-iiSSEE- 
 
 KATHIKINE 
 
 '■**«,'< 
 
Hatt OfaUegc of AgticttUure 
 At ((otnell Inivecsttg 
 
 attfaca, £9^. i. 
 
Cornell University Library 
 PZ 10.3.K924OI 
 
 Old Crow and his friends, animal adventu 
 
 3 1924 014 519 338 
 
The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924014519338 
 
OLD CROW AND HIS FRIENDS 
 
He made a great big, sprawling leap up the rocky wall- 
 and fell down flat on his back. 
 
 Frontispiece. See page IM. 
 
OLD CROW 
 AND HIS FRIENDS 
 
 ANIMAL ADVENTURES BASED UPON 
 INDIAN MYTHS 
 
 BY 
 KATHARINE B. JUDSON 
 
 AUTHOR pP "OLD CEOW BTOBIBs'' 
 
 WITH ILLDSTEATIONS BY 
 CHARLES LIVINGSTON BULL 
 
 N 0N-REF£R T 
 
 aWVAD-aaS 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 
 
 1918 
 
Copyright, 1918, 
 Bt Little, Bkown, and Company. 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
 Notlnootr jpteje 
 
 Set up and electrotyped by J. S. Gushing Co., Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 
 
 Fresswork by S. J. Paikhill & Co., Boston, Mass., U.S.A. 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE 
 
 The Indians were fond of stories. All 
 around them lived the wild creatures of 
 the woods and fields, and many of their 
 stories were about them. On one side of 
 the tepee fire would sit the tall, black-eyed 
 Indian story-teller, lifting his long arm 
 now and then, as he told stories of Rabbit. 
 "Long legs" and "Big ears" these red- 
 skinned people called Rabbit, and all the 
 little Indian children loved to hear stories 
 about him. "For Rabbit was the leader 
 in all the mischief," the Indians said. 
 
 The north wind, on a cold night, some- 
 times shook the frail tepees. He rattled 
 at the entrance flap, and howled down the 
 smoke hole. So they told stories about 
 him, too. And in the spring, when it 
 thundered, they knew all about the Thunder 
 Birds, because the story-teller had told 
 them. 
 
Introductory Note 
 
 Children listened carefully at these story 
 hours, sometimes putting a fresh stick on 
 the fire. The mothers made or beaded 
 moccasins, sometimes forgetting to work, 
 they were so interested. The fathers 
 squatted on their heels and smoked, some- 
 times saying, " Vgh ! ugh I " When they 
 were much surprised, they put their hand 
 over their mouth — that was Indian sur- 
 prise. 
 
 And so these stories for the children, or 
 children's story-tellers, are based upon 
 the stories told to Indian children, long 
 years ago. The originals are from au- 
 thentic ethnological sources. 
 
 Yi 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 
 Introdtjctort Note .... 
 
 PAOB 
 V 
 
 I 
 
 Rabbit Makes a Plan .... 
 
 1 
 
 II 
 
 Rabbit Meets Otter .... 
 
 4 
 
 III 
 
 Rabbit and Tab Wolf. 
 
 . 10 
 
 IV 
 
 Rabbit Visits Black Bear . 
 
 . 15 
 
 V 
 
 Rabbit and Panther .... 
 
 . 19 
 
 VI 
 
 Rabbit and the Ducks 
 
 . 26 
 
 VII 
 
 A New G^Mv, 
 
 . 31 
 
 VIII 
 
 Rabbit Tries that Game 
 
 . 35 
 
 IX 
 
 Rabbit Rejoins the Council 
 
 . 40 
 
 X 
 
 That New Idea 
 
 . 45 
 
 XI 
 
 The Ball Game 
 
 52 
 
 XII 
 
 Why Fox Became Red .... 
 
 57 
 
 XIII 
 
 The Snow-Storm 
 
 62 
 
 XIV 
 
 A Raid on the Wind People 
 
 67 
 
 XV 
 
 The First Moon 
 
 74 
 
 XVI 
 
 The Next Moon 
 
 78 
 
 XVII 
 
 Shingebiss and the Northwest Wind 
 
 83 
 
 XVIII 
 
 Black Bear 
 
 88 
 
 XIX 
 
 Coyote Off foe Sky-Land . . . . 
 
 92 
 
 XX 
 
 Things in Sky-Land 
 
 97 
 
 XXI 
 
 The Thunder Birds 
 
 105 
 
 XXII 
 
 Home Again 
 
 108 
 
 XXIII 
 
 The Indians Go to Sky-Land 
 
 114 
 
 XXIV 
 
 How THE Indians Came Back 
 
 120 
 
 XXV 
 
 Chick-a-dee Returns from Sky-Land 
 
 129 
 
 XXVI 
 
 More Sky-Land Adventures 
 
 136 
 
 SiXVII 
 
 The Bird Chief 
 
 142 
 
 
 vii 
 
 
VIU 
 
 Contents 
 
 
 
 
 
 FAQE 
 
 XXVIII 
 
 Why the Tttrket Gobbles .... 146 
 
 XXIX 
 
 How Rabbit Escaped . 
 
 
 
 . 149 
 
 XXX 
 
 Raven's Adventures . 
 
 
 
 154 
 
 XXXI 
 
 How Raven Stole a Lake . 
 
 
 
 158 
 
 XXXII 
 
 Raven and the Winds 
 
 
 
 162 
 
 XXXIII 
 
 Fox AND the Warm Wind . 
 
 
 
 166 
 
 XXXIV 
 
 Getting Fire after the Flood . 
 
 
 
 173 
 
 XXXV 
 
 Coyote and Fox . 
 
 
 
 181 
 
 XXXVI 
 
 WoLVEMNE Gets into Trouble . 
 
 
 
 187 
 
 xxxvn 
 
 The Real Moon . 
 
 
 
 191 
 
 XXXVIII 
 
 Getting Down to Work 
 
 
 
 198 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 He made a great big, sprawling leap 
 . up the rocky wall — and fell 
 down flat on his back Frontispiece 
 
 Up — and up — and up, flew the 
 
 ducks PAGE 28 
 
 Martin caught it and threw it to 
 Bat, who was flying near the 
 ground "55 
 
 Hawk made a light by striking the 
 flints together, and set fire to 
 the ball . . ' . . . " 76 
 
 It was the Thunder Bird . . " 105 
 
 Away up on the top of a mountain, 
 he made a house for North 
 Wind "165 
 
OLD CROW AND 
 HIS FRIENDS 
 
 Rabbit Makes a Plan 
 
 ALL the Animal People were of 
 different sizes and wore different 
 coats. It was the greatest mix- 
 up ! Some had long fur and some had 
 short fur. Some had rings on their tails, 
 and some didn't even have tails. And 
 the coats were of every color — black, 
 and brown, and gray, and yellow. 
 
 The Animal People were talking about 
 their coats, one day late in winter, while 
 they were still wearing the heavy winter 
 ones. Coyote winked one eye at Porcupine 
 and said, "Just notice Rabbit's coat! 
 Humph ! " Porcupine looked at Rabbit 
 gravely, — looked him all over, — and then 
 
 1 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 shook his head. Oh, he was very, very 
 serious. 
 
 And Rabbit saw it all. 
 
 They were all sitting in Old Crow's tepee, 
 and the fire was blazing brightly because 
 it was snowing outside. But Rabbit pulled 
 back from the warm fire and began to think 
 about it. What did they mean? 
 
 "My coat is nice and warm and gray," 
 said Rabbit to himself. "The fur is short 
 so I can get around quickly, and it matches 
 the snow and the earth pretty well. I 
 wonder what they meant." 
 
 Rabbit worried a little bit over that, but 
 after a while he went back to the fireplace 
 and heard them talking about Wolf's coat 
 and Beaver's, and Grizzly's. 
 
 "But Otter's coat!" said Raven, after a 
 while. "Oh, it's beautiful! Long, smooth, 
 soft fur ! Otter has the finest coat." 
 
 "Mine is better," said Beaver. 
 : "So's mine," said Wolf. 
 
 And the first thing anybody knew, they 
 had decided to call a council and decide 
 who really did have the finest coat. 
 
 "When shall we have the council?" 
 
Rabbit Makes a Plan 
 
 asked Hare. Old Crow said at once, 
 "After two more full moons," 
 
 That meant waiting about six weeks, 
 and it did seem a long time when they were 
 all so interested. But it was pretty cold 
 to travel just then, and they all knew that 
 Otter would have a long way to come. 
 aTNow Otter lived far up the trail. He did 
 not often visit the others, and they felt 
 they did not know him very well. But 
 every time he came down the trail, the 
 Animal People always talked about his 
 coat. 
 
 Rabbit knew all this. He sat by the fire 
 after they had decided to have a council. 
 He thought and thought about his little 
 grayish coat so busily he never saw Coyote 
 and Porcupine look at him and wink at 
 each other. 
 
 Then Rabbit asked a few questions. He 
 learned by what trail Otter could come to 
 the council. He asked how far up the trail 
 he lived, and Old Crow said at once, "Four 
 days' march."J 
 
 So Rabbit made his plan. 
 
 3 
 
II 
 
 Rabbit Meets Otter 
 
 IT was nearly time for the council, and 
 spring had come, when Rabbit softly 
 slipped away one day from the camp 
 of the Animal People. As soon as he was 
 among the bushes, he went in quick leaps 
 and jumps until he was quite safe in the 
 woods. 
 
 Rabbit was on the trail that led to Otter's 
 house. "And what are you doing here?" 
 Old Crow would have asked. But Old 
 Crow didn't see him at all. 
 
 Spring had come, and the woods were 
 lovely. The new leaves on the trees, still 
 very small, made a soft, tender mist. 
 Violets grew at the foot of the trees, and 
 gentle, white hepaticas, and pink, and blue, 
 and white blossoms of all kinds. 
 
 Four days Rabbit went up the trail, and 
 4 
 
Rabbit Meets Otter 
 
 at last he saw Otter coming. Wren had 
 taken him word of the council. Rabbit 
 knew Otter at once by his beautiful coat 
 of brown fur. 
 
 "Where are you going?" asked Otter. 
 
 "I came to meet you," said Rabbit 
 pleasantly. "Do you know the way to the 
 council?" 
 
 Well, Otter didn't know it very well, so 
 he and Rabbit agreed to travel together. 
 At night Rabbit picked out a camping 
 place, cut down bushes for beds, and made 
 everything comfortable. Next day they 
 started on again. 
 
 Now in the afternoon. Rabbit picked up 
 pieces of bark and wood, as they followed 
 the trail, and loaded them on his back. 
 
 "Why are you doing that?" asked Otter. 
 
 "So we will be warm enough to-night," 
 said Rabbit. And truly those spring nights 
 were chilly in the wild forest. 
 
 At sunset, they stopped and made camp 
 again. After supper, Rabbit began to 
 whittle a stick, shaving it down to a paddle. 
 
 "Why are you doing that?" asked Otter 
 again. 
 
 5 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 "I thought I'd like to sleep with a paddle 
 under my head," said Rabbit. 
 
 When the paddle was finished. Rabbit 
 began to cut a good trail through the bushes 
 to the river. 
 
 "Now, what's that for?" asked the 
 curious Otter. Rabbit seemed rather 
 strange in his actions. 
 
 "Somewhere near here is a spot called 
 'The Place Where it Rains Fire.' Some- 
 times it does seem to rain fire. The sky ' 
 looks a little that way to-night." 
 
 Rabbit and Otter looked carefully all 
 about them. Then Rabbit said, "You go 
 to sleep and I will sit up and watch. If 
 you hear me shout, you run and jump 
 into the river. Better hang your coat 
 on the limb over there, so it will not get 
 burned." 
 
 Otter did just as Rabbit told him, hanging 
 his coat away from the fire, and then oflf to 
 sleep he went. But Rabbit stayed awake. 
 After a while the fire burned down to red 
 coals, and Rabbit was all ready to carry out 
 his plan. 
 
 ' ' Otter, ' ' he called . No answer. 
 6 
 
; Rabbit Meets Otter 
 
 "Otter," te called again, louder. Still 
 there was no answer. 
 
 Then Rabbit rose softly. He filled his 
 paddle with hot coals, threw them up into 
 the air, shouting wildly, "It's raining fire! 
 It's raining fire !" 
 
 Some of the hot coals fell on Otter, and he 
 jiunped up, dashing for the river as Rabbit 
 had told him. That's why Otter has lived 
 in the water ever since. 
 
 Rabbit scampered ofif in the other direc- 
 tion, caught Otter's coat from the branch 
 where he had hung it, left his own behind 
 him, and rushed down the trail. 
 
 Down the trail dashed Rabbit, through 
 the cool fragrance and stillness of the night, 
 until he was out of breath. 
 
 "Oh!" sighed Rabbit. "That was a 
 racer^ But Otter can't catch me now. He'U 
 spend too much time looking for his coat." 
 And Rabbit looked down with great pride 
 on the soft, silky, brown coat. 
 
 "It is nicer than mine," he said. Yet he 
 was a little sorry he had left his own coat 
 behind him. He was rather fond of it, 
 after all. 
 
 7 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 On marched Rabbit, pretending he was 
 Otter. And all the Animal People came 
 up the trail a little to meet Otter, because 
 he was so handsome, and because he was a 
 stranger. 
 
 "Here he comes," they said, as they saw 
 that brown fur in the distance, in the cool, 
 dim shade of the forest. ' ' Otter is coming,' ' 
 they shouted to one another. 
 
 They waited where they were, but sent 
 Field Mouse to be his escort, and to show 
 him the best seat in the council, when they 
 reached their council tepee. The tepee had 
 been built in a field of wild flowers, under 
 a grove of glorious elm trees. A dashing 
 mountain stream foamed alongside. After 
 Otter was seated, each one of the Animal 
 People went up to shake hands with him, and 
 to say, "Welcome to you. Otter," because 
 Otter so seldom did come down the trail. 
 
 But Otter behaved queerly. He kept 
 his head down, with one paw over his face. 
 Every one was so surprised. Old Crow 
 said, "I did not know Otter was so bashful." 
 
 Then "Grizzly Bear came up, and of course 
 something happened. Something always 
 
 8 
 
Rabbit Meets Otter 
 
 did, when Grizzly was around. Grizzly 
 pulled the paw away from Otter's face. 
 
 Thpre was Rabbit ! Up sprang Rabbit, 
 and started to jump. He went this way 
 and that, in quick leaps and starts. But 
 Grizzly caught the tail, and to escape, 
 Rabbit had to slip right out of Otter's coat. 
 Then he hadn't any fur on at all. 
 
 "Oh, dear me !" said Rabbit, as he fled, 
 still in his quick leaps and jumps. "Isn't 
 this dreadful ! And my coat is two days' 
 march up the trail." 
 
 But that wasn't the worst of it, by a long 
 shot. As he fled, fur-less^ up the "trail, he 
 heard through the quiet of the forest, all the 
 Animal People shouting with laughter. 
 
 "Hurrah for Rabbit!" shouted Coyote. 
 Porcupine was so excited he shot a dozen 
 quills right up into the air. Old Crow 
 sat on a branch and laughed — and 
 laughed — and laughed. 
 
 But the last sound Rabbit heard as he 
 leaped ahead was Grizzly Bear's "Woof! 
 Woof!" 
 
 "Oh, dear! That Grizzly Bear!" said 
 Rabbit in despair. 
 
 9 
 
Ill 
 
 Rabbit and Tar Wolf 
 
 WELL, of course, the Animal 
 People at once sent Field 
 Mouse up the trail to find 
 Otter and return his coat. 
 
 "It's too big for me to carry," said 
 Field Mouse, looking in dismay at the 
 lovely brown coat, which really was very 
 large for a man of his size. Still they piled 
 it up on his back, and he went oflF, and found 
 Otter, and explained it all to him. 
 
 Otter came down to the council, and 
 every one said his coat was the very finest, 
 so he forgot all about his adventure with 
 Rabbit. He was too happy to remember it. 
 But Rabbit ! Dear me ! He surely was 
 the leader in all the mischief. 
 
 Rabbit found his coat, and he came back 
 to his tepee, but he heard somebody laugh- 
 
 10 
 
Rabbit and Tar Wolf 
 
 ing every time lie stepped outside his door, 
 and he knew they were laughing at him. So 
 he decided to go away for a little trip. 
 
 After he came back, things had quieted 
 down. This was partly because there was 
 so little water that summer that the Animal 
 People were much worried. They had 
 moved camp, and were quite a distance 
 from the large stream, and the small streams 
 were all dry. 
 
 "We'll have to dig a well," said Old Crow 
 one morning. The sun had risen hot and 
 bright, the sky was blue, and no sign of 
 rain could be seen. The Bird People had 
 hardly enough water to drink, and no 
 chance at all to take their morning baths. 
 
 Every one agreed to help. That is, 
 every one except Rabbit. 
 
 "Grizzly," said Old Crow one morning, 
 "with your great talons you can help us a 
 great deal. And Coyote can — he lives 
 in holes of his own digging. Everybody 
 will help — " 
 
 "Except me,", broke in Rabbit. "I'm 
 not going to dig wells ! " 
 
 "Well, I'd like to know why not," 
 11 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 demanded Raven. "We all need water. 
 We're not going to dig the well, and then 
 let you drink out of it if you don't help." 
 
 "I don't need to dig for water," answered 
 Rabbit. He was pleasant enough, but he 
 meant what he said. "The dew on the 
 grass is enough for me." 
 
 Old Crow and Raven were talking that 
 over afterwards. "Maybe it is," said Old 
 Crow. "He's up so very early, you know, 
 and always poking aroimd with his nose 
 in the grass." 
 
 Still, the Animal People were not very 
 sure about it. But Rabbit refused to dig, 
 so they dug the well without him. 
 
 The water in the well was not deep; it 
 grew lower every day. The Animal People 
 were careful about using too much, of 
 course. Rabbit did not seem to use it at 
 all, but still he was very lively and bright. 
 
 One morning the water was very low, 
 and a council was called at once. Rabbit 
 was off in the woods somewhere, and they 
 did not send a messenger .to him at all. 
 
 "Rabbit steals our water at night," 
 declared Hare. 
 
 12 
 
Rabbit and Tar Wolf 
 
 "Somebody steals it," said Old Crow 
 firmly. And they talked a long while about 
 it. 
 
 Suddenly Old Crow said, "Let's make a 
 wolf of pine gum and rosin. We can set 
 it near the well and catch the thief." 
 
 Now rosin is almost like tar, and very 
 sticky. So is pine gum. 
 
 That night, as usual, after it was dark. 
 Rabbit went to the well for water. Some- 
 thing dark stood near it. 
 
 "Who's there?" asked Rabbit in a low 
 voice. Tar Wolf made no reply. Rabbit 
 came nearer. 
 
 "Who's there.?" asked Rabbit again, 
 rather angrily. He was a little afraid, too. 
 
 But Tar Wolf did not answer or move. 
 
 "If you don't answer, I'll hit you," said 
 Rabbit. So he hit him with his paw. But 
 it stuck fast in the gum. 
 
 "Let go my paw," said Rabbit, "or 
 I'll hit you again." So he hit him again 
 with his paw. That paw stuck fast in the 
 gum. 
 
 "Let me go," demanded Rabbit. Tar 
 Wolf said nothing at all. Rabbit hit him 
 
 IB 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 with his hind foot. That stuck fast in 
 the gum. 
 
 And there was Rabbit, held fast by Tar 
 Wolf, who would say nothing at all. So 
 Tar Wolf held Rabbit fast until morning. 
 Then the other Animal People came for 
 water, though it was still early. 
 
 "Whoop-ee," yelled Coyote, as he saw 
 Rabbit. 
 
 "Hi — yi," yelped Hare. 
 
 "Woof! Woof!" said Grizzly Bear, 
 coming up and making a great show as if 
 he were going to eat Rabbit. 
 
 And they were all laughing at him. Old 
 Crow sat on a tree and laughed — and 
 laughed — and laughed. 
 
 But Rabbit fought that Tar Wolf until 
 he did finally get away, and by great leaps 
 and bounds he escaped from the other 
 Animal People and ran up into the woods. 
 
 14 
 
IV 
 
 Rabbit Visits Black Bear 
 
 I'M not going to live with those 
 people any more," said Rabbit in- 
 dignantly after he sat down in the 
 shade of a big tree. "The idea of making 
 all that fuss because I wanted a drink 
 of water. Suppose I didn't help dig their 
 well ! Think how dirty my coat would be 
 if I had!" 
 
 So he decided to build a tepee in the 
 woods, for a while anyway. 
 
 Not long after, while Rabbit was out 
 one morning, looking for some fresh water, 
 he met Black Bear on the trail. 
 
 "Come and see me," said Rabbit, who 
 was beginning to feel a little lonesome. "I 
 live in a very large brier patch." 
 
 When Rabbit reached home that morning, 
 he went out and gathered some young 
 
 15 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 sugar canes, which he hung up. He was 
 particularly fond of cane. 
 
 It was the very next day that Black 
 Bear came to call. He came near Rabbit's 
 house, but he was looking for a very large 
 brier patch. Now Rabbit really lived in 
 a very tiny briar patch. When Rabbit 
 saw that Bear was near, he began to make a 
 pattering sound with his feet. 
 
 Black Bear was scared. He retreated 
 very quickly to a distance, and then stopped, 
 listening. As soon as Rabbit saw this, he 
 came out of the patch and cried, "Why, 
 halloo, my friend ! Was it you whom I 
 was treating in this fashion? Come in." 
 
 So Black Bear went in, and they had a 
 feast. Rabbit gave the young canes to his 
 guest, who ate them all, without a word. 
 Rabbit ate one, too. 
 
 "This is what I have always liked," said 
 Black Bear, when he went home. But 
 he didn't mean it. "Come and visit me. 
 I live in a large bent tree." 
 
 Not long after. Rabbit started on his 
 visit. He spent a long time looking for that 
 large bent tree, but no sign of it did he find. 
 16 
 
Rabbit Visits Black Bear 
 
 Now Bear really lived in a hollow tree, 
 and he sat there, growling. Rabbit heard 
 the growls as he came near. He turned 
 and fled down the trail. Then he waited. 
 
 As soon as Bear saw that, he came out, 
 and called, "Why, halloo, my friend ! Was 
 it you whom I was treating in that fashion ? 
 Come in and have something to eat." 
 
 Rabbit was hungry by that time. 
 
 Bear suddenly said, "I must go out and 
 gather food for you." So out he went. 
 He really went to gather young canes, but 
 on his way he picked up some of the black 
 bugs that live in old logs. Woodpecker 
 liked them, but Rabbit did not. 
 
 But Bear oflFered Rabbit the canes, 
 then he began walking around him in a 
 circle. Then he offered him the bugs. 
 
 "Oh, no," said Rabbit, beginning to be 
 afraid. "I never eat such things." 
 
 "When I was at your house," said Bear, 
 "I ate everything without question. And 
 now you refuse to do so." 
 
 Of course, as Rabbit thought, there was 
 a difference in the food offered, but he was 
 afraid to say anything. 
 17 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 Suddenly Bear said, "Ha, ha! Before 
 the sun sets, I will eat you." 
 
 Well, then Rabbit was frightened, though 
 he was sure Black Bear was only joking. 
 But Bear stood right at the entrance of the 
 hollow tree so Rabbit could not get out. 
 He sprang this way, and that way, and 
 then suddenly with a long, long leap, he 
 went right over Bear's shoulder and out into 
 the open air. 
 
 Rabbit went straight home, pattering 
 along the trail with quick feet, to his brier 
 patch. Then he sat down and thought 
 about it. 
 
 "I wonder if Bear was joking," he said. 
 
 And Bear, in his hollow tree, stretched 
 out on the floor and rolled over, laughing. 
 
 "If only Rabbit would stop boasting," 
 he said at last, "we wouldn't all tease him 
 so." 
 
 18 
 
Rabbit and Pantheb 
 
 HAS anybody seen Rabbit lately?" 
 asked Raven one glorious June 
 morning, as he and Old Crow 
 sat on the topmost branch of the tall fir 
 tree. The sky was a beautiful blue, with 
 soft white fleecy clouds in it. The air was 
 fresh, and the Earth-land green. 
 
