The Falcon and the Duck

The Falcon and the Duck

(A Blackfoot Legend, originally posted on: http://www.native-languages.org/blackfootstory.htm

Reprinted with permission)

The wintry winds had already begun to whistle and the waves to rise when the Drake and his mate gathered their half- grown brood together on the shore of their far northern lake. 

"Wife," said he, "it is now time to take the children southward, to the Warm Countries which they have never yet seen!" 

Very early the next morning they set out on their long journey, forming a great "V" against the sky in their flight. The mother led her flock and the father brought up the rear, keeping a sharp lookout for stragglers.

All day they flew high in the keen air, over wide prairies and great forests of northern pine, until toward evening they saw below them a chain of lakes, glittering like a string of dark-blue stones. 

Swinging round in a half circle, they dropped lower and lower, ready to alight and rest upon the smooth surface of the nearest lake. Suddenly their leader heard a whizzing sound like that of a bullet as it cuts the air, and she quickly gave the waning: "Honk! honk! Danger, danger!"

All descended in dizzy spirals, but as the great Falcon swooped toward them with upraised wing, the ducklings scattered wildly hither and thither. The old Drake came last, and it was he who was struck! 

"Honk, honk!" cried all the Ducks in terror, and for a minute the air was full of soft downy feathers like flakes of snow. But the force of the blow was lost upon the well-cushioned body of the Drake, he soon got over his fright and went on his way southward with his family, while the Falcon dropped heavily to the water's edge with a broken wing.

There he stayed and hunted mice as best he could from day to day, sleeping at night in a hollow log to be out of the way of the Fox and the Weasel. All the wit he had was not too much whereby to keep himself alive through the long, hard winter. 

Toward spring, however, the Falcon's wing had healed and he could fly a little, though feebly. The sun rose higher and higher in the blue heavens, and the Ducks began to return to their cool northern home. Every day a flock or two flew over the lake; but the Falcon dared not charge upon the flocks, much as he wished to do so. He was weak with hunger, and afraid to trust to the strength of the broken wing. 

One fine day a chattering flock of Mallards alighted quite near him, cooling their glossy breasts upon the gently rippling wave. "Here, children,” boasted an old Drake, “ is the very spot where your father was charged upon last autumn by a cruel Falcon! I can tell you that it took all my skill and quickness in dodging to save my life. Best of all, our fierce enemy dropped to the ground with a broken wing! Doubtless he is long since dead of starvation, or else a Fox or a Mink has made a meal of the wicked creature!" 

By these words the Falcon knew his old enemy, and his courage returned. "Nevertheless, I am still here!" he exclaimed, and darted like a flash upon the unsuspecting old Drake, who was resting and telling of his exploit and narrow escape with the greatest pride and satisfaction. "Honk! honk!“Screamed all the Ducks and they scattered and whirled upward like the dead leaves in autumn; but the Falcon with sure aim selected the old Drake and gave swift chase. 

Round and round in dizzy spirals they swung together, till with a quick spurt the Falcon struck the shining, outstretched neck of the other, and snapped it with one powerful blow of his reunited wing. 

Do not exult too soon; nor is it wise to tell of your brave deeds within the hearing of your enemy.

The End

The Blue Moon

The Blue Moon

Mankind has always been fascinated by the moon and its effects on Earth. Aside from the tides the ancient calendars, chiefly the old almanac, depended on the many cycles of the moon to determine specific times for sowing and harvesting crops.

How is Blue Moon determined? When there are two full moons in one calendar month, the second full moon is called a Blue Moon.

Now, the Blue colored moons really do exist. They occur when there is an abundance of certain particles in the Earth’s atmosphere. The light from the moon, although it appears white, is made up from all the colors of the spectrum. These particles filter out and scatter the colors at one end of the spectrum (the reds and yellows) whilst intensifying the colors at the other end of the spectrum (the blues and greens). This gives the moon a blue or blur-green look, especially if it is viewed when low on the horizon.

Dust from forest fires can turn the moon blue and when volcanoes erupt the dust produced can have the similar effect.

