and old women fostered a love of nature,
+reverence, a kindly spirit, and finally patriotism and the inspiration
+to heroic effort. Like the other boys, I was expected to learn them by
+heart and rehearse them in the family circle. It is gratifying to have
+these old stories saved for the children of another race and
+generation.
+
+                                   Charles A. Eastman (Ohiyesa).
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                            PAGE
+
+    Introduction                                             vii
+
+    A Little Talk about Indians                                1
+
+    Pima Tales                                                11
+
+    Cherokee Tales                                            23
+
+    Choctaw Stories                                           51
+
+    Iroquois Tales                                            65
+
+    Tsimshian Tales                                           77
+
+    Alaskan Stories                                          137
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+    The murdered dove instantly became a whole
+      flock of hawks                              _Frontispiece_
+
+    One contrived to pull her son down but the
+      other six went up into the sky                     PAGE 44
+
+    He makes it choose one of three gifts                 "   55
+
+    He rudely pushed her backward until she
+      fell down                                           "   83
+
+    He discovered the woman in a small pool               "  111
+
+    He took him to a tall stump in the very
+      middle of the lake and there he left him            "  144
+
+
+
+
+INDIAN LEGENDS RETOLD
+
+
+
+
+A LITTLE TALK ABOUT INDIANS
+
+
+Many of us think of the American Indians as all one people. We talk of
+"the Indian language." There are more than fifty distinct Indian
+languages.
+
+There are many other important differences between the various tribes.
+The nature of the country, the kinds of game and other foods, the
+climate, winds, trees, all have their effect in molding the daily
+lives of the people. Their habits and customs are reflected in their
+legends and popular tales as in a looking-glass.
+
+The mountains, plains, and seashore are the great natural features of
+our country, and corresponding to these we have coast tribes, prairie
+tribes, and forest-dwellers or mountaineers among the natives. If you
+try, you will soon be able to tell from reading a story what part of
+the country it came from. It is an interesting study to read and
+compare the legends of different tribes.
+
+The Cherokees lived originally in the South Atlantic States and some
+few still have their homes in the mountains of North Carolina, but the
+greater part of the tribe was forcibly removed many years ago to the
+old Indian Territory. There they developed a civilized government,
+established schools and colleges, and are now well educated and
+intermixed with white people. The stories repeated here were gathered
+from the eastern or parent branch. Their shrewdness and quick wit is
+very noticeable. Sequoyah, whose impressive statue stands in bronze
+in the rotunda of the Capitol at Washington, was the famous Cherokee
+who invented an alphabet.
+
+The Choctaws formerly lived in Mississippi and Louisiana but are now
+one of the Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma (once Indian Territory).
+
+The Tsimshians are Indians of the North Pacific coast and in the old
+days lived mainly by fishing. They also hunted deer, bears, and other
+animals. Their houses and boats were made chiefly of cedar wood, and
+they also wove the bark of the cedar into baskets, ropes, mats, and
+even clothing. The salmon and the cedar were to them what the buffalo
+was to the Indians of the Great Plains, so you will not be surprised
+by the many references to them both in these stories. There is a
+strong likeness between their customs and those of the Alaskan tribes.
+
+The home of the brave and manly Iroquois was in the valley of the St.
+Lawrence, the basins of Lakes Erie and Ontario, and most of what is
+now the State of New York. They were an exceptionally gifted people,
+wise in state-craft and active in warfare. They believed in the
+manlike form and magic power of the creatures and elements.
+
+The Pimas are a gentle, peaceable, brown-skinned people, living in
+Arizona, making fine pottery, weaving beautiful mats and baskets, and
+raising corn. Like the other desert tribes, their songs and stories
+have much to do with the rain clouds, upon which their crops depend.
+They formerly stood in great fear of the warlike Apaches, who often
+attacked them and carried off women and children captive.
+
+I suppose you all know that these legends were not written down at all
+until white people or educated Indians put them into books. They were
+made up by unknown story-tellers, far back in the past, and repeated
+by old men and women for the amusement and instruction of the young
+folks. Thus they were handed down, with some changes or additions,
+from one generation to another.
+
+Indians had good memories. There were no libraries or museums or
+universities. All their wisdom and their traditions were stored up in
+the heads of the people, and a thing once forgotten was lost forever.
+They had not even a notebook or memorandum to help out a poor memory.
+
+It is not so simple to invent a short tale that is witty and
+ingenious, with as much point and meaning as have most of these we are
+giving you, as you will soon find out if you try to make up some
+fables or fairy tales of your own. To remember and tell over such a
+story in a clear and effective way, without missing any of its
+logical or dramatic quality--even this is no very easy matter. The
+hearing and repeating of the legends took in large part the place of
+both school and story-books to the Indian boy or girl, and it is good
+practice for any of us.
+
+It seems likely that every tribe has in its folklore a mischievous
+character with supernatural powers, who is at the same time a butt for
+jokes and a successful wonder-worker. He is boastful and resourceful,
+always trying to outwit other people, and in his turn is often
+outwitted. Among the Sioux this character is known as Unktomee, the
+Spider; the Tsimshians call him the Raven; the Cherokees the Rabbit.
+
+Besides this clown, as it were, whose tricks and troubles are endless,
+every animal has its personal or human side, sometimes one that is
+obvious, and again it may be decidedly puzzling. The Turtle, for
+instance, is depicted as a famous warrior (we hardly see why) and the
+Porcupine as a wise man, which we should scarcely have expected. On
+the other hand, it seems quite natural to find the Grizzly Bear the
+chief among animals, and the Eagle the leader among birds.
+
+Indian legends are broadly classed as "myths" and "folk tales." The
+first tell in a fanciful way how the world was made, how winter,
+summer, fire, tides, and many other familiar things or conditions came
+into being. They go back to a time which all Indians believed in, when
+the animals were real people and could talk as we do. They could do
+many wonderful things besides that we cannot do. The Winds, Cold, the
+Stars, and so on are personified; that is, they are described and act
+as persons, and there are also giants, witches, water sprites and
+fairy people who change their nature at will.
+
+In many of the folk tales, which come nearer being a record of actual
+or possible happenings, the lovable and domestic qualities of Indians
+are brought out very clearly. Notice the loving brothers and the
+affectionate husband in "The Woman Who Became a Beaver" and "The
+Wooden Wife." The duty of hospitality is taught in the story of
+"Grizzly Bear and the Four Chiefs", kindness to animals in "The Feast
+of the Mountain Goats", patience with children in "The Naughty
+Grandchildren" and "The Stars and the Pine." In every instance the
+right-doer is rewarded, the selfish man and the trickster are
+punished. I hope that you will enjoy these stories as much as I have
+done, and that they may help you to know and like better the first
+Americans.
+
+
+
+
+PIMA TALES
+
+
+CHILDREN OF THE CLOUD
+
+There was sorrow on the Casa Grande (the Great Pueblo), for the
+prettiest woman in the village would accept no man for her husband.
+Her suitors were many and impatient, but her black glossy locks were
+still wound above her ears in the manner of virgins, and she steadily
+refused to allow them to hang down in the matron's coils.
+
+One day a great Cloud came out of the east, looked down upon the
+maiden and wished to marry her, for she was very beautiful. A second
+time and a third he floated silently overhead, and at last he found
+her tired out with work and lying asleep at her mat-weaving. He let
+fall a single drop of rain upon her, and by and by twin boys were
+born.
+
+Now when the boys were about ten years old, they began to notice that
+other boys had fathers whom they welcomed home from war and the chase.
+"Mother," said they, "who shall we call our father?"
+
+"In the morning look to the east," their mother answered, "and you
+will see a stately white cloud towering heavenward. That cloud is your
+father."
+
+Then they begged to go visit their father, and she refused, for she
+was afraid; but when the boys grew large and strong she could no
+longer keep them, since they were determined to go. She told them to
+journey four full days to the eastward and not to stop once on the
+way.
+
+Her sons followed her instructions, and in four days they came to the
+house of the Wind. "Are you our father?" asked they.
+
+"No," replied Wind, "I am your uncle. Your father lives in the next
+house; go and find him."
+
+They did so, but Cloud sent them back to Wind, telling them that he
+was really the one whom they sought. Again Wind sent them to Cloud.
+Four times they went back and forth, and the fourth time Cloud saw
+that they were persistent and he said to them: "You say that you are
+my sons. Prove it!"
+
+Instantly the younger son sent forked lightning leaping across the
+heavens, while the elder caused the heat lightning to flash in the
+distance. The skies opened and rain came down in torrents, enough to
+drown a mere mortal, but the boys only laughed at the roar and rush of
+the tempest. Then Cloud saw that they were in truth his children, and
+he took them to his house.
+
+After they had been there a long time, they began to miss their mother
+sorely, and finally they wished to return to earth. Their father gave
+each a magic bow and arrows, strictly charging them to avoid any whom
+they might meet on the homeward path.
+
+First the Eagle on mighty wing swooped toward them, and they turned
+aside. Then came the Hawk, and afterward the Raven, but the boys
+managed to elude all of these. Last the Coyote sought to intercept
+them, and whichever way they turned, he was always before them. So
+they stepped out of the road and stood one on either side to allow him
+to pass. But when Coyote came opposite to them, each was changed into
+a plant of the mescal, the sacred agave, which is both food and drink
+to the Indian.
+
+
+THE CAPTIVE
+
+There was once a little boy who was brought up by his grandmother.
+While he was yet very young, his mother had been taken captive by the
+warlike Apaches. He thought about her a great deal, for he had heard
+that they treat their prisoners cruelly.
+
+One day he made up his mind to run away and find her. The way was long
+and hard, but at last he descried the enemy's camp upon the plain, and
+when he came nearer, he could see a woman standing, looking toward the
+mesa and her old home. He knew her at once by the white scars which
+covered her arms, showing where she had been tortured with fire. The
+child turned himself into a dove and flew straight to his mother, who
+took him in her hands, and recognized him as her son.
+
+She caressed and fondled him, but told him that he must fly home
+again before the Apache chief returned, as it would not be safe for
+him to stay. While they were talking together, the chief entered
+suddenly.
+
+"What do you mean by whispering to that dove?" he demanded fiercely.
+"There is sorcery here." And he took the bird in his powerful hands
+and squeezed it so that the delicate flesh and bones oozed out between
+his fingers.
+
+The woman screamed, and the murdered dove instantly became a whole
+flock of hawks, which beat the chief down with their wings and pecked
+out his eyes. While they attacked him, the captive escaped, and
+returned to her own people.
+
+
+THE NAUGHTY GRANDCHILDREN
+
+An old woman had set her pot on the fire with the soup for dinner, and
+as her two grandchildren were playing near, she cautioned them not to
+upset the pot. The boy and girl were in a frolicsome mood, chasing one
+another with shouts of laughter; and as they ran they heedlessly
+struck against the pot, which rolled over and broke in pieces,
+spilling the rich broth into the ashes.
+
+Now when their grandmother saw the mischief they had done in spite of
+her warning, she caught and whipped them both. Thereupon the children
+determined to run away.
+
+As soon as she missed them, the old woman followed the runaways out
+into the desert, calling loudly upon them to come back, for she had
+only punished them for their own good and loved them both dearly.
+However, run as fast as she might, she could never come up with them.
+The two children were never seen again; but it is said that they were
+turned into two giant cacti and still stand side by side upon the
+plain.
+
+
+BLUEBIRD AND COYOTE
+
+In the old days the animals wore no such fine clothing as now, and the
+bluebird was of an ugly dun color, which made him very unhappy. One
+fine morning he came to a lake shining like turquoise, and something
+told him to bathe in the water.
+
+Lightly he skimmed above the waves and dipped his wings four times,
+singing as he did so:
+
+    "Here is blue water--
+    I go in--
+    I am all blue!"
+
+The fourth time that he sang the verse and shook the water from his
+feathers, they really became bright blue!
+
+Just then Coyote appeared, in time to see the transformation. "If you
+can make yourself beautiful by bathing in the lake, I can do as
+much," said he, and accordingly he took the plunge. Coyote could not
+swim, and he choked and strangled and was almost drowned. When at last
+he contrived to get upon dry land, he was shivering with cold. He
+rolled and rolled in the warm sand, which stuck to his fur, and he
+became dirt color, just as you see him now.