 "Not for two moons," answered Old 
 Crow. "I asked that very question yes- 
 t^ay." 
 
 ^'Somebody ought to look him up," 
 remarked Raven, after chewing the end 
 of a twig for a while. Raven still chewed 
 his twig when he was thinking hard. 
 "Rabbit's a friendly little chap. But of 
 course we had to laugh when he ran oflf 
 with Otter's coat." 
 
 "I wonder what mischief he's been up 
 to lately," puzzled Old Crow. "It's a 
 
 19 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 glorious day, Raven. I'll take a long 
 flight, I think, and perhaps I will run across 
 him. Nobody knows where he is." 
 
 And so, a few moments later, with a 
 "Caw! caw! caw!" Old Crow started oft. 
 
 Now another man, of whom the Animal 
 People had lost track, was Panther."^ It 
 was because of his voice. When Panther 
 screamed in the forest, even the leaves on 
 the trees were frightened and stood still. 
 Really he had a fearful voice. And even 
 when he called from the branch of a tree 
 to some of the Animal People, it made the 
 cold chills run down the backs of the 
 Indians. 
 
 The Animal People had spoken of it. 
 They asked him if he couldn't eat something 
 soft or sweet to change his voice. Panther 
 was much offended. He really was proud of 
 that fearful shriek. He didn't realize how 
 it sounded. So Panther had gone off into 
 the woods, too ; and just by chance, he 
 had set up his tepee near Rabbit. But 
 neither of them knew the other was around. 
 
 Now that very June morning Rabbit 
 was having a good time. Therefore he 
 20 
 
Rahbit and Panther 
 
 didn't see Old Crow come flitting, like a 
 dark shadow, through the clear air, and perch 
 on the branch of a big oak tree near him. 
 
 Rabbit had been having a game with 
 his wife. He had finished a new tepee 
 the day before on the top of a little hill. 
 Then he had made trails from it in all 
 directions, so he might see any one 
 approaching. It was a charming little 
 hill, covered with young poplar trees. So 
 Rabbit had plenty of food from the poplars 
 right at his door. 
 
 "Now, dear," he said to Mrs. Rabbit 
 as he played his game, "you sit at that 
 end of the tepee." She sat there, just as 
 Rabbit told her, and he went to the other. 
 He took his medicine bag. Then he ap- 
 proached her four times, chanting, "Ye 
 ha-a-a-a-a-a. Ye ha-a-a-a-a." Four was 
 the magic number. 
 
 Then Rabbit shot at his wife with his 
 bow and arrow, just as a medicine man does 
 when he shoots at a new member. Then 
 Rabbit's wife arose and shot at him. They 
 were very happy in that new game. 
 
 Then Rabbit went out of doors, and 
 21 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 began to sing a song which meant, "If 
 Panther comes across my trail while I 
 am biting the bark from the poplars, he 
 can't catch me. I am a good runner." 
 
 Rabbit didn't know that Panther was in 
 that country, so he went out of doors, with 
 his bow and arrow, singing his little song 
 very contentedly. And Old Crow sat in 
 the top of the oak tree and saw the whole 
 thing. 
 
 Now Panther had gone out for a walk, 
 because it was such a bright day, and he 
 saw that new tepee on the hill top, and all 
 those new trails. 
 
 "Somebody's moved into this country," 
 he said in surprise. Then he heard voices, 
 and going nearer, through the bushes, he 
 saw Rabbit. 
 
 "Lovely!" thought Panther, without 
 making a sound. "Here's a chance for 
 some fun. Rabbit is such a boaster." 
 
 And just as Rabbit turned to go to his 
 new tepee, singing his little song, "Panther 
 can't catch me," behold ! Panther jumped 
 out at him. 
 
 Rabbit saw him and started back on his 
 22 
 
Rabbit and Panther 
 
 trail, Panther hard after him. Rabbit 
 dodged this way and that, with long leaps 
 and springs, doubling on his trail, and 
 trying to remember just where that hole 
 was he saw a day or two before. He had 
 thought then it would be such a good hid- 
 ing place. 
 
 But he surely had no time to look for it 
 then, and he was just making his tenth 
 spring, when down came Panther's paw 
 on his back. 
 
 And then Panther shrieked ! Rabbit was 
 flat on the ground, shaking and trembling, 
 with that great Panther standing over 
 him, and shrieking in that dreadful voice. 
 And Old Crow sat up in the oak tree and 
 saw it all. 
 
 "Were you singing that I couldn't catch 
 you?" yelled Panther. You could have 
 heard him a mile, though Rabbit was 
 right under his paw. "Ha ha ha! Now 
 I'm going to eat you up." 
 
 "I guess it's time for me to take a hand," 
 remarked Old Crow, who didn't want the 
 game to go too far. And he fluttered 
 softly down behind Panther, and then, oh, 
 
 23 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 so softly, right up to his ear, but keeping 
 behind him. Panther didn't see him at all. 
 He was looking out over the hills, enjoying 
 it all, when a solemn voice, right in his 
 ear, said, "Beware! beware! beware!" 
 
 Well! Panther was about as badly 
 frightened for the moment as Rabbit had 
 been. He actually jumped — and in that 
 second Rabbit pulled out from under his 
 paw and went like a streak across the 
 meadow into the woods. 
 
 Panther turned around quickly for that 
 solemn voice. There fluttered Old Crow, 
 looking very grave. 
 
 "Oh, shucks! Old Crow, why did you 
 spoil my fun?" he demanded, after a 
 minute of surprise. 
 
 "Because it wasn't fun for both sides," 
 said Old Crow. 
 
 "I wouldn't have hurt him," said 
 Panther. "But Rabbit is such a boaster 
 — singing that I couldn't catch him." 
 
 Old Crow said not a word. He flapped 
 his blue-black wings, and cried " Caw ! caw ! 
 caw!" as he flew away in the bright sun- 
 light. 
 
Rabbit and Panther 
 
 It was late that night before Rabbit 
 crept softly into his tepee. 
 
 "I said Panther couldn't catch me," he 
 remarked to his wife. "But I think, dear, 
 we had better move." 
 
 25 
 
VI 
 
 Rabbit and the Ducks 
 
 WELL, they did move. They 
 moved near a charming Httle 
 creek, just on the edge of the 
 woods, quite a distance from where Panther 
 had seen them. Not far from their new 
 tepee was a lovely little lake. 
 
 Going down to the edge of the lake one 
 day, Rabbit unexpectedly met Otter. They 
 were both very friendly, because Otter had 
 forgotten all about Rabbit's running off 
 with his coat. In fact, as he said to his 
 wife, he was glad it happened, because he 
 liked living in the water so well. 
 
 But that day. Otter was out for some 
 fun, and the minute he saw Rabbit look- 
 ing at the ducks, he thought of a joke. 
 
 "Can you swim. Rabbit?" he asked, 
 after they had talked a while. 
 26 
 
Rabbit and the Ducks 
 
 "Splendidly!" answered the boaster. 
 He really had learned just a little since 
 he had been living there. 
 
 "Let's have some fun," said Otter. 
 "Let's see who can dive and stay under 
 water the longest time. Oh, I know," he 
 added. "Let's dive, and swim over to 
 those ducks, and catch them by the feet." 
 
 That was just the thing, Rabbit said. 
 Then he added, "You go first." 
 
 Otter dived quietly from the bank, and 
 kept under water. Then, rising among 
 the ducks, he caught one by the feet and 
 pulled her under water. And not another 
 duck knew of it. Otter was very clever. 
 When he got to the bank, he let the duck go. 
 
 While Otter was under water. Rabbit 
 quickly broke oflF a slender sapling, peeled 
 it, and made a noose in the end. When 
 he dived, he made quite a splash, and 
 several of the ducks looked around. 
 
 When Rabbit could not stay under water 
 any longer, he came to the surface to 
 breathe. But this frightened many of the 
 ducks, and they flew away. Two stayed, 
 however, and at last Rabbit came up softly 
 27 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 behind them, threw the noose over their 
 heads, and tried to drag them under water. 
 
 Things didn't turn out at all as Rabbit 
 expected. The two big strong birds flew 
 right up into the air, the noose around them, 
 and Rabbit hanging to the end of the 
 sapling. 
 
 Up — and up — and up, flew the ducks. 
 Rabbit looked down. The Earth-land was 
 falling away from him. The stream was 
 only a tiny silver thread, and the lake a 
 small silver blot. Even the trees were 
 growing smaller — and then Rabbit found 
 himself falling. The end of the sapling 
 had pulled out of his hand. 
 
 Down — and down — and down, fell 
 Rabbit, plump into a hollow sycamore 
 tree. It was a very tall tree, and it had 
 no hole at the bottom. Nobody had seen 
 him fall. There was no way by which he 
 could get out. Therefore Rabbit stayed 
 there. 
 
 Rabbit stayed there until he was so 
 hungry he ate his own fur. That is why 
 rabbits do that even to-day, when they are 
 starving. 
 
 28 
 
Up — and up — and up, flew the ducks. Page 28. 
 
Rabbit and the Ducks 
 
 At last, one day, be heard children play- 
 ing around the tree. Rabbit at once began 
 to sing, and he really had a good voice. 
 He sang: 
 
 "Cut a door and look at me. 
 I'm the prettiest thing you ever did see." 
 
 WeU, of course, the children understood 
 the song, and they ran straight home to 
 tell their father. The tall Indian came and 
 cut a hole in the tree. As he chopped 
 away, Rabbit kept singing, 
 
 " Cut it larger so you can see me. 
 I am very, very pretty." 
 
 The Indian kept wondering who was in 
 the tree. Rabbit kept singing to cut it 
 larger. 
 
 So they made the hole larger. Then 
 when it was large enough, Rabbit called, 
 "Now step back. Then you can get a 
 good look at me." 
 
 They stood back. Then Rabbit gave a 
 flying leap out of that hole — springing 
 with quick jumps to the right and the left 
 29 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 so they could not catch him, and ran 
 away. 
 
 "My dear, you must be more careful," 
 said Mrs. Rabbit that evening. 
 
 "Oh, shucks," answered Rabbit scorn- 
 fully. "Nobody can get the best of me." 
 
 30 
 
VII 
 
 A New Game 
 
 ONE day Rabbit wandered over the 
 hillside. Sometimes he stood and 
 looked around. Sometimes he took 
 a long leap down the trail and into the 
 woods. He ran about, this way and that 
 way, just for fun. 
 
 Suddenly Rabbit saw a small tepee near 
 him. He kept close to it, and peered 
 through a small hole. There was Frog, 
 sitting near the fire, 
 
 "Why, hello. Frog," said Rabbit. Then 
 he walked around to the entrance flap. 
 Rabbit poked his head in. "What are 
 you doing here ? " he asked. 
 
 "Playing with the ashes," said Frog. 
 "Come take a tramp with me," said 
 Rabbit. 
 
 31 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 Frog shook his head. "Oh, I'm too 
 small to go on a tramp with you," he said. 
 
 Rabbit walked boldly into the tepee, 
 tossed Frog over his shoulder, and started 
 off. 
 
 "This is the way I will carry you," he 
 said. After a while, he came back, and 
 let Frog sit down again before the fire. 
 Rabbit said, "I will go hunting." And off 
 he started. 
 
 He had not gone very far, when suddenly 
 he spied smoke. It was curling up from 
 the willows along the river bank. 
 
 "Now what is that!" exclaimed Rabbit. 
 Then he added, "Let's make believe it's 
 an adventure." So he gave a long leap 
 and started back for Frog, exclaiming, as 
 though terribly frightened: "I have for- 
 gotten my crooked knife ! I must go 
 quickly and get it ! " 
 
 Rabbit dashed back, and into the lodge. 
 
 "I have forgotten my crooked knife!" 
 he exclaimed excitedly. "I came back to 
 get it!" 
 
 Frog had been annoyed by Rabbit's 
 carrying him off in that way. So he looked 
 32 
 
A New Game 
 
 up coolly, and asked: "Why are you 
 frightened?" 
 
 "I saw a large smoke," said Rabbit. "I 
 need my crooked knife." 
 
 "Where was the smoke?" asked Frog, 
 still very coolly. He knew Rabbit didn't 
 have a crooked knife. 
 
 "Among the willows by the river," said 
 Rabbit. 
 
 "Humph!" said Frog. "The smoke 
 came from Beaver's lodge. He lives down 
 there. You're very brave to be so afraid 
 of Beaver. / can hunt him." 
 
 Rabbit said, "Well, then, I'll carry you 
 down there." So he picked up Frog again, 
 tossed him over his back, and went down 
 among the willows. 
 
 When they got there, Rabbit said, 
 "We'll break in Beaver's lodge, and then 
 catch him." 
 
 Rabbit built a dam of stakes across the 
 stream, and told Frog to watch, while he 
 went around to Beaver's lodge. Of course, 
 with the stakes, Beaver could not escape. 
 
 But Frog coolly pulled up several stakes, 
 so Beaver slipped through, and ran away. 
 33 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 When Rabbit saw that, he was annoyed. 
 He pushed Frog right into the water. 
 
 Frog hopped up on a Hly-pad leaf and 
 laughed. 
 
 "This is my home," he said. Then, as 
 Rabbit went away Frog called after him, 
 "Chugerump! chugerump ! chugerump!" 
 just as frogs do, even to this day. 
 
 34 
 
VIII 
 
 Rabbit Tries That Game 
 
 YES, sir," said Rabbit, that evening, 
 as he sat in his tepee, " if ever again 
 I get in a tight place, I'll try that 
 game myself." Then he added, "But I'm 
 not going to get into any more tight places." 
 Dear me ! No more tight places ! Rab- 
 bit wasn't nearly through with his adven- 
 tures yet. 
 
 Not long after, Rabbit moved again. He 
 said he liked to see the country. He set 
 up the new tepee near an Indian tepee, 
 because there was a spring there, and a field 
 of Indian corn, and some squash vines. 
 Poplar trees grew near a little stream run- 
 ning out of the spring. Grass roots were 
 plentiful. 
 
 "This is a grand good place for my 
 tepee," said Rabbit. "I have plenty to 
 
 35 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 eat here. I guess I'll stop traveling a 
 while." 
 
 So Rabbit ate the grass roots and drank 
 of the pure spring water, and ate the bark 
 of the poplar trees, and was very happy. 
 He was so happy he sang a great deal. He 
 had one song he sang all the time. It was : 
 
 "Ho ! The Indians can't catch me. 
 I have long legs. I run fast. 
 Ho ! The Indians can't catch me." 
 
 "Umph!" grunted a tall Indian one 
 day, when he heard Rabbit singing. 
 "Umph! So Rabbit has set up his tepee 
 near here, has he? I wonder what mischief 
 he's up to now." 
 
 That evening the tall Indian told his wife 
 he had heard Rabbit singing near the corn 
 field. 
 
 "Umph," said the pretty little black-eyed 
 squaw. "Rabbit is the leader in all the 
 mischief. We shall need to watch him." 
 
 And that was how Rabbit got into such 
 a tight hole — because he felt so safe, and 
 yet those two Indians were watching for 
 him. 
 
 36 
 
Rabbit Tries That Game 
 
 Just a few days after that, Rabbit thought 
 he would like to taste the stalks of tender 
 young corn. They were just right. He 
 gnawed the first one, and sat back on his 
 haunches. 
 
 "Isn't that good!" he said joyfully. 
 And he began to nibble at the juicy stalks 
 again, singing between bites, 
 
 "Ho ! The Indians can't catch me. 
 I have long legs. I run fast. 
 Ho ! The Indians can't — " 
 
 That's all he had time for. A big voice 
 right over him said, "Oh, can't they!" 
 And before Rabbit could make even one 
 leap, down came a big net over his head 
 and his long legs. 
 
 "Ha, ha! Crooked legs! Now I have 
 you," said the Indian grimly. " I've caught 
 you — eating my corn." 
 
 "But there's plenty of corn for us both," 
 said Rabbit, trying to get out of that net 
 which tangled him up so. 
 
 "Not if you eat it all up," said the In- 
 dian. "See ! The ears are just forming — 
 and you killing the stalks." 
 
 37 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 "Oh, I'm sure there's enough for us both," 
 said Rabbit. "But I won't eat any more 
 if you'll let me go." 
 
 "Not a bit of it," said the Indian. 
 "Black Eyes will cook you in the fire." 
 Black Eyes was the little black-eyed squaw. 
 
 Then suddenly Rabbit remembered that 
 game. 
 
 "Oh, goody!" he said joyously. "I'll 
 be glad to get into that fire. I have been 
 almost freezing here this morning." 
 
 Now the sun was very, very bright that 
 day, and extremely warm. The tall Indian 
 was surprised. 
 
 "Well," he said, "if you like fire so well, 
 perhaps I'll try water." 
 
 "That's even better," said Rabbit. "I've 
 been nearly choking for a drink this morn- 
 ing, and the spring was a long ways off. 
 Just carry me over there, and throw me 
 into the spring." 
 
 "Umph!" said the tall Indian. "Per- 
 haps I'd better not. I think I'll throw you 
 over in that brier patch." 
 
 "Oh, no, no!" exclaimed Rabbit. "Not 
 in the brier patch ! It's cold in there at 
 38 
 
Rabbit Tries That Game 
 
 night, and there's no water there, and no 
 grass roots, and the prickly briers catch 
 my fur — " 
 
 "That's where you go !" said the Indian. 
 And he pulled Rabbit out of the net, and 
 caught his four feet together. Then he 
 carried him over to the brier patch and 
 threw him in. And a brier patch is Rabbit's 
 home, as everybody knows. 
 
 Rabbit pattered straight into the midst 
 of the patch. Then he perked his ears up 
 saucily, glanced up through the briers at 
 the tall Indian, and laughed. 
 
 " Ho, ho, ho, ho ! " laughed Rabbit. And 
 it was not many minutes before he was back 
 in his own tepee. 
 
 "My dear," he said to his wife, "I'll 
 move, I think. Perhaps you had better 
 begin packing." 
 
 89 
 
IX 
 
 Rabbit Rejoins the Council 
 
 RABBIT had hardly made up his 
 mind where to go, but the very 
 next morning, bright and early, 
 he heard a clear, loud " Caw ! caw ! caw ! " 
 up in the tree shading his tepee. Sure 
 enough, there was Old Crow. 
 
 Rabbit came out and waved his paw. 
 Old Crow flew down to the ground and 
 stretched himself — first one leg and then 
 another. 
 
 "I've come from the council. Rabbit," 
 said Old Crow. "We all want you to come 
 back and camp with us."- 
 
 "Well — I don't know — I—" began 
 
 Rabbit in confusion. He couldn't forget 
 
 how they had laughed at him when he stole 
 
 Otter's coat. ' 
 
 r'Yes, I know," said Old Crow kindly. 
 
 40 
 
Rabbit Rejoins the Council 
 
 "Forget all that — and come back to us. 
 Wliy, the Animal People have laughed at 
 Fox so that he has turned re'd." 
 
 So they talked it over, and as Rabbit was 
 going to move his tepee anyway, he thought 
 he would go back and camp with the others. 
 Old Crow told him just where they were. 
 
 "It's in a beautiful valley," he said, 
 "with a cold, clear mountain stream run- 
 ning through it. The meadows are all red 
 arid yellow arid pmk and blue and white 
 with wild flowers. There are cluriips of 
 oak trees here and there, and a few fir trees, 
 todM Raven and I are very fond of fir trees. 
 There's plenty to eat in that lovely grassy 
 valley." 
 
 So Rabbit went — that very day. 
 
 Old Crow came down on the ground and 
 hopped along, every now and then, when 
 Rabbit stopped to get a bite as he went 
 along, chatting pleasantly. He told Rabbit 
 that a large camp of Indians had pitched 
 their tepees very near the Animal People 
 in that valley. 
 
 "I go over there in the evenings, often," 
 added Old Crow, "and perch up on the 
 
 41 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 tepee poles and listen to them. It's very 
 interesting." 
 
 When Rabbit and Old Crow reached 
 camp, there was real excitement. Raven 
 had called a comicil, and Rabbit and Old 
 Crow reached there just in time. The 
 Animal People had gone up the valley, 
 among a clump of trees, where the Indians 
 wouldn't see them. 
 
 ".Wren has news for us," said Raven, 
 after they had smoked the council pipe 
 very seriously. 
 
 And Wren surely did. She was hopping 
 around from one branch to another, just 
 the happiest little bird anybody ever 
 saw. 
 
 Now Wren is the messenger of the Bird 
 People, as everybody knows. She gets up 
 early in the morning, and goes aroimd to 
 every tepee, to find out what the news is, 
 for the next council meeting, 
 
 "There's a new baby in that Indian 
 camp," said Wren joyously. 
 
 Every one of the Animal People said, 
 "Oh !" Then they began to ask questions. 
 
 "Is it a bow or a meal sifter?" asked 
 42 
 
Rabbit Rejoins the Council 
 
 Old Crow quickly. Raven asked at the 
 same time, "Is it ball-sticks or bread?" 
 
 That was the way the Bird People asked 
 whether it was a boy or a girl. It was the 
 boys who played with ball-sticks, and shot 
 with their bows. And it was the girls who 
 sifted the meal and made bread. 
 
 "It's a meal sifter," said Wren. Wren 
 was very happy. She liked meal sifters 
 much better than bows or ball-sticks. 
 
 When Wren said that, all the Bird People 
 began to sing. It was a very pretty song. 
 It was : 
 
 " Thanks ! The sound of the pestle ! 
 In her tepee I shall surely be able to scratch 
 where she sweeps." 
 
 It's easy to understand what they meant. 
 When an Indian woman pounded the corn 
 with the pestle, little bits flew out on the 
 ground. When those were brushed out 
 on the ground outside, the Bird People 
 could scratch around and pick them up. 
 Of course, no one of the Bird People would 
 go into an Indian tepee. That would be 
 rude. 
 
 43 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 The Bird People also had a song that they 
 sang when the new Indian baby was a bow 
 or ball-sticks. It was not so pretty. This 
 song was : 
 
 "Alas ! The whistle of the arrow ! My shins 
 will burn." 
 
 Cricket had a special song for a ball- 
 sticks. Cricket sang, 
 
 "Gwa-hel He will shoot me! He will shoot 
 me ! He will shoot me ! " 
 
 That was because the little boys made 
 little bows and tried to shoot crickets and 
 grasshoppers, just to show their skill. But 
 for a girl, Cricket had a lovely song : 
 
 "Thanks ! Thanks ! I shall sing in the tepee 
 where she lives." 
 
 But the very next day, that Indian camp 
 moved away. And that gave the Animal 
 People a new idea. 
 
 44 
 
X 
 
 That New Idea 
 
 NOW, as everybody knows/crows pick 
 around the old, deserted camps 
 of the Indians. And always they 
 liked to perch on the tepee poles, in the 
 smoke hole, where they can hardly be seen, 
 yet hear much of what is said. 
 
 Old Crow used to do this a great deal. 
 He said it was necessary to know what the 
 Indians were planning. And the very night 
 after Wren had given her news to the coun- 
 cil, he heard something about "moving on." 
 "I wonder if they are going away," said 
 Old Crow. And the very next morning, 
 very early indeed, he went over to the camp, 
 which was only half a mile away. The 
 Indians were gone. All the tepees were 
 down, the horses had disappeared, and there 
 was just a little rubbish lying about. 
 45 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 "I'll come back later, and look over that 
 rubbish," said Old Crow, as he flew back 
 to the camp of the Animal People with the 
 news. Raven called a council at once. 
 Old Crow announced that the Indians had 
 "moved on." 
 
 "I heard them talking about it yesterday 
 afternoon," he said, "so I went over early 
 this morning to see. They're all gone." 
 
 "Ha!" It was Rabbit who suddenly 
 spoke up. "Let's have a ball-game, like 
 the one they played yesterday." 
 
 "Perfectly splendid," said Old Crow. 
 Raven fairly hopped about. Eagle said 
 "Grand." They all felt that way about 
 it. 
 