The Blue Moon usually occurs in months with 31 days in them (occurrences in 30 day months are rare). They average once every two and half years. There are some people with ample imagination and lack of understanding that have attributed the Blue Moon to bad luck. There is no good or bad luck in its creation however, only power. It is how individuals use this power that turns things either good or bad. The second full moon (the Blue Moon) doubles the power of that month’s moon influence.

The mystical side of the moon, particularly the blue moon has always ignited the imagination of every indigenous people of every continent. In North America Native Indians had their own interesting interpretation of the Blue Moon; here are some of these facts:

North American Indians sometimes referred to the Blue Moon as the Snake Moon. As the animal totem for the Blue Moon is a snake it is therefore respected and not feared. The snake in every culture is, without fail, considered a fearsome creature. The Blue Moon being attributed the same power; it doubles the intensity of that time of year in which it falls. The snake is also a creature of change, and the Blue Moon heralds a time of great change.

The snake sheds its skin but the process heralds certain danger and difficulty. If the shedding does not occur in a timely manner and the snake fails to get what it needs to help pull the skin away from it the change can suffocate and kill it. If successful, however, the transformation can be most magnificent; for after the sloughing off the dead, lackluster skin the new one emerges gleaming so brightly that it can be seen even at night. Similarly in life, there are two sides to everything; the blue moon could portend beneficial or detrimental strength.

The Blue Moon is also considered a two- edged sword. It means that the person born under the Blue Moon will have much stronger power to utilize in their lives; but that power will also have the potential to weaken them twice as much as it would others. They will be doubly enlightened, but they will also have twice the trouble bringing their ideas to fruition. Be wary of the Blue Moon person, for although they are beautiful in nature, this characteristic boon comes with certain volatility. Give them wide berth until you can determine what kind mood he or she is in or, indeed, what kind of snake he or she is.

Water reeds are the plant totems for this moon, although sweet grass can also represent the Blue moon. Sweet grass can enlighten and cleanse the atmosphere, but too much can sour the air; it, too, has a double edge to it.

Iron pyrites or fool’s gold is the mineral totem for the Blue Moon. Real gold is malleable and soft, fools’ gold looks as attractive, but when one tries to mine it, they will find it is sharp and hard. Like the snake it doesn’t give it true meaning in its initial contact. Working it could hurt one rather than help one. Iron is the solid flesh of Mother Earth, and in this stone it is encased in the golden colors of Grandfather Sun, showing us yet again that this fool’s gold is not what it seems. Looking at fool’s gold, there is rush of greed and avarice when one should be more temperate and recognize that it is not what it seems.

An animal hide bearing the legend of the snake clan from the Hopi people of the southwestern United States. Before the famous Hopi snake dance, the men gather snakes from each of the four directions.

As might be expected, the snake associations figure predominantly among the Native Americans of the southwestern United States. This is a snake painting of whirling snakes.

Below is an old legend about the Moon and Snake:

THE MOON AND THE GREAT SNAKE

(From The Project Gutenberg EBook of Indian Why Stories, by Frank Bird Linderman)

The rain had passed; the moon looked down from a clear sky and the bushes and dead grass smelled wet after the heavy storm. A cottontail ran into a clump of wild-rose bushes near War Eagle's lodge, and some dogs were close behind the frightened animal, as he gained cover.

Little Buffalo Calf threw a stone into the bushes, scaring the rabbit from his hiding-place, and away went bunny, followed by the yelping pack. We stood and listened until the noise of the chase died away, and then went into the lodge, where we were greeted, as usual, by War Eagle. 

To-night he smoked, but with greater ceremony, and I suspected that it had something to do with the forthcoming story.

Finally he said:

"You have seen many Snakes, I suppose?"

"Yes," replied the children, "we have seen a great many. In the summer we see them every day."

"Well," continued the story-teller, "once there was only one Snake on the whole wide world, and he was a big one, I tell you. He was pretty to look at, and was painted with all the colors we know. This snake was proud of his clothes and had a wicked heart. Most Snakes are wicked, because they are his relations.

"Now, I have not told you all about it yet, nor will I tell you to-night, but the Moon is the Sun's wife, and some day I shall tell you that story, but to-night I am telling you about the Snakes.