+
+
+
+
+CHEROKEE TALES
+
+
+THE FIRST FIRE
+
+In the old days there was no fire on earth, and the world was a cold
+and a dreary place, especially at night and in the winter. Think what
+it would be if we had no hearth at which to warm ourselves, no coals
+to broil our venison!
+
+One night, in the midst of a thunderstorm, the lightning struck a
+great hollow sycamore, and it began to burn. When the people saw it,
+they all wanted to get some fire, but the tree stood in a swamp where
+there was no firm ground for them to walk on. Many tried and were
+stuck fast in the bog.
+
+The Raven easily flew across and got so close to the blaze that his
+feathers were burnt black, and black they have been to this day, but
+he brought back no fire. Then the Screech Owl tried, and he flew to
+the top of the burning tree from which he looked down on the hot
+coals, and got the red eyes that he has had ever since. The large
+Hooting Owl followed his brother, and the smoke gave him those white
+rings around his eyes that you have all noticed. The Black Snake said
+he would try, and he wriggled into a small hole at the foot of the
+tree, but he was immediately burnt black, and was scorched so badly
+into the bargain that he has done nothing but twist and squirm to this
+day. Not one of them brought back any fire.
+
+At last the little Water Spider wove a silken basket which he placed
+on his back, and then he spun a fine silken thread for a bridge and
+ran across on it. He reached the tree safely, put a tiny live coal in
+the basket, and brought it back to the waiting tribes of earth.
+
+
+ICE MAN PUTS OUT THE FIRE
+
+Once upon a time there was a forest fire, and the fire went deep down
+to the roots of a poplar tree, and there it smoldered for a long time.
+The people tried to put it out, but they could do nothing. By and by
+they grew frightened, fearing lest it might burn down to the middle of
+the earth, or spread over all the world. So they sent a messenger to
+the far north, to beg the Ice Man to help them.
+
+Now the Ice Man is a little fellow, with two heavy braids of black
+hair hanging over his shoulders. After he had heard all about the
+fire, he nodded, and loosening one braid he breathed upon the strands.
+Instantly the wind began to blow. He shook out the hair again, and it
+began to rain. When he undid the other braid, it hailed violently,
+and the fourth time he blew upon his hair, the storm became so
+terrific that the messenger hastened homeward.
+
+When he got home, he saw the fire at the roots of the poplar was still
+burning, and the pit looked deeper and wider than ever. Many people
+were standing sadly about it, and as they stood there the wind began
+to blow. Soon a cold rain fell hissing on the hot coals. Then large
+hailstones were mixed with the rain, and before long the tempest grew
+so fierce that they were forced to run for shelter. When it stopped at
+last, they came out again to look, and the pit of fire was nothing but
+black coals covered with lumps of ice.
+
+
+THE ORIGIN OF SICKNESS AND MEDICINE
+
+There was a time when man and the animal people were friends, and
+talked the same language, and even intermarried with one another.
+Later on, the human race declared war upon the animals and began to
+kill them in great numbers, using their flesh for food and their skins
+for clothing, so that there was great fear and anger among them. At
+last the old White Bear chief called all the Bears in council to
+decide what should be done.
+
+After much talk, it was agreed to make bows and arrows of their own
+with which to defend themselves, and one of the Bears sacrificed his
+life to furnish sinew for the bowstring. When all was ready, and the
+Bear chief undertook to try the new weapon, his long claws caught on
+the string so that he could not handle it. Some one then proposed that
+they all cut their claws, and they were on the point of doing this
+when the thought occurred to another that they would be unable to
+climb trees or seize their prey if they had no claws, and would be in
+danger of starving to death. In the end, the meeting broke up without
+coming to any decision, and Bears were hunted just the same as ever.
+
+The White Deer next called all the Deer together, and they decided to
+punish with rheumatic pains every hunter who should kill one of their
+number without asking pardon for the offense. Ever since that time,
+the hunters have been very careful to beg the Deer's pardon whenever
+it becomes necessary to shoot one, although now and then some one
+tries to avoid the penalty by building fires on his trail.
+
+The other animals followed the Deer's example, and each made haste to
+invent a disease with which to torment the human race. The Fish and
+the Snakes threatened him with bad dreams, and the little Grub, who
+was tired of being trodden upon, heard them with such joy that he fell
+over backward and has never stood on his feet since. Only the Ground
+Squirrel said modestly that as man had never done him any harm he had
+no wish for revenge, whereupon the others were so angry that they
+scratched him severely, and he bears the marks on his back to this
+day.
+
+However, they reckoned without the plants, which were friendly to man,
+and promptly devised a remedy for each disease. We should be grateful
+to them whenever we are made to suffer by the revengeful spirit of the
+animals, for in the kindly vegetable world we can find a cure for
+every ill.
+
+
+THE FIRST STRAWBERRY
+
+It is told that the first man and woman quarreled, and the woman left
+her husband. He followed her sorrowfully, but she never once looked
+back. At last the Sun took pity on the man.
+
+"Do you still love her?" asked the Sun, and the man said he did, and
+prayed to the Sun to help him win her back again.
+
+Then the Sun caused all manner of delicious fruits to spring up in her
+path. The woman saw luscious purple huckleberries, but she went right
+on over them. A service tree laden with sweet red fruit stood in front
+of her, and she passed it by. Finally she came upon a patch of scarlet
+strawberries, the first that ever grew, and these she could not
+resist.
+
+She stooped to taste one, and at once the thought of her husband came
+into her mind. All the sweetness of their love enfolded her, and she
+stood quite still in the strawberry patch until he came up with her,
+and embraced her, and they went back together.
+
+
+HOW THE TERRAPIN BEAT THE RABBIT
+
+The Terrapin once challenged the Rabbit to a race, which the latter
+regarded as a joke.
+
+"The Terrapin is doubtless a wit," said he, "and a great warrior as
+well, but every one knows that he cannot run. I shall give him a big
+handicap, and even then I cannot help beating him."
+
+The course lay over four ridges, and the Rabbit told the Terrapin to
+go ahead to the top of the first ridge, so that when the signal to
+start was given he was already out of sight.
+
+When the Rabbit reached the top of the first ridge, he was surprised
+to catch a glimpse of the Terrapin almost at the top of the second. He
+ran faster, and as his rival was soon hidden in the long grass, he saw
+nothing more of him till he was mounting the second ridge, and there
+was the Terrapin already passing the third. When the Rabbit with great
+leaps ascended the third ridge, behold! the Terrapin was about to
+cross the fourth, and the next minute he had won the race.
+
+This is the way it was done. The Terrapin had several friends who
+looked exactly like himself, so he stationed one of them at the top of
+each of the first three ridges, with orders to hide in the long grass
+as soon as the Rabbit came near. He himself stayed at the fourth rise
+until his competitor came in sight, when he crept over it and so came
+out ahead.
+
+
+HOW THE TURKEY GOT HIS BEARD
+
+Now the animals all suspected some trick in this case, and the Turkey
+in particular was heard to say that he would contrive to get even.
+
+Soon afterward he saw the Terrapin coming back from war, creeping
+along with a fresh scalp hung about his short neck and trailing on the
+ground.
+
+"How, my friend!" he exclaimed, "you do not wear your scalp right;
+only let me show you."
+
+The Terrapin let the Turkey take the scalp and hang it about his own
+neck, while he strutted proudly to and fro.
+
+"Does it not look well?" the Turkey asked.
+
+"Well enough," the other admitted, "but you may give it back to me
+now."
+
+"First let me show you another way to wear it," cried the Turkey, and
+he adjusted the scalp and flew with it into a tree where the other
+could not follow. Thus he boasts the stolen ornament to this day.
+
+
+HOW THE DEER GOT HIS HORNS
+
+Perhaps you never heard that there was once a time when the Deer's
+head was as smooth as that of the doe, and as he and the Rabbit were
+both great jumpers and proud of their ability, a match was arranged,
+the winner to receive a fine pair of antlers as a prize. They were to
+start at one side of a dense thicket, and the first one to make his
+way through to the further side and back again would be judged the
+winner.
+
+Now the Rabbit said that he had never before been in that part of the
+country, and he asked permission to look about a little, which was
+agreed to. However, he was gone so long that they suspected he might
+be up to one of his tricks, so one of the judges followed him quietly.
+There he was, busily gnawing off branches and making a road through
+the underbrush!
+
+When he finally came out, he was told that on account of his
+dishonesty the horns would be given to the Deer, and furthermore,
+since he was so fond of gnawing at bushes, he might continue to do so
+for the rest of his life.
+
+
+WHY THE DEER'S TEETH ARE BLUNT
+
+Although it was not the Deer's fault that the Rabbit lost the prize,
+the Rabbit was greatly provoked and laid his plans to get even.
+Cutting a stout grapevine almost in two with his teeth, he laid it
+across the Deer's path and began leaping back and forth, snapping at
+the vine.
+
+"What are you doing that for?" asked the Deer, when he caught him at
+this game.
+
+"Only look! I can bite this tough vine in two with one snap of my
+sharp teeth," replied the Rabbit.
+
+"Let me see you do it," the Deer suggested.
+
+So the Rabbit sprang at the vine and bit it in two, where it was
+already almost cut through. "You cannot do anything like that," he
+declared proudly.
+
+"If you can do it, I am sure I can," the Deer insisted, and the Rabbit
+made haste to drag forward a heavy vine. The Deer leaped at it and
+tried to bite it as the other had done, but caught his heels and fell
+headlong. Again and again he tried without success.
+
+"My friend," put in the Rabbit, who had been looking on and pretending
+to sympathize, "how can you expect to bite anything in two with such
+blunt teeth as you have? Just let me file them for you a bit, and they
+will soon be as sharp as mine."
+
+The Deer was hot and embarrassed and very foolishly gave his consent.
+Thereupon the sly Rabbit got a rough stone and filed off the Deer's
+teeth almost down to the gums, so that he could not bite off anything
+at all.
+
+
+WHY THE POSSUM'S TAIL IS BARE
+
+A long time ago, the Possum had a fine bushy tail of which he was very
+proud, so much so that he would even sing of it at the dance. As the
+Rabbit's tail is short and stubby, he had no patience with such absurd
+vanity, and at last he thought of a way to put a stop to it.
+
+There was to be a large council and dance to which all the animals
+were invited, and Rabbit stopped in on his way home to inquire whether
+Possum was going.
+
+"I shall not attend unless I can be assured of a good seat," declared
+Possum with much dignity, "for I think my tail entitles me to so much,
+at least."
+
+"Certainly, I will arrange that," replied Rabbit, with a great show of
+deference, "and I shall be glad if you will allow me to send a barber
+to comb and dress your beautiful tail so that it may appear to the
+best advantage."
+
+On these conditions Possum agreed to attend the dance, and the
+Cricket, who was an expert barber, was sent to him with private
+instructions. As fast as he combed and brushed the tail, he wrapped it
+around with red string to keep it smooth, and no sooner had he
+finished his work than Possum hurried away in good spirits.
+
+He found the council house crowded, but all made room for him at once,
+and when his turn came he quickly unwrapped his long tail and took the
+center of the floor, waving it proudly as he danced. He was greatly
+surprised to be greeted with loud peals of laughter. He ventured to
+speak of his tail in the accompanying song, and the people laughed
+louder than ever. At last, looking down, he discovered that the
+Cricket, according to the secret orders he had received, had shaved
+that splendid tail to the very roots, and it has remained entirely
+bare ever since.
+
+In his great mortification, Possum rolled over on his back helpless,
+and this he still does whenever he is taken by surprise.
+
+
+THE OWL GETS MARRIED
+
+There was once a woman who had a marriageable daughter. Many men came
+wooing, but the mother told the girl never to accept any but a skilled
+hunter, who would keep the lodge well supplied with meat.
+
+One evening the Owl called, in the shape of a handsome young man, and
+asked the girl to be his wife.
+
+"Are you a good hunter?" she asked.
+
+He said that he was, and upon this she agreed to marry him.
+
+On the day after the wedding, the bridegroom went forth to hunt, and
+at night he returned with nothing but some scraps that the hunters had
+thrown away. He excused himself by saying that he had had bad luck,
+and the next morning he declared that he would try fishing instead.
+
+When at evening he brought home only a worthless minnow or two, the
+old lady advised her daughter to follow him quietly the next time and
+see what he did. She did so and was horrified to see her husband turn
+into a great Owl and fly to the top of a dead tree, where he sat
+watching for some small fish that might be dropped by a Hawk or an
+Eagle.