 "And we all know how to play the game," 
 said Old Crow. "Haven't we sat in the 
 trees and watched them, over and over 
 again ? Of course Rabbit only saw the one 
 game yesterday. But we've seen it many 
 times." 
 
 "We'll have to have two sides," said Old 
 Crow thoughtfully. Raven answered at 
 once, "Why, of course! Let the Bird 
 People play against the Animal People." 
 
 4e 
 
That New Idea 
 
 "Just the thing," they all said. Then 
 Robin added, "We'll have to have a feast 
 and a dance first." 
 
 That was right, too. So they talked it 
 all over, and decided to make their ball- 
 sticks that afternoon, and play the game the 
 next day. But of course the feast had to 
 come that day. Nobody can play a hard 
 game after a feast. 
 
 And this was to be a hard game. The 
 Bird People and Animal People were saying 
 to each other, "Our side is going to win, of 
 course." Both sides said just that. 
 
 Old Crow went back to the rubbish heap 
 around that camp, to see what he could find. 
 The other Bird People began to dress up. 
 They had almost finished preening their 
 feathers, and smoothing them out and 
 fluttering about, when they saw Old Crow 
 come flying back. 
 
 Old Crow was very handsome in his shin- 
 ing blue-black coat. All the birds admired 
 him. And now, as they saw him coming 
 through the fresh summer air, his coat 
 gleaming in the bright sunlight, they all 
 said, "How handsome Old Crow is !" And 
 
 47 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 suddenly they saw something red in his 
 bill. 
 
 "Just look what I have found," said Old 
 Crow joyously, as he set down, very care- 
 fully, a bit of bark on which was piled some 
 red paint. 
 
 "Oh! oh! oh!" cried some of the 
 Bird People. "Just what we wanted 
 — exactly !" 
 
 Eagle was sitting about, and he said dis- 
 dainfully, "I don't want any red." 
 
 "Neither do I," said Old Crow. "I had 
 bother enough with my old white coat not 
 to want any color except black. But some 
 of the Bird People— " 
 
 "Well, I want some," exclaimed Wood- 
 pecker. Picking up a bit of twig, to use as 
 a brush, he spread some of that paint care- 
 fully over his head. After that the Bird 
 People called him the Red-headed Wood- 
 pecker. 
 
 "Robin, you take some," said Old Crow. 
 "Your coat is so brown." Robin was such 
 a cheerful little chap, that everybody liked 
 him. So Robin took some of the paint, as 
 he remarked, "I just want a little on my 
 48 
 
That New Idea 
 
 vest." Robin put some on a twig and went 
 to a little quiet pool of water where he could 
 see himself. There he painted that lovely 
 red vest, — oh, so carefully. After that, 
 they always called him Robin Red-breast. 
 
 Old Crow's cousin took a little of what 
 remained, and spread it out carefully on the 
 tips of his wings. "I think it will show 
 more there," he said, "and it's a beautiful 
 red color." So then they called him the 
 Red- winged Blackbird. 
 
 There was hardly the least bit left, when 
 little Gray Woodpecker alighted on that 
 tree. They offered it to him, because Wren 
 had refused it. 
 
 "I like being just a quiet brown," said 
 Wren. "I have so many errands to do, I 
 think it is better not to be showy." And 
 there really was good sense in that. But 
 little Gray Woodpecker had no errands at 
 all, so he took the wee bit that was left and 
 made a faint red mark just above his ears 
 on each side. It was just a faint red, but 
 it was lovely with his gray coat. 
 
 And just at that moment Deer came call- 
 ing through the forest. Deer had a loud 
 
 49 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 voice, so he was herald for the Animal 
 People. 
 
 "Robin! Robin! Robin! Old Crow gives 
 a feast," he called. That was the regular 
 invitation for a feast. The Animal People 
 taught the Indians to give feast invitations 
 in just that way. 
 
 "Raven! Raven! Raven! Old Crow 
 gives a feast," he called outside of Raven's 
 tepee. 
 
 "Rabbit! Rabbit! Rabbit! Old 
 Crow gives a feast ! " And so Deer went 
 about, calling every one to the feast. 
 
 Every one, of course, had dressed up. 
 Rabbit had cleaned his vest nicely, and 
 pattered about in the damp grass to get 
 the dust oflf his coat, and the Bird People 
 looked their best, especially those who had 
 used the red paint. 
 
 Every one was quite excited over that 
 red paint. And they praised Robin's red 
 vest enough to have turned the head of any 
 one else. But Robin was such a happy 
 little chap, he was pleased that they liked 
 that new vest. 
 
 And all through that feast, the Animal 
 50 
 
That New Idea 
 
 People and the Bird People talked about 
 the game of ball they were going to play 
 the next day. Every single man had his 
 ball-stick ready. It was just a long pole, 
 with a hooped net at the end — but one 
 could play an exciting game with it. 
 
 51 
 
XI 
 
 The Ball Game 
 
 THE very next morning the Animals 
 met near the river, in a smooth 
 grassy field. The Birds met in the 
 tree top, over by the ridge. 
 
 The leader of the Animals was Bear. He 
 was very strong and heavy. All the way 
 to the river he tossed up big logs to show 
 his strength. Bear boasted. Terrapin 
 was with the Animals — the first Terrapin 
 he was, and very large. His shell was so 
 hard a heavy blow could not hurt him. On 
 the way to the river he rose on his hind feet 
 and dropped heavily again. He boasted. 
 He said, "Thus will I crush any of the Bird 
 People who try to take the ball from me." 
 Then there was Deer. He could outrun 
 all the others. And there were many others, 
 including Rabbit and Hare. 
 52 
 
The Ball Game 
 
 Now the leader of the Birds was Eagle. 
 Hawk was his helper. They were very 
 strong of wing and strong of flight. 
 
 They had a little dance first, out there on 
 the green grass. Just as that finished, two 
 tiny little animals, no larger than field mice, 
 climbed to the branch where Eagle sat. 
 They crept out on the branch to Eagle. 
 
 "We want to play ball," they said. 
 
 Eagle looked at them. They were four- 
 footed. He shook his head. 
 
 "Why don't you join the Animals?" he 
 asked. "You belong there." 
 
 "The Animals make fun of us," said 
 these wee things. "They won't let us play. 
 They drive us away because we are small." 
 
 Eagle did feel sorry for them, yet he said, 
 "But you have no wings !" 
 
 Old Crow had been sitting near by. " We 
 can make wings for them," he said. And 
 he called to Hawk and some of the other 
 Bird People. 
 
 At first they could not think just how to 
 do it. Then somebody said, "The head of 
 our drum is made of thin leather. We can 
 make wings from that." 
 
 53 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 Well, that was just the thing, of course. 
 They cut two pieces of leather from the 
 drum and shaped them for wings. They 
 stretched them with cane splints, and 
 fastened them on the forelegs of one of the 
 little animals. 
 
 Thus they made Bat. Bat had never 
 been made before. 
 
 Then they began to teach him. First 
 they threw the ball to him. Bat rose and 
 circled about in the air on his new wings. 
 He didn't even let the ball drop. "Fine !" 
 said Old Crow. And the Birds all saw 
 at once he would be one of their best 
 men. 
 
 Then they looked around for the other 
 wee fellow. " What are we to do ?" asked 
 Robin anxiously. He hoped something 
 could be done, but there was no more 
 leather and no more time. The Animals 
 who had been tossing the ball among them- 
 selves were coming over to the grassy field 
 where they were to play. 
 
 "We can do this!" said Old Crow. And 
 without explaining what, he and Raven 
 took hold of the little fellow from opposite 
 54 
 
Martin caught it and threw it to Bat, who was flying near 
 the ground. Page 55, 
 
The Ball Game 
 
 sides with their strong bills and stretched 
 his skin. So they made Flying Squirrel. 
 
 Eagle threw the ball to him. At once 
 Flying Squirrel sprang after it, and caught 
 it in his teeth. He carried it through the 
 air to the nearest tree. 
 
 "He's another good man," said Old 
 Crow. 
 
 Then the game began. Almost at the 
 first toss, Flying Squirrel caught the ball 
 and carried it up a tree. Then he threw it 
 to the birds, who kept it in the air for some 
 time. When it dropped towards the earth. 
 Bear rushed to get it, but Martin darted 
 after it — quick as a flash. Martin caught 
 it and threw it to Bat, who was flying near 
 the ground. Bat doubled and dodged with 
 the ball, and kept it out of the way of Deer. 
 At last Bat threw it between the posts. 
 
 So the Birds won the game. Bear and 
 Terrapin, who had boasted so, never even 
 had a chance to touch the ball. 
 
 Then everybody went home. But the 
 Animals were a little bothered, 
 
 "I don't understand it at all," growled 
 Bear. "Why, we didn't have a chance at 
 55 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 the ball. Those new men of theirs were 
 admirable players." 
 
 "Well," remarked Rabbit, as he leaped 
 about, "they wanted first to play on our 
 side." 
 
 And then, with two or three jumps, 
 Rabbit was right at the door of his own 
 tepee. 
 
 56 
 
XII 
 
 Why Fox Became Red 
 
 IT began to rain one afternoon, and 
 Rabbit poked around his own tepee 
 until he was tired of that. Besides, in 
 leaping about in his usual fashion, he had 
 upset about everything in the tepee, any- 
 way. So he went over to see Old Crow. 
 
 "What makes Fox so red nowadays?" 
 asked Rabbit. "He didn't use to be so 
 very red." 
 
 Old Crow didn't answer at all for a mo- 
 ment. He laughed — and laughed — and 
 laughed. Then he told Rabbit all about it. 
 And this is the way it happened that Fox 
 is red, even to this day. 
 
 One day Fox said to his children, "I 
 
 am going to get some eggs." So off he went 
 
 to the woods, and after chmbing a high hill, 
 
 he saw Eagle sitting on his nest in the top 
 
 57 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 of a tall tree. Fox couldn't climb that tree. 
 He knew that. So he sat and thought a 
 while. 
 
 Then Fox put some grass stalks in his 
 ears, and shouted to Eagle. He said, 
 "Throw me down an egg. If you don't, 
 I'll knock this tree down." 
 
 Eagle saw those grass stalks, and they 
 looked very terrible, indeed. Yet they 
 were nothing but grass. But he was so 
 frightened, he threw down an egg. 
 
 "Throw down another," said Fox. 
 
 "Oh, that's enough," said Eagle. 
 
 "Throw down another," shouted Fox 
 fiercely. "Else I'll knock the whole tree 
 down." ■ ! 
 
 So Eagle threw down another. Then Fox 
 laughed. He said "Ho, ho ! Didn't I fool 
 you well ! How could I knock down a big 
 tree with grass stalks ?" 
 
 Eagle felt he had been a great goose. 
 He was angry with himself and also with 
 Fox. In one minute he swooped down 
 upon Fox, caught him in his talons, lifted 
 him high in the air, and flew oflf. So he 
 flew — and flew — and flew, far out to sea, 
 58 
 
Why Fox Became Red 
 
 and then set Fox down carefully upon a 
 small island. 
 
 "Now," said Eagle, "don't ask for any 
 more of my eggs." 
 
 Fox wasn't likely to ask for any more eggs, 
 out there alone on that island. He lived 
 there a long while. Nobody came to rescue 
 him, and the Animal People couldn't think 
 what had become of him. Then Fox 
 suddenly thought of something. 
 
 Fox began to sing magic songs. He sang 
 — and sang — and sang. At last a whole 
 herd of seals, and walrus, and whales ap- 
 peared near the island. 
 
 "Why did you call us?" they asked. 
 "What are you singing about?" 
 
 "I'd like to know this," said the cunning 
 Fox. "Are there more animals on the dry 
 ■ land, or in the waters of the sea ?" 
 
 "Why, there are more in the waters of 
 the sea," answered the Sea People. They 
 all said that. They were so surprised. 
 They said, "Why ! The idea of his asking 
 such a question ! " 
 
 "Well, let's see about that," said Fox. 
 "All of you come up to the surface of the 
 59 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 water, and form a raft from this island to 
 the land. Then I will walk over you and 
 count you all." 
 
 "That's a good plan," said the Sea 
 People. So they all came up to the sur- 
 face of the water — the whales, and the 
 sharks, the seals, and porpoises, and all the 
 fishes, even the codfish, and formed a great 
 raft. As soon as the raft was quite solid, 
 Fox ran over them to the shore, counting 
 them as he went. But there were so many 
 he couldn't count them all; he couldn't 
 go high enough in numbers. So he told 
 them how many he had counted, and then 
 jumped ashore and went home. 
 
 The next day Fox met Eagle. "Don't 
 let's fool each other any more," said Fox. 
 "I've had enough of it." And Eagle said 
 "All right." 
 
 Fox hoped that nobody would know any- 
 thing about it. But everybody said, " Why, 
 where have you been!" and after a while 
 the truth leaked out. It all came out, some 
 way or other, at a great councU, when the 
 Animal People all sat in a great circle in 
 the green forest, and smoked the council 
 60 
 
Why Fox Became Red 
 
 pipe, just as they had taught the Indians 
 to do. 
 
 There they all were, laughing at him. 
 And there was poor Fox ! They laughed — 
 and laughed — and laughed, until Fox 
 grew red because he was so ashamed. And 
 he's red even to this day. 
 
 61 
 
XIII 
 
 The Snow-Storm 
 
 ALL the Animal People waked up 
 one summer morning to find the 
 Wind People running about 
 through the camp, and everything covered 
 with heavy snow. And every now and then 
 some of the Wind People would climb up 
 to a smoke hole, and shout down to the 
 Animal People. 
 
 "Ha! ha! ha!" they shouted. "How 
 do you like this? " 
 
 "We don't like it at all," shouted Old 
 Crow back to some of the Wind People. 
 ' ' Go home and let us alone . " But the Wind 
 People didn't go for two whole days. Then 
 they went home, and the snow melted, 
 and the Animal People called a great coun- 
 cil at once. 
 
 "We don't want any more of that" said 
 
 m 
 
The Snow-Storm 
 
 Old Crow firmly. Old Crow was just as 
 firm as ever, though he never lost his tem- 
 per. "Why, that's as bad as when Stealer 
 came down from Sky-land, in the long ago, 
 and stole the Summer Birds." 
 
 Of course, everybody knew just what he 
 was talking about. They had had such an 
 awful time with the Summer Birds gone. 
 
 "Where did that snow come from — in 
 midsummer?" asked Rabbit. "How did 
 it happen?" 
 
 Nobody knew. Nobody had any idea. 
 And the very next day, when it should have 
 been bright sunshine and blue skies and 
 warm air, there were the Wind People again, 
 and another snowstorm. 
 
 Rabbit didn't like snow, but still he 
 leaped right through it, quite easily, as any- 
 body can see by a rabbit's tracks on a 
 winter morning. So he went straight over 
 to Old Crow's tepee the next morning, and 
 found Red Squirrel there, and Raven, and 
 several others. And just then Wolverine 
 came in. 
 
 "Oh, Wolverine! You're the very per- 
 son !" Everybody spoke at once. 
 
 63 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 "When you went up to Sky-land to get 
 the Summer Birds, in the long ago, Wolver- 
 ine," asked Old Crow, "did you find any- 
 thing up there like snow? " 
 
 Wolverine thought for a few minutes. 
 Then he said, "Well, you remember that 
 after we freed the Summer Birds and they 
 began to fly down through the hole in the 
 sky. Stealer's men chased us." 
 
 Of course. ^Everybody knew that story. 
 Wolverine had told it over and over again, 
 around the tepee fires. In the long winter 
 evenings when some of the Animal People 
 were playing games, others were telling 
 stories, just as the Indians did. Raven 
 had told the story of how he became black 
 over and over and over again, (jiverybody 
 liked that story. So they all knew just 
 what Wolverine was talking about. 
 
 "And so," Wolverine went on,' "there 
 wasn't much chance to see anything. But 
 I do remember this. 
 
 "Sky-land, you know," he said, "is just 
 like the Earth-land. The grass, though, 
 is very long, and hangs downwards toward 
 the earth. And the grass is filled with snow. 
 
The Snow-Storm 
 
 Now when the Wind People go all over the 
 upper air, and blow that long grass, it 
 loosens the snow. Then it falls down." 
 
 "And they spend a gbod deal of time in 
 the upper air during the winter," remarked 
 Old Crow wisely^l "That is why it snows. 
 But this is summer time." 
 
 They piled logs on the fire, and talked a 
 long while around Old Crow's blazing fire, 
 while Mrs. Crow made some tea for them. 
 At last it was decided to send Eagle into the 
 upper air, to see if he could find out what 
 was the matter. And then, because it was 
 already dark, everybody went home. 
 
 Old Crow flew around next morning, cold 
 though it was, and with the Wind People 
 running about, to ask Eagle to go up into 
 the upper air, and find out what was the 
 matter. 
 
 That very afternoon, Eagle returned. 
 He went straight to Old Crow's tepee, 
 almost buried in the deep snow, and in 
 through the entrance. Raven and Rabbit, 
 and some of the others, were there as usual. 
 
 "Oh, come in!" said Old Crow, the 
 moment he saw Eagle's head in the entrance 
 
 65 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 flap. "Come in, and tell us what you 
 learned." 
 
 "Not very much," said Eagle. "The 
 Wind People are not in the upper air, or in 
 Sky-land. Everything up there is lovely. 
 Sun is shining, and he asked me, 'What's 
 the matter with the Animal People, on the 
 Earth-land? Their tepees are all buried 
 in snow.' I told him I was up there trying 
 to find out." 
 
 "Hm-m-m-m!" said Old Crow. "This 
 is serious. We must find out — " 
 
 Just at that moment Red Squirrel came 
 dashing through the flap, all covered with 
 snow, and shivering. 
 
 "The Wind People are on the warpath," 
 shouted Red Squirrel, as soon as he could 
 get his breath. 
 
 66 
 
XIV 
 
 A Raid on the Wind People 
 
 RED Squirrel had just escaped. He 
 made that clear in a few minutes. 
 He had been trying to find the 
 camp of the Animal People in the snow. 
 Suddenly he saw a large war party of the 
 Wind People coming toward him from all 
 sides. 
 
 The wind was blowing such a gale Red 
 Squirrel could hardly get his breath. When 
 they showered their arrows upon him, they 
 struck him all over. And they were sharp, 
 too. Wind People use fine hail and sleet 
 for their arrows, and everybody knows how 
 sharp they are. 
 
 "How did the Wind People get here.''" 
 asked Old Crow suddenly. "Their coun- 
 try's a long way off. They didn't walk, 
 I'm sure." 
 
 67 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 Everybody sat up straight and began to 
 think. Nobody had thought of that at all. 
 Old Crow was just as wise and clever as 
 ever. 
 
 Now Rabbit had gone out, without any- 
 body's noticing it. He was rather quiet, 
 anyway, and he had gone in one long quiet 
 leap out of the door. Just then he came in, 
 chuckling. 
 
 " Ha ! ha ! ha ! " laughed Rabbit. " You 
 ought to have seen me spring over one of 
 their sledges ! I "nearly scared the driver !" 
 
 "Sledges !" said everybody, in dismay. 
 
 "The woods are full of their sledges," 
 said Rabbit. 
 
 It wasn't possible to call a council, so 
 the Animal People who were spending the 
 afternoon in Old Crow's tepee had to settle 
 the matter. The only thing to do was to 
 stay in their lodges, and keep bright fires 
 burning, until the Wind People went home. 
 Everybody knew the Wind People couldn't 
 attack them if they kept the smoke hole 
 closed, and the entrance flap closed. 
 
 So the Animal People lay low for several 
 days, keeping close in their tepees. They 
 68 
 
A Raid on the Wind People 
 
 waited with tightly closed flaps and bright 
 fires until the Wind People at last went 
 home. But they shouted as they went, 
 "We will come in another moon!" 
 
 At once Old Crow sent out a call for the 
 Reindeer chief, and the Mouse chief. Old 
 Crow had been thinking all those days what 
 to do. 
 
 When Reindeer came. Old Crow asked, 
 "Are you afraid of ice and snow and cold ?" 
 
 "Not a bit," said Reindeer. "None of 
 my tribe are." 
 
 "Are you afraid of the spears and arrows 
 of hail and sleet, or of the winds that blow 
 one's breath away?" asked Old Crow. 
 
 "Oh, not a bit!" said Reindeer. "What 
 surprising questions ! " 
 
 "Well, you see," said Old Crow, "you 
 don't come often to the councils, because 
 you live so far away in the north. We 
 shall make war upon the Wind People. 
 We shall go to their lodges in the north. 
 We shall depend upon your tribe." 
 
 Reindeer was delighted. That pleased 
 him, and he sent out a call to all his tribe. 
 Old Crow told Rabbit and Red Squirrel 
 
 69 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 to make sledges, either of oak or of pine 
 or of poplar, because they knew those trees 
 so well. Rabbit made his of poplar bark, 
 bound together by withes, strongly. Squir- 
 rel made his sledges of cones, gummed 
 together with rosin, and then bound all 
 around by wild grapevines. They, too, 
 were strong. 
 
 But Old Crow also talked with the chief 
 of the Mouse tribe. "Are you afraid of 
 cold?" he asked. 
 
 "No," said Mouse. "We really like 
 warm, snug nests, but we can gnaw frozen 
 things just as well as warm ones." Mouse 
 said his tribe could be depended upon. So 
 Old Crow felt the war party was ready. 
 
 One dark night, with Fireflies lighting 
 the trail. Old Crow's war party started oflf. 
 Raven was in it. Rabbit and Squirrel were 
 also, because if the sledges broke, they 
 could mend them. Old Crow drove, and 
 the Reindeer almost flew over the snowy 
 hillsides and mountains. There was no 
 moon or stars, because they had not yet 
 been made. They were made afterwards, 
 and all because of this night's work. 
 70 
 
A Raid on the Wind People 
 
 They traveled on all day, and the snow 
 became deeper and higher, and the cold 
 more severe. The Wind People Uved far 
 to the north, as everybody knows, and this 
 was dangerous work. Then they traveled 
 all the next night. They had some pemmi- 
 can and camas roots and wapatoes with 
 them, and that was enough. Camas roots 
 and wapatoes are Indian onions and small 
 red potatoes, as everybody knows. 
 
 They reached the camp of the Wind 
 People the second night, because the Rein- 
 deer tribe traveled so rapidly. When they 
 knew the camp was near, because some of 
 the Wind People were on guard and the air 
 was much colder, they stopped their sledges. 
 
 Old Crow flew to the lodge poles, just 
 where they cross at the smoke hole, and 
 looked down. He did that in several tepees, 
 and every time he would come back to the 
 ground and whisper to one of the Mouse 
 tribe. Then Mouse would slip softly into 
 the tepee, and with his sharp teeth cut the 
 leather thongs of their sledges, and gnaw 
 the thongs of their moccasins, and of their 
 leggings, and all the harness they had. 
 71 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 Into one tepee and then another the 
 Mouse People crept and gnawed everything 
 to pieces. Then just as Sun came up over 
 the edge of the Earth-land, everything was 
 done and everybody hurried back into the 
 sledges. When they were ready to start, 
 old Crow gave the war whoop. 
 
 "Caw! caw! caw!" he shouted. 
 
 "Whoop ! Whoop !" yelled Reindeer and 
 Raven and the others, as they started off. 
 
 Those Wind People were awake in a min- 
 ute. 
 
 "The enemy is among us," they shouted 
 to each other. "Arm and fight!" That 
 was what they really said. But at a dis- 
 tance it sounded like, "Whoop-ee-ee-ee! 
 Whew-ew-ew-ew ! " just as the wind 
 sounds when it blows in among the trees. 
 
 But arm and fight ! Dear me ! There 
 wasn't anything left, those Mouse People 
 had been so thorough. Everything cut to 
 pieces, and the sledges quite useless ! 
 
 All they could do was to stand in the flap 
 of their tepees and watch Old Crow's sledge, 
 far, far away in the distance, with the Rein- 
 deer lightly bounding over the snow. 
 72 
 
A Raid on the Wind People 
 
 The Wind People never recovered from 
 that blow. It took them a long while to 
 make new sledges and new leather thongs, 
 and new leggings. 
 
