UC-NRLF 
 
 
 S/TBH 
 
 INDIAN 
 LEGENDS 
 
 WASHBURNE 
 
 sy 
 
INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 By Marion Foster Washburne, author 
 of ''Old Fashioned Fairy Tales," with an 
 Introductiony Suggestions to Teachers^ and a 
 Bibliography by Alice Corbin Henderson 
 
 Illustrations by 
 FREDERICK RICHARDSON 
 
 i 
 
 ^ij£s: 
 
 RAND McNALLY & COMPANY 
 
 CHICAGO 
 
Copyright, IQ15, 
 By Rand McNally & Company 
 
 ft ^'-■'^ 
 
 'Chtcago' ' ' 
 
THE CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 A List of the Color Plates 4 
 
 An Introduction 5 
 
 The Flight from the Fourth to the Fifth World ... 9 
 
 Coyote and the Bear Maiden 33 
 
 Scarf ACE : A Story of Love and Medicine .63 
 
 tulchuherris 86 
 
 The Ice King 112 
 
 How THE Bear Family got its Name 117 
 
 Hawt, or the Great World Concert . . . . . . . .124 
 
 The Suggestions to Teachers .142 
 
 Books about American Indians 144 
 
 3 
 
A LIST OF THE COLOR PLATES 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 
 There he was, caught fast in the Spiders' webs! . . Frontispiece 
 
 ''It is so,'' she said; "no one counts the labor of women" . . .12 
 "Why does your snout grow longer, and why do your ears wag so?" he 
 
 asked 60 
 
 Scarface sprang into the thick of them, and grasped the midmost 
 
 birds by the neck 80 
 
 The sides of the man-fish heaved, and then were still 106 
 
 The Ice King was sweating and gasping 116 
 
 The air was full of shining drops of water and shining fish . . .122 
 He held the hair over Hawt; at once it gave out a light like a torch . 140 
 
AN INTRODUCTION 
 
 To THE Young Reader 
 
 THE history of the American Indians, as we know it, begins with the 
 history of the first Spanish, French, and Enghsh settlements in 
 the new continent. All that we know of the race before that time is 
 gleaned from the traditions of the Indians themselves. These traditions 
 do not give us the actual dates and facts, which it is one function of 
 history to record, but they do give us an idea of the fundamental racial 
 thought, the instinctive belief, the habits, and the religion of the Indian 
 people, and this is an equally important part of history. 
 
 History is dependent upon stories which are told by word of mouth, 
 and upon stories or records that are preserved in writing. Some of 
 the Indian tribes had a form of picture writing, but usually this was 
 very simple and did not go much beyond pictures of a buffalo hunt or 
 of a fight between Indian chiefs such as a small child might make. In 
 other cases, with more civilized tribes, the picture writing was composed 
 of symbols that we call ideographs, and these are very difficult for us to 
 understand, because we have lost the key. We could not read our 
 English books if we did not know the alphabet. This Indian writing, 
 whatever form it took, was recorded on the stone walls of cliffs or 
 cafions, which have been worn away by time, or on single pieces of 
 stone or skin which were not preserved in any way, and we have only a 
 few examples to prove that such a form of writing did exist. But in 
 the stories such as Mrs. Washbume has selected for this book — stories 
 that have been told and retold by succeeding generations — we are able 
 to learn a great deal about the Indian people. 
 
 From reading these stories you will very quickly gain an impression 
 of the life the Indians led. It was a life very different from our own. 
 There were no schools or books, railroads, stores, theaters, or churches. 
 
6 _; ; ,.•;;; 'AN INTRODUCTION 
 
 The Indians lived much m'the open air. For shelter from the rain or 
 cold they had wigwams or tepees made of skin or bark. Instead of 
 having railroads the Indians went about on foot; in place of stores 
 and money, they exchanged blankets and skins and maize; and some- 
 times they used shells or beads for currency, as we use paper money 
 to-day. In place of theaters, they had dances and processions in which 
 the whole tribe took part. In place of schools or books, the Indians 
 learned from their fathers and mothers to weave, or to plow, oi to 
 cook, or to make arrows, or to hunt; and they heard the stories of 
 the Man-in-the Sky, of Coyote, or of Scarface from the story-teller 
 of the tribe. 
 
 The Man-in-the-Sky, or the Man-Above, was the Indian's name 
 for God. If you have ever spent much time out in the woods or in the 
 fields you will realize how much that expression means. Of course 
 different tribes had different words to express this feeling of reverence 
 and awe, but the feeling itself remained the same. The Indians, as 
 you will find in these stories, knew a great deal about the wild animals 
 of the woods and prairies. It did not seem to them that the animals 
 were much lower in the scale of life than men. Indeed, a great many 
 of the Indian tribes traced their ancestry to some animal. In primitive 
 life, men and animals are united in their struggle against cold, or flood, 
 or hunger; so you will find in Indian stories that men and animals often 
 assume the shapes of one another, and their qualities are readily inter- 
 changeable. Coyote is a clever fellow whom we must admire in spite 
 of his scheming, and we cannot help feeling sorry for the Water Monster 
 whose children are stolen from him, even though he does send a flood 
 that causes the children of men and all the animals to go scrambling up 
 through a hole in the sky to the Fifth World ! How beautiful, too, are 
 the half -discerned figures of the White God and the Blue God and the 
 Black God, who are friendly both to men and to animals and who are 
 able to blow reeds into being that are as high as the sky and as strong 
 as a wall! 
 
 It is very little wonder that the story-teller occupied a position of 
 great honor among the Indians! Sometimes the story-teller was also 
 the medicine man of the tribe, who knew when the rain was coming, or 
 
AN INTRODUCTION 7 
 
 the best time to plant seeds. Nothing important could be done without 
 first consulting him. And still the story-teller remains for us as the 
 supreme magician. Like Hawt, in the Great World Concert: "He is 
 the master musician of the world ! He alone knows the secret voices of 
 our hearts. He speaks for us all, and speaks beyond our power of 
 speaking." 
 
 Not all the stories in this book have been taken from a single 
 tribe. Each tribe had its own story-teller and its own collection of 
 stories. Mrs. Washburne has chosen the stories that she thought most 
 interesting, and if you care for these and wish to read other stories 
 about the Indians you will find at the back of this book a list of 
 stories and legends which you may find at the libraries. 
 
 Alice Corbin Henderson. 
 Lake Bluff, Illinois. 
 
There he was, caught fast in the Spiders' webs. 
 
 Page 52 
 
INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 THE FLIGHT FROM THE FOURTH TO 
 THE FIFTH WORLD 
 
 {Navaho) 
 
 BENEATH this world there were four other worlds. 
 The people who live here now once lived in each of 
 those other worlds. In each one of them they did wrong, 
 and from each one of them they were driven forth. 
 
 The first world was red, and the people who lived in it 
 had wings and were something like our locusts and dragon 
 flies. All such insects, as we know them now, are related 
 to those people who began life in the first world. When 
 they were driven forth, they all took to their wings and 
 flew in circles upward until they reached the sky. In the 
 sky they found a hole, and they went through it to the sur- 
 face of the second world. 
 