"You know that the Sun goes early to bed, and that the Moon most always leaves before he gets to the lodge. Sometimes this is not so, but that is part of another story.

"This big Snake used to crawl up a high hill and watch the Moon in the sky. He was in love with her, and she knew it; but she paid no attention to him. She liked his looks, for his clothes were fine, and he was always slick and smooth. This went on for a long time, but she never talked to him at all.

“The Snake thought, ‘Maybe the hill isn't high enough?’ so he found a higher one, and watched the Moon pass, from the top. Every night he climbed this high hill and motioned to her.

“She began to pay more attention to the big Snake, and one morning early, she loafed at her work a little, and spoke to him. He was flattered, and so was she, because he said many nice things to her, but she went on to the Sun's lodge, and left the Snake.

"The next morning very early she saw the Snake again, and this time she stopped a long time--so long that the Sun had started out from the lodge before she reached home. He wondered what kept her so long, and became suspicious of the Snake. He made up his mind to watch, and try to catch them together. So every morning the Sun left the lodge a little earlier than before; and one morning, just as he climbed a mountain, he saw the big Snake talking to the Moon. That made him angry, and you can't blame him, because his wife was spending her time loafing with a Snake.

"She ran away; ran to the Sun's lodge and left the Snake on the hill. In no time the Sun had grabbed him. My, the Sun was angry! The big Snake begged, and promised never to speak to the Moon again, but the Sun had him; and he smashed him into thousands of little pieces, of different colors from the different parts of his painted body. The little pieces each turned into a little snake, just as you see them now, but they were all too small for the Moon to notice after that.

“That is how so many Snakes came into the world; and that is why they are all small, nowadays.

"Our people do not like the Snake-people very well, but we know that they were made to do something on this world, and that they do it or they wouldn't live here.

"I am tired to-night, and I will ask that you go to your lodges, that I may sleep, for I am getting old. Ho!"

The End.

Note: Blue Moon (in Toronto, Canada) occur on Friday, July 31, 2015 at 6:42 AM (second Full Moon in single calendar month)

The Red-tailed Hawk

The Red-Tailed Hawk

Strange how things work out- I had casually mentioned earlier that I intended on visiting the park to check on the colors and in the interim feed the squirrels, which happens to be one of my favorite pastimes. 

“The squirrels are quite large in this country,” he remarked thoughtfully, “back in Malaysia, they are quite small, more like mice.”

“Perhaps they are well fed here.” I responded. “They are after all such delightful creatures. The trees are loaded with seeds and acorns at this time of year however people still spoil them with peanuts just to see them eat- Its part and parcel of a park experience.”

Later that afternoon I was off to High Park doing what I liked best: taking a long walk, observing nature and feeding the ducks, animals and birds. As the trees had not yet changed color, I’d armed myself with the standby camera that was not cumbersome.

Chance, however, had other plans for me for I soon stumbled upon a magnificent bird feeding high up in a tree. 

In all my dreams I never thought that he was feeding on a squirrel. That realization came much later, when I was drawn to that haunting, sorrowful and anguished cry emanating from a large bush a little ways down the path. Thinking that it was some wounded bird or animal needing assistance, I lingered at the spot, my eyes searching the bush.

Oh, another surprise… It was a squirrel… A squirrel? 

I've never heard them uttering any sound let along one so gut wrenching. My mind however made a quick sense of this and I nodded, for the sequence of events was now complete. My peace was the resulting casualty. I walked away feeling saddened yet awed at the same time.

Guided by the photographs, for I've never set eyes on a Red-tailed Hawk before, my quick research at home produced these results:

The red-tailed hawk is a member of the genus Buteo, a group of medium-sized raptors with robust bodies and broad wings. It typically weighs from 1.52 to 3.53 lb and measures 45–65 cm in length, with a wingspan from 110–145 cm. The females averaging about 25% is heavier than males. Members of this genus are known as buzzards in Europe, but hawks in North America where they are legally protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

In flight, this hawk soars with wings often in a slight dihedral, flapping as little as possible to conserve energy. Active flight is slow and deliberate, with deep wing beats. In wind, it occasionally hovers on beating wings and remains stationary above the ground. When soaring or flapping its wings, it typically travels from 32 to 64 km/h (40 mph), but when diving may exceed 190 km/h (120 mph).