+
+She went home in disgust, and presently he returned with a story of an
+Owl which had driven away his game.
+
+"I think you are the Owl," declared the young woman, and she turned
+him out of doors.
+
+The poor Owl went off by himself and pined away till he lost all his
+flesh, and is now nothing more than a big head and a bundle of
+feathers.
+
+
+THE STARS AND THE PINE
+
+Once there were seven little boys who spent most of their time down at
+the town house, playing a game with wheel-shaped stones and a curved
+stick like a hockey-stick. Their mothers thought they played too much,
+and one day, when they were boiling the corn for dinner, they put some
+round stones in the pot and served these to the little boys instead of
+corn.
+
+This made the boys angry, and instead of staying at home they went
+right back to the town house and began to dance. Round and round they
+went, faster and faster, until their feet came quite off the ground,
+and they were dancing on air. When their mothers came to look for
+them, they were already out of reach.
+
+The mothers screamed, and one caught up a game stick and contrived to
+pull her son down, but the other six went straight up into the sky;
+and there they are now, as the six bright stars named Pleiades, which
+the Cherokees call "The Boys."
+
+As for the seventh little boy, he struck the ground with such force
+that he sank in and was seen no more. His wretched mother watered the
+spot every day with her tears, and after a long time there sprang up a
+slender shoot of green which grew into a pine tree. This was the very
+first pine. Perhaps you did not know that the Pine has a heart of
+flame and is a brother to the Stars.
+
+  [Illustration: THE STARS AND THE PINE
+    One contrived to pull her son down, but the other six went up
+      into the sky.
+    _Page 44._]
+
+
+THE MAN WHO MARRIED THE THUNDER'S SISTER
+
+A certain young man went to a dance one evening and met there two
+strange young women, both of whom had the longest and handsomest hair
+he had ever seen. He looked at them a great deal from a distance and
+finally spoke to them, and before the dance broke up he had asked the
+younger and prettier of the two sisters to be his wife.
+
+In reply she told him to fast for seven days and she would meet him
+again at the same place.
+
+The young man was so deeply in love that he gladly accepted the hard
+condition, and after going without any food for the prescribed time,
+he went to another dance. There he met again the two sisters with the
+beautiful long hair. When it was time to leave, the younger one said
+that he might follow her, but she warned him that if he ever told
+where he went or what he saw, he would surely die.
+
+They all went along a footpath until they came to a small brook, when
+the two girls stepped quietly into the water and continued on their
+way. The young man hesitated at first, but when his sweetheart turned
+her head and beckoned he stepped boldly in, and it was as if he were
+walking in deep, soft grass.
+
+Presently the brook ran into a wide and deep river, and now he stopped
+short, for he was afraid of being drowned.
+
+"Oh," said the girl, "that is only the road to our home!" So in he
+plunged, and he did not seem to be in the water at all but in the long
+meadow grass.
+
+The girls led him to a cave under a great rock and offered him a seat,
+but when he looked at the seat he saw that it was an immense live
+turtle. He said then that he would rather stand. But what surprised
+him most was to see both young women take off their lovely hair and
+hang it up beside the doorway, leaving their heads quite bare.
+
+Soon there came a loud clap of thunder, and directly after a flash of
+lightning that disclosed a tall man entering the cave. This was the
+brother of the girls, and his name was Thunder. He invited the youth
+to ride with him and offered him a horse which turned out to be a
+large water snake. The young man refused the invitation, for he had
+become a good deal frightened and decided that he would rather go
+home.
+
+There came another frightful peal and a dazzling flash, and the next
+thing he knew he was lying on the river bank with his feet in the
+water. He reached his home safely, but he could not resist telling his
+friends about his wonderful experience; therefore within three days
+he died, for no one may tell of a visit to the underworld and live.
+
+
+THE ENCHANTED LAKE
+
+In the depths of the Great Smoky Mountains there lies a hidden lake
+which no human eye has ever seen. The hunters know where it must be,
+for sometimes one has come near enough to scent its freshness, and to
+hear the rustle of thousands of wings as the ducks rise in great
+clouds from its cool, green depths. Yet when he approaches, he
+perceives only a dry hollow in the heart of the woods.
+
+All the creatures know this lake; it is their City of Refuge; mortal
+eye cannot find them there, and when one of them is wounded, he has
+only to plunge into its mysterious waters, and he comes out whole.
+
+
+THE BEAR MAN
+
+A hunter once trailed a bear and shot many arrows into its body, but
+to his surprise they seemed to make no impression. Finally the bear
+stopped, pulled out the arrows, and turning to the man, he handed them
+back to him, saying pleasantly:
+
+"You see it is no use--you can't kill me. Better give it up and come
+home with me instead!"
+
+The hunter was curious and followed the bear to his den, where he
+slept all winter, gradually growing thick black hair over his whole
+body. When spring came, he was wakened by the shouts of his friends as
+they surrounded the den.
+
+Not knowing what else to do, he went forth to meet them, looking like
+a bear, but walking upright like a man. He spoke to them, and they
+knew his voice and spared his life.
+
+"You have done wrong," said they, "and we cannot allow you to remain
+here. Come back with us--your poor wife mourns for you as for one
+dead!"
+
+"I wish for nothing but to come back," the Bear Man declared. "Tell
+her, however, that for seven days I must neither eat nor speak. That
+will break the charm, and I shall be once more a man! Otherwise I must
+die."
+
+Accordingly he betook himself to a solitary teepee on the outskirts of
+the village, and there continued his fast. His wife was told that he
+still lived, and was overcome with joy. Five days she waited for him
+to come to her, and at the end of the fifth day she could wait no
+longer. She went to him, threw herself into his arms, and compelled
+him to answer her questions, thus causing his death.
+
+
+
+
+CHOCTAW STORIES
+
+
+WHY POSSUM HAS A LARGE MOUTH
+
+There had been a long dry season, and the Deer had grown very thin.
+Meeting Possum one day, he could not help noticing how well-fed and
+contented the other appeared.
+
+"How is it that you are so fat in a time of drouth and famine?"
+inquired the Deer, whose skin hung loosely upon a rack of bones.
+
+"It is simple enough," replied the Possum. "I live upon persimmons."
+
+"But how do you reach them?" persisted the Deer. "It seems to me they
+hang very high."
+
+"Oh, that is easy," declared Possum, who is fond of a joke. "I go to
+the top of yonder hill, run down very fast and hit the tree with my
+head just as hard as I can. That shakes off the fruit. Then I have
+only to sit on the ground and eat and eat till I can eat no more."
+
+"It sounds easy, to be sure," agreed the Deer, who was hungry enough
+to try anything. He went to the very top of the hill, rushed down
+violently, and struck the tree with such force that he was killed
+instantly. At this the wicked Possum laughed so hard that it stretched
+his mouth, which has remained wide to this day.
+
+
+THE GOOD LITTLE SPIRIT
+
+Perhaps you have wondered why some men are wise and do good, while
+others in their ignorance do nothing but harm. If so, I will tell you
+a secret.
+
+In a cave not far from the homes of men there dwells a good little
+spirit. He is very old, his hair is long and white, and he is about
+as tall as a child three years old.
+
+Now every child, when it reaches the age of three or four, sometimes
+wanders away out of sight of home, and the spirit is constantly on the
+watch for this to happen. He comes out of hiding, takes the little one
+by the hand and leads it away to his cave. There he makes it choose
+one of three gifts: a knife, a bunch of poisonous flowers, and a
+handful of healing herbs.
+
+If the child takes the knife, he will do only harm all his days. If he
+is misled by the beauty of the poisonous blossoms, he will never be
+wise; but if he takes the good medicine, he will be a wise man and a
+healer, who will bless and help his people.
+
+  [Illustration: THE GOOD LITTLE SPIRIT
+    He makes it choose one of three gifts.
+    _Page 55._]
+
+
+FOLLOWERS OF THE SUN
+
+There were once four brothers, who as soon as they noticed that the
+sun rose in one quarter and set in another, made up their minds to
+follow on to the place of his setting. They were very young when they
+set out toward the west, and as the years passed they grew to be tall
+youths, then strong men in their prime, yet they could never overtake
+the Sun.
+
+Old age had begun to creep upon the travelers when at last they
+reached the shores of the Everywhere Salt Water (the ocean). Behind
+its shining rim the golden ball descended, and they were given power
+to follow, and where sky and water met to reach their journey's end.
+
+"Why are you here who have not yet died?" asked the Sun.
+
+"We have done nothing but follow you all our lives," replied the
+brothers.
+
+"Only the dead come here," the Sun insisted. "You will have to go
+back."
+
+He sent them each home on the wings of a buzzard, and thus returned
+to their amazed people four feeble old men, who had been where no
+mortal ever went before. When they had told all their strange story,
+they lay down and died, and so returned to the glories of heaven,
+which they alone of all men had seen before their time.
+
+
+THE HUNTER WHO BECAME A DEER
+
+A hunter who had traveled all day without finding any game shot a doe
+near sunset, and as he was very tired, he lay down near the body and
+went to sleep.
+
+In the morning, when he awoke, he perceived the doe looking at him
+lovingly out of large, soft eyes. As he returned her gaze, she
+astonished him yet more by speaking.
+
+"Will you come home with me?" she pleaded.
+
+The young man hesitated, but there was something strangely appealing
+about this beautiful woman, as she now seemed to him to become. Almost
+without knowing what he did, he arose and followed her.
+
+By and by, they came to a great cave under the mountain, where it
+seemed that all the Deer lived with their chief, an immense buck with
+powerful antlers. The hunter was hospitably received; but all along
+the sides of the cave he noticed piles of deer hides, with hoofs and
+horns. This puzzled him not a little; nevertheless he ate with them,
+lay down among them, and presently slept.
+
+Now while the young man slept, the Deer tried skin after skin till
+they found one which fitted him, and they also fitted a pair of
+antlers to his head and hoofs to his hands and feet. In the morning,
+he opened his eyes and perceived that he also was a Deer, and he
+remained with the herd.
+
+In the meantime, his mother and his relatives continued to search for
+him throughout the forest. After some weeks, they discovered the lost
+one's bow and arrows, hanging on the branch of the tree under which he
+had slept after shooting the doe. They all gathered on the spot and
+began to sing songs of magic.
+
+Soon a herd of deer appeared in the distance, coming nearer and nearer
+as they were drawn by the singing. At last one spoke, and immediately
+they knew his voice for that of the missing hunter. His mother cried
+bitterly, and insisted that they should take off the deer's hide from
+her son and restore him to his own shape again.
+
+"We dare not," protested his brothers and his cousins. "It might
+endanger his life!"
+
+"Even so," she replied, weeping, "I had rather see my son dead than
+wearing the form of a beast!"
+
+When they began to tear off the deer's hide, behold! it had grown fast
+to his own skin, and he began to bleed.
+
+"Go on! go on!" exclaimed the mother in agony, and they persisted
+until the man died. Then at last they carried home his body and gave
+it honorable burial.
+
+
+PRETTY WOMAN
+
+Once in time of famine there were two children deserted by their
+parents, because they could not find food enough for all. The boy and
+girl were perishing of hunger when they were discovered wandering in
+the wood by Old Crow Woman. The kind old body took them to her poor
+teepee and went out to search for something to eat.
+
+While she was gone, the girl, who was very clever, picked four grains
+of corn out of the dust and tossed them into the air. In this way each
+grain became a fine full ear, which they roasted and ate. She then
+threw up the small skin tent, and it came down large and beautiful.
+She took her little brother in her arms and threw him up, and he was a
+tall youth. Finally she said to him: "Brother, throw me up, too!" and
+he did as she asked.
+
+The half-starved little girl came down again a remarkably pretty
+woman, and when Old Crow returned with a few grains of corn in her
+beak, she was astonished to find so beautiful a girl sitting and
+making moccasins before the largest and handsomest lodge she had ever
+seen.
+
+When the Mole poked his long nose through the earth to look at Pretty
+Woman, she ordered him back, saying, "I am not the light."
+
+Three times the Hummingbird circled round her head with buzzing wings,
+but she drove him away. "I am not a flower," said she. He went home
+and told all the people that he had seen the most beautiful woman in
+the world, and the woods were soon full of suitors.
+
+Since Old Crow Woman was the girl's chaperon, they all appealed to
+her. One said: "I will lay down the richest of bear skins for her to
+walk on, all the way to my village."