 The second world was blue, and in that world the 
 Swallow People lived. Their houses, rough and lumpy, lay 
 scattered all around. The houses were pointed at the top 
 and in the point was the hole for entrance. The people 
 from the first world and the Swallow People became good 
 friends and lived together pleasantly and happily. But 
 
 9 
 
IQ ., ; .; ,;: .•.•;: : : IN tjIAN LEGENDS 
 
 after a short time the people from the first world again 
 did wrong and again were driven forth. Again they rose 
 in circles to the sky, found the hole in it, and went up 
 through it to the third world. 
 
 The third world was yellow, and the Grasshopper People 
 lived there. They lived in holes in the ground along the 
 banks of a great river. The Grasshopper People were 
 kind to their visitors until they found out how bad they 
 were. Then the people from the first world were driven 
 forth, and for the third time were obliged to seek another 
 world. They rose in circles to the sky, found the hole in 
 it, and went up through it to the fourth world. 
 
 The fourth world was black and white, mixed. Here 
 lived strange men who cut their hair square in front, 
 dwelt in houses in the ground, and cultivated the fields.^ 
 They also were very kind to the people from the first 
 world, and gave them pumpkins and corn to eat. The 
 people from the first world then held a council and made 
 up their minds to be very good, and to do nothing to 
 make their new friends angry. 
 
 Here it was that, late in the autumn, the first man and 
 the first woman were made. The people who had come 
 up from the first world had bodies like the gods, but the 
 teeth, feet, and claws of insects. The gods wished to make 
 some people more like themselves. They made the first 
 
 1 Pueblo Indians. 
 
THE FLIGHT TO THE FIFTH WORLD ii 
 
 man from an ear of white corn, and the first woman from 
 an ear of yellow corn. The wind blew upon them and 
 gave them life. It is the wind that comes out of our 
 mouths now that gives us life. When it stops blowing, 
 we die. In the skin at the tips of our fingers we see the 
 trail of the w4nd ; it shows us the way the wind blew when 
 our ancestors were created. First Man and First Woman 
 had many children, who married the people of the fourth 
 world, so that soon there was a large tribe. First Man 
 was a chief among them. 
 
 One day all the men except Coyote went out hunting. 
 Coyote had hurt his foot and could not go. He limped 
 over to First Woman's lodge, and went in to see her. 
 She gave him a piece of dried meat to eat. 
 
 ''This is fine meat," said Coyote, gobbling it. ''You 
 know how to prepare meat. It must cost you much labor." 
 
 "Yes, so it does," said First Woman. "You men do not 
 know how much time it takes to cut and stretch and dry the 
 meat, to say nothing of cooking it and scraping the hides." 
 
 She was sharpening her stone knife as she spoke. 
 
 "You have the worst of it," said Coyote. "You have 
 to stay at home and watch the fire and sharpen the knives 
 and collect the wood, while the men have the pleasure of 
 the hunt. This day with you is teaching me much." 
 
 Coyote was not married. 
 • First Woman went out for wood, and came in again 
 
12 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 with a load on her back. She had been thinking over 
 Coyote's words. 
 
 *' It is so," she said; ''no one counts the labor of women. 
 Now First Man has a few days in the forests and moun- 
 tains, hunting. For many days afterward he will lie before 
 the fire smoking, while I work to preserve the meat he 
 brings. Far into the winter I shall be sewing on the skins. 
 He w^U eat the food and wear the clothes and think his 
 share in the labor of procuring them has been the greater." 
 
 Coyote shook his head as he ate another piece of meat. 
 
 "He does not know what a good wife he has," said he. 
 
 When the men returned from the hunt First Woman 
 silently took the venison, cut it up with her sharp knife, 
 and cooked it. When it was eaten she told First Man 
 what Coyote had said. She showed him the corn she had 
 been grinding for many days. She pointed to the pile 
 of meat, and told him how hard she must work to prepare 
 it for winter. First Man grunted. He was very tired. 
 He thought he had done well in the hunt. First Woman 
 grew angry, and at last First Man became angry too. 
 
 ''Perhaps you think, then," said First Man, "that you 
 women can live without the men? Perhaps it was a woman 
 who killed that deer?" 
 
 "Certainly we can live without the men," answered 
 First Woman. "We can live on the produce of our fields 
 and on the roots and berries we collect." 
 
Page 12 
 
 *// is so," she said; "no one counts the labor of women' 
 
' ::n 
 
THE FLIGHT TO THE FIFTH WORLD 13 
 
 First Man was so angry that he jumped over the fire 
 to the other side of the lodge, and would not speak to her 
 again for the rest of the night. 
 
 Next morning he called all the men to him, but bade 
 the women stay away. He told the men what his wife 
 had said, and added: ''Let us see if they can hunt game 
 and till the fields without our help! Let us see what kind 
 of a living they can make by themselves! Let us go across 
 the river and leave them!" 
 
 Some of the young men cried when they were ordered 
 to go and leave their wives behind. Two of them as yet 
 had no wives, but among the women were two maidens 
 whom they loved. These men were ashamed to let their 
 tears show; they swallowed them, but the taste was bitter 
 in their hearts. The maidens, too, had their grief, but 
 they clung together. One of them whispered to the other: 
 - ''It is good they have no women with them." 
 ''Yes, that is good," said the other maiden. 
 At first the crowd of women made merry together. 
 They spent long hours in talking and singing. They told 
 each other how good it was to cook only when it pleased 
 them, and not to be obliged to hurry to make ready for 
 the men returning from the hunt or the field. They kept 
 together most of the time, and braided each other's hair 
 and taught each other pretty tricks of embroidery and 
 weaving. Their laughter rang over the river in the 
 
14 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 twilight as they sat sewing and talking together. They 
 sat where the men could see them. They had plenty of 
 corn and pumpkins, grown in the fields the men had planted. 
 Almost all they had to do was to go and gather them. 
 There was plenty of wild fruit, also, and they went together 
 to pluck it. 
 
 Then would the two maidens leave the trail and wander 
 in the depths of the woods, sighing and mourning for those 
 whom they loved. But they dared not show their grief. 
 Now and then through the trees they saw some lonely 
 woman gliding along, looking upon the ground. From 
 her eyes dropped shining tears. The maidens hastened 
 to hide themselves; nor did they tell of what they saw. 
 
 Day after day went by, and year after year. And 
 though the women huddled so close together and made so 
 much of loving one another, they were very lonely. They 
 wondered if the men across the river were as brave and 
 busy as they looked. They saw them every day going 
 out to hunt, or plow^ing the fields, or harvesting, or lying 
 around the fire, smoking and resting. Did all this satisfy 
 the hunger of their hearts, the women wondered? Some 
 of them knew it did not; but they sat silent. It was they 
 who crept through the woods and wept. It was they whose 
 husbands had wept on leaving them. It was they whom 
 the two maidens envied, as they watched them beneath 
 their eyelids. 
 
THE FLIGHT TO THE FIFTH WORLD 15 
 
 The women did not till the fields well, and year by year 
 their crops grew smaller, while across the river the crops 
 grew larger. The women wandered farther and farther 
 for their berries, and came home tired and hungry. They 
 longed for meat ; they could hardly sleep for longing. The 
 sweet taste of the berries was flat in their mouths. 
 
 The men had plenty. They shot fine deer, and ducks, 
 and squirrels. As they roasted them before the fire, each 
 one thought of his wife and wanted her — all but First 
 Man. Such times reminded him of First Woman's unjust 
 scolding, and he grew angry again. 
 