The cry of the red-tailed hawk is a two to three second hoarse, rasping scream, described as ‘kree-eee-ar’ that begins at a high pitch and slurs downward. The red-tailed hawk frequently vocalizes while hunting or soaring, but vocalizes loudest in annoyance or anger, in response to a predator or a rival hawk's intrusion into its territory.

Red-tailed hawk plumage can be variable, depending on the subspecies and the region. These color variations are morphs, and are not related to molting.

Though the markings and hue vary across the subspecies, the basic appearance of the red-tailed hawk is consistent. Overall, this species is blocky and broad in shape, often appearing (and being) heavier than other Buteos of similar length. A whitish underbelly with a dark brown band across the belly, formed by horizontal streaks in feather patterning, is present in most color variations. The underside may be otherwise covered with dark brown spotting, especially in younger birds. The red tail, which gives this species its name, is uniformly brick-red above and light buff-orange below. The bill is short and dark, in the hooked shape characteristic of raptors, and the head can sometimes appear small in size against the thick body frame. They have a relatively short, broad tails and thick, chunky wings. The cere, the legs, and the feet of the red-tailed hawk are all yellow.

Immature birds can be readily identified at close range by their yellowish irises. As the bird attains full maturity over the course of 3–4 years, the iris slowly darkens into a reddish-brown hue. In both the light and dark morphs, the tail of the immature red-tailed hawk is patterned with numerous darker bars.

The red-tailed hawk occupies a wide range of habitats and altitudes throughout most of North America, including deserts, grasslands, coniferous and deciduous forests, tropical rainforests, agricultural fields and urban areas. Unlike some other raptors, the red-tailed hawk is seemingly unfazed by considerable human activity and can nest and live in close proximity to large numbers of humans. Thus the species can also be found in cities and metropolitan parks where there are abundant prey such as rock pigeons and rodents that may support their populations. They are, after all, a most capable bird of prey as well as an opportunistic feeder. Their diet includes small mammals, mice, gophers, voles, chipmunks, ground squirrels, tree squirrels, birds, lagomorphs, shrews, bats, pigeons, quail, corvids, waterfowl, other raptors, reptiles, fish, crustaceans, insects and even the lowly earthworm. 

The red-tailed hawk usually employs one of two hunting techniques. Often, they scan for prey activity from an elevated perch site, swooping down to seize the prey. They also watch for prey while flying, either capturing a bird in flight or pursuing ground prey until they can pin them down in their talons. Interestingly, Red-tailed hawks, like some other raptors, have been observed to hunt in pairs. The corroborative effort may consist of them stalking on opposite sides of a tree, in order to surround a tree squirrel and flush the rodent out for capture. 

The red-tailed hawk reaches sexual maturity at two years of age. It is monogamous, mating with the same individual for many years. In general, the red-tailed hawk will only take a new mate when its original mate dies. The same nesting territory may be defended by the pair for years. During courtship, the male and female fly in wide circles while uttering shrill cries. The male performs aerial displays, diving steeply, and then climbing again. After repeating this display several times, he sometimes grasps her talons briefly with his own. Courtship flights can last 10 minutes or more. Copulation often follows courtship flight sequences, although copulation (that lasts 5 to 10 seconds and during pre-nesting courtship in late winter or early spring) frequently occurs in the absence of courtship flights. The nest is usually constructed of twigs, and lined with bark, pine needles, corn cobs, husks, stalks, aspen catkins, or other plant matter.

Being a large predator, most predation of these hawks occurs with the eggs and nestlings, which are taken by owls, corvids and raccoons. Great horned owls compete with the red-tailed hawk for nest sites. Each species has been known to kill the young and destroy the eggs of the other, but in general, both species nest in adjacent or congruent territories without conflict. Eggs are laid approximately every other day. A clutch of 1 to 3 eggs is laid in March or April, depending upon latitude. Clutch size depends almost exclusively on the availability of prey for the adults. They are incubated primarily by the female, with the male substituting when the female leaves to hunt or merely stretch her wings. The female broods them while the male provides most of the food to the female and the young.