 "We will not go on the warpath again, 
 against the Animal People," said Wind 
 chief at a great council. "It is too expen- 
 
 • 99 
 
 sive. 
 
 73 
 
XV 
 The First Moon 
 
 IT was after they had returned from the 
 Land of the Wind People that Old 
 Crow spoke of something. 
 "It ought not to be so dark at night," 
 said Old Crow. Everybody sat up straight 
 and began to think. 
 
 "Oh, pshaw!" said Hare. "We have 
 the Firefly tribe. They're very obliging. 
 They will always show one the trail." 
 
 "But the Fireflies are here only in 
 summer. They sleep all winter," remarked 
 Raven. 
 
 "It was dark enough," said Rabbit, 
 sitting up very straight on his haunches, 
 "it was dark enough when we went to the 
 Land of the Wind People." 
 
 Then Old Crow said again it ought not 
 to be so dark at night. "After Sun goes 
 74 
 
The First Moon 
 
 over the edge of the Darkening Land," 
 he said, "it is black." 
 
 It surely was black. So the Animal 
 People began to think what they could 
 do to make a light at night. 
 
 "It will have to be something that will 
 burn," remarked Raven. 
 
 "But if it burns too brightly, then there 
 will be no difference between day and night," 
 said Old Crow. 
 
 Hawk spoke then of a swamp where he had 
 been that day. "It was full of tule reeds," 
 he said. "And they were all rather damp." 
 
 At once all the Animal People thought 
 that a good plan. It was evening then, 
 and they were sitting around the fire in 
 Old Crow's tepee. But the very next 
 day Coyote went into the swamp, after 
 Hawk told him where the reeds were, and 
 cut a large bundle of them. 
 
 Old Crow and Raven and Coyote and 
 Hawk all made a big round ball of the 
 tule reeds, binding them together with 
 wild grape- vines. The Animal People found 
 the vines of the wild grape very useful, 
 indeed. Old Crow had remarked one day, 
 75 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 as he cut oflE a piece with his sharp bill, that 
 the vines were just about as good as a ball 
 of twine. 
 
 Toward evening, Eagle took the tule 
 ball in his strong beak, and Hawk took some 
 flints which he had found around the old 
 Indian camp, and together they flew away 
 — up — up — up, into the sky. When 
 they were quite high. Hawk made a light 
 by striking the flints together, and set fire 
 to the ball. Then Eagle let go of it. 
 
 "Stay right where you are," said Hawk. 
 And the tule reed ball stayed there all 
 night. The reeds were so damp, they did 
 not burn brightly. They gave a dim, 
 white light. 
 
 Old Crow and Raven were watching 
 from the ground. 
 
 "That isn't light enough," said Raven. 
 "It ought to be a brighter light." 
 
 "Well," said Old Crow slowly. "It's a 
 great deal better than no light at all. 
 Perhaps it will burn brighter as the reeds 
 dry out." 
 
 Old Crow and Raven watched the tule 
 reed night after night, and Rabbit sat on 
 76 
 
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 ^ 
 
 
 - .m 
 
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 1 
 
 ri 
 
 
 b^ 
 
 
 
 r 
 
 
 >:l 
 
 ^Usk^ ^A 
 
 Hk)tfi 
 
 Ih ' 
 
 W^^M 
 
 
 
 
 ^MBR 
 
 |HL 
 
 ^SBSr" '' 
 
 
 
 
 ^^^K' 
 
 <■" 
 
 .^Swiff 
 
 lb 
 
 
 
 
 
 f 
 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 mm 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 BBifefefet??^ '^'^fe 
 
 Hawk made a light by striking the flints together, and set 
 fire to the ball. Page 76. 
 
The First Moon 
 
 his haunches and watched it, too. One 
 night it began to give out much more light. 
 
 "I told you so," said Old Crow. But for 
 once Old Crow was not clever. And for 
 once. Rabbit was. 
 
 "The moon is burning up," said Rabbit. 
 "After a while it will be dark." 
 
 Sure enough, after a while the moon grew 
 dimmer and dimmer, and then suddenly 
 became dark. A few minutes later, right at 
 Old Crow's feet, there fell a large round ball 
 of something soft, all black and smoking. 
 
 "Hi-yi!" called Old Crow excitedly. 
 "Somebody bring a light." 
 
 Rabbit dashed into Old Crow's tepee, 
 lighted a torch from the embers of the fire 
 there, and leaped out with it. Rabbit 
 always dashed about in an excited way. 
 
 Well, there it was. The burned-out tule 
 reed ball, all black and smoking — just a 
 bundle of ashes held together by grape- 
 vines. And the night was as dark as pitch. 
 
 "Oh, shucks!" said Old Crow, in dis- 
 gust. "Isn't that provoking?" 
 
 And then it was so late everybody went 
 home and went right to sleep. 
 77 
 
XVI 
 
 The Next Moon 
 
 OLD CROW and Raven sat on the 
 topmost branch of a tall fir tree 
 the next morning. Raven was 
 chewing twigs excitedly, and Old Crow was 
 hopping about. They were talking, of 
 course, about the tule reed moon that had 
 burned out. 
 
 "We'll have to make a moon of something 
 
 harder than that," said Raven seriously. 
 
 "And I think. Old Crow, that we should 
 
 have little, wee, tiny moons all over the 
 
 Sky-land, too." Raven meant stars, of 
 
 course, but he didn't remember the name. 
 
 "We don't need those," said Old Crow, 
 
 "because when the Star People light their 
 
 fires at night, that used to give light." 
 
 Raven remembered then, but he said, 
 
 78 
 
The Next Moon 
 
 "We don't see the tepee fires of the Star 
 People all the time!" 
 
 And then he and Old Crow thought 
 about things for a long time. Then Old 
 Crow remembered how to make Moon. 
 
 Old Crow took a large dish, and filled 
 it with water. He sang a magic song, and 
 it became gleaming ice. Then Old Crow 
 sang another magic song and threw the 
 round ice ball to where the Earth-land and 
 the Sky-land are woven together. 
 
 Old Crow threw the ice ball first to the 
 west. It rose in the sky, and then slid 
 back. Then he threw it to the north, and 
 it rose and slid back again. Then to the 
 south. At last, he threw it to the east. 
 Moon rose higher and higher in the sky 
 until at the highest point in Sky-land, just 
 where Sun stopped every day to rest, as 
 he went over his trail, it began to slide 
 down towards the edge of the Darkening 
 Land. 
 
 Old Crow said, "You must follow the 
 trail of Sun. You shall go up over the 
 edge of the Earth-land, as Sun goes down 
 over the edge of the Darkening Land. 
 
 79 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 You shall travel the trail by night, even 
 as Sun travels it by day." 
 
 And Moon did so. There was no man 
 in the moon then. Nobody lived there 
 at all. Many people live in the moon 
 now, but no one lived in that moon. 
 
 Night after night Old Crow and Raven 
 would waken, and come out to the door of 
 their tepees, and there was Moon — a big, 
 gleaming ball of white, shedding a white 
 light on the earth. And both were very 
 happy. 
 
 (Now, as they all sat around the fire in 
 Old Crow's tepee one evening in autumn. 
 Rabbit suddenly asked, "Has anybody 
 see Moon lately?" 
 
 "What a surprising question !" exclaimed 
 Old Crow.. "Why, Moon travels his trail 
 every night." 
 
 -"We-U-U," said Rabbit after a pause. 
 "Maybe he' does. But he doesn't give 
 light any more." 
 
 Big-Horned Owl had come in that eve- 
 ning, as he rarely did, for a cup of tea. He 
 answered at once. 
 
 "Moon has been getting smaller and 
 80 
 
The Next Moon 
 
 smaller for a long time," he said, "I was 
 glad of it, because I do not like the light.A 
 There is no need of having a light at 
 night." 
 
 Well, that very night. Old Crow and 
 Raven went out and watched for Moon. It 
 was very dark, indeed. Moon should have 
 been on his trail long before. At last 
 Raven said, "There he is!" 
 
 There was Moon, sure enough. He was 
 so small and so dim, he gave no light. Old 
 Crow had to look hard to see him at all. 
 But at last Old Crow and Raven both went 
 to sleep, puzzling over the queer way in 
 which Moon was acting. 
 
 The next morning they were both on the 
 topmost branch of the tall fir tree. 
 
 "You will remember," said Raven, as 
 he threw away the twig he had been chew- 
 ing, "what a hard time we had with Sun 
 at first. But at last we succeeded." 
 
 "Oh, yes," said Old Crow. "Nobody 
 ever thinks of bothering Sun now." 
 
 "And he never thinks of getting off his 
 trail," said Raven. 
 
 And suddenly Old Crow whooped. Then 
 81 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 he cried, "Caw ! caw ! caw !" He had had 
 an idea. 
 
 "What is it?" asked Raven anxiously, 
 
 "Talking about Sun made me think of 
 it," exclaimed Old Crow. "Sun's trail 
 gets very hot, when he passes over it, 
 and—" 
 
 "And Moon is made of ice !" interrupted 
 Raven. i 
 
 Then they both understood. Moon 
 really had been doing his best to light the 
 world at night, but he had gradually 
 melted away. And he was too far up in 
 the sky to make anybody hear him call — 
 especially as everybody was asleep. 
 
 In about a week there wasn't any Moon 
 left. He had melted entirely. And Earth- 
 land at night was in blackness. 
 
 "Oh, shucks!" said Raven impatiently, 
 one day. "Let's forget all about it and 
 have some fun." 
 
 82 
 
XVII 
 
 Shingebiss and the Northwest Wind 
 
 IT was really some time before Raven 
 could have the fun he wanted. But 
 up in the north, Shingebiss, the Duck, 
 was having a game of his own. And it was 
 all because of those Wind People again. 
 
 Northwest Wind went up to visit the 
 Wind People, not long after Old Crow and 
 Reindeer had been there. He found them 
 all working very hard, making new leggings, 
 and new harness, and new sledges. But 
 they were all very gloomy, too. So they 
 told him all about it. They were careful 
 not to say much about their trying to 
 freeze the Animal People. 
 
 Northwest Wind thought for a long time. 
 Then he said, "Hm-m-m. I think I'll 
 go on the warpath against Shingebiss, the 
 Duck. He lives not far from here." 
 83 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 And off went Northwest Wind, with a 
 whirl, and a roar, making even the Wind 
 People shiver. 
 
 Now Shingebiss, the Duck, lived all alone 
 in his tepee, on the shore of the lake. 
 Winter came early that year, and it was 
 very cold. Ice had frozen over the top of 
 the water, Shingebiss had but four logs 
 of wood in his tepee, but each one would 
 burn a month. And there were but four 
 months that were really cold for him. 
 
 Shingebiss went out every day, even 
 on the coldest days. He looked for places 
 where rushes and flags grew up through 
 the ice. He would pull them up and dive 
 for fish through the broken ice. When he 
 had fished for a while, he would go home, 
 dragging long strings of fish behind him on 
 the ice. 
 
 Then Northwest Wind came around one 
 day. He shook his rattle and the wind 
 blew colder. Snow drifted high. Shinge- 
 biss kept his fire burning. And on the 
 coldest days, he would still a-fishing go. 
 
 Northwest Wind noticed that. He said, 
 "Shingebiss is a strange man." 
 84 
 
Shingebiss and the Northwest Wind 
 
 That very night Northwest Wind went 
 to the door of Duck's tepee. Shingebiss 
 had cooked his fish and eaten it. He was 
 lying before that blazing log, singing songs. 
 This is what he sang : 
 
 "Spirit of the Northwest Wind, 
 You are but my fellow man." 
 
 Duck sang that because he knew North- 
 west Wind was standing at his door. He 
 could feel his cold breath. He kept right 
 on singing that song. 
 
 Northwest Wind stepped back a little. 
 Then he banged the entrance flap. He 
 shook the whole tepee. He roared around 
 the smoke hole and rattled the lodge poles. 
 He shrieked and he whistled, and kept 
 things crashing for a while. He yelled 
 threats to Duck. Then he stepped back 
 to the entrance flap. 
 
 Duck was lying before the blazing log, 
 — lying on his side, — and singing a song. 
 He sang : 
 
 "Spirit of the Northwest Wind, 
 You are but my fellow man." 
 85 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 "I don't understand that," said North- 
 west Wind. "He ought to be scared. 
 Shingebiss is a strange man." 
 
 Then Northwest Wind stepped right 
 inside the tepee, and sat down at the back 
 side. Duck got up and poked the fire, 
 making the log blaze more cheerily than 
 ever. The tepee became very warm. At 
 last Northwest Wind said, "Oh, I can't 
 stand this. I'll have to go out." And 
 he went out, saying, "Shingebiss is a very 
 strange man." 
 
 Northwest Wind called all his tribe to- 
 gether, after that. They made terrible 
 storms come. All the flag roots were frozen 
 in hard ice. The ice was very heavy ; and 
 there was much snow and wind. Still, 
 Duck went a-fishing. He bit off the frozen 
 flag roots, and pounded and hammered 
 the hard ice until it broke, and he could 
 fish. He went home dragging strings of 
 fish behind him, on the ice. 
 
 "We'll have to give it up," said North- 
 west Wind to his tribe. "We can't scare 
 him. Shingebiss is a very strange man." 
 
 So he let him alone. The winds died 
 86 
 
Shingebiss and the Northwest Wind 
 
 down, and the ice became softer, and 
 there was less snow. And Shingebiss still 
 cooked his fish before his fire, and stretched 
 out before the log, blazing so cheerily, 
 and sang his happy songs. He refused to 
 be afraid. 
 
 87 
 
XVIII 
 
 Black Beae 
 
 BLACK BEAR came into camp one 
 day, fairly snorting. Now every- 
 body expected Grizzly Bear to go 
 around snorting and growling — that was 
 nothing miusual. So one morning early, 
 when the Animal People heard some one 
 growling, "Woof! woof! woof!" Old Crow 
 remarked to Raven, "There's Grizzly 
 again." 
 
 But it wasn't Grizzly at all. And when 
 all the Animal People saw it was Black Bear 
 snorting so, they were so surprised. Every- 
 body said, "Why, Black Bear! What is 
 the matter?" 
 
 Black Bear couldn't talk at all for a 
 
 while. Then she told them all about it. 
 
 Some of the Animal People said, "Oh, that's 
 
 a shame ! " Old Crow started to say that. 
 
 88 
 
Black Bear 
 
 When he got as far as "Oh," and his 
 mouth was open, he started to laugh. And 
 he laughed — and laughed — and laughed. 
 
 Well, this was what had happened. 
 
 Now a tall Indian had a large field of 
 corn ripening near Black Bear's den. 
 Rabbit, of course, began to ask at once 
 whether it was his tall Indian, with the 
 little black-eyed wife. The Animal People 
 all said in a minute though, "Keep still. 
 Rabbit. We want to hear Black Bear." 
 So Rabbit never did find out. 
 
 Well, this tall Indian wanted to look 
 at that corn one day. He told his wife 
 he wanted to see the whole field. So he 
 went just outside the field, and climbed up 
 on a big stump. The corn field was beauti- 
 ful. The tassels were just out, waving in 
 the breeze, and it was really a lovely day, 
 with the sun shining and the sky so blue. 
 
 Now that stump was hollow; but the 
 Indian did not see that. Worse than 
 that, it was Black Bear's home. She lived 
 there. The Indian was so interested in 
 his corn field, he stepped back a little, to 
 where it was crumbly. The crumbly part 
 89 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 gave way — and down went that tall 
 Indian into Black Bear's den. And she 
 had two little cubs down in there ! 
 
 Well, the cubs began to yell "Mama! 
 Mama!" Black Bear heard them, and 
 she guessed what was the matter, because 
 she had been watching that tall Indian. 
 She rushed to the stump, climbed up it, 
 and then began to climb down inside. 
 
 Of course. Black Bear had to climb down 
 that stump backwards. When she got 
 halfway down, the tall Indian caught her 
 hind leg and yelled something to her. She 
 didn't know just what it was. Anyway, 
 she didn't remember it. But with the 
 cubs calling to her from the bottom of the 
 stump, and that Indian yelling at her, 
 Black Bear thought she'd better get out 
 and get help. 
 
 So she began to climb out again. And 
 didn't that Indian hold on to her hind 
 leg, so she had to pull him up to the top of 
 the stump with her ! When he could catch 
 the top of it, he pulled himseK up, — just 
 as boys do with a trapeze, — and ran 
 home. 
 
 90 
 
Black Bear 
 
 That Indian hadn't hurt anything — so 
 Black Bear thought. The cubs seemed all 
 right. But the idea of his making her pull 
 him out of that stump ! Oh, Black Bear 
 was so indignant ! 
 
 9X 
 
XIX 
 
 Coyote off for Sky-Land 
 
 ON all the hot summer nights, the 
 Animal People sat around a little 
 lake, where they spent their 
 summers. It was a lovely grassy patch. 
 All the grass was alight with the Firefly 
 tribe, and the water, too. Som.etimes the 
 Animal People sang, sitting there in the 
 early summer evenings. This very evening 
 they had been singing a song to Firefly. 
 It was : 
 
 "Flitting white-fire-bug, 
 Flitting white-fire-bug, 
 Give me your light before I go to sleep. 
 Give me your light before I go to sleep. 
 Come, little waving fire-bug. 
 Come, little waving fire-bug. 
 Light me with your bright torch. 
 Light me with your bright torch." 
 92 
 
Coyote off for Sky-Land 
 
 That is truly the very song the Indians 
 used to sing to the fireflies. And if they 
 did not learn it from the Animal People 
 where did they learn it? 
 
 Well, this very evening, Coyote was 
 sitting there on the shore of the lake, and 
 Raven, and Old Crow, and Rabbit, and — 
 oh, nearly all the Animal People were 
 there, except Grizzly, Grizzly was camping 
 out near a berry path, that summer. The 
 Firefly tribe were sparkling about, flitting 
 here and there in the grass, and gleaming 
 like wee stars in the water. 
 
 Coyote watched the sparkle of the tiny 
 Fireflies in the water. Then he looked 
 up at the bright sparkle in the Sky-land 
 above. That, of course, was from the tepee 
 fires of the happy Star People. Coyote 
 watched again the Firefiies, then the fires 
 of the Star People above, and their sparkle 
 in the water below. 
 
 Coyote was thinking. Suddenly he said, 
 "Old Crow, I believe I would like to visit 
 Sky-land." 
 
 "Which way are you going?" piped up 
 Rabbit, before anybody had a chance to 
 93 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 speak. Rabbit took it as a matter of course. 
 He didn't realize it was a little hard to get 
 there. 
 
 "I've been thinking about that," said 
 Coyote. "I believe I'll go through the 
 crack this time." 
 
 "Then you're not so likely to fall — eh ?" 
 said Old Crow with a grin. Everybody 
 laughed. Everybody remembered how 
 Coyote had fallen off the shoulder of 
 Evening Star, and come down — down — 
 down, to the earth, and hit the trail — oh, 
 so hard ! 
 
 "If I were going there," remarked Eagle, 
 "I think I would go through the hole in 
 the sky." 
 
 "You might go up on the Rainbow Trail," 
 remarked Raven. He had been chewing a 
 twig he picked up, and that showed he was 
 thinking. 
 
 "The hole which Wolverine made when 
 he went after the Summer Birds is all 
 sealed up tight," said Coyote after a while. 
 
 "Well," said Old Crow, "then your 
 choice must be between the crack, the Rain- 
 bow Trail, or the hole in the sky." 
 94 
 
Coyote off for Sky-Land 
 
 Everybody went home then, but they 
 were all talking it over. "I think it is 
 foolish," said Eagle. "I could get through 
 the hole in the sky any day, but I don't 
 care enough about it to try." 
 
 Coyote went to see Rainbow a few days 
 later. That really seemed the easiest way, 
 as well as the prettiest one. 
 
 "Not a bit of it," said Rainbow firmly. 
 "I'd like to be obliging, but Little Turtle, 
 since she has lived in Sky-land, has gone 
 over my trail so much that some of the 
 colors are all worn, and faded out. And 
 the blues and greens have almost run 
 together." 
 
 Coyote took a good look at Rainbow then, 
 and he saw that the blue and green did 
 seem to run together ; and so did the orange 
 and red. So Coyote did not press the 
 matter. 
 
 "That leaves me a choice of going up 
 through the hole in the sky, or of going 
 through the crack. If I take the first, 
 I'm likely to have a tumble. If I take the 
 second, it will be a long, long journey." 
 
 Yet Coyote finally decided to go through 
 95 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 the crack. He told the Animal People so 
 a few nights later, when they were sitting 
 beside the lake, watching the Firefly tribe. 
 
 "But I don't want to go all alone," said 
 Coyote. "Don't some of you want to go 
 with me?" 
 
 "I'll go," piped up Rabbit. "So will 
 I," said Raven unexpectedly. But here 
 Eagle broke in. 
 
 "What's the use of your taking that long 
 road. Raven ?" he asked. "If you want to 
 go to Sky-land, we might go up together 
 through the hole in the sky." 
 
 Raven thought for a while, and decided 
 that would be better. But the truth is 
 that Coyote's way was such a long, long 
 journey, and Eagle's route through the 
 hole in the sky such a very short one, that 
 Eagle and Raven had spent a week in Sky- 
 land, and had gone back to the Earth-land 
 before Coyote and Rabbit even got through 
 the crack. 
 
 96 
 
XX 
 
 Things in Sky-Land 
 
 NOW the Sky-cover fits down over 
 the Earth-land just as a big blue 
 bowl fits down over a plate. 
 Everybody knows that. All the Animal 
 People knew it, of course. And they knew, 
 too, that the blue Sky-cover was made of 
 stone. But every day, when the tides ebb 
 and flow, the cover tilts just a little bit. 
 Then one has to slip through, oh, so quickly, 
 before the cover bangs down. 
 
 Well, off started Coyote and Rabbit. 
 They walked — and walked — and walked. 
 They walked far to the north until they 
 came to the edge of the Earth-land, just 
 where the Sky-cover fits down. 
 
 Of course, they had to walk along the 
 seashore, and some of the Sea People 
 would swim along, as they walked, talking 
 97 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 with them. The Sea People were just 
 teUing Coyote, one day, how Flounder 
 tried to get through the crack. He was 
 too slow, and the tide turned, and down, 
 bang! came that Sky-cover. It surely did 
 flatten out Flounder. Look at any flounder 
 today and see how flat he is. And that's 
 the way it happened. 
 
 "What makes the tides?" piped up 
 Rabbit again. He had been asking a 
 number of questions, just like that. 
 
 Whale looked amazed, and so did Salmon. 
 
 "Why, — it's the hole in the sea," said 
 Whale. And then he found even Coyote 
 did not know anything about that. 
 
 Long before. Great One had discovered 
 a big rock in the bottom of the ocean. He 
 built a house under the rock, and then made 
 a hole through the rock. He fitted a lid 
 to that hole, and put a man in charge. 
 Twice every day, that man opens the lid, 
 and the water rushes down — and down — 
 and down, away down beneath the Earth- 
 land. When the man closes the lid, the 
 water rises again. 
 
 "Why, everybody knows that," said 
 98 
 
Things in Shy-Land 
 
 Whale, again surprised. And really, the 
 Indians did know it, because the Sea 
 People had told them. But Coyote had 
 never heard it. 
 
 At last Coyote and Rabbit stood just 
 where the Sky-cover tilted. They waited 
 quite a while, and then they began to sing. 
 Soon they saw the cover begin to tilt. 
 When it was jufet wide enough. Coyote 
 yelled, "Whoop-ee!" Rabbit answered, 
 " Hi-yi ! " Then they both dashed through. 
 
 Bang! went the Sky-cover, just a moment 
 later. 
 
 Then up — and up — and up went those 
 two. They walked up on the outside of 
 the Sky-cover, which they found was really 
 a hard blue stone. Soon they came to a 
 charming little lake. 
 
 "Why!" said Coyote in surprise, as he 
 stopped for a good cold drink. 
 
 "You need not be surprised at seeing me," 
 said Lake. And Coyote found that some 
 of the big stars were not the fires of the 
 Star People, but small lakes, which gleam 
 at night. There were a number of such 
 lakes. 
 