 Four years passed in this way. In the fourth year 
 the fields of the men once more stood ready for harvest. 
 There was more food than they could store away. Corn 
 and pumpkins lay untouched upon the ground. They 
 wanted to give them to somebody, but there was no one 
 to whom to give them except their wives across the 
 river. They looked across. There was only a little field 
 there, poorly tilled; not a single yellow pumpkin brightened 
 the gray scene. The women no longer sang, nor gathered 
 upon the river bank. They kept themselves hidden in 
 their lodges. At night, when the air was black, the sound 
 of crying floated across the river. The women were starv- 
 ing, and the winter was coming on. 
 
 The men could not bear this. First Man himself 
 began to consider the consequences. They held a council 
 
i6 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 and decided to send a message to the women. If they 
 were ready to yield, the men would bring them across the 
 river, hold a great feast, and start new homes. That 
 night the men all dreamed of eating the food the women 
 had cooked. 
 
 Next morning the men rose early, but the lodges on 
 the other side of the river were silent and smokeless. The 
 women slept late to forget their hunger and their sorrow. 
 The white air of the morning was beginning to be blue with 
 noon when a few of them crept forth and went about 
 gathering brushwood for the fires. They were bent with 
 weakness and their steps were slow. 
 
 Two of them wandered off into the woods back of the 
 village. These were the two maidens. They went to 
 gather acorns and berries for breakfast. For a long time 
 they had done this for the other women. They liked to do 
 it, because in this way they could be alone. The berries 
 near the village had all been picked. Now they had to go 
 far to find any. Thus it happened that the two maidens 
 were in the distant woods when First Man sent his mes- 
 senger to the river bank to call the women. 
 
 The messenger's cries rose above the noise of the 
 river. The wind carried them to the eager ears of the 
 women, who for four years had listened for such a sound. 
 They all trooped down to the bank to hear what the 
 messenger said — all but First Woman. She stayed in 
 
THE FLIGHT TO THE FIFTH WORLD 17 
 
 They liked to do this because they could be alone 
 
 her lodge. Her heart longed to go, but she was still proud. 
 
 "Where is First Woman?" called the messenger across 
 the river. ''Does she still live?" 
 
 First Woman heard him. Her heart swelled until it 
 filled her throat. So she was of some importance, after 
 all! 
 
 "Yes, she is here," cried the women, all together, their 
 high voices sailing across the river like birds. 
 
 They went for First Woman. They pulled her along 
 with them, crying and laughing, scolding and coaxing her. 
 First Woman hung back, but not with all her strength. 
 
 At last she stood on the river bank facing the messenger. 
 By this time all the men, except First Man, were behind 
 him. First Woman saw at once that he was not there. 
 2 
 
i8 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 Could he be dead? Her heart sank, and with it some of 
 her pride fell. 
 
 "First Woman," called the messenger, "we do not like 
 to see you starving. We would like to help you. But 
 perhaps you do not want our help? Perhaps you think 
 you can get along without us?" 
 
 "Where is First Man?" asked First Woman. Her 
 voice was sharp, and it shook a little as it cut its way 
 across the river. "Does he still live?" 
 
 "Yes," the messenger shouted, so loud that he started 
 the echoes. "Yes, yes," they all said, all up and down the 
 river. 
 
 The women strained their eyes, each searching for one 
 face among those of the men on the other shore. 
 
 "Can you get along without us?" called the messenger. 
 
 "Say no! Say no!" begged the other women of First 
 Woman. 
 
 First Woman was wondering why First Man was not 
 there with the rest. 
 
 "No, no!" she called. 
 
 "No, no!" the women called, together. 
 
 "No, no!" the echoes repeated all down the river. 
 
 Everything seemed to be saying it. The men said it 
 over and over, laughing and jumping about like boys. 
 
 " No, no, they can't get along without us ! " they shouted. 
 The cheeks of some of them were wet. They rushed down 
 
THE FLIGHT TO THE FIFTH WORLD 19 
 
 to the great raft they had made and hidden among the 
 rushes. As they stepped upon it, First Man joined them. 
 He could wait no longer. So they all went across and gath- 
 ered up the women, and brought them to their new homes. 
 
 When the two maidens came back from the forest, 
 staggering under their light loads of berries, they found 
 the houses empty and the fires gone out. From the oppo- 
 site bank came the sound of laughter and singing, but all 
 the people were inside their houses. 
 
 " They have gone away and left us!" cried the maidens. 
 They looked across the river. They looked and looked, 
 until the longing in their hearts drew their bodies toward 
 the other shore. They crept down the river bank, still 
 looking; they stepped into the cold water, still looking. 
 Their hearts were so hot with grief and shame, they did 
 not feel the cold of the river. No one came to the opposite 
 bank to look for them. The water grew deeper; they had 
 to swim. Their arms were weak, their bodies heavy. 
 Their heads sank beneath the water. But then they could 
 not watch the shore; so with a mighty effort they forced 
 their heads up again, to look and look — 
 
 Thus it was that the Water Monster caught them. 
 Out in the middle of the river, where the water was swift 
 and deep, he caught them both about the body with his 
 thick furred arms and pulled them down to his home 
 beneath the waves. 
 
20 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 All this time the young men, their lovers, were going 
 from lodge to- lodge, seeking them. They hid the desire 
 of their hearts, for no one yet knew of their love. In each 
 lodge they were feasted; in each they had to express joy 
 and ask many questions about things for which they cared 
 nothing. The one question they did care to ask no one 
 answered well; no one knew what had become of the two 
 maidens. 
 
 At last there were no more lodges to search, and they 
 went down to the edge of the black river. On the opposite 
 shore, in the clear gray light, they saw a tall figure standing. 
 It was the White God, he who helps men out of their 
 troubles. He held up two fingers to indicate the two 
 maidens, and pointed downward to the river. 
 
 Quickly the two young men ran to a small raft and 
 went across the river to speak to him, but when they 
 reached the farther shore the god was gone. They sought 
 for the trail of the lost maidens and finally found the tracks 
 going to the forest and back again. They saw where the 
 maidens had stood restless on the river bank, where they 
 had slipped going down it, and slipped again on the muddy 
 marge. The tracks went into the water, but alas! the 
 young men knew they did not come out again on the other 
 side. 
 
 While they stood looking at the black water, much 
 wishing to follow the maidens into its depths. White God 
 
THE FLIGHT TO THE FIFTH WORLD 21 
 
 appeared once more, this time close beside them and no 
 longer alone. His friend, the Blue God, was with him. 
 White God held in his hand a bowl made from a large 
 white shell, and Blue God held another made from a blue 
 shell. They set these spinning on their hands. Faster 
 and faster they spun, until they spun out into the air and 
 down into the center of the river. Blue and white they 
 flashed in the clear gray air, and the black waters whirled 
 open beneath their spinning. 
 
 Now there was another watching all this from the 
 opposite shore. This was Coyote. He had no wife, and 
 so he had nothing to do but watch others. He had been 
 going about from lodge to lodge, carrying tales and brag- 
 ging. Now as he had no more lodges to visit, he had come 
 to the shore in time to see the blue bowl and the white bowl 
 whirling in the black river. He did not see the gods. 
 When the young men on their raft poled out to the center 
 of the river, Coyote, in his canoe, was there before them. 
 All three of them looked into the whirlpool, and saw that 
 it led down to the house of the waters. Where the young 
 men went, there Coyote went also; but they did not notice 
 him. They were looking ahead, looking for the maidens 
 as the maidens had looked for them. 
 