The fledging period follows, with short flights engaged in, after another 3 weeks. About 6 to 7 weeks after fledging, the young begin to capture their own prey. Shortly thereafter, when the young are around 4 months of age, they become independent of their parents. However, the hawks do not generally reach breeding maturity until they are around 3 years of age. 

The supernatural significance (the omen) of seeing a hawk varies across the continents. In European culture for instance it foretells caution:

Therefore, the sight of a hawk counsels the observer to be on his/her guard against others who are more powerful then them. If the bird is hovering on the left-hand side or, worse still, directly overhead, the gravest possible danger is to be feared from cruel and grasping people.

In the North American Indian culture the Hawk holds a different meaning:

“In the traditions of some Native Americans, the hawk is a messenger of God. Its appearance is a blessing, for it alerts an individual to go to the spiritual mountain and employ the gift of godlike vision.

“A hawk is a good spiritual omen. According to Native American legend, the hawk’s cry –- a shrill whistle –- is to pierce the awareness and awaken people to a state of full awareness. The whistle of a hawk is like the cry of a prophet.

“So the symbol of a hawk is about having a clear spiritual vision.

“The sharp whistle of a hawk is one of the best images to appear in your spiritual life, for it holds out an offer of love, wisdom, and spiritual freedom.”

'Spirituality and ME/CFS' started by Wayne, Apr 17, 2010.

As it is, for the North American Indians the feathers of the Red-tailed Hawk were always considered sacred and, like the feathers of the Eagle, were and still are, usually used in religious ceremonies and rituals. 

Here’s an old fable concerning the Red-tailed Hawk:

Legend of Tlanuwa and the Uktena

In this Legend of The Tlanuwa and The Uktena, a village of the Ani Yunwiya (the Cherokee people) rested near a place called Hogahega Uweyu i along the Wanegas, known today as the Tennessee River. The caves at this place were an ancient home of the Tlanuwa.

The people in the village never had problems with the Tlanuwa before, until one day the great hawks came and carried away most of the young children. The grieving mothers pleaded with the men to bring back the children stolen by the Tlanuwa.

So the men went to the Tlanuwa caves. They made ropes from vines growing nearby, in order to climb down the cliffs to reach the caves. First they waited for the great hawks to leave and when the coast was clear, they lowered themselves into the caves and found the missing children. Just then however, they heard more Tlanuwa returning with more children in their grasp. In order to buy time and distract the great hawks, the men quickly threw the unhatched eggs of the Tlanuwa over the cliffs into the water below. When the eggs hit the water, the great Uktena, horned serpents, came up from below the water and began eating the eggs as quickly as the men were throwing them.

The Tlanuwa, very angry, dropped the children from their talons to the waiting men below. A long and terrible fight ensued between the Tlanuwa and Uktena. The Tlanuwa destroyed the Uktena into four pieces and scattered its remains across the country.

After the terrible fight, the Tlanuwa still angry with the men for what they had done to their eggs flew far, far away beyond the sky, never to return.

Today, it is still said that on the banks of the Hogahega Uweyu i, one can still see the rocks that were stained from the blood of the Uktena and Tlanuwa from that terrible fight they had in ancient times.

The End.

The Toad-Woman

THE TOAD-WOMAN

From: The Indian Fairy Book , The Original Legends

Author: Cornelius Mathews

Great good luck once happened to a young woman who was living all alone in the woods with nobody near her but her little dog; for, to her surprise, she found fresh meat every morning at her door. She was very curious to know who it was that supplied her, and watching one morning, just as the sun had risen, she saw a handsome young man gliding away into the forest. 

Having seen her, he became her husband, and she had a son by him.

One day, not long after this, he did not return at evening, as usual, from hunting. She waited till late at night, but he came no more.

The next day, she swung her child to sleep in its cradle, and then said to her dog, "Take care of your brother while I am gone, and when he cries, halloo for me."

The cradle was made of the finest wampum, and all its bandages and ornaments were of the same precious stuff.

After a short time, the woman heard the cry of the dog, and running home as fast as she could, she found her child gone and the dog too. On looking around, she saw scattered upon the ground pieces of the wampum of her child's cradle, and she knew that the dog had been faithful, and had striven his best to save her child from being carried off, as he had been, by an old woman, from a distant country, called Mukakee Mindemoea, or the Toad-Woman.