 99 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 Then they began to walk up again. You 
 see, they had to go right up overhead, for 
 that is where the Sky People live. 
 
 "I wonder how much farther it is," said 
 Rabbit, when they had walked a long 
 way. 
 
 Coyote was thinking about that, too. 
 He pulled out a hunting knife, and scraped 
 a hole through the Sky-cover. He put 
 his eye to it and looked down. 
 
 "Nothing but water down there," he 
 said. They were over the ocean. Then 
 Rabbit looked. They both sat down and 
 rested. 
 
 "I wish we were near enough just to see 
 the tepees of the Sky People," said Coyote, 
 after a while. And at once, as he looked 
 up, there were the tepees. 
 
 Now every wish comes true in Sky-land, 
 as everybody knows. But people forget 
 that. And it is one of the rules that no- 
 body must tell anybody else. But Coyote 
 guessed it. 
 
 Coyote winked at Rabbit, and said, "I 
 wish we were both right among the Star 
 People." And at once they were there. 
 100 
 
Things in Sky-Land 
 
 Now in Sky -land there lives Great Bear. 
 He used to live on the Earth-land, but some 
 hunters were after him one day, just when 
 the leaves were turning red, and he ran 
 up into Sky-land. He's there yet. Then 
 Fisher lived up there. He had gone up 
 into Sky-land with Wolverine, you know, 
 to rescue the Summer Birds. When 
 Stealer's men shut the hole in the sky, he 
 had to stay there. But he said he liked 
 it up there. 
 
 Coyote was amazed when the Sky People 
 told him that Eagle and Raven had been 
 up there a few days before. They had 
 flown right up through the hole in the 
 sky. 
 
 "Now look," said a Sky Man in great 
 glee, "look what Raven did!" And he 
 pointed out to Coyote the rivers of Sky- 
 land. They ran every day, the water 
 flowing down them rapidly, yet they never 
 ran dry. 
 
 "Our rivers used to run dry," said the 
 Sky Man. "We had to carry water up 
 above, and pour it down ; but it ran right 
 ofl'." 
 
 101 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 When Raven saw one of the rivers running 
 dry, in that way, he picked up both ends of 
 the river, and bent it together. He made 
 a circle out of that river in Sky-land. Be- 
 cause of that, all the streams, even on the 
 Earth-land, keep on running, although they 
 run every day. 
 
 The House of Sun looked just as it did 
 when Mink was up there. The Mother of 
 Flowers lives there, and every spring she 
 sends down all the young, new flowers to 
 the Earth-land. There are four brothers, 
 who live there, always busy in carving and 
 painting. The four brothers used to teach 
 the Indians, in dreams, how to make boxes, 
 and canoes, and how to make their tepees. 
 They taught them how to carve and paint 
 them. 
 
 Coyote found that the Sky People had 
 built a wide trail for Sun. It was really a 
 wide bridge. Sun stopped and chatted a 
 while one day, because he and Coyote were 
 old friends. Sun said the new wide bridge 
 was much better than the old narrow trail, 
 with so many steps. In summer Sun walks 
 on the extreme right-hand side of the bridge ; 
 102 
 
Things in Sky-Land 
 
 in winter, on the left-hand side. That is 
 why Sun is warmer in summer than in 
 winter. 
 
 Just as Sun started on, Rabbit began to 
 yell, "Hi-yi! Hi-yi!" 
 
 Coyote turned to see what was the 
 matter. 
 
 Three sisters were coming across the 
 plains of Sky-land. Their faces were black. 
 One of them struck two red flint stones 
 together. The flints struck fire, in long 
 streaks and lines. The second sister was 
 making thunder, by rubbing two sealskins 
 together, and singing a magic song. The 
 third sister was pulling a big sealskin full 
 of water across the floor of Sky-land. The 
 bag was leaking, and down in the Earth- 
 land, the Animal People were saying it was 
 raining. 
 
 " Hi-yi," shouted Rabbit again. " Is that 
 the way they make thunderstorms !" 
 
 And it really was, in those days, as 
 everybody knows. 
 
 But the very next day, Sun told Coyote 
 that the three sisters said they were tired 
 of making thunderstorms. They were 
 103 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 going away — way off. "And all the Sky 
 People," said Sun, "are wondering what to 
 do. They can't have any more thunder- 
 storms." 
 
 Henq, the Thunderer, helped them. And 
 this is what he did. 
 
 104 
 
It was the Thunder Bird. Page 105. 
 
XXI 
 
 The Thunder Birds 
 
 HENQ did what any one would 
 expect. He told South Wind one 
 day to catch a whale. South 
 Wind did so, and then cut it across the 
 back. 
 
 At once, the great black fish changed 
 into a great black bird. It was the Thunder 
 Bird. The bird's wings darkened Sun's 
 light. The flapping of its wings shook the 
 earth. His eyes flashed fire. 
 
 Hunters in the mountains once shot at 
 a large black bird flying over their heads. 
 At once thunder rolled through the ravine. 
 Lightning flashed all over the mountain 
 top. The Indians ran away, with great 
 speed, because they knew they had shot 
 at the Thunder Bird. 
 
 Some other himters, one day, climbed a 
 105 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 cliff. At the top was an enormous nest, 
 with immense young birds in it. The 
 hunters were at once afraid it was the nest 
 of the Thunder Bird. And it was, too. 
 They were frightened. The hunters said, 
 "What do your father and mother do 
 when they come ? " 
 
 "When they come," said the young 
 birds, "it blows, and there is thunder. 
 When it is mother, it rains. When it is 
 father, it hails." 
 
 The Indians hurried down again, but the 
 Thunder Birds came before they were at 
 the foot of the cliff. The sky grew black, 
 the thunder crashed, and they could see the 
 flashes of fire from the eyes of the angry 
 birds. They could feel the air blown against 
 them, by the beating of the great wings. 
 
 Down on the Earth-land, far out on the 
 great plains of the west, there are some 
 wonderful trees. The Thunder Birds often 
 come and rest there. They make a trail 
 of fire, which leaves four paths on the burnt 
 grass. One goes towards the north, one to 
 the south, one to the east, one to the west. 
 The Four Winds guard these trails. 
 106 
 
The Thunder Birds 
 
 The old Thunder Birds have grown to 
 be very wise. They said, after a while, 
 to each other, "Why should we strike 
 people ? If we want to send lightning down 
 upon the earth, we will strike the moun- 
 tains and tall trees." And they do so. 
 
 The large Thunder Birds never do any 
 harm nowadays, tjt is the young birds 
 which do all th-e mischief. When it 
 thunders, the old Thunder Birds give 
 the first loud peal; then the little birds 
 repeat it. 
 
 Thunder Bird likes much to go a-whaling. 
 But he does not like to have people see 
 him when he is fishing. If anybody looks 
 at him, he gets quite angry, aiid thunders 
 and storms very hard. He sends a great 
 wind across the Earth-land. That is why 
 it so often storms when the Earth-people 
 go fishing. Thunder Bird thinks they are 
 watching him. 
 
 107 
 
XXII 
 
 Home Again 
 
 I THINK we had better go home 
 again. Rabbit," said Coyote, one 
 lovely dayr~7 Sky-land is just like 
 Earth-land, as everybody knows. Coyote 
 and Rabbit were sitting under the trees, 
 by a beautiful stream, with the blue sky 
 all underneath them, and light every 
 where. 
 
 "Shall we wish ourselves down the 
 Sky-cover?" asked Rabbit. Then he 
 added, with a sigh, "But, Coyote, it's 
 such a long walk, even after we get through 
 the crack." 
 
 "Let's wish something else," said Coyote. 
 Then he said, right out loud, "I wish we 
 could get right down to the camp from here 
 — straight down." 
 
 At that very moment, one of the happy 
 108 
 
Home Again 
 
 Star People came to them and said, "They 
 tell me you want to go home. Don't you 
 want to go straight down from here to 
 the camp of the Animal People?" Then 
 Coyote knew surely that all wishes come 
 true in Sky-land. 
 
 The Star Man took Coyote and Rabbit 
 at once to a large house. Then when they 
 were inside, there was a large box. "Open 
 it," said the Star Man. 
 
 "Dear mel" said Coyote, as" he stood 
 up on his forepaws and looked down. 
 Rabbit gave a spring, and sat on the edge 
 of the box. 
 
 "Look out. Rabbit!" shouted Coyote. 
 "You will fall through!" 
 
 They could both see down through the 
 box, clear to the Earth-land. It had no 
 bottom. "That is the short cut to the 
 Earth-land," said some of the Star People, 
 who were standing around. "When we go 
 down that way at night, people talk about 
 falling stars." 
 
 A rope made from berry vines was coiled 
 there, with a basket at the end. The Star 
 People told Coyote to get in, and as soon 
 109 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 as they had begun to lower him down, they 
 told Rabbit to get into another that hung 
 there. 
 
 "This surely is an easy way of getting 
 home," said Coyote, looking up at Rabbit. 
 "What a pity we cannot get up that way ! " 
 But the Star People had told him that 
 nobody ever came into Sky-land that way. 
 "You see," one of them explained, ''so 
 many people would be coming into Sky- 
 land, that it would keep us busy pulling 
 them up. Or else we would have to put 
 in machinery," And Star People, as every- 
 body knows, do not like machinery. They 
 like things quiet, and beautiful. 
 
 "If your basket stops," said the Star 
 People, as they started, "it is because it 
 gets stuck in a cloud. Just give it a little 
 shake. But be careful not to tip over." 
 
 Oh, there were so many Cloud People. 
 Coyote had never been very close to the 
 Cloud People before. At least, that was 
 what he called up to Rabbit. 
 
 There were the great, fleecy white 
 clouds, piled high in the blue sky. Those 
 were real mountains and valleys and lakes 
 110 
 
Home Again 
 
 for the Cloud People, so Coyote saw. 
 There were many bridges between the moun- 
 tain peaks, so that the Cloud People could 
 go from one peak to another easily. They 
 are so small the Animal People had never 
 seen them from the Earth-land. 
 
 There were the plains, too, of the Cloud 
 People — very, very flat. A great many 
 busy Cloud People lived there. It was 
 their work to go down to the Earth-land 
 and bring up water. Then when the 
 Animal People or the Indians needed rain, 
 they would call up to the Cloud People. 
 The Indians would sing to them. They 
 would sing, 
 
 "White floating clouds! Clouds, like the 
 plains. 
 Come, water the Earth-land. Come and 
 work for us." 
 
 Then the Cloud People would pour out 
 many vases of water, and the soft summer 
 rains would come down to the Earth-land. 
 
 Coyote was just thinking about all this, 
 when he saw Rabbit's basket pass him and 
 go on down. 
 
 Ill 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 " What's the matter ? " he shouted. " Are 
 you faUing?" 
 
 "Not a bit of it," shouted back Rabbit. 
 "You are stuck in a cloud." 
 
 And that was really so. Coyote's basket 
 had caught on the edge of a cloud and stuck 
 there. He gave it a little shake — then 
 another, harder shake, just as the Star People 
 told him to do. Then his basket went on 
 down, and soon he and Rabbit were close 
 to each other again. 
 
 Still, Rabbit reached the Earth-land 
 first. He jumped out the minute his basket 
 touched the ground, and shouted, "Hi-yi! 
 Whoop-ee ! Hi-yi ! " 
 
 Well, everybody heard Rabbit shouting, 
 and they said, "Why! What's that? 
 Rabbit is still up in Sky-land ! " 
 
 By the time the Animal People got to the 
 hill top when the baskets had stopped. 
 Coyote's basket had reached the ground. 
 He had jumped out. And there he was, 
 whooping and shouting, just like Rabbit. 
 Both were shouting, "Whoop-ee! Hi-yi!" — 
 just like that. 
 
 And the Animal People got there in time 
 112 
 
Home Again 
 
 to see those light baskets going right up 
 into the air. 
 
 "Is that the way you came home?" 
 demanded Grizzly Bear. And in a minute 
 Grizzly began to shout, "Halloo — there! 
 Wait a minute. Star People ! I want to go 
 up and visit Great Bear ! " 
 
 But the baskets did not wait, although 
 Grizzly shouted quite loudly. Everybody 
 was sure the Star People must have heard 
 him. But Coyote and Rabbit both thought 
 that the Star People really did not want 
 Grizzly up there. They felt quite sure about 
 that. Grizzly was so very grufiF, you know. 
 
 113 
 
XXIII 
 
 The Indians Go to Sky-Land 
 
 THERE are too many people coming 
 up into Sky-land," said a chief up 
 there one day. "Ever since Coyote 
 and Rabbit came up and we let them go 
 down in the basket, why — other people 
 want to come." 
 
 The Sky People really were very friendly, 
 but they liked things quiet and beautiful. 
 And it did keep them pretty busy, letting 
 the Earth People down. 
 
 "But it's lovely up here," said one of the 
 Star People. "I don't wonder they want 
 to come. And, really, there is nothing to 
 prevent them. Everybody knows now how 
 to get through the crack." 
 
 "Oh, yes, I know," said the chief. "All 
 they have to do is to take a long walk, out 
 to the edge of the Earth-land, where the 
 X14 
 
The Indians Go to Sky-Land 
 
 Sky -cover fits down over the round Earth- 
 plain. Then they wait for the tide to tilt 
 the Sky-cover, — and through the crack 
 they slip!" 
 
 " Couldn't we make rules about it ? " asked 
 one of the pleasant Star People. It was 
 getting towards evening, and even as he 
 spoke, he piled on some wood and made his 
 fire sparkle in the dusk. All the Star People 
 were doing that, because it does get chilly 
 at evening, even in Star-land. 
 
 Down on the Earth-land, the Animal 
 People were looking up at the Sky-cover, 
 — some Indians were, too. They all said, 
 "Oh, see the stars come out." Of course 
 the Star People were not coming "out" at 
 all. They were all staying at home; and 
 they were very happy sitting in front of 
 those cheery, snapping, bright fires, which 
 make such a pretty sparkle from the Earth- 
 land. 
 
 Now these Indians were sitting up on a 
 mountain top that evening, and it became 
 chilly because Sun had gone down over the 
 edge of the Darkening Land. 
 
 So these Indians built a little fire, and 
 115 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 cooked their supper there, and looked up 
 at the Star People. The stars were big and 
 bright, and they seemed very near, as they 
 always do on a mountain top. 
 
 One of these Indians said, "Let's go to 
 Sky-land. We know the way. It is just a 
 good long walk to the edge of the Earth- 
 land, and then slipping out through the 
 crack. Everybody knows that." 
 
 And was not that exactly what the Star 
 People had said ! 
 
 Well, these Indians talked about it all 
 the evening. The darkness grew deeper 
 around them, and the stars seemed to grow 
 brighter and brighter. It grew more chilly, 
 too, and they piled more wood on their fire, 
 just as the Star People had done. 
 
 So the Indians sat there, in the quiet of 
 the evening, feeling the pleasant glow of 
 their bright, crackling fire. And as the fire 
 flames rose and fell, so great dark figures 
 seemed to come out of the woods, and then 
 slip back again. It was only the light and 
 shadow of the trees, of course. But the 
 trees seemed almost to walk about. Back 
 in the forest behind them, it seemed very 
 116 
 
The Indians Go to Sky-Land 
 
 black indeed. And up in the Sky-cover 
 were those other lovely fires. 
 
 The Indians kept their fires burning all 
 night, of course. One always does that in 
 camping on a mountain. They slept with 
 their feet towards it, ranged around the 
 pleasant blaze like the spokes of a wheel. 
 They actually went to sleep talking about 
 their journey to Sky-land. And all the 
 time behind them, the breeze was singing a 
 little song in the firs and spruces, but yet 
 listening to what they said. And near by 
 was a little mountain brook, which rippled 
 along over its stones with a soft little song. 
 
 But Breeze told the Sky People about the 
 plans of these Indians. He did it in a 
 friendly way. He thought it would be 
 pleasant for the Star People and all the 
 other Sky People to know about it. 
 
 Well, the next morning the Indians arose, 
 and brightened their fire, and cooked some 
 breakfast. Then they said, "Oh, now we're 
 off for Sky-land." So they started down 
 the mountain side. 
 
 Oh, it was early yet. Dawn always comes 
 earlier on a mountain top than it does in 
 117 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 the valley, but the sun had not yet risen 
 even on the mountain top. Little misty 
 filmy bits of white clouds hung on the tops 
 of the firs and spruces up in the mountains. 
 Down below them white masses of soft 
 clouds lay in the folds of the hills, just above 
 the tree tops, or even sinking down into 
 them. It looked as though the soft white 
 clouds had slept there all night. All the 
 world was fresh, and the morning breeze 
 was very fragrant. 
 
 So the Indians started down to the foot 
 of the mountains. You see they had to 
 walk up every mountain, and down every 
 hill, and across every plain — way, way 
 out to the edge of the Earth-land. And 
 it was a long walk. 
 
 Of course, after they had walked long 
 enough, they came to the very edge of the 
 Earth-land. Only the Sky-cover fitting 
 down so tightly upon the Earth-plain keeps 
 people who live in that country from falling 
 right off the edge. And where would they 
 land if they did fall off? Nobody knows 
 the answer to that question. 
 
 "Now wait," said one of the Indians. 
 118 
 
The Indians Go to Sky-Land 
 
 "Don't try to get through before the Sky- 
 cover tilts. And when it does tilt, don't, 
 oh, don't be slow in getting through ! " 
 
 They all knew it was serious business. 
 
 It is serious work, as everybody knows — 
 to get through a crack like that before the 
 cover shuts down. 
 
 They waited — and waited — and waited. 
 Then some of the Sea People called to them 
 that the tide was just about to turn. So 
 these Indians made ready to run. 
 
 "Now!" said the tallest Indian as he 
 saw a faint motion at the crack. "One, — 
 two, — three, — run!" he shouted a mo- 
 ment later. 
 
 And as the Sky-cover tilted, — just for 
 a moment, — those Indians dashed through. 
 And they were not a minute too quick about 
 it. Not at all ! One of them dropped his 
 bow and arrow just as he cleared the crack 
 and got safe inside. Then down came that 
 Sky -cover, — bang ! — and smashed that 
 bow and arrow flat. 
 
 But the Indians all got safely through. 
 
 119 
 
XXIV 
 
 How THE Indians Came Back 
 
 THEN those Indians began to walk 
 up the Sky-cover, on the other 
 side. 
 Well, they walked — and walked — and 
 walked. And they had walked a long ways, 
 too, to get to that crack. Of course, they 
 did not know that Sky -land is a place where 
 pleasant wishes come true. It was against 
 the rules to tell that ! And nobody ever 
 really wanted to tell, because they kept 
 forgetting about it. 
 
 But at last one of them said, — they were 
 sitting on a log, on the other side of that 
 Sky-cover, eating their luncheon, — "I wish 
 this Sky-cover was not so steep." 
 
 And at once, it was not nearly so steep. 
 Yet they hardly noticed it, for the moment, 
 until another said, "I wish it were flat!" 
 120 
 
How the Indians Came Back 
 
 And that was so, too. They were still 
 walking up on the Sky-cover that whole 
 afternoon, yet it seemed flat. But not one 
 of them thought to wish that they did not 
 have to walk at all ! 
 
 Then at last they came to Sky-land 
 which is right up overhead, as everybody 
 knows. 
 
 Now, when Breeze told the Sky People 
 that these Indians were coming up, the Sky 
 People were alarmed. 
 
 "Why, those Indians won't hurt you," 
 said one of the Star People. "They are 
 friendly Indians." 
 
 "It is not that," said the chief of the Sky 
 People, "but if they come up, we cannot 
 ask them to go away. No matter how long 
 they stay, we cannot say, 'We do not want 
 you here.' Now just suppose all the rest 
 of the Indians begin coming up here — 
 and staying up here! That's the point! 
 And all the Animal People, too, would come. 
 It would be rather lonely down there. So 
 after a while there would be nobody on the 
 Earth-land at all. Everybody would be 
 in Sky-land." 
 
 121 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 That chief was very wise, indeed. No- 
 body had thought of that. Then one of 
 the Star People spoke up, and said, "And 
 it's the question of getting them down, 
 too. We cannot spend all our time letting 
 people down to the Earth-land. It's too 
 hard work." 
 
 "And the berry vine rope would probably 
 wear out," said another, "and perhaps the 
 basket would wear out ! £Then we'd have 
 to make another." 
 
 "We will have to put a stop to this, some 
 way or other," said the chief. "Besides, 
 if they find out that Sky -land is ar place 
 where all pleasant wishes come true — why, 
 what would we do !" 
 
 They were all dismayed. 
 
 Now the Indians reached the edge of 
 Sky-land. 
 
 Sky -land was lovely. The sun shone 
 softly and brightly, and little brooks were 
 running here and there, over clean, stony 
 beds, and those brooks were so happy that 
 they rippled as they ran; Trees grew be- 
 side the brooks, and bright flowers were 
 everywhere. J Just as far as one could see 
 122 
 
How the Indians Came Back 
 
 over the broad sweep of Sky-land, the wild 
 flowers made a carpet of blue and red and 
 yellow and white, with a soft, green grassy 
 bed. 
 
 There were many birds in Sky-land, all 
 very beautiful, and they were singing 
 sweetly nearly all the time. They wanted 
 to sing, just as the friendly Star People al- 
 ways wanted to be happy and to laugh. 
 In the lakes were seals, and every kind of 
 fish. And far off, there were herds of rein- 
 deer, and buffalo, and Indian ponies. 
 
 The Sky People were friendly to these 
 Indians, and let them set up their tepees 
 wherever they wanted, and to go anywhere 
 they pleased. Over at one side of Sky -land 
 was Sun's house — very bright and shining 
 at a great distance. A big totem pole stood 
 in front of it, with a big white crane on top. 
 And if anybody went there. Crane would 
 ask him what he wanted. 
 
 But after a while, these Indians wanted 
 to go home. They told their wishes to the 
 Sky People. They said, "We want to go 
 home. Now what would be the easiest 
 way.?" 
 
 123 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 Now the Star People — and all the Sky 
 People — wanted to tell them about that 
 basket, but the chief had forbidden it. So 
 they were obedient. The Sky People said, 
 "Well, perhaps the chief will tell you how 
 to go." 
 
 Now the chief meant to be very firm. 
 He did not answer their question as to the 
 easiest way. He said, "There are two ways 
 in which you might go back. One would 
 be to walk down the Sky-cover, and go 
 through the crack again, and the other — " 
 
 But those Indians did not even wait for 
 him to finish, and of course they did not 
 know how Rabbit and Coyote had come 
 down. 
 
 One of them said, "I think I will go down 
 as a squirrel." 
 
 "Can you?" asked another in surprise. 
 
 "Well, I surely wish I could," said the 
 first, not understanding fully about those 
 wishes. 
 
 But there he was, standing right at the 
 
 hole in the sky — and a squirrel, too. He 
 
 took a long flying leap. He went down — 
 
 and down — and down! When he was 
 
 124 
 
How the Indians Came Back 
 
 about half-way down, he suddenly under- 
 stood about that wish, "I wish I had 
 wished myself a flying squirrel," he said, 
 because he was falling at a terrible rate. 
 But it was too late ! He was out of Sky- 
 land, and wishes didn't hold good in mid- 
 air. Well, — that Indian came down so 
 hard, and was so flattened out when he hit 
 the earth, — even his own friends did not 
 know him for a long time. 
 
 Now the next man had watched that first 
 Indian. When the chief said, "How will 
 you go down?" he answered, "I shall go 
 down as an eagle." 
 
 And he flew out of that hole in the sky, 
 looking exactly like an eagle. His wings 
 were strong, and he loved floating about in 
 the upper air, with all the fleecy white clouds 
 up there, and oh, the Sky -cover was so blue 
 that day, and the air so fresh. That second 
 Indian stayed up in the mid-air a long while, 
 and then he rested on a high mountain peak. 
 But the moment he touched that peak, he 
 was an Indian again. After that, he could 
 not fly at all. And being only an Indian, 
 he had to walk down from the top of that 
 125 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 topmost peak of all the Earth-land. And 
 it was a very long walk, too. 
 