 Down the center of the whirlpool they went, into the 
 house of the waters. In the house were four rooms. The 
 room in the east was made of dark waters; they found 
 
22 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 nothing there. The room in the south was made of blue 
 waters; they found nothing there. The room in the west 
 was made of yellow waters; they found nothing there. 
 The room in the north was made of waters of all colors; 
 and there they found the two lost maidens. 
 
 There, too, was the water monster, stupid under the 
 spell of the gods, his breath lifting his furry sides as he lay 
 close against his two children; but the young men saw 
 neither the monster nor his children. They saw only 
 the two maidens, and the two maidens saw only their 
 lovers. Together, looking into each other's eyes, they 
 passed up the whirling entrance way, out of the many- 
 colored waters into the gray light of the sky. 
 
 But Coyote was different. He looked at the Water 
 Monster, and nosed him over, as he lay in the depths of 
 the river, half asleep and heaving. Then he picked up 
 the young of the monster and hid them under his robe. 
 No one saw him do it except the Water Monster himself, 
 lying helpless under the spell of the gods. 
 
 Coyote, with his robe wrapped tight about him, 
 got up through the whirlpool just before it closed. He 
 went to his lodge, and there he played with the miserable 
 children of the Water Monster, who were too dry by far 
 in Coyote's earthy house. He liked to tease them, and 
 to think he was not alone in his house ; that he had a secret 
 there — a dangerous secret that nobody knew. 
 
THE FLIGHT TO THE FIFTH WORLD 23 
 
 The Water Monster swam slowly out to sea, to escape 
 the spell of the gods. And there, where there was no 
 whirling to confuse him, he laid his heavy head upon a 
 rock in the depths of the great waters. There he slowly 
 thought, and slowly resolved how to rescue his children. 
 
 Next day the people saw deer, turkey, and antelope 
 running from east to west. Animals of six different kinds — 
 two kinds of hawks, two kinds of squirrels, the humming 
 bird, and the bat — came into their camp as if escaping 
 from some danger. The next day more animals ran past 
 — wild animals that do not usually come near men. For 
 three days this happened. On the morning of the fourth 
 day the people saw a wide gleam along the horizon, and 
 sent out the Locusts to see what made this strange shining. 
 The Locusts flew off with a loud whirring and buzzing 
 of wings, looking like a thin black cloud scattering through 
 the gray air. When the yellow afternoon was changing 
 to the black night, they returned, with a loud clapping of 
 wings. 
 
 "Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!" cried the Locusts. "There is 
 a great flood of waters coming in from the east. It is 
 coming fast. It is a terrible flood." 
 
 The people all gathered together when they heard this, 
 and cried aloud in fear. Night came, but they could not 
 sleep, so fearful were they. 
 
 Next morning the waters were as high as mountains. 
 
24 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 encircling the whole horizon, except on the west, and 
 rolling on rapidly. The people hastily packed all their 
 things and climbed to the top of the high hill. Here 
 they held a council to decide what they should do. 
 
 Some one said that perhaps the Squirrels could help 
 them. 
 
 "We will try," said the Squirrels. 
 
 One of them planted a pinon seed, and one of them 
 a juniper seed. The seeds sprouted at once and grew 
 fast. The people hoped the trees would soon grow 
 so tall the flood could not reach their tops, and that all 
 might climb into them and be saved. But after the trees 
 had grown a little they began to branch out, and grew no 
 higher. 
 
 Then the frightened people called on the Weasels. 
 One of the weasels planted a spruce seed, and one a pine 
 seed. The seeds sprouted at once and grew fast. Again 
 the people began to hope; but again the trees began to 
 branch out, and grew but little higher. The waters were 
 coming nearer every moment, and the people were in great 
 fear. 
 
 Now two men drew near the hill. They were strangers. 
 One was old and gray- haired; the other was young. The 
 latter walked first. They went up the hill and passed 
 through the crowd, speaking to no one. The young man 
 sat down on the top of the hill and the old man sat down 
 
THE FLIGHT TO THE FIFTH WORLD 25 
 
 One of the weasels planted a spruce seed, and one a pine seed 
 
 behind him, facing the east, where the dreadful waters 
 had covered all the land. 
 
 "Perhaps our father can do something for us," said 
 the people. 
 
 "I cannot," said the old man. "But ask my son; he 
 may be able to help you." 
 
 When they asked the son he said he would help them 
 if they would all face to the west and not look at him while 
 he was at work. Then the people faced to the west, and 
 the young man worked silently behind them. The waters 
 were coming on steadily. The people heard the noise 
 of them; they smelled them; but they continued to look 
 toward the west. 
 
 In a few moments the young man called them, and 
 
26 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 they saw that he had planted thirty-two reeds, each of 
 which had thirty-two joints. As they watched they saw 
 the roots of the reeds reaching out into the soil in all direc- 
 tions, and the reeds themselves growing fast. A moment 
 later all the reeds joined together into one great reed, with 
 a hole in its eastern side. 
 
 The people hurried into this hole, scrambling over 
 each other; and when they were all inside, the hole closed. 
 They were not a moment too soon; the hole had scarcely 
 closed when they heard the noise of the surging waters 
 outside. The Turkey was the last to get in. The waters 
 wet the tip of his tail and he gobbled aloud, and the people 
 were frightened again. To this day the ends of the tur- 
 key's tail feathers are lighter than the rest, to show where 
 he dragged them in the water. 
 
 "Yin, yin, yin!" the waters cried, splashing against 
 the reed. 
 
 The waters rose fast, but the reed grew faster. It 
 kept on growing, and soon it grew so high that it began to 
 sway, and the people were afraid it would break. But 
 three of their friendly gods were with them— the White 
 God, the Blue God, and the Black God. The Black God 
 blew a great breath out of the top of the reed, and a black 
 cloud closed up about it and steadied it. 
 
 The reed grew higher and higher. Again it swayed 
 and seemed about to break. The people within trembled as 
 
THE FLIGHT TO THE FIFTH WORLD 2^ 
 
 the reed trembled. Again the Black God blew, and again 
 a thick cloud closed up and steadied the swaying reed. 
 At last it had grown so that it almost touched the sky; 
 but it bent and waved so much the people could not fasten 
 it to the sky. Then the Black God, who was on top, took 
 a plume out of his headband and stuck it out of the reed 
 against the sky. This is why the reeds, to this day, always 
 wear plumes on their heads. 
 
 The people were up to the sky now, but they could 
 find no hole in it. First Man and First Woman decided 
 to dig a hole. First they called on the Bear, and told 
 him to dig. He dug and dug with his sharp claws until 
 he was tired out, but he did not get through the sky. 
 
 Then Wolf dug until he was tired out, but he did not 
 get through the sky; then Coyote dug until he was tired 
 out, but he did not get through the sky; then Lynx dug 
 until he was tired out, but he did not get through the sky; 
 then Badger dug until he was tired out, and he did not 
 get through the sky. 
 