The mother hurried off at full speed in pursuit, and as she flew along, she came, from time to time, to lodges inhabited by old women, they told her at what time the child-thief had passed; they also gave her shoes that she might follow on. There were a number of these old women who seemed as if they were prophetesses, and knew what was to come long beforehand. Each of them would say to her that when she had arrived at the next lodge, she must set the toes of the moccasins they had given her pointing homeward, and that they would return of themselves. The young woman was very careful to send back in this manner all the shoes she borrowed.

She thus followed in the pursuit, from valley to valley, and stream to stream, for many months and years; when she came at length to the lodge of the last of the friendly old grandmothers, as they were called, who gave her the last instructions how to proceed. She told her that she was near the place where her son was to be found; and she directed her to build a lodge of cedar-boughs, hard by the old Toad-Woman's lodge, and to make a little bark dish, and to fill it with the juice of the wild grape.

"Then," she said, "Your first child (meaning the dog) will come and find you out."

These directions the young woman followed just as they had been given to her, and in a short time she heard her son, now grown up, going out to hunt, with his dog, calling out to him, "Peewaubik—Spirit-Iron—Twee! Twee!"

The dog soon came into the lodge, and she set before him the dish of grape-juice.

"See, my child," she said, addressing him, "the pretty drink your mother gives you."

Spirit-Iron took a long draught, and immediately left the lodge with his eyes wide open; for it was the drink which teaches one to see the truth of things as they are. He rose up when he got into the open air, stood upon his hind legs, and looked about. "I see how it is," he said; and marching off, erect like a man, he sought out his young master.

Approaching him in great confidence, he bent down and whispered in his ear (having first looked cautiously around to see that no one was listening), "This old woman here in the lodge is no mother of yours. I have found your real mother, and she is worth looking at. When we come back from our day's sport, I'll prove it to you."

They went out into the woods, and at the close of the afternoon they brought back a great spoil of meat of all kinds. The young man, as soon as he had laid aside his weapons, said to the old Toad-Woman, "Send some of the best of this meat to the stranger who has arrived lately."

The Toad-Woman answered, "No! Why should I send anything to her, the poor widow?"

The young man could not be refused; and at last the old Toad-Woman consented to take something and throw it down at the door. She called out, "My son gives you this." But, being bewitched by Mukakee Mindemoea, it was so bitter and distasteful, that the young woman immediately cast it out of the lodge after her.

In the evening the young man paid the stranger a visit at her lodge of cedar-boughs. She then told him that she was his real mother, and that he had been stolen away from her by the old Toad-Woman, who was a child-thief and a witch. 

As the young man appeared to doubt, she added, "Feign sickness when you go home to her lodge; and when the Toad-Woman asks what ails you, say that you wish to see your cradle; for your cradle was of wampum, and your faithful brother the dog, in striving to save you, tore off these pieces which I show you."

They were real wampum, white and blue, shining and beautiful; and the young man, placing them in his bosom, set off; but as he did not seem quite steady in his belief of the strange woman's story, the dog Spirit-Iron, taking his arm, kept close by his side, and gave him many words of encouragement as they went along. They entered the lodge together; and the old Toad-Woman saw, from something in the dog's eye, that trouble was coming.

"Mother," said the young man, placing his hand to his head, and leaning heavily upon Spirit-Iron, as if a sudden faintness had come upon him, "why am I so different in looks from the rest of your children?"

"Oh," she answered, "it was a very bright, clear blue sky when you were born; that is the reason."

He seemed to be so very ill that the Toad-Woman at length asked what she could do for him. He said nothing could do him good but the sight of his cradle. She ran immediately and brought a cedar cradle; but he said:

"That is not my cradle."

She went and got another of her own children's cradles, of which there were four; but he turned his head, and said:

"That is not mine; I am as sick as ever."

When she had shown the four, and they had been all rejected, she at last produced the real cradle. The young man saw that it was of the same stuff as the wampum which he had in his bosom. He could even see the marks of the teeth of Spirit-Iron left upon the edges, where he had taken hold, striving to hold it back. He had no doubt, now, which was his mother.