 "I will go down as a pigeon," said the 
 third. And immediately he flew out of 
 that hole in the sky, looking just like a 
 pigeon. But he did not want to float 
 around, — away high up in the air, — as the 
 eagle-Indian had done. He wanted to go 
 right down to the Indian country, and flutter 
 around the tepees, and pick up a few bits 
 of meal that the Indian women threw out 
 of doors. And down — down — down — 
 he went, feeling so safe and so happy — 
 straight down to the earth. 
 
 "Hi, look at that big pigeon," said a 
 little Indian boy, but the other boy said, 
 "Where?" And when they turned to look 
 again, there was no pigeon at aU. But a 
 tall Indian was just walking away to his 
 own tepee. 
 
 So some of the other Indians came down 
 as birds. Then when the very last one was 
 up there, he said, "I will go down as a 
 spider." 
 
 And at once, he found himself crawling 
 over the hole in the sky, and coming down, 
 126 
 
How the Indians Came Back 
 
 hand over hand, on a long, slender rope 
 which reached all the way from Sky-land 
 down to the Earth-land. Of course, that 
 route took him a long time, and when he 
 was in mid-air he thought perhaps it would 
 have been better to have been a bird. But 
 he was too late for that. 
 
 Now when the Sky People saw that all 
 the Indians' were gone, they felt much 
 happier. 
 
 They all watched that last man go down 
 the spider thread. 
 
 "That is not so very different from letting 
 him go down in a basket," said one of the 
 Star People. "But it is much easier on us." 
 
 "Just think," said another, "how heavy 
 those Indians would have been." 
 
 Everybody thought that. And they said 
 the chief was very wise. 
 
 And that evening, after the sun had gone 
 down over the edge of the Darkening Land, 
 and the Star People were all at home, with 
 their bright, sparkling fires, the chief called 
 a great coimcil. 
 
 "We have got to do something," he said, 
 "to keep the Earth People out of Sky-land. 
 127 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 We will either have to fix the Sky-cover so 
 it does not tilt any more, or else stop the 
 tides. It is necessary to take quick action." 
 
 And it truly was. Not long after, the 
 chief carried his point. Just which of those 
 two things he did, nobody has ever known. 
 But one thing is sure : nobody ever goes 
 into Sky-land through the crack any more. 
 Nowadays, very few people know there 
 ever was such a crack. 
 
 But the hole in the sky, the chief left open. 
 Not many people could come up that way, 
 he said. And he spoke truly. 
 
 128 
 
XXV 
 
 iChick-a-dee Returns from Sky-Land 
 
 I AM going out to see if I can shoot 
 straight," said a little Indian boy one 
 morning to his grandmother. Of 
 course, he meant to shoot with his bow and 
 arrows — there was nothing else with which 
 to shoot in those days. 
 
 "Grandson," said his grandmother, "if 
 your arrow catches in a tree and beyond 
 your reach, don't climb that tree." 
 
 Well, that was the strangest thing to say, 
 so the grandson thought. He went out 
 and shot his arrow at a knot hole all the 
 morning, just to see how well he could shoot. 
 "I'll try my best arrow now," he said, 
 when he was almost ready to go home and 
 get some dinner. "I ought to do well with 
 that." 
 
 So he shot that best arrow. The arrow 
 129 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 stuck in a branch just beyond his reach. 
 And then that boy forgot everything his 
 grandmother had said. 
 
 The first branch of that tree was low, 
 and then there were other branches that 
 were low, too, so it was an easy tree to 
 climb. Up he jumped into the first crotch 
 of the tree, but the arrow was just beyond 
 him. Then he climbed up on the second 
 branch, but still that arrow was just a little 
 beyond his reach. So he climbed up on the 
 third branch. He could touch the arrow 
 with his finger tips when he tried hard, but 
 he couldn't get hold of it. 
 
 That boy was so anxious to get that arrow, 
 — his best arrow, too, — that he even forgot 
 he had a grandmother. 
 
 He climbed up on the fourth branch — 
 but suddenly he seemed to be very high up 
 in the air. 
 
 "Why, I didn't know that fourth branch 
 was so high from the ground," he said. He 
 had been looking upward all this time to 
 that arrow. Now he looked downward. 
 And he was the most astonished boy. 
 
 Away — way — way — down below him 
 130 
 
Chick-a-dee Returns from Sky-Land 
 
 was the green Earth-land. Why, it was 
 farther away than the length of the tallest 
 fir. 
 
 "I think I had better climb down," he 
 said, still forgetting that he ever had had a 
 grandmother, or that she had told him any- 
 thing about climbing trees. But he could 
 not climb down. 
 
 That tree trunk had stretched ! Truly, 
 it had. And tree trunks can do that, as 
 everybody knows. Why, the distance be- 
 tween the fourth and third branch, and 
 third and second branch, and second and 
 first branch, would have been, — each of 
 them, — a long, wild leap. And the dis- 
 tance from the first branch to the ground 
 was truly dreadful. No boy could ever 
 jump it. 
 
 And that tree trunk went on stretching ! 
 Up — aijd up — and up — it grew, and all 
 the boy could do was to hang on. He felt 
 himself going up, very quietly, but very 
 steadily. Then he passed the topmost peak 
 of the highest mountain in all the world. 
 
 The boy looked down again! And be- 
 hold, the tall firs of the forest were only as 
 131 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 large as arrows. The rivers were all tiny, 
 silvery threads lying here and there upon a 
 broad stretch of green. The mountains 
 were little knobs, rising here and there. 
 There was no sign of any people at all. 
 
 Then the boy looked up. "Dear me!" 
 he said in dismay. "If this tree keeps 
 growing, it will reach to Sky-land." 
 
 That tree kept growing. "Oh, dear, 
 dear!" said the boy. "I shall bump my 
 head against the Sky-cover in a few min- 
 utes." And there he was, that tree growing 
 right up to the blue Sky-cover. 
 
 Then the tree touched the blue stone 
 cover. The cover cracked just a little, 
 then a little more, and then that tree broke 
 a piece squarely out of it. 
 
 The tree kept growing until the branch 
 on which the boy stood was on a level with 
 the sky floor. Then it stopped. The boy 
 jumped right oflF, and there was his best 
 arrow, lying on the ground before him. 
 
 There was not a person in sight, so the 
 boy set up his best arrow on end and 
 watched to see which way it would fall. 
 Then he decided to go that way. 
 132 
 
Chick-a-dee Returns from Sky-Land 
 
 But first, he looked back at the tree. The 
 tree was not there at all. It had begun to 
 shrink, and there was only a big hole in the 
 lovely blue Sky -cover. The boy went back 
 to see how far down the tree was, and he 
 could look away — down — down — down, 
 to the Earth-land, far, far below him. It 
 was very pretty, too. The tall trees of the 
 forest looked like a tiny carpet of moss, and 
 those tiny silver threads were laid flat upon 
 the soft, beautiful green. 
 
 "Don't fall down," said some one. The 
 boy looked around. 
 
 "How did you know I was here?" he 
 asked. 
 
 "You broke a hole in our sky -floor," said 
 the Star-man who stood there, but he spoke 
 in a friendly way. And then the boy told 
 him all about it, and they went to see the 
 chief. 
 
 The chief told the boy at once about the 
 way of getting back and forth to Sky-land 
 through the crack. He had not closed it yet. 
 
 "But even if I did get through the crack," 
 said the boy, "I would not know how to 
 get home." 
 
 133 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 "Then you had better do as that party 
 of Indians did," said the chief. "You had 
 better turn yourself into a bird and fly down. 
 Because we do not want the Earth People 
 up here," he added. "This is our country. 
 And we are going to close that crack very 
 soon, too," he added. 
 
 The boy said he would like to be a bird. 
 "Oh, it would be much pleasanter," he said. 
 "Then a tree could never play such a trick 
 on me. If a tree began to grow, I could 
 fly off." 
 
 And all the Star People said it really 
 would be better. And then some men came 
 up and said they had mended that new hole. 
 It was easily done, you know; they stood 
 there and wished it would mend itself, so as 
 not to show the break. And behold, it was 
 all mended ! That is one of the advantages 
 of living in Sky-land, when things break. 
 It is so easy to mend them. 
 
 So, after a few days, when the boy had 
 had a good time up there and plenty to eat, 
 they took him over to the hole in the sky. 
 He didn't know what he wanted to be. 
 
 "I wish I was a pretty little bird, with a 
 134 
 
Chick-a-dee Returns from Sky-Land 
 
 happy song," — that was his wish. And 
 in Sky-land, you know, all pleasant wishes 
 come true. And the very next minute, he 
 found himself flying down — down — down 
 — to the Earth-land so far below, singing a 
 happy song. 
 
 ' ' Chick-a-dee-dee-dee, ' ' he sang. ' ' Chick- 
 a-dee-dee-dee !" 
 
 And every one who ever heard a chick-a- 
 dee sing knows that he is a pretty little bird, 
 with a very happy song. 
 
 135 
 
XXVI 
 
 More Sky-Land Adventukes 
 
 WELL, the chief of the Sky People 
 had closed the crack. So now 
 the Sky People felt quite safe 
 about so many strangers comiag up into 
 their lands. They really gave it no more 
 thought at all. But, still, some of the 
 Earth People had adventiu-es even after 
 that. 
 
 Now there were two Indian boys who 
 liked to go swimming when the water was 
 warm and the sun was bright. Nobody 
 cared. They could swim so well, every- 
 body knew nothing would happen. 
 
 Now one day they had been paddling and 
 swimming around in the water, and then 
 they climbed up on a big boulder by the 
 river bank, — right out in the warm sun, — 
 and went to sleep. 
 
 136 
 
More Sky-Land Adventures 
 
 And hardly were they asleep when that 
 rock began to grow up. It grew up — 
 and up — and up — and up ! And nobody 
 knew where they were at all. 
 
 Their families looked for them, and their 
 tribe looked for them, but not a sign of 
 them could they find. And there were 
 those two boys sound asleep, on the top of 
 that rock. 
 
 Some of the Butterfly People came down 
 one day to the Indian camp. They flut- 
 tered around for a long time, until they 
 could find the chief's tent. Then they 
 went right in, and said to the chief, "Don't 
 you know that there are two boys asleep 
 on that rock by the river bank? The rock 
 is growing so high that soon they will be 
 scraping their faces against the Sky-cover." 
 
 And it was truly so. Those Butterfly 
 People felt that some one must rescue those 
 boys at once — and both were still sound 
 asleep. 
 
 The chief said, "Perhaps those boys be- 
 long to our tribe. They went in swimming 
 last summer, and we haven't been able to 
 find them since." 
 
 137 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 The chief went out and told everybody 
 about those boys on the top of the rock, 
 and all the tribes went down and looked 
 at that rock. Some one said, "Why, yes, 
 that used to be a small rock by the river- 
 side here !" But there it was, oh, so high 
 up in the air ! 
 
 They held a great council. Everybody 
 went, and they talked — and talked — 
 and talked — as Indians always do at a 
 council. Then they said, "We cannot do 
 anything. We shall have to ask the Animal 
 People to help us." 
 
 Well, that very day the Butterfly People 
 met Old Crow and Raven as they were fly- 
 ing about, and they told them all the news. 
 Then the chief sent word to Old Crow, 
 asking him to call a council of all the Animal 
 People, and help the tribe get those two 
 boys down. 
 
 Old Crow called a council at once. They 
 held it on the bank of the river, just by the 
 side of the great high rock, which was 
 growing right up to the Sky -cover. 
 
 "We shall have to get those boys down, 
 in some way," said Old Crow, "but first 
 138 
 
More Shy-Land Adventures 
 
 some one must go up to the top of the 
 rock." 
 
 Every one of the Animal People said they 
 were willing to try to get to the top. 
 
 "Well, then, let us begin at once," said 
 Old Crow. "Because we have no time to 
 lose. The rock is getting higher all the 
 time." 
 
 Mouse tried first to get to the top. She 
 did so, because Old Crow told her to. 
 But Mouse could only jump about as high 
 as one's hand. That was no help at all. 
 Then Rat tried it. He could jump twice 
 as high as Mouse, but that was all. 
 
 The Raccoon tried, and he jumped a 
 little higher. Then Wolf, and Squirrel, 
 and Rabbit tried. Yes, Rabbit tried, too. 
 He made a long, long leap. But Rabbit 
 was used to leaping outward instead of up- 
 ward, and he didn't manage it right. He 
 took a long leap and hit that wall hard. 
 
 "Let me try again," said Rabbit. "I 
 can jump to the top." 
 
 "Oh, no, you can't, Big-Ears," said 
 Grizzly gruffly. Grizzly had come to that 
 council, too. Old Crow said Rabbit could 
 139 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 try, but he did not want to, after Grizzly 
 said that. 
 
 Well, after a while, it came Grizzly 
 Bear's turn. He made a great big, sprawl- 
 ing leap up the rocky wall — and fell down 
 flat on his back. 
 
 But what were they to do ! The Indians 
 said they couldn't get up to the top of that 
 rock. And now the Animal People could 
 not find any of their tribe who could. 
 
 "Let me try it," said a tiny, thin voice 
 just then. Everybody in the council turned 
 around in surprise. They couldn't even 
 see the owner of the voice at first. Then 
 Old Crow saw her. 
 
 "Measuring Worm," he said in surprise, 
 "you are just the one, I believe. See how 
 far up you can go." 
 
 Measuring Worm slowly crawled over to 
 that great rock, and lifted up her head, and 
 got hold of it and began to climb. She 
 climbed — and climbed — and climbed, 
 until she was past the highest mark reached 
 by any of the Animal People. Still she 
 climbed — and climbed — and climbed — 
 and soon no one could see her at all. 
 140 
 
More Sky-Land Adventures 
 
 But everybody knew that Measuring 
 Worm would get to the top of that rock. 
 She did. It took her a full year, because 
 she was so slow, and also because the rock 
 was climbing, too. But the way to succeed, 
 you know, is to keep everlastingly at it, 
 whether you are fast or slow. Slowness 
 doesn't matter, if you keep right on. 
 
 At last. Measuring Worm did reach the 
 top of that rock. The Sky-land was not 
 far off. If that rock had grown much higher 
 those boys would truly have scraped their 
 faces against the Sky-cover. 
 
 But Measuring Worm waked them up. 
 And then the rock stopped growing. After 
 a while it began to sink towards the Earth- 
 land. So Measuring Worm climbed down 
 to the Earth-land again, and the boys were 
 saved. 
 
 J41 
 
XXVII 
 
 The Bird Chief 
 
 IT was not long after Rabbit and 
 Coyote had returned from Sky-land, 
 that some one said, "Eagle ought to 
 be made chief of the Bird People. He 
 strong of wing, and strong of flight." 
 
 Some one else said, "Why, no! Eagle 
 is strong, but Raven flew up into Sky -land, 
 too." 
 
 Thus they argued about it. Then they 
 talked to Old Crow. They said, "We 
 Bird People ought to have a chief, just like 
 the Indians." 
 
 Old Crow said it did not matter much, 
 he thought. But the more the Bird People 
 talked about it, the more excited they be- 
 came. 
 
 So at last, one day, the Bird People 
 called a great council. They held it in the 
 142 
 
The Bird Chief 
 
 wide-spreading branches of a great oak 
 tree, and of course it was a glorious day. 
 The Bird People always looked out for 
 good weather when they wanted a council. 
 
 The breeze was light, so they could hear 
 each other plainly. The branches swayed 
 just enough to be a pleasant cradle. And 
 oh, the sky was so blue, with great fleecy, 
 white clouds floating about. 
 
 They talked for a long while, then they 
 said, "Whoever can fly highest shall be 
 chief." 
 
 Well, the rest of that day, the Bird 
 People did nothing but preen their feathers, 
 and stretch their legs, and practice their wing 
 joints. And the next day came the race. 
 
 All the Bird People perched on the tip- 
 top branches of the big oak tree. One by 
 one, the Bird People flew as high as they 
 could, and then came back. Turkey flew 
 only a little way. When he came back. 
 Falcon remarked, "Why, you haven't any 
 chance !" 
 
 "I know that," said Turkey, rather 
 sharply. He always had wished he were 
 not so clumsy. 
 
 143 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 Well, so it went on, until they were all 
 so slow that Old Crow said, "I think several 
 had better fly together." And that gave 
 Wren her chance. 
 
 Now Wren had been the messenger of the 
 Bird People for a long time. ^'And she 
 thought some of them asked too much of 
 her. 
 
 "If I only could be chief," said Wren, 
 "they would be more thoughtful." So 
 Wren thought she would try a little trick. 
 
 When all the Bird People flew up together, 
 as Old Crow told them, little brown Wren 
 slipped under the thick feathers of Eagle's 
 wing. Nobody saw her at all. 
 
 Eagle flew up — and up — and~ up — 
 and up; high above all the other Bird 
 People. Then when Eagle began to go a 
 little slower, because he was so very high, 
 Wren slipped out and flew much higher. J 
 
 When Wren and Eagle came back to the 
 Earth-land, all the birds, wing-tired, were 
 waiting for them. 
 
 "Did any one fly higher than Eagle?" 
 asked Old Crow. 
 
 "I went above him," answered Wren. 
 144 
 
The Bird Chief 
 
 The answer was clever, but Wren was very 
 much afraid some one would find out. And 
 Old Crow did. 
 
 "Did you fly all the way up, Wren?" 
 he asked. All the Bird People were in 
 council, you know, sitting around in a 
 great circle. 
 
 Wren hesitated a while. Then she told 
 the truth. 
 
 The council all said, "Oh !" 
 
 "Eagle is chief," said Old Crow. "He 
 not only flew higher than any one else, but 
 he carried Wren under his wing, as well." 
 
 So Eagle was chief of the Bird People. 
 
 145 
 
XXVIII 
 
 Why the Turkey Gobbles 
 
 WHAT'S become of Rabbit 
 lately?" asked Pheasant one 
 day, when he and Grouse were 
 out for a walk. 
 
 "Up to his tricks again, I suppose," 
 answered Grouse. So they walked on, in 
 the cool dimness of the woods, until Grouse 
 suddenly said, "What's that?" He heard 
 a strange noise. 
 
 They didn't know for a minute what the 
 noise was, so they both crept carefully 
 through the bushes to find out. There was 
 only an Indian tepee, with an Indian 
 woman pounding corn in a stone mortar 
 just outside. 
 
 " Ho ! Is that all ! " said Grouse. 
 Then he stepped boldly out, and said to the 
 woman, "I can do that, too." 
 146 
 
Why the Turkey Gobbles 
 
 "Pound corn !" said the Indian woman. 
 "Oh, no, indeed you can't." 
 
 "Yes, I can," said Grouse. 
 
 "But where's your mortar?" said the 
 woman. Her mortar was just a stone 
 hollowed out, like a kettle. She put the 
 Indian corn in that, and pounded it with a 
 large, rounded stone, fastened to a handle. 
 
 "My mortar is in the woods here," said 
 Grouse. Then he slipped back into the 
 woods, flew on a hollow log, and drummed 
 with his wings, just as grouse do to-day. 
 He did it so well, the Indian woman thought 
 for a while he really was pounding corn. 
 
 After they went on, Turkey joined them. 
 
 Now in those days. Grouse had a good 
 voice and Turkey had a very croaking voice. 
 
 Turkey said that afternoon, "Grouse, 
 what would you charge to teach me to use 
 my voice ? " Turkey's voice really mortified 
 him. 
 
 "Give me some feathers for a collar," 
 said Grouse. " That will be pay enough." 
 
 That was very easily done. Turkey at 
 once gave Grouse a fine ruff of feathers. 
 After that he was called the Ruffed Grouse. 
 147 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 Then Grouse began to teach Turkey. 
 He worked hard for quite a while. Then 
 he said, "Now, I think you speak much 
 more clearly. You must try your voice. 
 Try calling to some one. Say, 'Halloo!'" 
 
 Turkey said "yes" at once. So Grouse 
 said, "Well, I'll stand on this hollow log. 
 When I tap on it, you must halloo as loudly 
 as possible." 
 
 So Ruflfed Grouse climbed upon a log, 
 ready to tap on it. But Turkey was ex- 
 cited. When Grouse tapped on the log, 
 Turkey was so excited that he bawled out, 
 "Gobble, gobble, gobble!" 
 
 All of Grouse's teaching had been for- 
 gotten. That is why the Turkey gobbles 
 whenever he hears a noise, even to this 
 day. 
 
 148 
 
XXIX 
 
 How Rabbit* Escaped 
 
 NOW, as everybody knows, Dog and 
 Wolf used to be brothers. And 
 they were good friends. But this 
 was away back in the Days of the Grand- 
 fathers. It was in the Days of the New- 
 ness of Things, when the Earth-land was 
 first made. 
 
 One day Raven and Old Crow said to 
 Dog, "Go live out on the mountains. Live 
 in the snow and the cold. Live in the 
 forests. That is to be your home." 
 
 They said to Wolf, "As soon as the Real 
 People come, you must go live with them. 
 You must sleep in front of the fire. You 
 must travel with them. You must be their 
 friend." 
 
 And it was so — for a while. But Wolf 
 didn't like his work at all. Wolf didn't 
 149 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 like people. When he was stretched in 
 front of the jBre, and the Indians came near, 
 he would snap at them. The Indians said, 
 " Why ! What shall we do ? " 
 
 One night it was very, very cold. Dog 
 came down from the mountains, and into 
 the tepees, and crept up close to the fire. 
 Dog did not snap at any one. The next 
 morning he said, "There's a mistake some- 
 where." 
 
 "What do you mean ?" asked Wolf. 
 
 "I don't belong out there in the moun- 
 tains," said Dog. "It's too cold. I am 
 going to stay in the camp." 
 
 "Well, you stay here then," said Wolf 
 cheerfully. " I don't like it in the camp at 
 all. I don't like these tepees. I should 
 like much better to live in the mountains, 
 and in the forests." So off he went to the 
 mountains. Dog stayed in the tepees, and 
 was always friendly. 
 
 The Wolf tribe hardly ever came down to 
 a council meeting. They were rather wild, 
 so the Animal People said. They surely 
 were not friendly, even to the Animal 
 People. 
 
 150 
 
How Rabbit Escaped 
 
 Now Rabbit one day was out wandering 
 through the woods, when Timber WoK saw 
 him. At once he called his tribe. "Ha, 
 ha, ha!" said Timber Wolf. "Here's 
 that boaster again." 
 
 Now Rabbit heard the call. He looked 
 up, and there stood big Gray Wolf, Timber 
 Wolf, Black Wolf — all three. Rabbit was 
 all alone, too. 
 
 "We're going to eat you up," said Timber 
 Wolf. And all three drew back their lips 
 and showed their long teeth. 
 
 "There's no hurry about it, at all," said 
 Rabbit. "You'd better let me show you 
 a new dance first." 
 
 "Good!" said the Wolf tribe. They 
 knew Rabbit was' a good dancer, and he 
 knew more dances than anybody else in 
 the whole camp of Animal People. 
 
 "Stand in a line right in front of me," 
 said Rabbit. The Wolves did so. Rabbit 
 pattered about with his feet, and then be- 
 gan to dance around in a circle, singing : 
 
 " On the edge of the field I dance about. 
 Hanialil! lil! Hanialil! HI!" 
 151 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 Well, that was a good song, as anybody 
 can see. 
 
 Then Rabbit stopped for a minute. He 
 said, "Now when I sing 'on the edge of the 
 field,' I dance this way." And Rabbit 
 danced over in that direction. "Then 
 when I sing 'lil ! HI !' you must all stamp 
 your feet hard." 
 
 The Wolves liked that. "That's going 
 to be a good dance," they said to each 
 other. 
 
 Rabbit sang the same song, dancing 
 nearer to the field, while all the Wolves 
 stamped their feet. Then he sang the 
 song again, dancing still nearer the edge of 
 the field. 
 
 The fourth time he sang the song, while 
 the Wolves were stamping their feet hard, 
 Rabbit made one jump, and leaped through 
 the long grass. 
 