 But while Badger was digging, water began to drip 
 from above; so the people knew he had struck the waters 
 of the upper world, on the other side of the sky, and they 
 sent Locust up. Locust made a sort of tunnel in the soft 
 mud, and came through to the upper world. All locusts 
 make such tunnels to-day, in memory of their ancestor. 
 The Locust found that he was near a little island in the 
 
28 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 center of a lake. The island was faintly green, the waters 
 were faintly blue, and beyond them a wide, fiat land 
 stretched out in every direction until it met the sky in a 
 circle. The air did not look as it does at night, nor yet 
 as it does in bright day, but as it does in the early dawn. 
 Neither sun, moon, nor stars lighted the smooth arch of 
 the sky. 
 
 Coming toward Locust on the lake were two Water 
 Fowls. One of them was black, and came from the east; 
 the other was yellow, and came from the west. The 
 black Water Fowl said to him: 
 
 ''Who are you, and whence come you?" 
 As Locust did not reply, the Water Fowl went on: 
 "We own half of this world— I in the east, my brother 
 in the west. We give you a challenge. If you can do what 
 we do, we will give you half of the world. If you cannot, 
 you must die." 
 
 Each bird had an arrow made of the black wind. Each 
 passed this arrow through his heart and flung it down. 
 Then Locust picked up one of the arrows and passed it 
 through his heart, just as the others had done. When he 
 had flung it down the Water Fowls swam away, one to 
 the east and one to the west. 
 
 No sooner had they gone than two other Water Fowls 
 appeared; a blue one from the south and a shining one 
 from the north. They also passed arrows made of the 
 
THE FLIGHT TO THE FIFTH WORLD 29 
 
 Then Locust picked up one of the arrows and passed it through his heart 
 
 black wind through their hearts and challenged the Locust 
 to do likewise. Again the Locust took an arrow and passed 
 it through his body from side to side. Then the Water 
 Fowls swam away, leaving all the land to the Locust. 
 To this day the holes made in the Locust's sides are plainly 
 to be seen. 
 
 The Locust went back and told the people what had 
 happened. But when they tried to follow him they found 
 that the tunnel he had made was too small for them; so 
 they sent the Badger to make it larger. When he came 
 back his legs were stained black with the mud he had dug 
 through; and the legs of all the badgers have been black 
 ever since. 
 
 Then First Man and First Woman led the way; all the 
 
30 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 others followed, and at last they came through to the 
 surface of this, the fifth world. 
 
 First Man and First Woman looked about, and noticed 
 the broad sky, and the land flat on every side. 
 
 "We will make mountains here, by and by," they told 
 each other. "It will be good work for our people. This 
 land is too open. There is no place in it to take shelter. 
 And everything is alike. We will change it." 
 
 And they did. That is why the Lake of the Emer- 
 gence now lies among high mountains. The First People 
 made these mountains in the first days, and fastened them 
 in place with bolts of lightning, a great stone knife, sun- 
 beams, and rainbows. 
 
 In their turn the two young men and the two maidens 
 came up. They saw the blue of the lake and the little 
 silver ripples. They saw the trees on the island and the 
 shadowy places under vines. They saw the birds' nests hid- 
 den in the leaves. They thought it a pleasant world. 
 
 But now the people saw water rising in the tunnel. 
 It was boiling up the long tube. They again held council, 
 but knew not what to do to ward off this new danger. At 
 last First Man rose to speak. He pointed to Coyote and 
 said : 
 
 "That man is a rascal. There is something wrong 
 about him. I have watched him, and I have noticed 
 that he never takes off his robe, even when he sleeps. I 
 
THE FLIGHT TO THE FIFTH WORLD 31 
 
 believe he has stolen property under his arm. Perhaps 
 it is for his sin that we are punished." 
 
 They tore the robe from Coyote, and the soft, furry 
 young of the Water Monster dropped out from it. Quickly 
 the people picked them up and threw them into the hole 
 through which the waters were climbing. In an instant 
 the waters sucked back with the little creatures in their 
 grasp, and rushed away with a deafening noise into the 
 fourth world, leaving the people safe above. 
 
 At first the sky in the fifth world was like that in the 
 other four worlds. It was white in the east, blue in the 
 south, yellow in the west, and black in the north. First 
 Man and First Woman thought they could make some 
 lights that would make the earth brighter than this. They 
 thought about it a long time, and talked it over with each 
 other. At last they decided to make the sun and the moon. 
 For the sun they took a clear stone and shaped it until 
 it was a perfect circle. At first they thought of putting 
 five points on it, as they afterward did on the stars, but 
 they finally decided to make it round. They set tur- 
 quoises all around its edge, and outside of these they put 
 rays of red rain and rays of lightning, and set snakes of 
 many kinds twisting out from it. When it was done the 
 Wind of the East begged that it be brought to his country; 
 so they dragged it to the edge of the land where he dwelt. 
 There they gave it to the young man who had planted the 
 
32 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 great reed for them in the fourth world. They gave it to 
 him to carry, as a reward. 
 
 Next they made the moon. First they took a piece 
 of crystal and shaped it round like the sun, only smaller. 
 They bordered it with white shells, and drew over its face 
 sheet lightning and all kinds of waters. They gave it to 
 the old gray-haired man whose son had made the great 
 reed in the fourth world, and bade him carry it across the 
 sky. 
 
 When these two men were about to go away to begin 
 their long labor, the people began to weep and wail, for 
 they loved them for their kindness in an hour of trouble, 
 and were sorry to lose them. But First Man said: 
 
 " Mourn not for them; you will see them in the heavens, 
 and all who die will go to them there." 
 
COYOTE AND THE BEAR MAIDEN 
 (Navaho) 
 Part I 
 
 SOON after the first days a very beautiful maiden lived 
 in a lodge with her eleven brothers. She had the 
 north end of the lodge to herself. Here she kept her cook- 
 ing utensils and her materials for basket making and cloth 
 weaving. The eleven brothers slept at the south end, the 
 eldest near the door. 
 
 The brothers were mighty hunters, and the lodge was 
 always well supplied with meat, so they had many visitors. 
 The visitors made themselves rough lodges of branches 
 near by, and stayed for many days at a time. The maiden 
 cooked for them, and cooked well. Many asked her in 
 marriage, but she refused them all. She set them tasks 
 that were too hard for any man to do; but nevertheless 
 they tried, and when they failed they stole away in silence 
 and came no more. 
 
 Coyote heard about this. . He made up his mind that 
 he would try for the maiden. So he, too, went to see her. 
 He had a fine manner, and walked with his head high. 
 He expected people to take him for a god, and sometimes 
 
 33 
 
34 
 
 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 ''What must a man do to win you?" he asked 
 
 they did. He was beautifully dressed. He had a nice 
 otter-skin quiver, and his face was painted in spots. 
 
 The maiden greeted him politely when he came into her 
 lodge. She sat weaving baskets, but she noticed, out of 
 the corner of her eye, how good looking he was and how 
 well dressed. 
 
 "Why have you refused so many men who have wanted 
 to marry you?" asked Coyote, after a while. 
 
 "They could not win me," answered the maiden. 
 
 "What must a man do to win you?" he asked. 
 
 "Why should I tell you?" said she. "They are very I 
 hard tasks. You could not do them." \ 
 
 "I can do many things," said Coyote. And he sat 
 boasting, telling how he had chased the deer to the 
 
COYOTE AND THE BEAR MAIDEN 35 
 
 Humming-bird Men; how he had kept the children of the 
 Water Monster in his lodge for pets; how he had spent 
 an afternoon with the Tsidi Birds, playing ball with his 
 own eyes and catching them in the sockets again. 
 