To get free of the old Toad-Woman, it was necessary that the young man should kill a fat bear. Directed by Spirit-Iron, who was very wise in such a matter, he secured the fattest in all that country; and, having stripped a tall pine of all its bark and branches, he perched the carcass at the top, with its head to the east and its tail due west. Returning to the lodge, he informed the old Toad-Woman that the fat bear was ready for her, but that she would have to go very far, even to the end of the earth, to get it.

She answered: "It is not so far but that I can get it;" for of all things in the world, a fat bear was the delight of the old Toad-Woman.

She at once set forth; and she was no sooner out of sight than the young man and his dog, Spirit-Iron, blowing a strong breath in the face of the Toad-Woman's four children (who were all bad spirits, or bear-fiends), extinguished their life. They then set them up by the side of the door, having first thrust a piece of the white bear fat in each of their mouths.

The Toad-Woman spent a long time in finding the bear which she had been sent after, and she made at least five and twenty attempts before she was able to climb to the carcass. She slipped down three times where she went up once. As she drew near her lodge with the great bear on her back, she was astonished to see the four children standing up by the door-posts with the fat in their mouths. She was angry with them, and called out:

"Why do you thus insult the pomatum of your brother?"

She was still angrier when they made no answer to her complaint; but when she found that they were stark dead, and placed in this way to mock her, her fury was very great indeed. She ran after the tracks of the young man and his mother as fast as she could; so fast, indeed, that she was on the very point of overtaking them, when the dog, Spirit-Iron, coming close up to his master, whispered to him—"Snakeberry!"

"Let the snakeberry spring up to detain her!" cried out the young man; and immediately the berries spread like scarlet all over the path, for a long distance; and the old Toad-Woman, who was almost as fond of these berries as she was of fat bears, could not avoid stooping down to pick and eat.

The old Toad-Woman was very anxious to get forward, but the snake berry-vines kept spreading out on every side; and they still grow and grow, and spread and spread. To this day the wicked old Toad-Woman is busy picking the berries, and she will never be able to get beyond to the other side, to disturb the happiness of the young hunter and his mother, who still live, with their faithful dog, in the shadow of the beautiful wood-side where they were born.

The End

THE BOY WHO SET A SNARE FOR THE SUN

THE BOY WHO SET A SNARE FOR THE SUN

From: The Indian Fairy Book , The Original Legends

Author: Cornelius Mathews

At the time when the animals reigned in the earth, they had killed all the people but a girl and her little brother, and these two were living in fear, in an out-of-the-way place. The boy was a perfect little pigmy, and never grew beyond the size of a mere infant; but the girl increased with her years, so that the task of providing food and shelter fell wholly upon her. 

She went out daily to get wood for the lodge-fire, and she took her little brother with her that no mishap might befall him- for he was too little to be left alone. A big bird, of a mischievous disposition, might have flown away with him.

She made him a bow and arrows, and said to him one day, "My little brother, I will leave you behind where I have been gathering the wood; you must hide yourself, and you will soon see the snow-birds come and pick the worms out of the logs which I have piled up. Shoot one of them and bring it home."

He obeyed her, and tried his best to kill one, but he came home unsuccessful. His sister told him that he must not despair, but try again the next day. She accordingly left him at the gathering-place of the wood, and returned to the lodge.

Toward night-fall she heard his little footsteps crackling through the snow, and he hurried in and threw down, with an air of triumph, one of the birds which he had killed. "My sister," said he, "I wish you to skin it, and stretch the skin, and when I have killed more, I will have a coat made out of them."

"But what shall we do with the body?" said she; for they had always up to that time lived upon greens and berries.

"Cut it in two," he answered, "and season our pottage with one half of it at a time."

It was their first dish of game, and they relished it greatly.

The boy kept on in his efforts, and in the course of time he killed ten birds—out of the skins of which his sister made him a little coat: being very small, he had a very pretty coat, and a bird skin to spare.

"Sister," said he, one day, as he paraded up and down before the lodge, enjoying his new coat, and farcifying himself the greatest little fellow in the world—as he was, for there was no other beside him—"My sister, are we really alone in the world, or are we playing at it? Is there nobody else living? And, tell me, was all this great broad earth and this huge big sky made for a little boy and girl like you and me?"