 Close after Rabbit raced all the Wolves. 
 But Rabbit ran for a hollow stump and 
 climbed inside. When the Wolf tribe got 
 there. Timber Wolf put his head inside. 
 Rabbit gave him such a whack he pulled 
 it out again, very quickly. 
 152 
 
How Rabbit Escaped 
 
 Then the others were afraid to try, so 
 they all went oflF and left Rabbit in the 
 stump. 
 
 And it didn't take Rabbit very long to 
 climb out of that old stump and race home, 
 after the Wolf tribe went away. 
 
 153 
 
XXX 
 
 Raven's Adventures 
 
 I BELIEVE," remarked Raven to Old 
 Crow, one bright spring morning, 
 "that I'll take a little trip. I want 
 to see if things are going all right." 
 
 "That's a good idea," said Old Crow, 
 And the very next day Raven started. 
 
 Raven went flying about on his journey, 
 inspecting the Earth-land, to see if every- 
 thing was going well. He got rather hungry 
 by noon, so he sat down and fished awhile. 
 
 "That's a fine string of fish," said Raven. 
 And he made a fire among the rocks, and 
 put the fish on spits after he had everything 
 all ready for his dinner. Just then, high 
 up on a rock, he saw Gull. 
 
 "Halloo, Gull," he said in a friendly way. 
 
 Gull flapped his wings three times, and 
 then down he came to Raven, followed by all 
 the Gull tribe, just as those fish were cooked. 
 154 
 
Raven's Adventures 
 
 There was a mistake somewhere. Raven 
 told Old Crow that afterwards. The Gull 
 tribe must have thought Raven had invited 
 them to a feast. Anyway, they came down 
 there, seizing the fish from the spits as 
 soon as they were cooked, and eating 
 greedily. They circled around through the 
 air, crying, "Qana, qana, qana, qana," just 
 as gulls do to-day. 
 
 That Gull tribe ate every one of those fish. 
 And in fussing around the fireplace, among 
 the stones, they got the tips of their wings 
 all black. Therefore gulls have black- 
 tipped wings, even to this day. 
 
 After the Gull tribe had gone, Raven 
 tried to get something to eat for himself. 
 But the fish would not bite any more, so he 
 had to go on. But he really was hungry. 
 
 Raven found some berries that afternoon, 
 and later on, he went fishing again. So 
 he had a good supper, because he was careful 
 not to speak to any one, or call to any one, 
 luitil he had finished it. 
 
 Just then. Raven saw a little marmot 
 standing in the door of his hole, laughing 
 at him. Marmot rushed out when he saw 
 155 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 Raven coming, then he tried to run in 
 again, but Raven stood in his way. 
 
 "What were you laughing at, Marmot?" 
 he asked. Now, really. Gull had told 
 Marmot that very afternoon how his tribe 
 had eaten Raven's dinner. They had 
 laughed about it. But Marmot hardly 
 dared tell Raven. Of course, as Gull ad- 
 mitted, they got the worst of it, because 
 now the whole tribe had black tips on their 
 wings. 
 
 "I've heard that you are a fine dancer. 
 Raven," said Marmot, without answering 
 his question. "If you will dance, I will 
 sing." 
 
 Well, Raven was good-tempered and he 
 liked to dance, so he began, while Marmot 
 sang, 
 
 " Oh, Raven, Raven, what a fine dancer you 
 
 are! 
 Oh, Raven, Raven, how very well you dance ! " 
 
 And that was quite true. 
 
 Marmot said, "I like your dancing." 
 Then he chuckled a little, as he thought of 
 a game. "Raven," he said, "when I sing 
 156 
 
Raven's Adventures 
 
 again, you dance around with your eyes 
 shut." 
 
 So Marmot sang, 
 
 "Oh, Raven, Raven, Raven, what a graceful 
 
 dancer you are ! 
 Oh, Raven, Raven, Raven, how very well you 
 
 dance!" 
 
 It really was a good song. So Raven 
 shut his eyes, and Marmot sprang right 
 past him, and raced into his hole. 
 
 Then Marmot, poking his head out of 
 his hole, sang, in just the same tune, 
 
 " Oh, Raven, Raven, Raven, what a goose you 
 
 are! 
 Oh, Raven, Raven, Raven, how nicely I have 
 
 fooled you!" 
 
 Raven opened his eyes, and there was 
 Marmot, safe in his hole, poking his head 
 out of the door, and laughing. 
 
 "What were you laughing at. Marmot?" 
 asked Raven. 
 
 "Oh, never mind that!" said Marmot, 
 and he ducked back into his hole. And as 
 he went, he cried merrily, " Chi-kik-kik, 
 chi-kik-kik, chi-kik-kik, chi-kik-kik!" 
 157 
 
XXXI 
 
 How Raven Stole a Lake 
 
 RAVEN went on, after he heard the 
 last of Marmot's laughter, saying, 
 ' ' Now I wonder what he was laugh- 
 ing at." Then he said, "I believe I'll tease 
 somebody." 
 
 Now teasing, as everybody knows, is a 
 thing that doesn't pay. Sooner or later, 
 the one who tries so hard to tease gets the 
 worst of it. And Raven did too, just as 
 everybody else does. 
 
 Raven was flying along one day, when he 
 saw down below him, lying in a lovely 
 hollow of the mountains, a beautiful little 
 lake. It belonged to the Beaver tribe. 
 Raven felt sure of that in a moment. There 
 were a fish trap in this lovely lake, and 
 several beaver lodges. And the points 
 jutting out into the lake were red with 
 cranberries. 
 
 158 
 
How Raven Stole a Lake 
 
 "I want some of those cranberries," 
 said Raven, "and some of those fish." 
 Then, after thinking a moment, he said, 
 "I believe I will just pocket that whole 
 lake." 
 
 No sooner said than done ! And there 
 was not a Beaver at home to stop him. So 
 Raven rolled up the lovely little lake with 
 the fish traps and lodges and all, just as 
 any one would roll up a small rug on the 
 floor. He had hardly got it rolled up, 
 though, before the Beaver tribe came home 
 for dinner. 
 
 "Oh! oh! oh! What has happened!" 
 said Great Beaver, in dismay. All the 
 Beaver People looked around — and behold, 
 there sat Raven in a tall tree, with the lake 
 and all, rolled up, under his wing. 
 
 Well, every one of them made a rush 
 for that tree. With their sharp teeth they 
 began to cut it down, while Great Beaver 
 said, "Raven, what does this mean?" 
 
 "It means that the Gulls ate up my fish 
 
 dinner yesterday, and Marmot laughed at 
 
 me, when I ate my supper," said Raven. 
 
 "Now I'm going to eat your dinner. I 
 
 159 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 won't break up your fish trap, or hurt any- 
 thing. But I want some of those cran- 
 berries." 
 
 Well, just that minute, the tree began to 
 quiver, and down it began to go ! Raven 
 had to fly away in a hurry to another tall 
 tree. And really that lake was heavy. 
 Water is very heavy, you know ; and 
 all those lodges, and the fish trap, and 
 everything besides ! 
 
 Away to that second tree ran the Beaver 
 People, and began to cut it down, while 
 Great Beaver sat down on the ground and 
 told Raven to put that lake back where it 
 belonged. While he was arguing. Raven 
 felt that tree sway. It went down so 
 suddenly under the sharp teeth of those 
 Beaver People, that Raven nearly fell with 
 it. 
 
 Off went Raven to another tree. That 
 lake was getting heavier, all the time. 
 
 Now that happened four times. And 
 when the Beaver People cut down that 
 fourth tree, the lake was so heavy that 
 Raven couldn't carry it any longer. He 
 came down near the ground, and unrolled 
 160 
 
How Raven Stole a Lake 
 
 it in its place, just as one would unroll 
 a small rug on the floor. 
 
 Nothing was hurt at all. The lodges 
 were all there, and the fish traps. Even 
 the tiny canoes that the Beaver People 
 had made were not harmed. But of course 
 the Beaver People were so indignant with 
 Raven, because they thought he was trying 
 to run away with their lake, that they 
 wouldn't let him have even a cranberry ! 
 Not one ! Nor a fish ! 
 
 Raven flew along then, thinking. "It 
 was my own fault," he said honestly. "If 
 I had let their lake alone, and told them I 
 was hungry, they would have given me all 
 the fish and cranberries I wanted." 
 
 And that was really so. 
 
 161 
 
XXXII 
 
 Raven and the Winds 
 
 IT seemed rather warm to Raven, 
 as he flew along. Suddenly he re- 
 membered. 
 
 "Dear me ! " he exclaimed . ' ' We haven't 
 had any wind in this Earth-land since we 
 made war on the Wind People." And 
 that was really so. The Wind People had 
 stayed at home, and never again gone on the 
 warpath against the Animal People. As 
 their chief had said, it was too expensive 
 to have everything cut up so. 
 
 "We ought to have a little wind, at 
 least," said Raven, as he thought about it. 
 And he flew along, feeling quite warm. 
 
 Raven stopped to rest on a big oak tree, 
 when suddenly he spied something at the 
 foot of the tree. 
 
 "Why, what's that?" he said, and he 
 flew right down to it. 
 
 162 
 
Raven and the Winds 
 
 There was Bear, sound asleep, with a bag 
 on his back. 
 
 "Now, what do you suppose is in that 
 bag ? " wondered Raven to himself. ' ' That' s 
 the first time I ever saw Bear going around 
 the country with a bag on his back." 
 
 Raven was quite excited. He stood 
 there and thought about it for a long time. 
 Then he said, "I believe I'll untie that 
 bag and see what is in it. Maybe it is 
 something Bear ought not to have. I'll tie 
 it up again carefully." 
 
 So he untied it. But, dear me ! The 
 winds were in that bag, all shut up tight. 
 Only two of them, though, East Wind and 
 West Wind. They flew right out. First 
 thing he knew. Raven saw the bag was 
 empty. 
 
 "Oh, my I" he said in dismay. "Winds, 
 get right back in that bag." East Wind and 
 West Wind paid no attention to him at all. 
 They went up among the trees, and down 
 by the creek, and over the valleys, having 
 a good time. 
 
 "Oh, dear, dear, dear!" said Raven. 
 "What a mistake ! " And just then he saw 
 163 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 that Bear was beginning to wake up, and 
 he flew right up into the air, and went on. 
 
 Bear waked up a little later, and found 
 the winds were gone. "Oh, I don't care," 
 he said. "I was tired of carrying them 
 around, anyway." So he found a berry 
 patch then, and forgot all about them. 
 
 But Raven did not forget. He thought 
 about it as he flew along. 
 
 "If we are going to have winds at all," 
 he said, "we must have all four. We 
 can't have just East Wind and West Wind." 
 
 Now, that was very easy to understand, 
 because the four points of the compass. 
 North, East, South, and West, were sacred 
 to the Indians. One had to have all four 
 — not just two. 
 
 "Some way or other," thought Raven, 
 "we have got to have a North Wind and a 
 South Wind." 
 
 Well, Raven hadn't got very far, when he 
 made South Wind. Nobody knows how he 
 did it. Indeed, he would never tell. When 
 any one asked him, all he would say was, 
 "When South Wind climbs on top of a 
 rock, he never ceases to blow." 
 164 
 
x^ 
 
 C"-AL's :iviu:.v<n iJukL 
 
 Away up on the top of a mountain, he made a house for 
 North Wind. Page l65. 
 
Raven and the Winds 
 
 And that is really true. So long as South 
 Wind stands on top of a rock, there is always 
 a South Breeze. 
 
 Then Raven made North Wind also. He 
 wouldn't tell how he did that, either. But 
 away up on the top of a mountain, he made 
 a house for North Wind. It had ice all 
 over the roof, and icicles hanging down from 
 the eaves. There was snow everywhere. 
 
 Then Raven went into North Wind's 
 house and said, "Your house is all white." 
 And that is why high mountains are white 
 with snow, even to this day. -f^ 
 
 165 
 
XXXIII 
 
 Fox AND THE WaRM WiND 
 
 WHEW-EW-EW-EW!" said 
 Old Crow one morning, shiver- 
 ing. And then without another 
 word, he flew down to the ground, stirred 
 up the embers of his fire, and put on fresh 
 wood. The wind was cold and gusty, and 
 blew the smoke up in his face. 
 
 It was so cold Old Crow tried to draw the 
 tepee covering closer around the smoke hole, 
 but that gusty wind blew the smoke this 
 way and that, all around the tepee, instead 
 of out through the crack Old Crow had 
 left in the smoke hole. 
 
 Raven came in just then. "My fire 
 blew out altogether," he said. "I thought 
 I would come over here and get warm." 
 So he and Old Crow worked together, to 
 make that fire blaze and crackle and burn 
 166 
 
Fox and the Warm Wind 
 
 brightly, as it should. But that gusty wind 
 did make it smoke ! 
 
 "Something has gone wrong with the 
 Earth-land," said Old Crow after a while. 
 
 "I thought we settled those Wind 
 People," said Raven. ^Just then Red 
 Squirrel slipped in, and Rabbit, and Hare. 
 Grizzly cpuld be heard grunting around, try- 
 ing td find a den wh^re hfe could go to sleep. 
 
 "Something has gone wrong with the 
 Earth-land," said Hare, putting some fresh 
 tobacco in his pipe. Hare was the greatest 
 smoker of all the tribes. And he said 
 exactly what Old Crow had said before he 
 came in. 
 
 "Let's call a council," said Raven. So 
 they called one immediately, aiid though 
 the wind waS still blowing, in those gusty 
 fits, yet the fire was burning better when 
 they all got there. It really crackled cheer- 
 
 fuUy.^ 
 
 They talked about things for a long while. 
 It could not be the Wind People — they all 
 felt sure about that. And the Summer 
 Birds were still around, so they could not 
 have been stolen. 
 
 167 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 Now Hare had been thinking all the time 
 he had been smoking. Finally he said, 
 "Perhaps it is the People of the Heat." 
 
 "What do you mean?" piped up Rabbit. 
 
 "Perhaps the People of the Heat have 
 captured all the warm winds," said Hare. 
 
 "I believe that is the trouble," said Old 
 Crow, after he had thought it over. And 
 Raven, after he had chewed a twig for a 
 while, said he thought so, too. Raven 
 could always think much better when he 
 was chewing a twig, so he said. 
 
 Now Fox and Hare were great warriors. 
 Everybody knew that. So the council 
 said that Fox and Hare must go south, to 
 where the People of the Heat lived, and find 
 out what was the matter. 
 
 "Because," added Old Crow, after they 
 had talked things over, "we have had to 
 live with these chilly winds for weeks. 
 And we can't even have a good fire, they 
 are so fitful and gusty. A good straight 
 breeze is a great help to a bright, crackling 
 fire." 
 
 Fox and Hare made ready at once. 
 They brought over their bows and arrows 
 168 
 
Fox and the Warm Wind 
 
 and looked them over carefully, and said 
 they were ready. So oflE they started. 
 
 Fox and Hare traveled many, many days 
 before they reached the lands of the People 
 of the Heat. Sometimes they walked along 
 on two feet, and when they were tired, they 
 would walk on all four. Fox liked jumping 
 about through the underbrush. He felt 
 safer there, too. 
 
 "Give me the broad, open country," said 
 Hare. "No brush for me." Still, they 
 got along pretty well together, jogging on 
 day after day. 
 
 At last they came to the large village, 
 where the chief of the People of the Heat 
 lived. 
 
 "Look close in his tepee," warned Hare. 
 "I believe you will find that he has caught 
 all the warm breezes and put them in a 
 big bag." So when they went in to see the 
 chief, they looked about for just such a 
 bag. 
 
 There it was. They saw it in a minute 
 as they entered the tepee — a big round 
 bag hanging up on a post. It had all the 
 warm breezes in it. 
 
 169 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 The chief was not there, fortunately. 
 Fox ran at that bag and hit it. Whack! 
 Somebody outside heard the noise and knew 
 in a minute what it was. Two or three of 
 the Heat People rushed in at once. 
 
 Hare drew his bow and arrow and looked 
 very fierce. Fox ran at the bag again, and 
 hit it. Whack ! said the bag again. Then 
 more Heat People rushed in. But Hare 
 had his arrow fitted, and he still looked so 
 fierce, nobody dared try to stop Fox. 
 
 Fox hit that bag a third time. "The 
 next time will break it," he said to Hare, 
 because four was the magic number. So 
 while Hare fiercely held off the People of 
 the Heat, Fox hit it a big, heavy thump 
 the fourth time. 
 
 The bag broke, and all the warm winds 
 rushed out. Then Fox and Hare made long 
 leaps, springing this way and that, just as 
 foxes double on their tracks to-day, and 
 hares leap about. So they escaped. The 
 warm breezes started to go up to the comxtry 
 in which Old Crow and his people all lived, 
 and Fox and Hare ran along ahead of 
 them. 
 
 170 
 
Fox and the Warm Wind 
 
 Hare kept just a little ahead of the wind, 
 — he could run faster than Fox, — but 
 every now and then he would stop, and sit 
 down, and smoke his pipe. Hare was the 
 greatest smoker of all the Animal People. 
 Fox was very much annoyed. He wanted 
 Hare to run right along. But whenever 
 Fox told Hare to hurry, he would sit down 
 and smoke that pipe. 
 
 So Fox went on alone. He too, was 
 swifter than the warm breezes. When Fox 
 reached the camp of the Animal People, he 
 dashed into Old Crow's tepee at once. Old 
 Crow was there, and Raven, with Rabbit 
 and Red Squirrel — oh, a great many of the 
 Animal People were there, all of them 
 cuddled down before the bright fire. Their 
 fires wouldn't burn at all, with that gusty, 
 cold wind, so they came over to Old Crow's 
 tepee. 
 
 Fox dashed in, and said, all out of breath, 
 "I am bringing the warm wind. You will 
 be cold no longer." 
 
 "Where is it.'*" asked Old Crow in sur- 
 prise, and Rabbit demanded at once, 
 "Where is Hare?" 
 
 171 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 But Fox was so out of breath he couldn't 
 answer everybody all at once, and before he 
 could get his breath, in came Hare. 
 
 "Ha!" he shouted. "We succeeded! 
 The warm breeze is coming." And Hare sat 
 down and began to smoke that pipe again. 
 
 And just then there came a light, soft, 
 warm breeze. Then another, and all the 
 Animal People heaved a great sigh of 
 relief. The warm breeze had come. And 
 oh, the out-of-doors, — the forests and the 
 lakes and the rivers, — were so much 
 pleasanter with a warm, pleasant breeze, 
 than in that cold, gusty wind. 
 
 Old Crow let his fire go out at once. 
 Nobody needed a fire then. And the 
 People of the Heat never again could 
 capture all the warm breezes, though they 
 did try to, as everybody knows. 
 
 172 
 
XXXIV 
 
 Getting Fire after the Flood 
 
 DO you know," said Old Crow one 
 day to Raven, as they were sitting 
 on the topmost branch of the tall 
 fir tree, "across the mountains, and across 
 that great lake — away up there in the 
 north they had a big flood — and they have 
 no fire?" 
 
 "I heard that last night," said Raven. 
 And then he pulled oflf a twig and began to 
 chew it, so Old Crow knew he was thinking. 
 "We must carry fire to them," said 
 Raven after a while. Old Crow shook his 
 head. 
 
 "Coyote says it is not possible. There 
 is a great lake, and high mountains. The 
 fire would go out." 
 
 "I can't understand yet," said Raven, 
 changing the subject, "where fire goes when 
 173 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 it 'goes out.' Of course, I don't want any 
 of the Animal People to know that." 
 
 "No-o-o-o, of course not," said Old Crow 
 slowly. "But I don't know, either, where 
 it goes, when it goes out ! I wish we could 
 find where 'Out' is. Is it an island, do you 
 think?" 
 
 Coyote had brought the news, of course. 
 Coyote really was a great traveler. And 
 he thought a council should be called. 
 
 It was a chilly day, so they had the coimcil 
 in a big council tepee, with a bright fire of 
 blazing logs. Old Crow came early, and 
 he stood there, lifting first one wing and 
 then the other, and then lifting one foot 
 and then the other, because the warmth was 
 so pleasant. That bright fire was very 
 cheerful. 
 
 "And to think," said Coyote, after he had 
 told them all about it, "they have no fire 
 on chilly days, or heat with which to cook 
 their food. Oh, it's dreary. I was glad 
 to get out of that country, with its cold 
 food." 
 
 "But, Coyote," asked Rabbit just then, 
 "why didn't you teach them about the fire 
 174 
 
Getting Fire after the Flood 
 
 drills ? Just as we taught the Indians, you 
 know." 
 
 "With wet wood!" demanded Coyote in 
 astonishment. And everybody said, "Of 
 course. We all forgot about the flood." 
 
 Of course, as everybody knows, where 
 there is no fire in wood, you cannot use a 
 fire drill. And all the fire in the wood of 
 that country, so Coyote said, had been put 
 out by the flood. 
 
 "Doesn't anybody there have it ?" asked 
 Old Crow after they had all been thinking. 
 
 "Just one old chief, who lives on the top- 
 most peak of the highest mountain. The 
 water didn't quite cover that peak," said 
 Coyote. 
 
 "Then why can't you get it for them, as 
 you did before.?" asked Raven. Every- 
 body knew the story of how Coyote had 
 gone to the tepee of the Skookums — oh, 
 a long while before — and stolen fire, be- 
 cause at that time they had all the fire in 
 the world. 
 
 "I can't do a thing!" declared Coyote. 
 "He knew all about how I got that fire for 
 our Animal People and the Indians. The 
 175 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 minute he heard I was there, he began to 
 shoot magic arrows. I had to run for my 
 hfe!" 
 
 "Oh, dear ! Then it will be dangerous," 
 said Old Crow. 
 
 "If there's plenty of water in that country 
 I can help," remarked Muskrat just then. 
 He hardly ever talked in council meetings. 
 
 "Muskrat, that country would suit you 
 exactly," said Coyote. "I thought of you 
 when I was trying to get over some of those 
 swamps and marshy rivers. I believe you 
 could help." 
 
 Young Caribou spoke up then. 
 
 "I live in the north," he said, "and I 
 ought to be able to help. I know that 
 country well — or I did before the flood." 
 
 So Muskrat and Young Caribou made 
 their plans, and some of the Animal People 
 were to help them. Then they took a long 
 journey to the land where the flood had 
 been. They traveled until they reached 
 the tepee of the chief. And he lived, you 
 know, on the highest peak of the highest 
 mountain in all the world. 
 
 Before the Animal People reached the 
 176 
 
Getting Fire after the Flood 
 
 tepee, — and they made no secret about it 
 at all, — they put on their dancing masks 
 and their dancing aprons, just as the Indians 
 used to do. They were a little like the 
 funny faces boys sometimes wear. 
 
 Then they went to the tepee of'this old 
 chief and told him they hadjcome to have 
 a dance there. Well, now, dancing is a 
 pleasure. The Animal People liked it, and 
 the Indians used to dance a great deal. So 
 the old chief told them all to come in. 
 
 Still, the chief kept an eye on the crackling 
 fire that was burning on one side of his tepee. 
 
 Now Young Caribou wore a beautiful 
 mask, and fastened to his horns he had 
 some pine shavings, all nicely curled. 
 Little girls sometimes put on just such pine 
 shavings, in playing party, and they do 
 make beautiful curls. Every one told 
 Young Caribou those curls looked well on 
 him. 
 
 Then they began to dance — and of 
 course they all kept time by singing to their 
 own dancing. Young Caribou and Muskrat 
 took positions in the dance, where one was 
 on each side of that fire, but the old chief 
 177 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 watched them closely, especially Young 
 Caribou. 
 Muskrat sang, 
 
 " Oh, shelte ! Oh, shelte ! " 
 
 which is a magic song. Therefore, the 
 Indians sing that to-day, when they are 
 near a muskrat swamp. 
 
 Now Young Caribou, as he danced, 
 swayed his head this way and that — then 
 he danced up and down, jerking his head 
 hard, with all those pine shavings swinging 
 about. Finally some of those shavings 
 caught fire. At once the old chief ran up 
 and put out the fire with his hands. 
 