+
+"That will never do," replied the old woman. "She might slip on the
+skins and hurt herself."
+
+The second lover offered to lay down a line of mortars all the way.
+"You must not do that," said Old Crow. "The mortars might roll and
+trip her up."
+
+The third man declared: "My people shall lie down on the ground, and
+she may tread upon them as she comes to me a bride!"
+
+To this the old woman made no objection, and Pretty Woman walked all
+the way to her future home upon the bodies of the people.
+
+
+THE CRANE AND THE HUMMINGBIRD
+
+Once there was a beautiful girl who had many suitors, and among the
+most persistent were the Crane and the Hummingbird. She rather fancied
+the latter, since the Crane was a long-legged, awkward fellow, not at
+all to her taste. In order to rid herself of his pretensions once and
+for all, she told them that they might fly round the world, and the
+first one to return should be her husband. As the Hummingbird is very
+swift, she had no doubt of the result.
+
+At the end of the first day, he had indeed a long start. Well
+pleased, he tucked his head under his wing and went to sleep. About
+midnight, the Crane overtook him and flew on. The Hummingbird passed
+him at breakfast time and again secured a long lead. But in the night
+time, while he slept, the unwearied Crane flew on, each night
+overtaking him earlier, till he had gained a whole day and won the
+race.
+
+After all, he did not win a wife, for the maiden was so much chagrined
+by the failure of her plan that she has stayed single to this day.
+
+
+
+
+IROQUOIS TALES
+
+
+THE THUNDERERS
+
+There were once three comrades who went upon the warpath, and when
+they were a long way from home, one had the misfortune to fall and
+break his leg. The other two made a litter in which they undertook to
+carry him, but there was a ridge of high mountains to cross, and the
+way grew very painful and difficult. At last they became discouraged,
+set the litter down, went a little aside and consulted together in
+whispers.
+
+By and by they took up their burden again, and coming to a deep
+crevasse they let it fall as if by accident, so that the injured man
+rolled into the abyss. They went home and reported that they had met
+the enemy and that their comrade had died of his wounds. To console
+his weeping wife, they assured her that he had fought bravely; also
+that they had tended and cared for him until he died and had then
+given him suitable burial.
+
+In the meantime, the abandoned one fell to the bottom of the pit,
+where to his surprise he beheld a very old man sitting with his hands
+clasped about his withered knees.
+
+"What is this?" inquired the old sage. "Is it possible that your
+comrades have deserted you and left you to perish miserably?"
+
+"It seems that they have done so," calmly replied the youth.
+
+"You may live, nevertheless," the other promised, "if you will agree
+to my conditions. I am now too old to hunt. Stay here and keep me
+supplied with game as long as I live, and I will cure your leg."
+
+As the young man had no choice, he agreed without hesitation, and the
+ancient bound up his limb with healing herbs, fed and tended him until
+he was able to hunt.
+
+There was game in abundance in that part of the country, and the old
+man told him that if ever he shot more than he could carry, he should
+call out and he would come to his assistance. One day the hunter
+succeeded in killing an immense bear, and while he was skinning it,
+behold! three very tall strangers clad in garments of cloud appeared
+close by.
+
+"We are the Thunderers," said they. "We should be glad to help you,
+for you have not deserved your misfortunes. That old man for whom you
+hunt is not what he seems to be. Call him, and you shall see!"
+
+Since the youth saw no harm in calling his benefactor to help him with
+the game, he did as they advised, and the aged man climbed out of the
+pit very cautiously, first calling aloud to inquire if there were any
+cloud in the sky.
+
+"There is none," replied the hunter, and the other hobbled forward,
+continually peering into the heavens as if in fear of some enemy.
+Suddenly a rumble of thunder was heard, and immediately he turned and
+fled in the form of a Porcupine, throwing back sharp quills like
+arrows as he ran. Louder and louder pealed the thunder, and just as he
+reached the edge of the pit a bolt of lightning struck the Porcupine,
+and he fell dead into his den.
+
+After this the young man returned to his own people.
+
+
+THE WINGED HUNTER
+
+A lone hunter had spent all of his arrows, and was at a loss. He was a
+long way from home. Upon the lake were many wild geese, but how was he
+to kill them? Finally he swam underneath the flock, caught several by
+the feet, and tied them to his belt with withes of basswood bark. When
+the geese flew up into the air, they carried the hunter with them.
+
+Now he planned to loosen one or two of the birds so that he might sink
+gradually to the ground, but the rest broke loose suddenly, and he
+fell into a tall, hollow stump where he remained a prisoner. To be
+sure, it was only a day or two before some women came near after wood,
+but his cries frightened them, so that they retreated. Later they
+returned with their men and released him.
+
+Immediately the hunter made new arrows with which he killed both deer
+and bears, extracting oil from the latter which he kept in leathern
+bottles. He now wished to return home; but since he had tried flying,
+walking seemed to him too laborious. After much thought, he made
+himself a pair of wings out of a thin piece of tanned deerskin, and
+flew homeward, carrying the bottles for ballast, and letting fall one
+or two into the wigwams of the women who had set him free.
+
+
+GREAT HEAD
+
+High up on an inaccessible cliff, there dwells an immense Head, very
+fierce, with long, bushy hair and huge staring eyes. The people call
+it the Great Head, and fear it very much.
+
+There was once a family of ten boys who lost their parents at about
+the same time of a mysterious disease. As they knew no near
+relatives, the brothers continued to live alone in the forest.
+However, one day the eldest failed to return from the hunt, and in the
+morning the second brother went to look for him. That night he, too,
+was missing. On the next day, the third brother set out to search for
+the others, and so on until only one of the ten was left.
+
+Now the youngest brother had scarcely started on their trail when he
+stumbled over a queer little old man, half buried in the ground, and
+entirely covered with green mold.
+
+When he had dug him out and revived him by rubbing him with oil, the
+boy told the stranger his story.
+
+"I can tell you what has become of your brothers," exclaimed the
+little old man. "Without doubt, it is my brother, Great Head, who has
+enticed them away."
+
+"What! the Great Head is your brother?" asked the boy.
+
+"Yes, he is," replied the little old man.
+
+"Then you must know his ways and can help me to outwit him."
+
+"I can tell you what he eats. Huge billets of maple wood--only
+maple--are his favorite tid-bit."
+
+"And is there anything he is afraid of?" the boy inquired.
+
+"He fears my arrows, which grow ever larger as they fly!"
+
+First the boy worked very hard chopping a great maple tree into
+blocks; then he invited Great Head to a feast. But Great Head would
+not come.
+
+Then the little man, his brother, crept slyly to the foot of the cliff
+through the long grass, and sent forth a magic arrow, which grew
+larger and larger as it sped toward the mark. A great noise arose,
+like that of a hurricane rushing through a forest. Down tumbled Great
+Head to the foot of the precipice, and the nine youths whom he had
+held captive were freed from the spell, and came joyfully home
+again.
+
+
+
+
+TSIMSHIAN TALES
+
+
+HOW THE DAYLIGHT CAME
+
+A long, long time ago the son of the first chief of the animal people
+set out upon a journey. Dressed in the skin of a raven, and carrying
+in his beak a magic bag which his father had given him, he flew
+eastward over a dark and watery waste. When he had flown far and was
+tired, he dropped a stone in the sea, and it became an island, upon
+which he rested.
+
+Again he rose up and flew onward upon slow black wings, no blacker
+than the gloom that covered the face of the world. As he skimmed the
+surface of the waves, he scattered from his enchanted bag the spawn
+of every kind of fish, so that the sea was filled with finny life.
+Then he turned toward shore, and over the dry land he cast berries and
+seeds of all plants that are good for food, so that the earth too was
+ready to burst with fruitfulness, only there was no sun to warm it
+into life.
+
+Raven became very tired of the eternal darkness, and at last he flew
+straight upward until he found the hole in the sky, and went right
+through the hole. There he left the raven's skin lying and flew on
+till he came to a spring of clear water, bubbling up with a sound like
+maidens' laughter near the wigwam of the Chief of Heaven. He turned
+himself into a leaf and floated in the pool, waiting for the chief's
+daughter. When she came, she was indeed very beautiful. Stooping, she
+dipped up the leaf in her bucket and drank it with the water.
+
+Now the maiden returned to her home, and not long after a child was
+born to her. The baby grew very fast. He was stronger than any child
+ever seen, yet he cried continually. Soon he was creeping about the
+floor and crying all the time in a loud voice. The wise old men were
+called in to explain these cries, and the wisest one of all told the
+princess that her son was crying for a large box that hung under the
+roof. This was the box that held the daylight.
+
+Since nothing else would do, they took down the box and gave it to the
+child to play with. For four days he rolled it about the floor; then
+one day, when no one was looking, he lifted it to his shoulders, got
+to his feet, and ran out of the door with it. He sped as fast as he
+could to the hole in the sky, put on the raven's skin that he found
+lying there, and flew down to earth with the precious box.
+
+Now the Frog people were fishing down there, and they made a great
+noise and confusion in the darkness. Raven called upon them to be
+silent, but they paid no attention to him. The big frogs were
+bellowing very loud, and the little frogs were piping high and shrill,
+and there was no peace or quiet anywhere. Raven told them twice to be
+less noisy, and when they would not, he said, "Then I shall open the
+box."
+
+So he opened it, and daylight overspread the earth.
+
+
+THE OLD WOMAN AND THE TIDES
+
+Again Raven flew over the waters till he reached the mainland and the
+wigwam of the old, old woman who holds the tide lines in her hand. At
+that time the tide would remain high for many days at a time, so that
+the people could get no clams or other sea food. It happened that
+Raven was very hungry for clams, but he entered the hut and sat down,
+saying pleasantly:
+
+"Good day, grandmother: there is fine digging to-day. I have just had
+all the clams I could eat."
+
+"Nonsense!" exclaimed the old woman. "What are you talking about,
+Raven? You know very well that the clams are all covered."
+
+"Yes, but I've had all the clams I want," he insisted.
+
+"That isn't so," she declared.
+
+  [Illustration: THE OLD WOMAN AND THE TIDES
+    He rudely pushed her backward until she fell down.
+    _Page 83._]
+
+Upon this he rudely pushed her backward until she fell down, and her
+mouth and eyes were filled with dust. Of course she was forced to let
+go the tide lines, so that the tide ran quickly out, and the beach was
+covered with fine fat clams and other shellfish. Raven did not come
+back to the hut until he had eaten as many as he possibly could.
+
+"My eyes are blinded with dust," mourned the old woman. "Will you not
+give me back my sight?"
+
+"I will, if you will promise to slacken the tide lines twice a day,"
+he replied.
+
+So she said that she would, and from that time to this the tides have
+run in and out twice each day.
+
+
+HOW THE FIRE WAS BROUGHT
+
+After a time, Raven saw that the people were discontented without
+fire, for they could neither cook their food nor warm themselves when
+it was cold. He remembered that they had fire at home in his father's
+village, so he flew westward once more until he came to the wigwams of
+the animal people. But however hard he begged, they would not give
+him what he had come for.
+
+Raven made a new plan. He went a little way off and sent the Sea Gull
+to the camp with this message:
+
+"A handsome young chief will come to feast and dance in the dwelling
+of your chief. See that all is ready."
+
+He knew that the people would prepare for their guest, so he caught a
+Deer and tied a bundle of pitch-pine to its tail, for at that time the
+deer had a long tail like that of the fox. He borrowed the canoe of
+the Great Shark, and with the Deer came in it to the village.
+
+As he expected, the house of his father the chief was full of people,
+and there was a big fire made and much feasting and merriment. All the
+creatures were dancing and singing, and the very birds clapped their
+wings for joy.
+
+The Deer entered, leaping and dancing, and his grace was much
+admired, but as he danced around the fire he swung his long tail over
+it, and the pitch blazed up. He ran out, sprang into the sea and swam
+off, with his lighted tail flaring above the waves like a torch. Many
+sprang into their canoes and tried to follow him, but he escaped and
+reached our shores in safety. There he struck a dead fir tree with his
+blazing tail and said to it:
+
+"You shall burn as long as the years last!"
+
+We should remember that it is to him we owe the gift of fire, for his
+tail was burned off, and since that day all Deer have had a short
+black tail.