 *'It made them a little yellow, being handled so much," 
 said he, blinking at the fire. But he did not tell how the 
 Humming-bird Men had enticed him over the ledge to 
 kill him; or how the angry birds had kept his eyes from 
 him and given him eyes of yellow gum instead; or liow 
 he had brought the great flood upon the people of the fourth 
 world because he stole the children of the Water Monster. 
 He kept these things and many others to himself. 
 
 ''Now tell me what these tasks of yours are," he said 
 at last. "You see, I have already done great things. 
 I shall do them again." 
 
 "There is no use telling you," said the maiden. " These 
 are harder things than any you have done. You could 
 not do them." 
 
 "Let me try," begged Coyote. "The Tsidi Birds 
 said I could not play with them, but I did. Tell me what 
 I must do, and then see me do it. It will be a fine sight." 
 
 Four times he asked her, and the fourth time she 
 answered : 
 
 "For one thing, I will marry no man who has not killed 
 at least one 6i the Alien Gods and brought me the tokens. 
 You have told me many things, but not one so big as that." 
 
36 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 Coyote rose and shook himself. 
 
 ''I will tell you about that when I come back," he said. 
 
 Near by lived one of the Alien Gods called Brown 
 Giant. He was half as tall as the tallest pine tree. He was 
 cruel and wicked. Everyone for miles around lived in 
 fear of him. The maiden and her eleven brothers were 
 not glad to have him for a neighbor. But no one had yet 
 been able to kill him, though he had killed many. 
 
 Coyote went up to him politely. 
 
 "I have come to offer myself to you for a servant," 
 he said. ''I can run fast and jump far. I can run after 
 your enemies and help you catch them. I can jump 
 over four bushes at one bound." 
 
 "My cousin," said Brown Giant, ''you appear well. 
 You have a good manner. You may be my servant if 
 you like." 
 
 Coyote looked about him as if in search of something. 
 
 "Where is your sweat house?" he asked. "I should 
 like to take a sweat, to make myself very limber and quick 
 for your service." 
 
 "I have no sweat house," growled Brown Giant. 
 
 "Let us make one, then," said Coyote. "I will help 
 you and show you how. You will see how fresh and young 
 a good sweat bath makes you feel." 
 
 So they went to work to make a sweat house. But 
 Coyote did not do much of the work. He showed Brown 
 
COYOTE AND THE BEAR MAIDEN 37 
 
 Giant how to make a hole in the ground, how to make the 
 framework of sticks above it, pointing toward the center, 
 and how to cover the framework with bark, grass, and 
 finally with earth. 
 
 ''Make the earth thick all over it, so the heat will not 
 escape," he commanded. While Brown Giant was busy 
 doing this, half hidden in the dust he raised. Coyote slipped 
 away and looked around until, among the many bones the 
 giant had spread about, he found a long thigh bone. He 
 hid this under his shirt and went back to the giant. 
 
 ''That is good," he said, looking at the low house the 
 giant had built. "We can certainly make fine houses, 
 you and I. Now we must cover the floor with leaves, and 
 start the fire." 
 
 They did so. They built a fire on the ground in front 
 of the house. In this they heated great stones, and carried 
 them into the sweat house. Before the doorway Coyote 
 hung four blankets of sky, one white, one blue, one yellow, 
 and one black. Then they took off their clothes, went 
 into the dark house, and sat down in the heat. 
 
 It was very hot. The stones glowed a dull red in the 
 center of the darkness. The green leaves shriveled in the 
 heat, and the perspiration streamed from the bodies of the 
 two men lying there panting. 
 
 "There is a secret about being a fast runner," said 
 Coyote. "There is magic in it. I know this secret as I 
 
38 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 know many others. I know much magic. Listen now, 
 and I will teach you what you must do. You must cut 
 your leg to the bone, and then break the bone. It will 
 heal in a minute, and you will be much fleeter and stronger 
 than you were before. I have often done it myself. I 
 will do it now. Each time I do it I grow stronger and can 
 run faster." 
 
 In the dark. Brown Giant heard the clatter of the great 
 stone knife as Coyote lifted it. 
 
 ''It takes a brave man to do this," said Coyote. "But 
 then only a brave man ought to be swift and strong. Ah — 
 ah! Often as I do it, I cannot quite keep from crying out. 
 Oh! There, it is cut. Now to break the bone." 
 
 A sharp noise cracked through the hot air. Coyote 
 had broken the bone he had brought with him. He made 
 Brown Giant feel the fractured ends of it, guiding his hand 
 in the dark. 
 
 "It is well broken — a little splintered, but that will do 
 no harm. It will grow together again in a few days, and 
 then you will see me leap and run. That will be a sight 
 indeed. This time I shall be able to jump over eight 
 bushes at a time. It is no wonder I am the swiftest runner 
 in the world. Even if many knew my magic, only a few 
 would be brave enough to practice it." 
 
 Then he slyly threw away the old bone, rubbed spittle 
 on his leg, prayed over it, and sang. 
 
COYOTE AND THE BEAR MAIDEN 39 
 
 "Tohe (Heal together)! Tohe! Tohe!" he chanted. 
 At last he guided Brown Giant's hand to his leg again. 
 
 "See how smooth and solid it is!" he said. ''There is 
 not even a scar. But you had better not try this. It is 
 too hard. You will not be able to stand the hurt. Let 
 me run and jump for you." 
 
 "No, indeed," said Brown Giant. "I have enemies. 
 Could you run away from them for mc? You are not 
 the only brave man in the world. I am as brave as you 
 now, and I shall soon be as fleet." 
 
 With that he took the stone knife from Coyote, and 
 slowly began to cut his thigh. He wished to suppress all 
 signs of pain, but in spite of himself the tears came, and 
 at last loud howls. But he worked on, and presently 
 Coyote heard the snap of the breaking bone. 
 
 "Tohe! Tohe! Tohe!" the giant cried, as Coyote 
 had done; but the bone remained broken. 
 
 "Cousin!" he cried. "Come and heal this bone for 
 me. I do not pray right. Show me what is wrong." 
 
 But Coyote had him, now, where he wanted him. He 
 ran out of the sweat house, picked up his arrows, and shot 
 them into the helpless man. At last Brown Giant lay dead 
 in his sweat house, his leg broken and bleeding, and many 
 arrows in him. Through the lifted sky curtains at the 
 doorway the light shone in on him. 
 
 Coyote scalped him as he lay, and tied the big yellow 
 
40 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 scalp on the end of a broken branch of a cedar tree. He 
 knew the maiden would recognize the scalp, for in those 
 days none but the gods had yellow hair. Then he took the 
 giant's weapons and, staggering under their weight, went 
 back to the maiden. He threw the trophies at her feet as 
 she sat weaving baskets. The yellow hair of the scalp 
 lay in her lap. 
 
 "Now you must marry me," shouted Coyote. *'I 
 have done what you told me to do. What you thought 
 too much for gods to do. Coyote has done. Coyote has 
 won his bride." He danced and whooped outside the lodge. 
 
 The maiden watched him under the door flap. 
 