 Then everybody began to dance again, 
 and sing — oh, they sang so loudly. One 
 couldn't hear anything with such a racket 
 — and that was exactly what Muskrat 
 wanted. Muskrat was busy as a bee. 
 
 Well, Young Caribou began that dancing 
 again, swaying his head this way and that. 
 The old chief did not like that dance at all, 
 and he watched Young Caribou closely. 
 At last the shavings caught fire again, and 
 the old chief rushed up and put them out. 
 178 
 
Getting Fire after the Flood 
 
 He did not intend that any one should have 
 fire, except himself. 
 
 And again everybody went on dancing, 
 each one singing at the top of his voice. 
 Oh, it really was a racket ! 
 
 But Muskrat! While the chief was 
 watching Young Caribou so closely, and 
 everybody was dancing and singing so 
 loudly, — why, Muskrat had been digging 
 a tunnel almost under that chief's very feet. 
 He dug it close to the fire, too, and when it 
 was finished, he stole a bit of burning wood, 
 and slipped down the hole with it. 
 
 The old chief did not see him at all. He 
 was too busy putting out those burning 
 shavings. So everybody still went on 
 dancing. 
 
 Then, suddenly, as one of them danced 
 toward the door and looked out, he cried, 
 "Oh, look!" 
 
 Everybody looked. There was a great 
 mountain, far away. A great column of 
 smoke rose from it. Soon flames burst 
 from the mountain top. Then flames burst 
 from some of the trees around them. 
 
 Then everybody knew that Muskrat had 
 179 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 stolen the fire, and put it into the trees again. 
 People could get it out, of course, by using 
 fire drills, just as Coyote had taught them 
 before the flood. 
 
 But that old chief was so disgusted ! 
 
 After they had again traveled far, and 
 everybody was back' home again, Old Crow 
 and Raven gave a real dance, because 
 Young Caribou and Muskrat had given 
 fire again to those Indians. 
 
 180 
 
XXXV 
 
 Coyote and Fox 
 
 ONE time, at a counqil, some of the 
 Animal People were talking about 
 who was the best looking. This 
 was a long time after Rabbit had run oflE 
 with Otter's fur coat, and they had almost 
 forgotten about that. 
 
 Fox said afterwards he was the best look- 
 ing. There was no doubt about it at all, 
 so he said. He had a beautiful long brushy 
 tail, and his fur was soft and heavy. Coy- 
 ote's fur was ragged looking. And Coyote 
 knew it, too. 
 
 "Well — perhaps your fur is longer than 
 mine," said Coyote, "but I am more clever 
 than you are." 
 
 Grizzly Bear came up just then, growling 
 about something that did not please him, 
 so they did not finish their argument. And 
 181 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 that afternoon, each of them went out into 
 the forest for a walk. 
 
 Now Coyote was wearing a blanket made 
 of magpie feathers. It was really a very 
 good-looking blanket, too, for the feathers 
 were glossy, even if they were dark. 
 
 Fox was wearing a blanket made of silver- 
 fox furs, with many of the tail feathers of 
 the golden eagle as ornaments. 
 
 As they were going down the trail. Coyote 
 met Fox, and Fox was singing happily, 
 
 " What a beautiful robe I have ! 
 How the eagle feathers shine ! " 
 
 That was his song, and Coyote heard him. 
 
 Coyote took a good look at him, and Fox 
 was handsome in that robe. The silver-fox 
 fur gleamed in the sunlight, and the eagle 
 feathers were very handsome. 
 
 "I'll trade my fine robe for yours," said 
 Coyote, after he had seen how handsome 
 Fox's robe was. 
 
 "Exchange my fine robe, with eagle 
 feathers, for your robe — yours of magpie 
 feathers !" exclaimed Fox in astonishment. 
 "Never!" 
 
 182 
 
Coyote and Fox 
 
 And he walked off down the trail and into 
 the forest, paying no more attention to 
 Coyote at all. That is, he did not mean 
 to pay any more attention to Coyote. 
 
 But Coyote was cross that day, and when- 
 ever people are cross they make trouble for 
 themselves. 
 
 Coyote made believe turn away, but as 
 he passed Fox, he snatched Fox's blanket 
 and made off with it. He kept his own, 
 too. 
 
 Coyote came to a lake quite soon. It 
 was a charming spot in the forest, with trees 
 growing down to the water's edge, and wild 
 flowers all about. When the breeze rippled 
 the lake, it was all a silver sheen. 
 
 Coyote did not even see that it was pretty. 
 Cross people never do see beauty. But 
 Coyote did this ! He took his own blanket 
 of magpie feathers, and tore it all to 
 pieces, and threw all the pieces into the 
 water. 
 
 "What do I want with that old blanket," 
 
 he said scornfully, "when I have such an 
 
 elegant one as this !" And he strutted up 
 
 and down along the lake shore, and then 
 
 183 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 went down among the wild flowers, trying 
 to find a bit of quiet water where he could 
 see himself. 
 
 There was just breeze enough to keep the 
 water in motion, and he could not find a 
 mirror-like bit of the lake. Then he said, 
 "Oh, well. I don't care. I wish a good 
 hard breeze would come, and flutter these 
 feathers." Those eagle feathers were 
 handsome. 
 
 Now Fox had been thinking. And he 
 kept thinking about that blanket, and how 
 to get it back. Then he began to make 
 magic. Fox said, "I wish a hard wind 
 would blow — and blow — and blow — very 
 hard, indeed. I wish that wind would blow 
 towards me." 
 
 Well, that is exactly what happened. A 
 good stiff breeze came up, and blew — and 
 blew — and blew. 
 
 "That breeze is too strong," said Coyote, 
 as he walked back from the water's edge, 
 through the wild flowers. "Oh, I don't 
 like that at all. That breeze almost blows 
 my new blanket oflf." 
 
 Then Coyote stood back and watched 
 184 
 
Coyote and Fox 
 
 the pieces of his old magpie robe flutter 
 and dance about in the little waves that 
 came up, because the breeze was blowing 
 hard. 
 
 "Fox can have that old blanket if he 
 wants it," he said crossly. "I offered it to 
 him, and he wouldn't have it." 
 
 The breeze blew harder. One end of his 
 blanket flapped so that Coyote loosened his 
 hold on the upper part to get hold of that 
 flapping end. And behold ! That breeze 
 wrenched the whole blanket right out of his 
 hands, and off his shoulders, and blew it 
 straight down the trail to Fox. 
 
 Fox was waiting for that blanket to come 
 back to him, too. He put it around him, 
 and turned down the trail, and walked in 
 the other direction. 
 
 But Coyote ! He went back to the lake 
 to see if he could get the pieces of his old 
 magpie blanket. There were just a few 
 pieces dancing about, away out in the lake. 
 All the other pieces had sunk. 
 
 That evening, about sundown, when it 
 is always chilly in the forest^ Coyote un- 
 expectedly met Fox on the trail. Fox was 
 185 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 warm and comfortable, with that lovely 
 blanket of silver-fox furs and eagle 
 feathers. 
 
 Coyote had no robe on at all. He was 
 chilly, too. 
 
 186 
 
XXXVI 
 
 Wolverine Gets into Trouble 
 
 IT was not very long after that when, 
 one day. Wolverine went out for a 
 walk. He wasn't in good temper at 
 all; and when people are not in good 
 temper, they usually get into some kind of 
 trouble. 
 
 Wolverine, in his walk, climbed a rather 
 steep hillside. Halfway up, there stood 
 Rock. 
 
 "Was it you who was watching me?" 
 asked Wolverine sharply. 
 
 "No, I didn't even see you," answered 
 Rock. 
 
 "It must have been you who was out 
 walking just now," said Wolverine, bound 
 to have a quarrel. 
 
 "No," said Rock. "I cannot walk." 
 
 "Well, I've seen you walking," said 
 Wolverine sharply. 
 
 187 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 "That is not true," said Rock. 
 
 "It is," said Wolverine. ^'You are the 
 very Rock I have s^en out walking." 
 
 Wolverine than ran oflf a little ways, and 
 jeered at Rock. He shouted, "Catch me if 
 you can!" 
 
 Then Wolverine went very close to Rock 
 and hit him with his paw. He shouted, 
 "See if you can catch me." 
 
 "I can't walk," shouted Rock. "But I 
 can roll." 
 
 "That's just what I wanted," said 
 Wolverine, and he began to run. 
 
 Then Rock began to roll. Wolverine 
 raced away, and Rock tore after hhn, close 
 to his heels. All down that steep hillside 
 they raced. 
 
 Then Wolverine began to jump and ieap3 
 Rock rolled faster and faster, even touching 
 his heels. Then Wolverine tripped over 
 a stick and fell. Rock rolled right on top 
 of him, and stopped there. He stopped 
 rolling. 
 
 "Get off of me! You are breaking my 
 bones!" yelled Wolverine. 
 
 Rock stayed right there. 
 188 
 
Wolverine Gets into Trouble 
 
 Wolverine yelled to the Wolves and 
 Foxes to come and save him. They came 
 at once, and gathered around Rock. 
 
 "How did you get under Rock?" they 
 asked. 
 
 Wolverine said, "I dared Rock to run 
 after me, and he rolled." 
 
 "Serves you just right," said Fox. They 
 all said that. Yet they tried to push Rock 
 away, but Rock stayed right there. The 
 Animal People pushed — and pushed — 
 and pushed. Rock did not roll off. 
 
 Then Wolverine shouted to Thunder and 
 Lightning to come and save him. In a 
 few minutes a dark cloud rushed up from 
 the southwest. It made so much noise 
 and was so black that all the Animal People 
 ran away into the woods. 
 
 Lightning saw what was the matter. He 
 drew back, and then rushed forward and 
 struck Rock. Thunder crashed and roared. 
 But Wolverine was free. Lightning had 
 knocked Rock into little bits. But he 
 had also torn Wolverine's coat to pieces 
 when he struck Rock. 
 
 Wolverine picked himself up, and saw 
 189 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 he was saved. Then he saw he had no fur 
 at all. He could only find a few bits of his 
 coat. 
 
 Wolverine said to Lightning sharply, 
 "Well, you needn't have torn my coat all 
 to pieces, just because I asked you to 
 strike Rock!" 
 
 Wolverine was still cross. 
 
 190 
 
XXXVII 
 
 The Real Moon 
 
 COYOTE had been on a long 
 journey and was coming home 
 through the forest, 
 "Oh, my, but it is black!" said Coyote, 
 trying to keep the trail. And truly it was 
 as black as midnight in the forest. But it' 
 was almost as black out in the open country. 
 Coyote spoke of it to Old Crow and Raven 
 the very next day. "There should be more 
 light at night," he said. And Old Crow 
 and Raven said at once that they thought 
 so, too. 
 
 "What can we do, though.?" asked 
 Raven. "We made a tule reed moon 
 and that burned out. Then we made an 
 ice moon, all gleaming, silvery white. 
 But Sun's trail was so hot. Moon melted 
 away. Perhaps — " 
 
 191 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 "Perhaps we ought to ask Great One," 
 broke in Old Crow. And after Raven had 
 chewed two or three twigs, and Old Crow 
 had fluttered about awhile, they both said 
 that was the thing to do. 
 
 They told Eagle about it finally. Eagle 
 said, "Why, I had not noticed it was so 
 dark. The tepee fires of the Star People 
 give a good deal of light." 
 
 "You're so much nearer them, Eagle," 
 protested Old Crow. "You live on high 
 moimtain peaks." 
 
 And Eagle said perhaps that was true. 
 But Eagle said he would take their message 
 and lay it on the highest peak of the Cloud 
 Mountains, where Great One would surely 
 get it. 
 
 So Old Crow and Raven hunted up that 
 old quill of Porcupine, and wrote another 
 note to Great One, telling him how dark it 
 was at night. It was written, just like 
 the other note, on a beautiful sheet of 
 paper which White Birch gave them. 
 
 Great One understood at once, when he 
 received that note. 
 
 "Even so," said Great One. "I will be 
 192 
 
The Real Moon 
 
 helpful to our children." Then he spread 
 his hand out, with the palm downward. 
 Into all the wrinkles of his hand, he set 
 shining yellow grains. In the dark they 
 gleamed like fire. And Great One set 
 those gleaming, yellow, shining grains all 
 over the sky. And truly, the night became 
 much lighter. 
 
 Now the new stars gleamed up from the 
 water below, and Great One saw that. 
 Then he said, "And even as these grains 
 gleam up from the water, so shall seed 
 like them spring up from the Earth-land." 
 And thus he made the shining yellow grains 
 the Indian corn. 
 
 Now the very next day, when the great 
 masses of fleecy white clouds were floating 
 near the hole in the sky. Great One reached 
 down and gathered a great round ball of it. 
 He kneaded it together in his hand, mixing 
 it with light, so that the ball became very 
 solid, yet with a silvery white light. Then 
 Great One set that in the sky. 
 
 Now that very night, when the Animal 
 People were gathered around the lake. 
 Rabbit came suddenly among them, shout- 
 193 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 ing "Hi-yi! Whoop-ee ! Hi-yi!" Rabbit 
 was much excited. He had been on a 
 high hill near by, and he had seen Moon 
 come up over the edge of the Earth-land. 
 
 "What's the matter.?" demanded every- 
 body. "Wait and see. Hi-yi!" answered 
 Rabbit. He was much excited still. So 
 everybody waited. 
 
 Then Moon came grandly up over the 
 crest of the hill, very stately, very beautiful. 
 The tree trunks shone black against the 
 Moon, but the leaves on the branch tips 
 all looked like lace, even as they do to-day. 
 And the lake shone with the gleaming 
 white light of Moon. 
 
 "Great One has given us this," said all 
 the Animal People. And they were so 
 happy that ever afterwards they called 
 him "Sky-Father." 
 
 So now the Animal People had at night 
 the light from the little lakes, which gleam 
 in the blue Sky-cover, and the light from the 
 tepee fires of the Star People, and now this 
 new light from the shining grains of gold 
 which the Sky-Father had set in the Sky- 
 cover. And, besides, the light of Moon. 
 194 
 
The Real Moon 
 
 The nights were really very beautiful now. 
 But there was no Milky Way. 
 
 Now some of the Indians in the Southland 
 had a great corn mill, in which they pounded 
 their corn into meal. One morning, the 
 chief said, "Who has been stealing some of 
 our meal?" 
 
 Nobody knew, of course. All the Indian 
 women said they worked hard, pounding that 
 meal. And nobody took it during the day, 
 that was sure. 
 
 The next morning, more meal had been 
 stolen. Then a warrior said, "See! Here 
 are the tracks of a dog !" And there they 
 were — the tracks of a very great dog. He 
 must have been very large. "To-night," 
 said the Indians, "we will watch." 
 
 So four warriors watched that night. 
 And very, very late, down from the North- 
 land came a great dog. He went to the 
 stone bowl and began to eat out of it. 
 Then these four warriors sprang out and 
 began to beat the dog, to drive him away. 
 The dog sprang into the sky, and ran back 
 to the north, dropping the meal from his 
 mouth as he ran. 
 
 195 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 Thus Dog left behind him the white trail, 
 up among the Star People. White People 
 call it the Milky Way. But the Cherokee 
 Indians call it, "Where the dog ran." 
 
 At first, of course, there were no people 
 living in Moon. After a while, a boy 
 went up there. He thought he would like 
 it better up there. But nobody knew where 
 he had gone. Now this boy wore trousers 
 of marten skins. When they searched for 
 him, they found only the left leg of his 
 trousers, caught on a sharp point on a 
 lodge pole, right in the smoke hole. So 
 they knew the boy had gone away through 
 the smoke-hole of the tepee. The very 
 next night, they saw the boy in the moon. 
 His father and mother knew it was their 
 boy, because the right leg was much larger 
 than the left. The left leg, of course, had 
 no trousers because they had been caught 
 in the smoke hole. 
 
 There is a woman in the moon, too. Her 
 name is Wala. She always carries large 
 birch baskets on her back, and a birch 
 bark snow shovel in her hands. She follows 
 the trail carefully. 
 
 196 
 
The Real Moon 
 
 There is only one dog in the moon. He 
 is dappled red and white. 
 
 There are great plains in Moon-land. 
 Large herds of deer roam over them. 
 There are some lakes there, where there are 
 many seals swimming about. 
 
 197 
 
XXXVIII 
 
 Getting Down to Work 
 
 "fTTlHE Animal People have all got 
 I into so much mischief lately," 
 .M, remarked Old Crow to Raven, as 
 they sat on the topmost twig of the tall fir 
 tree, "I think they'd better settle down to 
 work." 
 
 Raven said he thought so too, but he did 
 not say much else. He himself had been 
 into mischief, as everybody knows. But 
 it was only a few days later that Old Crow 
 called a council. 
 
 It was early in October. Oh, the Earth- 
 land was beautiful. The sumachs were a 
 brilliant crimson, and the oak trees were all 
 red and green, and lovely browns. The 
 maples were crimson too, but the birches 
 were as golden as the sunlight, and that 
 was saying a good deal. Sun, in the autumn, 
 198 
 
Getting Down to Work 
 
 sends down to the Earth-land a glorious 
 golden light. And when he does that, he 
 likes to have the sky very, very blue. 
 
 It was just that kind of a day when the 
 council met, close to a clear mountain 
 stream, rippling along over the pebbles, 
 and singing to itself as it went towards 
 Great River beyond. The grass was still 
 green, and the air was soft and warm. All 
 the Animal People really wanted to settle 
 down to work. 
 
 Old Crow said to Grouse, "You ought 
 to live in a place where it is a little wintry. 
 You will always live in a place high up, 
 so that you will have plenty of breezes." 
 And that was exactly the work Grouse 
 wanted. 
 
 Now Ptarmigan had come down from 
 the far, far north. He loved the snow of 
 that North-land. Old Crow said to him, 
 " You know how to travel in the snow. You 
 will be the maker of snowshoes." And 
 that was really true. The Indians who 
 lived in the far Northland learned how to 
 make snowshoes by watching how Ptarmi- 
 gan traveled over the snow. 
 199 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 Then Old Crow said to Robin, "You will 
 be a good whistler. You will make people 
 happy by your whistle." Robin said at 
 once that that was work he would love. He 
 was such a happy little chap. Why, when 
 Robin hops across the front lawn, even 
 before the snow is fairly off, or one hears 
 his whistle, people say: "Oh, there's 
 Robin ! Spring's here." 
 
 Old Crow said to Blue Jay, "You have 
 beautiful clothes. People will copy the 
 color of your clothes. And you will be a 
 great talker." And all of that happened, 
 because Blue Jay went right to work at it. 
 
 To the little Humming Bird, Old Crow 
 said, "People will enjoy seeing you. If 
 any one sees you once, they will want to 
 see you again." Humming Bird went right 
 to work to be happy and beautiful. 
 
 Then Old Crow said to Eagle, "You will 
 be very powerful and above all the birds. 
 Your eyesight will be very strong." That 
 is why the Indians think that the feathers 
 of Eagle are worth more than those of all 
 the other birds. 
 
 To Gray Screech Owl, Old Crow said, 
 200 
 
Getting Down to Work 
 
 "You will foretell cold weather." When 
 the night is to be very cold, then Owl 
 cries out. It sounds just as though a 
 person's teeth chattered. When the 
 Indians hear that, they spread out their 
 warmest blankets, and they keep the fires 
 burning all night. 
 
 Duck, Old Crow said, was to be the chief 
 of the water. Woodpecker he made chief 
 of the trees. Owl was the chief of the night, 
 and Eagle the chief of the day. 
 
 Old Crow told Beaver he would always 
 have to live in the water. But Rabbit 
 spoke up at once. Rabbit said, "No, I 
 want to live in the water." 
 
 "Why, you can't do it," said Old Crow. 
 Rabbit said, "Yes, I will live in the water." 
 And he jumped right in. 
 
 Well! Beaver and Otter had to jump 
 right in after him. 
 
 When they pulled him out, he was all 
 wet, but they made him stand still. Old 
 Crow said, "You can't live in the water. 
 Your legs are too long. Even if you do 
 eat willow like Beaver, you don't swim about 
 in the water properly." 
 201 
 
Old Crow and His Friends 
 
 So Rabbit had to stay on dry land. After 
 a while, though, he didn't care at all. 
 
 Squirrel wanted to be Bear. "Yes, I 
 do," said Squirrel. "I want to be Bear, I 
 want to be big, and stand up on my hind 
 legs." 
 
 "You can't be Bear," said Old Crow 
 firmly. "You can sit up on your hind 
 legs if you want to. Nobody cares at all 
 about that. But you wouldn't be a good 
 Bear. You are too noisy. Bears must 
 keep quiet, and not chatter as you do." 
 
 Squirrel began to . weep. He wept — 
 and wept — and wept. If you look at any 
 squirrel to-day, you will see his eyes are very 
 bright and swollen from weeping. He did 
 learn to sit on his hind legs, though, when 
 he is eating anything. And he said after- 
 wards that he does like to chatter, when he is 
 racing up and down trees, and he wouldn't 
 want to be Bear if he had to keep so still. 
 
 And so Old Crow went all around the 
 council. He gave every man his work. 
 And just as soon as he finished talking, every- 
 body jumped up and went to work. 
 
 202 
 
BURGESS ISA£E QUADDIES ^^^ 
 
 OLD MOTHER WEST WIND 
 SERIES 
 
 By Thoenton W. Bubgess 
 
 I. Old Mother West Wind. 
 II. Mother West Wind's Children. 
 III. Mother West Wind's Animal Friends. 
 IV. Mother West Wind's Neighbors. 
 V. Mother West Wind "Why" Stories. 
 VI. Mother West Wind "How" Stories. 
 VII. Mother West Wind « When " Stories. 
 Illustrated by George Kerr and Harrison Cody. 
 16mo. Each, $1.00 net. 
 
 Of a quality to be recommended for bed-time reading.— 
 A. L. A. Booklet. 
 
 Amusing, weU-written, well-iUustrated animal stories for 
 little human animals.— S«. Louis Qlohe-Democrat. 
 
 "Mother West Wind's Children" is brimming over with 
 Interesting things about Mother Nature's little ones. A more 
 charming taJe to be read to the smaU folks when the sleepy 
 hour comes would be hard to find.— CAicajro Tribime. 
 
 Mr. Burgess' abiUty to combine a quality of whimsical 
 delightfulness with much that is reaUy informative about 
 animal Ufe has endeared him to his Uttie readers.— Co»<mm««, 
 Chicago. 
 
 LITTLE, BROWN, & CO., Publishers, BOSTON 
 
BURGESS ISAS5 QUADDIES mass 
 BEDTIME STORY-BOOKS 
 
 By Thoenton W. Buegess 
 Author of "Old Mother West Wind Series," etc. 
 
 1. The AovENTnEEs of Reddy Fox 
 
 2. The Adventures of Johnny Chuck 
 
 8. The Adventures of Peter CorroNTAn, 
 
 4. The Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum 
 
 6. The Adventures of Mr. Mocker 
 
 6. The Adventures of Jeeey Muskrat 
 
 7. The Adventures of Danny Meadow Mouse 
 
 8. The Adventures of Grandfather Frog 
 
 9. The Adventures of Chatteeer the Red 
 
 SaUUlEEL 
 
 10. The Adventures of Sammy Jay 
 
 11. The Adventures of Buster Beab 
 
 12. The Adventuees of Old Mr. Toad 
 
 13. The Adventures of Peickly Poeky 
 
 14. The Adventuees of Old Man Coyote 
 
 15. The Adventuees of Paddy the Beavee 
 
 16. The Adventuees of Poor Mrs. Quack 
 
 17. The Adventures of Bobby Coon 
 
 18. The Adventures of Jimmy Skunk 
 
 (Other Volwmes in preparation) 
 Illustrated by Harrison Cady. 16mo. Each 50 cts. net 
 
 EACH book in the series is devoted to the ad- 
 ventures of one animal, and tells of his pranks 
 and his good times, his troubles, his enemies, and 
 his friends. The same charm of style and illustra- 
 tion that made the "Old Mother West Wind 
 Series'" so successful is here displayed. Capital 
 iUuBtratioBs have been provided by Harrison Cady.