+
+
+RAVEN AND THE CRAB
+
+Raven had been flying all night over the ocean, and he had grown very
+hungry indeed, but what was there to eat? At sunrise he reached a
+sand spit, and there sat a large Crab. Raven thought he might be good
+to eat, but he was a little timid about attacking him, so he merely
+touched him on the back, saying, "Let us have a game, grandfather!"
+
+"Certainly not," replied the Crab gruffly.
+
+But Raven grew bolder and touched him again and again, crying out
+teasingly, "Come on, let us have a game, grandfather!"
+
+Presently the tide turned, and about that time the Crab grew angry. He
+seized Raven by the leg and walked very slowly into the water with
+him.
+
+"Dear grandfather, only let me go!" begged Raven, for he was terribly
+frightened.
+
+Crab paid no attention to his prayers and cries, but walked on the
+bottom of the sea until he felt sure that his enemy was dead, when he
+let go of him, and Raven came up and floated lifeless on the top of
+the waves.
+
+A light wind wafted him ashore, and he lay for a long time motionless
+on the warm sand. At last the sun revived him, and he awoke. He looked
+at his raven skin and saw that it was sadly draggled and some of the
+feathers had come off, but he was so thankful to be alive that he only
+said to himself, "After all, I have not done so badly!"
+
+
+THE BEAUTIFUL BLANKET
+
+Not long after this, Raven grew tired of the jet-black robe that his
+father had given him, and one day he exchanged it for a beautiful
+blanket of many colors, such as is worn to dances. He had not gone
+very far when the gay blanket fell to pieces, and he was cold and
+sorrowful.
+
+He did not know what else to do, so he went back to look for his
+raven skin and found it lying by the roadside. He put it on again, but
+soon came upon another dance blanket even handsomer than the first.
+Forgetting the lesson he had just had, he tore his old robe in half
+and threw it away with contempt, and dressed himself in the other.
+Then he walked on, thinking how well he must look in the eyes of any
+whom he might chance to meet.
+
+This fine dandy was greatly pleased when he saw a strange village near
+at hand, until, glancing downward, he found to his dismay that he was
+covered with nothing but moss and lichens. Crying bitterly, he was
+once more forced to go back in search of his raven skin; after hunting
+a long time he found it, but it was torn in two. Sadly he pinned it
+about his body as well as he could and again turned his steps toward
+the village.
+
+While he was still a little way off, Raven plucked up spirit and
+gathered a piece of rotten spruce wood, which by his magic art he
+turned into a slave. Lacking a fine blanket, he made for himself some
+large ear ornaments out of common clam shells which he found on the
+beach. Then he ordered his slave to walk before him, crying in a loud
+voice:
+
+"People of the village, here comes my master, who is a great chief!
+You will know him by the costly ornaments of abalone shell in his
+ears!"
+
+It is said that the strangers were deceived by this fine talk and
+invited the pretender to their chief's wigwam, where a feast was given
+in his honor.
+
+
+RAVEN AND THE HUNTERS
+
+One day Raven happened to see a boat load of hunters coming home with
+plenty of game. As usual, he was hungry, and it occurred to him to
+take the shape of a woman in the hope of obtaining some food.
+
+Sure enough, when the hunters noticed a good-looking young woman on
+the shore, they beached their canoe and took her on board. She had a
+child in her arms, and the child cried incessantly.
+
+"It is hungry," the woman explained; so they made much broth of wild
+ducks and fed the child and its mother. They feasted most of that
+night, and the head man was so well pleased with the supposed woman
+that he offered to marry her. All went well till they awoke in the
+morning, when, to his surprise and disgust, the new wife looked like a
+man.
+
+"So it is you, up to your tricks again, you good-for-nothing Raven! Be
+off with you!" exclaimed the angry hunter, and he cast him overboard.
+
+Raven put on his feathered robe and flew off without any trouble, and
+at the same moment the baby turned to a crow and flew away also.
+
+
+RAVEN AND THE CHILDREN
+
+Raven was out for a walk and came upon a crowd of children playing
+with whale's blubber. Huge piles of it lay at their feet, and they
+were throwing lumps at one another in great glee. He stopped and spoke
+to them.
+
+"Where did you get all that blubber?" he asked.
+
+"Oh," answered the oldest boy, "we climb up that tall tree you see
+over yonder and jump down from the topmost limb. As we land, we cry
+out, 'Be piled up, all my blubber!' and it is so."
+
+Raven immediately climbed the tree and jumped off the highest branch,
+shouting, "Be piled up, all my blubber!"
+
+Nothing happened except that he struck the ground so hard that he was
+lame for several days. Meanwhile the children picked up the blubber
+and ran off, laughing heartily.
+
+
+RAVEN AND HIS MOTHER-IN-LAW
+
+Once upon a time Raven came to a small house away from everybody,
+where lived two women, a widow and her young daughter. The elder woman
+asked him in and gave him a good supper, and as the house appeared to
+be well stocked with dried fish and other necessaries, he proposed
+that evening to marry the daughter and was accepted.
+
+The next day, after a hearty breakfast, he borrowed the old woman's
+stone ax and went out. He told the two women that he was going to cut
+down a cedar tree and make a boat for the fishing, and he charged his
+wife to see that her mother had a good meal ready for him on his
+return. Before night he came back very hungry, saying that he had
+felled the tree and would begin next day to hollow out the canoe.
+
+This went on for some time, Raven going forth every morning with the
+ax and returning in the afternoon, apparently tired out, and with so
+great an appetite that the widow's stores of food were getting low.
+They could hear the blows of the ax from time to time in the depths of
+the forest, but somehow the boat was never quite finished.
+
+At last one morning the old woman said to her daughter, "Go quietly,
+my child; follow your husband without letting him know it, and see for
+yourself what progress he is making."
+
+The young wife did as she was told, and there was the trickster
+pounding a rotten stump with the stone ax so as to make the sounds
+they had heard. When she told her mother what she had seen, the two
+women packed up all the goods they had left and went away.
+
+When Raven went home that night, he found only the empty hut, which
+was as much as he deserved.
+
+
+RAVEN AND THE SALMON WOMAN
+
+Now Raven had been unfortunate for a long time and was poorer than
+ever, but he had at last contrived to build a small hut and make a
+boat and a spear. Just as he was ready to go fishing, a heavy fog came
+down and covered the face of the water, hiding his boat entirely. When
+the fog lifted, there sat a beautiful woman in the bow of the canoe.
+
+"You have come to my boat; will you be my wife?" asked Raven.
+
+And the woman consented, saying, "Yes, if you will be always kind to
+me, my husband. Remember, I am the Salmon Woman."
+
+"Then we shall have plenty of fish in our lodge," exclaimed the
+pleased bridegroom.
+
+And he was right, for next morning his new wife rose early and stepped
+barefoot into the little brook that ran close by their hut. Instantly
+salmon by hundreds came leaping up the stream, and she called to him,
+saying:
+
+"Husband, come! the creek is full of silver salmon!"
+
+After he had speared many, he went after wood with which to smoke
+their abundant catch, and as he feared the birds might come down and
+steal some of his fish while he was gathering the wood, he left one of
+his eyes to watch the boat, telling it to be sure and call him in case
+the birds came near the salmon.
+
+Soon the eye cried out, "Master, come quickly! the birds are here."
+But as he was very busy he merely replied, "Hide the fish under the
+seat until I come," and went on with his work.
+
+When he came back to the boat with a load of wood, he found to his
+sorrow that the greedy creatures had not only eaten up all the fish
+but his eye also.
+
+Crying bitterly, Raven went back to his wife, who asked him what the
+matter was. When he told her, she had only to touch the empty socket,
+and immediately he had a new eye quite as good as the other. As for
+the stolen fish, he did not miss them at all, for the tiny stream was
+now so full of salmon that there was scarcely any water to be seen.
+
+Although their poor hut was well supplied with food, and his meals
+well cooked, and his wife was as loving and kind as she was
+beautiful, nevertheless Raven would leave her in the morning and be
+gone all day without saying where he went. By and by he began to come
+home in a bad temper and to speak to her harshly. One evening he
+exclaimed:
+
+"Well, who has been to see you to-day?"
+
+"No one has been to see me, my husband," she replied. "No one ever
+comes to this lonely place."
+
+"Don't try to deceive me," said he roughly. "A man has been here in my
+absence. I know it, because I have been gambling this long time, and
+at first I had good luck, but to-day my luck was bad; therefore I know
+you have had a man here."
+
+Then the Salmon Woman felt insulted, and without speaking to him she
+turned to the dried fish that hung from the ceiling.
+
+"Come, O my tribe!" she cried, and all the fish came to life and
+followed her. She sprang into the water and swam away, and they all
+swam after her, leaving the unkind husband alone and hungry once more.
+
+
+THE ANIMALS IN COUNCIL
+
+It is now many years since the ancient friendship between man and the
+animal tribes was broken, and since that time the animals have been
+hunted continually and go about in fear of their lives. One day
+Grizzly Bear invited all the larger beasts to meet at his wigwam and
+discuss the matter. Deer, Elk, Wolf, and many others were present when
+Grizzly Bear made his great speech in which he spoke of the constant
+danger they were in and the need of finding a remedy, and finally
+proposed that they petition He-Who-Made-Us to lengthen the winter and
+cause very deep snows with extreme cold, so that the hunters could not
+get about.
+
+All agreed to this plan, but Wolf got up and proposed that before
+acting upon it they should consult the smaller animals and even the
+Insect tribes. "For," said he, "if we ignore them now they may make
+trouble for us later on."
+
+The others had no objection, and next day Beaver, Squirrel, Mink,
+Muskrat, all four-footed creatures down to the little Mouse, and all
+of the Insect tribes as well, were invited to join in the council.
+
+It was a great gathering. The larger animals sat on one side of a wide
+semicircle, and the smaller on the other side. Again Grizzly Bear made
+the first speech, telling of the meeting of the day before and of his
+suggestion, and asking all present for their opinion on the matter.
+
+After a silence, Porcupine arose and remarked that the idea might do
+well enough for those who had warm fur coats, but that many of the
+little people were not so well protected against severe weather, and
+as for the feeble Insects, if the winters should become any longer or
+colder than they were already, they would all perish, therefore they
+could not agree to the proposal.
+
+"I don't care whether you agree or not," growled the Bear. "We larger
+animals have decided that this is the best thing to do, and we are
+going to do it anyhow."
+
+"I fear you are short-sighted," replied Porcupine, who found that he
+had used the wrong argument. "You large animals are always roaming the
+woods in search of something to eat, and if the winters grow any
+colder there will be no food for you, that is certain. All life will
+perish, even the roots of the grass on which the Deer lives, and the
+berry bushes of which the Bear is so fond will be frozen. You will all
+starve, but we shall live, for we Porcupines can live on the bark of
+trees; and as for the smallest Insects, they can burrow into the earth
+and survive."
+
+The other animals were impressed by this speech and began to say among
+themselves, "How wise he is!" "Now who would have thought of that?"
+and "I think we should reconsider the matter."
+
+"Ah, ha, ha!" laughed Porcupine, and he was so pleased with himself
+that he stuck his thumb into his mouth and then bit it off, which is
+the reason that he has only four fingers and no thumb.
+
+Now the animals called him the wisest of their number and accepted his
+decision, and as for those who would not agree, Porcupine filled them
+full of sharp quills, on which account they all stand in awe of him to
+this very day.
+
+
+THE FOUR WINDS
+
+Once there were four great chiefs who lived in the four corners of the
+earth, and their names were North Wind, South Wind, East Wind, and
+West Wind. The other three all hated North Wind, for he was very rude
+and boisterous, and insisted upon blowing his bitter blast into their
+faces at all times of the year, so that the tender fruit buds and
+fragile blossoms were never safe from his withering breath.
+
+Finally they united to make war upon him, and after a long struggle
+they succeeded in gaining his promise that he would only blow for half
+the year, which helped matters a little.
+
+Now the South Wind had four sturdy sons and a beautiful daughter,
+while North Wind's family consisted of twin boys, one of whom was
+called Frosted, and the other Frozen. No sooner were the children
+grown up than Frosted wished to marry the daughter of South Wind, who
+was as fair and gentle as a summer's day, but she would have nothing
+to say to him.
+
+The next year Frozen came courting. He was a handsome fellow, very
+determined, and proved more fortunate than his brother. The wedding
+feast was the finest ever known in that part of the country. It lasted
+for seven days, at the end of which Frozen carried home his bride in a
+tempest of wind and rain.