She told him, by no means; there were many folks very unlike a harmless girl and boy, such as they were, who lived in a certain other quarter of the earth, who had killed off all of their kinsfolk; and that if he would live blameless and not endanger his life, he must never go where they were. This only served to inflame the boy's curiosity; and he soon after took his bow and arrows and went in that direction. After walking a long time and meeting no one, he became tired, and stretched himself upon a high green knoll where the day's warmth had melted off the snow.

It was a charming place to lie upon, and he fell asleep; and, while sleeping, the sun beat so hot upon him that it not only singed his bird-skin coat, but it so shrivelled and shrunk and tightened it upon the little boy's body, as to wake him up.

When he felt how the sun had seared and the mischief its fiery beams had played with the coat he was so proud of, he flew into a great passion, and berated the sun in a terrible way for a little boy no higher than a man's knee, and he vowed fearful things against it.

"Do not think you are too high," said he; "I shall revenge myself. Oh, sun! I will have you for a plaything yet."

On coming home he gave an account of his misfortune to his sister, and bitterly bewailed the spoiling of his new coat. He would not eat—not so much as a single berry. He lay down as one that fasts; nor did he move nor change his manner of lying for ten full days, though his sister strove to prevail on him to rise. At the end of ten days he turned over, and then he lay full ten days on the other side.



When he got up he was very pale, but very resolute too. He bade his sister make a snare, for, he informed her, that he meant to catch the sun. She said she had nothing; but after awhile she brought forward a deer's sinew which the father had left, and which she soon made into a string suitable for a noose. 

The moment she showed it to him he was quite wroth, and told her that would not do, and directed her to find something else. She said she had nothing—nothing at all. At last she thought of the bird-skin that was left over when the coat was made; and this she wrought into a string. With this the little boy was more vexed than before. "The sun has had enough of my bird-skins," he said; "find something else." She went out of the lodge saying to herself, "Was there ever so obstinate a boy?" She did not dare to answer this time that she had nothing. Luckily she thought of her own beautiful hair, and pulling some of it from among her locks, she quickly braided it into a cord, and, returning, she handed it to her brother. The moment his eye fell upon this jet black braid he was delighted. "This will do," he said; and he immediately began to run it back and forth through his hands as swiftly as he could; and as he drew it forth, he tried its strength. He said again, "this will do;" and winding it in a glossy coil about his shoulders, he set out a little after midnight. His object was to catch the sun before he rose. He fixed his snare firmly on a spot just where the sun must strike the land as it rose above the earth; and sure enough, he caught the sun, so that it was held fast in the cord and did not rise.

The animals who ruled the earth were immediately put into great commotion. They had no light; and they ran to and fro, calling out to each other, and inquiring what had happened. They summoned a council to debate upon the matter, and an old dormouse, suspecting where the trouble lay, proposed that someone should be appointed to go and cut the cord. This was a bold thing to undertake, as the rays of the sun could not fail to burn whoever should venture so near to them.

At last the venerable dormouse himself undertook it, for the very good reason that no one else would. At this time the dormouse was the largest animal in the world. When he stood up he looked like a mountain. 

It made haste to the place where the sun lay ensnared and as it came nearer and nearer, its back began to smoke and burn with the heat, and the whole top of his huge bulk was turned in a very short time to enormous heaps of ashes. It succeeded, however, in cutting the cord with its teeth and freeing the sun, which rolled up again, as round and beautiful as ever, into the wide blue sky.

But the dormouse—or blind woman as it is called—was shrunk away to a very small size; and that is the reason why it is now one of the tiniest creatures upon the earth.

The little boy returned home when he discovered that the sun had escaped his snare, and devoted himself entirely to hunting. "If the beautiful hair of my sister would not hold the sun fast, nothing in the world could," he said. "He was not born, a little fellow like himself, to look after the sun. It required one greater and wiser than he was to regulate that." And he went out and shot ten more snow-birds; for in this business he was very expert; and he had a new bird-skin coat made, which was prettier than the one he had worn before.

The End.