 ''No, not yet," she said. "I have not told you all 
 you must do to win me. You must be killed and come 
 to life four times." 
 
 This was not so bad for Coyote, for he kept his vital 
 principle in the tip of his nose and the end of his tail. 
 Many times he had been killed and come to life again. 
 Nevertheless he made difficulties. 
 
 "Are you telling me the truth?" he asked. "Is this 
 all that you require? If I do this, will you marry me?" 
 
 "I speak only the truth," said the maiden. 
 
 Four times he asked, and four times she made the same 
 reply. 
 
 "Here I am," said Coyote then. "Do with me as you 
 will." 
 
COYOTE AND THE BEAR MAIDEN 41 
 
 She took him a httle distance from the camp, laid him 
 on the ground, and beat him with a great club until she 
 thought she had smashed every bone in his body. But 
 she had not smashed the point of his nose or the tip of his 
 tail. Then she went back to her work. She had four 
 baskets to weave, and she was very busy. 
 
 Soon Coyote came walking in at the door. 
 
 "Here I am," he said. "I have won the first game. 
 Now there are only three more to win." 
 
 The maiden went on with her weaving, and thought 
 awhile. Then she rose, and took Coyote off farther than 
 before. She pounded him very carefully, until he was all 
 in little bits, but two of these bits were the uninjured point 
 of his nose and the tip of his tail. Again she went back 
 to her work. 
 
 Soon Coyote came walking in at the door. 
 
 ''Here I am," he said. *'I have won two games. 
 Now there are only two more to win." 
 
 The maiden went on weaving in silence. Her heart 
 trembled within her for fear she was captured at last. 
 But she rose and took him still farther away. She pounded 
 him into a shapeless mass and laid the mass on a great 
 rock and pounded it still finer. Next she scattered the 
 pieces far and wide. Still she had not injured the point 
 of his nose and the tip of his tail. It took Coyote longer 
 than before to gather himself together. She had done 
 
42 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 quite a piece of her weaving when Coyote came walking 
 in at the door. 
 
 ''Here I am," he said. "I have won three games. 
 Now there is only one more to win." 
 
 This time she led him a long distance before she pounded 
 him. She mixed the pieces with earth, and ground the 
 mixture between stones, like corn, until it was a fine pow- 
 der. She scattered this powder far and wide. But among 
 the grains of powder were still uninjured the point of 
 Coyote's nose and tip of his tail. She went back to her 
 lodge and worked a long time without hearing or seeing 
 any one. She thought she had conquered Coyote at last, 
 and was sorry. She began to think how brave he had 
 been and how neatly he had dressed. He was a boaster, 
 but he seemed to be able to make his boast good. Much 
 of the basket was done, and she was weaving rather slowly, 
 when again Coyote came walking in at the door. 
 
 ''Here I am," he said. ''I have won four games, and 
 I have won you." 
 
 She could not deny it, and he sat down beside her as 
 she wove. He stayed all the afternoon. At sunset they 
 heard the sound of footsteps. She said: 
 
 ''There are my brothers. Some of them are of an evil 
 mind, and may do you harm. You must hide yourself." 
 
 She hid him behind a pile of skins, and told him to 
 keep quiet. 
 
COYOTE AND THE BEAR MAIDEN 43 
 
 When the brothers came in they said to their sister: 
 "See the fat young venison we bring you. Make a 
 fire now, and we will all eat well. And boil some of the 
 fat in the pot, for we want to grease our faces. They are 
 burned with the sun and the wind." 
 
 The maiden built a good fire and put the meat over to 
 cook. The brothers lay around the fire, tired, waiting 
 for their supper. First one and then another sniffed the 
 
 air. 
 
 ''What is this we smell?" said they. "Is there some 
 one else in the house? We smell some animal." 
 
 Three times they asked this question, but their sister 
 was silent. At the fourth question Coyote jumped out 
 from behind the pile of skins into the middle of the lodge. 
 
 "It is I, my brothers-in-law," said he. 
 
 The brothers were very angry. Who was this, who 
 first hid like a sneak and then faced them like a boaster? 
 Was this the sort of suitor their sister preferred — she who 
 had rejected so many good huntsmen and strong warriors? 
 Why had she concealed him? Was she ashamed of him 
 and afraid of them? 
 
 "Run out there!" cried the brothers in a threatening 
 manner. And turning to their sister, they said: 
 
 "You, too, run out with him!" 
 
 Coyote went out jauntily with his wife. As he passed 
 the fire he took a brand from it to light his own fire. He 
 
44 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 broke branches from the trees outside and built a shelter 
 for himself and his wife. When it was done, she went 
 back to her brothers' lodge and took out her pots, her four 
 awls, her skins, her baskets, and all her property, and car- 
 ried them to her new home. 
 
 She and Coyote sat side by side near the fire. She 
 felt a little lonely and humiliated. This was not the way 
 she had pictured her wedding day. She put her hand on 
 Coyote's knee, but he pushed it away without speaking. 
 
 She sat looking at her hand and wondering. Why 
 had he done that? Was she not his wife? Was she not 
 the most beautiful woman in the world? She reached 
 out her hand again; but again Coyote ptished it away. 
 
 She sat looking at her hand. It was brown and straight 
 and good to look at. It could sew well, and weave well, 
 and cook well. It was the hand of his wife. To win it 
 he had dared the Brown Giant and four times suffered 
 death. It must be he was grieved that her brothers had 
 turned him out. Again she put her hand on his knee; but 
 again Coyote pushed it away. 
 
 • She could not understand this. She looked at him 
 and studied him. He sat staring and scowling at the fire. 
 He looked very cross. She was half afraid of him. He 
 was all she had, now. It would not do to have him cross. 
 They must be friends and stand together against her 
 brothers. 
 
COYOTE AND THE BEAR MAIDEN 45 
 
 After a long time she thought he scowled less, and again 
 she stole her hand toward him. It was the magical fourth 
 time, and something must come of it. Sure enough, Coyote 
 spoke. He snarled in his throat. 
 
 "I have sworn to take no woman for a wife until I 
 have killed her four times,'* he said. 
 
 Now it was the woman's turn to sit silent, gazing at 
 the fire. At last she said: 
 
 ''Here I am. Do with me as you will." 
 
 Then Coyote treated her exactly as she had treated 
 him. Four times he pounded her to pieces, and scattered 
 the pieces far and wide. Remembering his own vital 
 spots he left no part of her uninjured. He did not know 
 that her vital principle was not in her body at all, and that 
 nothing he could do to her body would destroy her. 
 
 When she returned for the fourth time she and Coyote 
 were good friends. They knew they were well matched. 
 They sat long over the fire, talking in low tones. Coyote 
 told her much of his magic, and she listened closely, admir- 
 ing him. But she never told him the secret of her vital 
 principle. 
 
 Outside their shelter the youngest brother tried to hear 
 what they said. At home he told his brothers about it. 
 
 ''They are friends," he said, "and they tell each other 
 many things. I could not hear them all, but all I did hear 
 was evil.'* 
 
46 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 Next morning the brothers were getting ready to go 
 hunting again when Coyote came into the lodge. 
 
 "It is a fine morning, brothers-in-law," said he. ''We 
 shall have a good hunt to-day." 
 
 ' ' Go back, ' ' said the brothers, taunting him. ' ' Your wife 
 may be lonely and want some one to talk to. Why should 
 you leave her?" And they chased him out of the lodge. 
 