+
+When South Wind's daughter reached the land of perpetual snow and ice,
+she very soon regretted her rash choice. There was not so much as a
+spark of fire in the house, which was built of ice blocks, and day
+and night she was chilled to the very marrow of her bones. Meanwhile
+the rest of the family were saying, "What a pleasant season we are
+having!" and "The weather seems unusually mild for this time of the
+year!"
+
+At last she could bear it no longer, and one day as she sat sadly on
+the beach she picked up a bit of yellow driftwood and carved it into
+the shape of a duck. When she had finished, she tossed the duck into
+the air, saying:
+
+"Fly south, little duck, and tell my father that I am very unhappy
+here in the cruel northland!" And the duck flew away southward.
+
+Far in the southland the South Wind's wife stood in the door of their
+wigwam and called to her husband, "Look, husband! Spring is coming,
+for I see the ducks returning!"
+
+The little yellow duck came on, and as soon as he was near enough he
+gave the daughter's message:
+
+"Your child is very unhappy there in the cruel northland!"
+
+When South Wind understood it, he was angry and called his four strong
+sons to his side. "Boys," said he, "go at once to North Wind's house
+and bring home your sister!"
+
+The eldest son started first in the shape of a great gray cloud, and
+when the little bride saw the cloud in the distance she was glad, for
+she felt sure that it was her brother. But immediately North Wind went
+out with his two sons to meet him and drove him back, so that she
+wrung her hands in sorrow.
+
+The second brother went as a very black cloud, and he got a little
+farther than the first when he too was fiercely attacked and beaten
+back. Then the bride of Frozen cried bitterly, for she began to be
+afraid she must stay there forever.
+
+The third brother went as a great storm of rain, and he had nearly
+reached the spot where his sister was eagerly waiting, when the icy
+wind turned the rain to hail and drove it back, and the poor girl was
+in despair.
+
+However, there was still the youngest brother. He went as a
+sharp-edged and thin cloud which slipped right by North Wind and
+reached his palace, where he turned all the ice to water. The whole
+country was flooded, and North Wind and his family were helpless.
+
+"Not only does your son lose his bride," cried the victorious son of
+South Wind, as he retreated with his sister, "but I shall take away
+three of your months also. From this time forth you are allowed to
+blow but three months in the year."
+
+Thereupon the four Winds divided the year among them in this fashion:
+to North Wind the three winter months, to East Wind the spring, to
+West Wind the summer, and the autumn to South Wind.
+
+
+THE FEAST OF THE MOUNTAIN GOATS
+
+In the old days the hunters were many and skillful. They killed
+hundreds of mountain goats for their flesh and skins and left their
+bones lying unburned on the rocks, which was a great dishonor.
+Moreover, their children were thoughtless.
+
+One day, a young man whose name was Really Black Raven Feather was
+walking along the beach, and he saw a group of boys making merry with
+a kid. They would seize it and throw it into the water, watch its
+struggles for a time, then drag it ashore half drowned, and as soon
+as the poor creature was able to walk, they would throw it in again.
+When they tired of this sport, they built a fire and put the kid in
+the fire, to dry, as they said; but before it was more than scorched
+this young man pulled it out and scolded the boys severely for their
+cruelty, so that they all ran away.
+
+Not long after this, a messenger came down from the hills inviting all
+the villagers to a feast, and as was the custom they followed the
+messenger. They came to a large wigwam on the mountain side which they
+had never seen before, and all were seated within this immense tent.
+Really Black was given a seat immediately behind the tent pole, which
+was unusually heavy.
+
+Soon a crowd of people wearing goats' headdresses came dancing and
+singing over the rocks. They danced around and in front of the wigwam,
+and presently the chief dancer kicked so high that he touched the
+tent covering with his goat's hoof. Instantly it fell down on the
+heads of the guests and became a mountain which crushed them to death.
+Only Really Black was saved. He clung to the tent pole, which became a
+giant spruce growing out of the side of the mountain. Therefore he and
+his descendants have always respected the goats, and taken care to
+burn their bones when it was necessary to hunt them for food or
+clothing.
+
+
+THE WOMAN WHO BECAME A BEAVER
+
+There was once a man who took his wife with him to hunt raccoons at a
+distance from the village. They were very successful. Every night the
+man shot several of the animals, and in the daytime they were both
+busy skinning them and trying out the fat. One day the young wife
+became tired of work and she approached her husband and tried to
+attract his attention, saying playfully:
+
+"Look at me, my husband!"
+
+It is true that she was a pretty woman, but the man was bent on
+skinning his game just then and took no notice of her. Seeing that he
+made no answer, she kept on teasing him to look at her. At last he
+grew provoked.
+
+"Go away," said he crossly; "you are no better than these raccoons!"
+
+At this the young woman was much hurt and went away without speaking.
+Her husband finished his work and then came to his supper, but no meal
+had been prepared for him, and no wife was to be seen. He called and
+called, but no one answered. After searching for her some time, he
+discovered the woman taking a bath in a small pool, which she had
+made for herself by piling up sticks and pebbles to dam the stream.
+
+  [Illustration: THE WOMAN WHO BECAME A BEAVER
+    He discovered the woman in a small pool.
+    _Page 111._]
+
+"Come, my wife, it is time to eat," begged the young husband.
+
+"You have said that I am no better than the raccoons," she answered,
+"and I am very much ashamed. I prefer to stay where I am."
+
+He went back to their hut, but came again later in the evening and
+tried hard to persuade her.
+
+"My wife, you know that I love you," he protested. "I only spoke as I
+did because I was thinking of my work and I wanted to get through with
+it. I am sorry for what I said, and I did not mean anything by it.
+Come, now, you should not stay in the water so long or you will be
+sick; and besides, it is time to go to bed."
+
+She would not listen to him, however, and he noticed that the dam had
+grown higher, and the pool was much bigger than before.
+
+The woman did not come to bed at all that night, and the deserted
+husband could not sleep for thinking of his wife swimming about in the
+cold water. He lay awake, listening to the lapping of the little waves
+and the slap of her leathern apron as it struck the water when she
+dived.
+
+Next morning the pool had become a pond, and out in the middle of it
+he could still see her swimming about. For the third time he called to
+her and pleaded with her to come out, but she would not answer him at
+all, so he went home very sorrowful.
+
+Now the young woman had six brothers, and when they heard what had
+happened, they all declared that they would go and bring home their
+sister. Their brother-in-law guided them to the spot where he had
+left her and behold! a large lake filled the valley, and there was a
+beaver house under the dam.
+
+The young men saw several young beavers swimming about, and presently
+they heard a great beaver tail spank the water. Looking closely, they
+recognized the woman, but she was covered from head to foot with soft
+brown fur, and her leathern apron had become the flat tail of a
+beaver.
+
+At this they wept much, and with one voice implored her to come home.
+
+"No," said the beaver woman. "My husband has said that I am no better
+than the raccoons, and I am too much ashamed to live with mankind any
+longer. Do not trouble about me further, for I shall never come back."
+
+"Let us go away and leave her," said the eldest brother, for he did
+not know what else to do.
+
+"No," said the youngest. "Let us break the dam; then all the water
+will run out, and she will be compelled to come."
+
+They broke the dam and destroyed the beaver house. The woman lay face
+downward in the mud at what had been the bottom of the lake. She was
+quite dead. In all points she was like a beaver, but when they turned
+the body over, grieving much, the face was the face of the offended
+wife.
+
+
+THE TEN PRINCES
+
+The ten sons of a chief went hunting, and all took their wives with
+them except the youngest brother, who was unmarried. They all camped
+together at night, and in the morning the eldest prince went out in
+search of game.
+
+The first thing he saw was a fat porcupine coming toward him, which he
+easily caught. He wrung its neck, and hung it on the branch of a
+tree, and went on.
+
+Near the top of a hill, he met a handsome white she-bear and shot her
+dead. He kept on to the very top, and looking down, perceived a
+strange town at the foot, which made him very curious. He walked up
+boldly to the first hut, in which a pretty young woman sat alone. She
+beckoned to him through the window, but he had scarcely entered when
+some one called out from the next dwelling:
+
+"You have a visitor. Send him here: the chief wishes to see him."
+
+At the chief's door, several young men met the stranger with much
+kindness and greatly admired his weapons, which they begged to be
+allowed to examine. As soon as he went in, the chief greeted him with
+all hospitality. He ordered that the softest robes be brought for his
+seat and caused him to be served with the choicest food. While he ate,
+his weapons were returned to him and laid at his side. When night
+came, the chief said, "Bring the best blanket for our guest; he will
+remain with us to-night"; and it was done.
+
+In the morning a cry arose, "The bears are coming!"
+
+"Let my best hunters go out against them," ordered the chief. Now the
+young prince was an expert hunter and had a mind to display his skill,
+so he hastened to attack the foremost bear. He drew out his best
+arrow, but to his astonishment the arrow broke. Hurriedly he seized
+his spear, and the spear broke. In a moment the grizzly bear was upon
+him and bore him to the ground.
+
+As soon as he was dead, the young men dragged his body into the
+chief's hut, where the chief caused it to be cut in pieces and hung
+up to dry.
+
+Now when this young man did not come back to camp on that day or the
+next, his wife grew anxious, and the next in age offered to go in
+search of him. He set out in the same direction, and half-way up the
+hill he met a fat porcupine, which he clubbed and hung in a tree as
+his brother had done. A little further on, he saw a white she-bear and
+killed her, after which he went toward the village which he observed
+in the distance.
+
+The pretty young woman invited him to come in, and the young men
+welcomed him cordially and took away his weapons, which they returned
+to him as he sat feasting in the house of the chief. In short,
+everything happened to him exactly as it had happened to his brother;
+and in the morning, when his arrows broke off short, he was at the
+mercy of the bear, and his body was cut up and hung beside that of the
+first.
+
+Next day, the third youth went to look for the other two, and so on,
+until all were gone except the youngest. The nine widows mourned
+continually, and they begged the last brother not to follow the
+others, for if he should, they felt sure that he too would be lost and
+they would all be left without a protector. However, he insisted upon
+going, assuring them that not only would he come back safe and sound,
+but would bring back their husbands also.
+
+He took the same path up the hill, and when he saw the fat porcupine
+coming to meet him, it occurred to him that he had better let her pass
+unharmed, and he did so. A little later, he met the white she-bear and
+shot her; but when he came to her he could not help laying his hand
+gently on her side and exclaiming aloud, "How beautiful she is!"
+
+Instantly the bear became a handsome young woman, who smiled upon him,
+and warned him of the dangers that he would meet in the Bears' town at
+the foot of the hill.
+
+"These people are really Bears," said she, "and I am one of them sent
+to deceive you. But you have no wife, and I like you very much. Do not
+let the young men take your weapons even for a minute, or they will
+change them to dry sticks as they did those of your nine brothers, who
+killed me without remorse."
+
+Finally she gave him two small pups and told him to hide them in his
+robe, and if ever he was in trouble to set them one by one on the
+ground, saying, "Red, grow up quick and help me!" "Spot, grow up quick
+and help me!" and it should be so. Then she kissed and embraced him,
+and he went on down the hill to the village.
+
+In the first hut he came to he found his sweetheart again, and she
+greeted him lovingly. When the chief sent for him, she delayed parting
+with him as long as she could, but was at last forced to let him go,
+with many charges as to the best way to outwit her kinsmen.
+Accordingly he kept fast hold of his weapons, when the young men
+crowded admiringly about him, and even lay awake all night lest they
+should take them from him while he slept.
+
+In the morning, when the Bears came on as before, and the chief called
+for men to go out and meet them, the young prince drew his bow and
+shot the foremost through the heart. More followed, and he killed them
+one after another until his arrows were all gone. Then he fought with
+his spear until he was tired out, and still the Bears came on.
+
+Finally he remembered the pups that his sweetheart had given him, and
+he placed the first one on the ground, saying, "Grow up quick, Red,
+and help me!"
+
+Instantly the pup became an immense dog which rushed at the Bears and
+drove them back.
+
+Then he put down the second pup, saying, "Grow up quick, Spot, and
+help me!" and another savage dog attacked and put to rout the last of
+his enemies.
+
+Then the young man returned to the Bear chief's wigwam for his nine
+brothers. He took down the pieces of their bodies and laid them side
+by side, and they all came to life and followed the hero and his Bear
+wife back to their own camp, where they were welcomed with great
+rejoicings.
+
+
+THE GIRL WHO REJECTED HER COUSIN
+
+In the old days, a chief's daughter was expected to marry the son of
+her uncle, and so keep the chieftainship in the family. But there was
+once a proud princess who behaved very badly to her cousin when he
+came wooing, according to the custom.
+
+"I must be sure that you love me," she said.
+
+"I do love you," he declared.
+
+Upon which she answered, "Then prove your love by making a cut down
+your right cheek."
+
+The young man immediately took out his knife and slashed his right
+cheek so that the blood streamed over his face.
+
+When the cut had healed, he went again to his cousin and asked for her
+hand with some confidence, but she said:
+
+"First you must cut your left cheek also, and then I shall know that
+you really love me."
+
+The young man did not like to do it, but he would not give up, and he
+slashed his left cheek also.
+
+He waited for the second cut to heal and then went to her with his
+scarred face and begged her to marry him at once.
+
+"Yes," said she, "I will marry you, for you have done well," and she
+kissed him, so that he became more in love than ever. Finally she told
+him sweetly that she was not yet entirely satisfied, and that before
+the wedding he must cut off all his hair.
+
+Now short hair is considered a disgrace to a man, and the prince was
+most unwilling to cut his off, but at last he yielded and went to her
+to ask that the wedding day might be set. But she refused to see him,
+merely sending a servant with the message that he must be quite mad
+to suppose that she would marry such a hideous object as he had made
+of himself.
+
+The poor young man was very unhappy, and he left his home and wandered
+away until he came to a small hut that stood all by itself under a
+hill.
+
+An old woman opened the door and kindly asked him to come in--"that
+is," said she, "if you are the chief's son who was rejected by his
+cousin."
+
+"I am he," declared the youth.
+
+"What can I do for you?" asked the old woman.
+
+He answered that he wanted nothing more than to be as he had been,
+before he disfigured himself at the bidding of the cruel young woman.
+
+Accordingly the crone prepared a bath for him, and when he came out
+his skin was smooth and fine, without any mark upon it. She combed
+his hair with a comb of ivory, and it became long and splendid and
+fell over his shoulders like a mantle, so that he was far handsomer
+than before.
+
+When he went back to the village, all the people admired him as a
+being from another world, and his cousin put on her best robes and
+walked to and fro, trying to attract his attention, but he did not
+even glance at her. Finally she sent her servant with a message,
+asking him to come and see her.
+
+When he did not appear, she sent a second time, and inquired very
+humbly what she could do to please him. He told the messenger to say
+that if she would slash her right cheek with a knife, he would come.
+
+So the princess cut open her right cheek, and when the cut had healed
+she sent to her cousin again. This time he made answer that she must
+first cut her left cheek also, and she did as he ordered.
+
+When her messenger came to the prince a fourth time, he directed that
+her mistress cut off all her beautiful hair, declaring that he would
+then be entirely satisfied. Crying bitterly, the poor girl cut it off
+and sent it to her lover, but he threw it on the ground with contempt,
+saying that nothing would induce him to look upon the face of a woman
+who had so disfigured herself.
+
+The wise men say that since this happened, women have not been allowed
+to choose their husbands, or to refuse the men who have been selected
+for them to marry.
+
+
+GRIZZLY BEAR AND THE FOUR CHIEFS
+
+There were once four chiefs who were brothers and lived in one
+village. In the dead of winter, when food was scarce, a lean stranger
+came among them and stopped at the hut of the eldest brother.
+
+He was courteously received and seated by the fire, as is the custom,
+and the chief asked him where he came from.
+
+"I have come a long way," replied the stranger.
+
+"And what have you eaten on the way?"
+
+"I have eaten nothing but snow," he said.
+
+Then the chief ordered a dish of snow and a spoon to be placed before
+his guest, but he got up without touching it and went on to the house
+of the second brother.
+
+Here he was again asked where he came from and what he had eaten on
+the road, and when he answered that he had eaten only snow, he was
+given a large dish of it with a spoon. The same thing happened at the
+third house.
+
+When the traveler came to the dwelling of the youngest brother, and
+the host heard that he had eaten nothing but snow and was starving, he
+said to his wife, "Wife, see if there is still a dried salmon left."
+
+She looked, and found a single one, half of which she broiled and gave
+it on a dish to the stranger.
+
+After he had eaten, he made ready to go on, but his host said, "Wife,
+give our guest the other half of the salmon to eat on the journey,"
+and she did so.
+
+Then the stranger said to him, "All the others ridiculed a starving
+man, but you were a true host. Your kindness shall be rewarded. Meet
+me to-morrow at the mouth of the river."
+
+The young chief did as he was told, and behold! a great grizzly Bear,
+who presented him with leggings, a grizzly-bear headdress, and a
+magic bow which killed all manner of game. From that day he never went
+hungry, but became the envy of his elder brothers and the richest man
+in the village.
+
+
+THE WOODEN WIFE
+
+Once there was a young man newly married who was very fond of his
+wife. She was not only a pretty woman, but she wove the most beautiful
+dancing-blankets of any one in the tribe.
+
+One day this young man went into the mountains to hunt wild goats,
+from whose hair his wife might weave more of her much-prized blankets,
+and she went with him to keep his hut and to cook for him. While they
+were yet far from the village, the girl fell sick, and although he did
+all that he could for her, the young husband soon saw that she was
+dying.
+
+"Tell me, my dear, what can I do for you?" he begged, as he hung over
+her.
+
+"Only do not leave me soon, my husband! Do not soon forget our love,"
+sighed the wife, and she died.
+
+The goat-hunter mourned her truly, and he did as she had asked him to
+do. He remained on the spot where he had lost her and seemed to have
+no thought of going back to the village. He kept her body with him in
+the hut as long as he could, and when at last he was forced to lay it
+away, he carved an image out of cedar wood and set it up in front of
+her loom, so that as one entered the hut it seemed that a woman sat
+there, weaving a dancing-blanket. Every morning he went out hunting
+goats, and when he returned in the evening he would call out as he
+came near the hut, saying:
+
+"Come out, my wife, and see what I have brought you!"
+
+Then he would answer himself in a woman's voice, "I cannot come just
+now, my husband. I am weaving, and the wool may become snarled if I
+leave my loom."
+
+Presently he would enter the wigwam, come up behind his wooden wife,
+and kiss her lovingly.
+
+After a time, the story of these strange doings spread to the village,
+and two young girls, sisters, being filled with curiosity, decided to
+come and find out for themselves what truth there might be in the
+rumors that were about. When they reached his lonely hut, the hunter
+was away as usual, so they raised the door-flap and peeped in. There
+sat the wooden wife in front of the loom, with her back to them,
+exactly like a woman weaving.
+
+"Elder sister," said they, "we are hungry." But when she did not move
+nor speak, they knew that she was not a real woman, and they hid in a
+corner behind some blankets until the husband should return.
+
+By and by they heard his voice outside the hut, telling his wife to
+come out and see the game he had brought, and then her usual answer
+that she was busy weaving and could not come just then. Next he came
+in, put his arms about the wooden wife, and kissed her fondly.
+
+Upon this the elder girl could not help laughing so that he heard it
+and discovered them both. But the young man was a courteous host. He
+begged them to be seated and offered them food, and the elder sister
+ate heartily; she even over-ate, while the younger was very quiet and
+took but a taste of each dish. The hunter took note of their conduct,
+and when supper was over, he asked the younger girl to be his wife.
+
+"I will marry you," said she, "if you will put away your wooden
+wife." Accordingly he destroyed the image that he had made, and
+married the girl, and they lived happily together for many years.
+
+
+ILDINI
+
+Ildini lived at End-of-trail, with his wife and two boys. One day he
+went fishing when the wind blew strong from the shore. It blew his
+boat so far out that he could not get back. All day and all night he
+was blown about the cold gray waters. He became very hungry and
+chilled to the bone.
+
+Ildini prayed and sang for a fair wind. This was his song:
+
+    "Ocean Spirit, calm the waves for me!
+    Come closer to me, my Power!
+    Calm the waves, so that I may go home!"
+
+After many days the wind went down and the canoe floated near a strange
+shore, but by now the man was so weak that he could not land. On the
+shore he saw no one but a little child, scarcely big enough to talk. He
+told the child his name, "Ildini", and the little fellow repeated it
+over and over as if it were a game--"Ildini--Ildini--Ildini!" He ran
+home still saying over the new name, and exclaimed to his grandfather:
+"Grandfather, come--Ildini!" He kept saying this until the old man
+followed and discovered the canoe and the fisherman, who was by this
+time unable to stand.
+
+He called his wife to help him and together they carried Ildini to their
+house, where they rubbed his limbs, warmed him and gave him broth, a
+little at a time. When he had recovered, he became the chief of that
+tribe, and learned their ways and their language. He never ceased to
+mourn for the two sons whom he had left behind at End-of-trail, but he
+did not weep for his wife, for he believed her faithless and thought
+that she had been the cause of his misfortune. In truth she supposed him
+dead and had long since married another.
+
+
+
+
+ALASKAN STORIES
+
+
+THE MAN WHO ENTERTAINED BEARS
+
+There was once a man who had lost all of his family in a terrible
+sickness that came upon the people of his village. He was all alone in
+the world and very sorrowful. He did not know what to do. First he
+thought he would get into his canoe and paddle away till he came to
+another village. Then it occurred to him that they might think he had
+run away from home because he had been accused of witchcraft or of
+some other shameful thing.
+
+He considered taking his own life, but did not like to do it. Finally
+he concluded to go among the bears and let them kill him. He found a
+bear trail, and lay down in it till he heard the bushes breaking and
+saw several grizzly bears coming along the trail. An unusually large
+bear was at their head.
+
+Suddenly the man became frightened and felt that he had chosen a hard
+death. He arose and spoke to the leading bear.
+
+"Brother," said he, "I am come to invite you to a feast in honor of my
+dead. I have lost my children and my wife and there is none left of my
+blood and of my house. Will you help me to do honor to their spirits?"
+
+The largest bear turned toward the others and whined, as if he were
+telling them of the invitation. Then they all went back, and the man
+hurried home to prepare his feast. He took away all the old sand from
+his fireplace and replaced it with clean sand. He brought a load of
+wood and picked many berries, both cranberries and huckleberries. He
+also told his neighbors what guests he expected, and they all supposed
+him crazed by sorrow.
+
+Next morning he arose early and painted himself with unusual care.
+When all was ready, he stood in the doorway of his house awaiting his
+guests. Presently he saw the bears entering the mouth of the creek in
+single file, the great bear in the lead, just as on the day before.
+The other villagers saw them too and ran and hid themselves in their
+houses, terrified out of their wits; but their host stood still to
+receive them and give them the seats of honor, the chief in the middle
+seat, as is the custom.
+
+First he served them with large trays of cranberries covered with
+grease, and as soon as the bear chief began to eat of the food the
+others followed his example. The other courses were served and eaten
+in the same way. When all had finished eating and were about to
+retire, each in turn licked some of the paint from his breast and arms
+in sign of their sympathy.
+
+On the next day, the smallest bear came back alone in human form, and
+spoke to his host in his own tongue, telling him that he was a man who
+had long since been captured and adopted into the Bear tribe. "The
+Bear Chief," said this person, "is very sorry for you, because he too
+has lost all of his friends. He understood your sorrow and for that
+reason refrained from killing you. I was not permitted to speak to you
+in his presence, but he wishes you to remember him when you mourn for
+your dead."
+
+Ever since this time, the old men, when they kill a grizzly bear,
+paint a cross on its skin. It is also commanded that when you give a
+feast you should invite every one, even your enemies, just as this
+man invited the Bears, who are the enemies of human kind.
+
+
+BEAVER AND PORCUPINE
+
+Once in the old days Beaver and Porcupine were comrades and went
+everywhere together. Now Beavers are much afraid of Bears, who break
+down the beaver dams so as to let off the water, catch them and eat
+them. But the Bear fears the sharp quills of the Porcupine, therefore
+the little fellow acted as guard to his friend. Porcupine often
+visited Beaver in his house, which is dry and comfortable, and
+unfortunately annoyed his host by leaving some of his quills there.
+
+One day Porcupine proposed to call on his friend, and Beaver offered
+to carry him on his back, since the prickly one cannot swim. But
+instead of taking him to his home under the dam, he took him to a
+tall stump in the very middle of the lake, and there he left him!
+
+There Porcupine was compelled to stay until the lake froze over, and
+he could walk home on the ice.
+
+Beaver contrived to explain the whole thing as a joke, and the pair
+appeared to be on as good terms as ever. One fine day the Bear
+appeared.
+
+"What shall I do? Save me! save me!" cried Beaver in terror.
+
+"Certainly, friend; just get upon my back and I will carry you to
+safety," replied Porcupine.
+
+Beaver did as he was told, and was taken to the top of a very tall
+tree and left to himself. He did not know how to climb and was afraid
+to try to get down alone.
+
+  [Illustration: BEAVER AND PORCUPINE
+    He took him to a tall stump in the very middle of the lake and
+      there he left him.
+    _Page 144._]
+
+"Oh, do help me down!" he cried; but it was of no use to beg. After
+staying up there so long that he grew dizzy and almost starved to
+death, he finally contrived to scramble down the tree; and they say
+that is why the bark of trees is rough and full of scratches to this
+day. We are also told that it is on account of this happening that
+people who have loved each other very much sometimes quarrel, and are
+no longer friends.
+
+
+MOUNTAIN DWELLER
+
+Two sisters belonging to a well-known family one day became very
+hungry and helped themselves to some of their mother's fat meat,
+notwithstanding the girls were strictly forbidden to eat anything
+between meals.
+
+When the mother found it out she was angry, especially with her elder
+daughter, for the younger was still a child. She not only scolded the
+girl, but slapped her severely. At last she said: "Since you are so
+fond of eating, you had better go and marry Mountain Dweller!"
+
+Now Mountain Dweller is a being who lives alone upon the mountains and
+is supposed to be a great hunter. Up to this time, no mortal had ever
+seen him. The girls were more deeply offended by her words than by the
+blows she had given the elder, and that night when their mother slept
+they ran off into the woods.
+
+They had wandered a long way and were crying with fear and hunger when
+they heard some one chopping wood in the distance. "Perhaps it is
+really he," said the elder sister, and they followed the sound.
+
+There stood a man whose face was painted red. He was kind and asked
+the girls what they were doing so far from home.
+
+As soon as they had told him, he invited them into his house near by,
+and they found it large and well stored with abundance of meat. They
+remained there as he asked them, and the elder sister in time became
+his wife.
+
+Now the mother had soon repented her hasty speech and both parents
+searched everywhere for their daughters. When they could not find
+them, they mourned them as dead. A year passed, and the mourners'
+feast had been given, when one day Mountain Dweller said to his wife
+and his sister-in-law: "Wouldn't you like to see your father and
+mother again?"
+
+"Oh, yes, yes!" exclaimed the little girl, but the other thought not,
+for the insult was hard to forgive. At last she consented to go,
+whereupon her husband hunted continually and prepared a large quantity
+of meat for a present to his father-in-law.
+
+"Make a little basket, no larger than the end of your thumb," he told
+her; and when it was finished, he put into it all those canoe loads of
+meat, hung it on his finger, and the three of them went down the
+mountain to the old home of the two girls.
+
+Their little brother was playing outside the hut and saw them first.
+He ran inside. "Mother, mother!" he cried, "my two sisters are
+coming!"
+
+"Nonsense," scolded his mother. "Your sisters have been dead a long
+time, as you well know. Did we not give the mourners' feast for them
+this last moon?"
+
+"Nevertheless I ought to know my own sisters, and I do know them," the
+boy persisted. "They are coming--they are here!"
+
+The mother came to the door and saw them, and instantly she threw
+herself upon their necks, crying for joy.
+
+The next morning, the elder daughter said to her: "Mother, back there
+in the woods a little way there is a basket for you. Send my brother
+to bring it."
+
+The boy went and soon came back saying that it was too heavy for him.
+The whole village went, but all of them together could not carry the
+basket. Finally the young wife went herself, and she brought it easily
+in one hand. But when she set it down in the house and began to unpack
+it, behold! the place was filled and running over with meat of all
+kinds. There was a great feast and every one was pleased, but
+unfortunately the girls' mother ate so much that in the night she
+became very ill, and by morning she was dead.
+
+This is a story told to discourage greediness.
+
+
+THE EAGLE CREST
+
+It is well known that there is a certain clan which claims the Eagle
+for its crest or totem, and this is how it happened.
+
+There was once a very poor man, so poor that he could not even get
+enough to eat. He was always cruising around in a small canoe, trying
+to catch a few little fish with which to keep himself alive. One day
+he caught nothing, and as he had brought no food with him in the boat
+he became very hungry.
+
+Early in the morning, as he lay on the shore, he heard a voice but
+could not tell where it came from. The voice said: "I have come after
+you." The man looked all around him, but saw only a young Eagle
+perched upon the branch of a tree. Then the voice said quite plainly:
+"My grandfather has sent me to get you." This time the Eagle looked
+to him like a real person, and he followed it into the woods.
+
+The trail led to a fine large house high up on a cliff, and inside
+there was plenty of good food. There were also mats to sit upon and
+all the comforts to be found in good houses. The Eagles treated the
+poor man well, and since he was wretched and despised among his own
+people, he wanted to stay with them always. He married one of the
+Eagle women and became one of them.
+
+Now the mother and brothers of this man were just as poor and
+contemptible as he had been, and he pitied them, now that he himself
+was well off. Whenever he saw his brother out fishing, he would leave
+some fish where the other could find it. The brother was astonished at
+his luck and could not account for it.
+
+One night his mother had a dream. She dreamed that a large fish might
+be found upon a certain point of land, and when they went there, the
+fish was where she had dreamed she saw it. Soon afterward she dreamed
+that they must camp on a certain spot, where they would find much
+food. While they camped there, they all saw an Eagle bring a fish
+ashore, after which he sat upon a branch not far from them, and
+exclaimed: "Do not be afraid; it is I!"
+
+Such is the origin of the Eagle clan, which is now a large one and
+respected of all the people.
+
+
+THE GIRL WHO MARRIED THE FIRE SPIRIT
+
+Many men wished to marry the chief's pretty daughter, but she laughed
+at them all. One day as she sat quite close to the fire, a spark
+snapped upon her dress and burned a tiny hole in it. She pointed at
+the fire and called it a bad name in her anger, for it must be
+admitted that the girl had a quick temper.
+
+That night the chief's daughter was missing. All the people sought for
+her. They searched every house in the village and in the other
+villages, wherever men lived who had proposed for her hand. When she
+could not be found anywhere, they employed the wisest medicine men. In
+a far distant village there lived one whose power was much talked
+about, and when he was consulted he said to the chief:
+
+"Your daughter may have said something to displease the Fire Spirit.
+Let your fire go out, and have every one in your village do the same;
+then you may hear something."
+
+The chief came home and sent his crier through the village to ask
+that every fire be allowed to go out. When this had been done, the
+girl came up between the stones of the fireplace. The Fire Spirit had
+taken her to be his wife!
+
+After this, she was permitted to spend a part of her time with her
+family, but whenever the burning wood whistled (as you have sometimes
+heard it do) she knew that her spirit husband wanted her, and she was
+obliged to go to him at once.
+
+One day, as she was sitting in her father's house stirring a dish of
+boiling soap-berries, a young man who was in love with her, and who
+was encouraged by her mother in the hope that he might be able to keep
+her always with them, took hold of the spoon. Instantly the fire
+whistled loudly, and the young wife was terrified.
+
+"He wants me," she murmured, as she disappeared. They never saw her
+again.
+
+
+THE SHADOW WIFE
+
+A certain young man lost his wife when they had been married only a
+few days, and he was very sorrowful. All night he lay awake thinking
+about her. The next night and the next it was the same. In the morning
+they took away her body to bury it, and he put on his best clothes and
+started off.
+
+All day he walked and all night; he could not stop; daylight found him
+still walking. He heard voices a long way off, and he followed them.
+At last he saw light through the thick trees and came out of the woods
+upon the shore of a quiet lake. All this time he had been walking upon
+the death road, the road of spirits, but he did not know it.
+
+On the other side of the lake he saw people and called to them, but to
+his surprise no one seemed to hear him. After he had grown hoarse
+with shouting, he whispered to himself: "Why is it, I wonder, that no
+one hears me? It is not so far over there!"
+
+Immediately they heard him, and one said: "It is a person come up from
+Dreamland. Let us go and bring him across!"
+
+They came in a canoe and carried him across the lake, and when he
+reached the other side, the very first person he saw was his wife! Her
+eyes were red, and he saw that she had been crying for him. What joy
+to see her again! He was so happy that he could hardly bear it. The
+people offered him food, but his wife warned him not to eat, for if he
+did so, she said, he could never return to earth.
+
+As it was, they went back together in the canoe, which is called
+"Ghost's Canoe", and started hand-in-hand down the long trail that
+led to his father's house. They walked for a day and a night, and when
+they arrived, he left her standing outside and went to speak to his
+father.
+
+"Father," said the young man, "I have brought my wife home!"
+
+"Why don't you bring her in?" asked his father.
+
+So they arranged robes to make a soft seat, and he went out to fetch
+her and came in again, but the people saw him alone. There was
+something like a shadow that came after. Wherever the young man went,
+this shadow could be seen to follow him. The shadow wife never spoke,
+at least not in the day time, but at night her voice could be heard
+plainly. The people in the house complained that it kept them awake.
+It seemed as if the two were talking and playing together all the
+night long.
+
+There was a former lover of the girl who grew very jealous when her
+husband by his love brought her back from Ghost Land, and one night he
+hid himself behind their bed and suddenly raised the curtain. As he
+did so, there was heard a rattling of dry bones and then silence. In
+the morning the young husband lay dead, and the spirits of both went
+back to Ghost Land.
+
+
+THE SELF-BURNING FIRE
+
+One winter there was a great famine on the Copper River. The people
+began to die of hunger, first the children, then the old people, and
+finally the young and strong, until at last but eight men were left.
+
+These eight men set out to walk to another village where food might be
+found, but they had not gone far when one perished of cold and
+starvation. They buried him and went on. Soon another froze to death,
+and a third lay down exhausted, and so on until only one was left.
+
+Now this man felt wonderfully strong and walked on rapidly,
+notwithstanding he felt great sorrow at the loss of his comrades. Late
+that evening, he heard a shout ahead of him on the trail. He followed
+the sound and came to a great fire burning in the midst of snow and
+ice. Then he knew that it was the fire he had heard calling to him.
+
+When he had warmed himself thoroughly and was about to start on again,
+he heard a crackling of bushes behind him. He looked back, and one by
+one his frozen comrades came up the trail and warmed themselves at the
+fire, followed by all the people who had starved to death in the
+village. This is the Self-Burning Fire which has mysterious power and
+is worshiped by the Indians.
+
+
+THE LONG WINTER
+
+It was almost summer time when some boys who were playing in a boat
+pulled out of the water a long piece of drifting seaweed and put it in
+again on the other side of the canoe. For this trifling, not only the
+mischievous boys were punished, but all the people in their village.
+
+For winter at once came on again with fresh fury, and snow was piled
+so high in front of the houses that the people were soon in want of
+food. Their winter stores were exhausted, and they would have starved
+to death, had it not been for a bluejay which one day perched on the
+edge of a smoke hole with a spray of fresh elderberries in its beak.
+
+"Kilnaxe! Kilnaxe!" screamed the jay. Now this was the name of a
+neighboring town. So all the people took the cedar bark they had
+prepared to make their summer houses of and went to Kilnaxe, where
+they found it was full summer and the berries already ripe. Winter
+lingered only about their own village.
+
+From this story we learn that one must not insult anything--not even a
+piece of seaweed.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note
+
+Archaic spelling is preserved as printed.
+
+The following typographic errors have been repaired:
+
+    Page 9--beside amended to besides--"They could do many wonderful
+    things besides that we cannot do."
+
+    Page 42--has amended to had--"... he returned with a story of an
+    Owl which had driven away his game."
+
+The frontispiece illustration has been moved to follow the title page.
+Other illustrations have been moved where necessary so that they are
+not in the middle of a paragraph.
+
+The list of other books by the author has been moved to follow the
+title page.
+
+Repeated half-titles have been deleted.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Indian Legends Retold, by Elaine Goodale Eastman
+
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