 But as they were about to leave. Coyote came again. 
 
 "Come, now, brothers-in-law," he said, "you have had 
 your little joke. I don't mind it. I will go with you, 
 just the same." 
 
 "No, no!" they said. "The woman will want you to 
 carry wood for her. You must stay at home and help 
 her. Go away now." 
 
 They set off on their journey without him, but they 
 had not gone far when he overtook them. 
 
 "We are out of sight of the woman, brothers-in-law," 
 said he. " Now there is no use teasing me. See, I 
 have brought my bow and arrows. They are wonderful 
 weapons, and you will see what a good hunter I am." 
 
 The brothers made no answer. They merely turned 
 and chased him back. They traveled on until they came 
 to a deep cafion bordered with steep cliffs, and here they 
 discovered that Coyote was skulking along behind them. 
 Ten of the brothers were very angry, but the youngest 
 brother laughed. 
 
COYOTE AND THE BEAR MAIDEN 47 
 
 "Oh, let him stay," he said. *'We can use him to 
 drive game toward us." After a Httle argument they 
 decided to do this, and let Coyote follow on. 
 
 Before long they wished to cross over to the other side 
 of the cafion, but there was no bridge. Down in the 
 canon lived some unfriendly people; so they did not care 
 to descend into it. They consulted together for a few 
 minutes, and at last decided to make a rainbow bridge. 
 
 They went through their magic rites. The air began 
 to quiver with color. The fine colors floated around 
 everywhere for several minutes, clung together, settled 
 into place, and there stood a shining bridge above the 
 chasm, arching from rock to rock. 
 
 Coyote leaped out upon it with a great bound, and 
 began to jump and run on it. ''What a fine place to play ! " 
 he said. 
 
 He thought to himself how splendid he must look, 
 bounding along on the rainbow bridge, high above the 
 dark canon. 
 
 By and by they came to a mesa, or table-land, thrust 
 out over a lower plain. A narrow neck of land joined it 
 to the plateau on which they stood. All around the mesa 
 were steep rocks. The neck of land was the only entrance. 
 
 Here they saw the track of Rocky Mountain sheep 
 that had gone over the neck on to the mesa. They built 
 a fire at the entrance, sat dow^n near it, and sent Coyote 
 
48 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 to drive out the sheep. In a few minutes they saw the 
 sheep come running, Coyote chasing them. They drew 
 their arrows to the head and vshot all four of them. Then 
 Coyote lay down beside the fire, proud and happy. 
 
 In those days the horns of the Rocky Mountain sheep 
 were fat and fleshy and could be eaten. The eldest brother 
 said : 
 
 ''The horns are my share." 
 
 "No," said Coyote; ''I found the sheep and drove 
 them. The horns shall be my share." 
 
 The eldest brother drew otit his knife and began to 
 cut one of the horns. As he did do. Coyote cried out: 
 
 ' ' Tsinantlehi ! Tsinantlehi ! Tsinantlehi ! ' '—which 
 means, "Turn to bone!" 
 
 Each time he cried the horn grew harder so that the 
 knife slipped, hacking but not cutting it. This is why 
 the horns of the Rocky Mountain sheep are now hard and 
 not fleshy. To this day they bear the marks of the hunter's 
 knife. 
 
 Then the brothers gathered the meat into a bundle and 
 tied it on Coyote's back. 
 
 "Carry it home for us!" they commanded. "And go 
 around the cafion. The rainbow bridge has faded, and 
 we shall not build another for such a bad hunting companion 
 as you are. Don't go down into the canon, for if you do 
 you will fall among evil people." 
 
COYOTE AND THE BEAR MAIDEN 49 
 
 But Coyote had no mind to take the long journey 
 around the canon with such a heavy load on his back. 
 He went to the edge of the canon and looked down. There 
 he saw some birds playing a strange game. They rolled 
 stones down the long slope that reached from the foot of 
 the cliff to the end of the valley, and as the stones rolled 
 the birds rode upon them without losing their balance. 
 This was too much for Coyote. He unbound his pack 
 and ran down into the valley. 
 
 ''Let me play too!" he shouted. "You will see how 
 soon I shall learn 1 Maybe I can teach you a trick or two ! ' ' 
 
 They rolled a stone gently for him, and he stood upon 
 it, balancing himself so surely and quickly that he rolled 
 to the bottom of the slope without injury. 
 
 "What did I tell you!" he cried, jumping around for 
 joy. "I knew I could do it! Roll me another stone!" 
 
 The birds rolled another, and again he rode safely. 
 
 "Another!" he called out. "Roll me another!" And 
 once more they rolled a stone. 
 
 But the fourth time he called they became angry. 
 Why should he order them about? They rolled the stone, 
 indeed, but with such force that Coyote lost his balance, 
 and he and the stone rolled over and over each other to 
 the bottom of the slope. Coyote screaming and yelping 
 all the way down. 
 
 He did not go back again, but traveled on through the 
 4 
 
so 
 
 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 '7 kneiv I could do it! Roll me another stone' 
 
 valley. At the lower end Coyote saw some Otters play- 
 ing the game of nanzoz. They played it with a hoop and 
 two long poles, and they bet their skins on the game. 
 When one of the Otters lost the game and forfeited 
 his skin, he jumped into the water and came out with 
 a new skin. 
 
 "That is a great game," said Coyote. "I know it 
 well. Let me show you how to roll that hoop." 
 
 The Otters had heard what a rascal Coyote was, and 
 at first they would not let him play, but he begged so hard 
 that at last they yielded. He bet his beautiful smooth 
 skin, as thick as the Otters' own, and lost it. The moment 
 he lost it the Otters fell upon him and began to strip it 
 off, beginning at the root of the tail and pulling forward. 
 
COYOTE AND THE BEAR MAIDEN 51 
 
 When they came to the vital spot at the point of his nose 
 his cries were terrible. 
 
 When at last he stood shivering without his skin he 
 jumped into the water as the Otters had done. But no; his 
 skin did not come back to him. Again he jumped skin- 
 less into the water. Again and again he came up skinless. 
 
 At last he was all tired out, and lay down in the water, 
 silent. Then the Otters took pity on him and pulled him 
 out. They drew him to a badger hole, threw him in, 
 and covered him with earth. When he dug his way out 
 he was again covered with hair, but it was no longer the 
 glossy coat he once wore. It was coarse and rough, much 
 like that of the badger. Such a coat the coyotes have 
 worn ever since. 
 
 Even this did not cure him. He had changed his skin 
 but not his nature. He went around asking every one 
 to play with him, and offering to bet his skin again. 
 
 "Your skin!" they jeered at him. "Who would play 
 for such a skin as that? Get out!" 
 
 Coyote grew angry. He went off to a safe distance 
 and began to abuse the Otters shamefully. 
 
 ' ' You are cowards ! " he said. ' ' Yovl boast much, but do 
 nothing. Your women are no good. They have fiat heads; 
 their eyes are little; their teeth stick out; they are ugly. 
 But I, I, Coyote, have a bride as beautiful as the sun." 
 
 He shook his foot at them to show he could run faster 
 
52 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 than they could. He danced up to them, and when they 
 tried to chase him he danced away. When they had 
 quieted down he stole up to them and began again to taunt 
 them. After a while he got upon a cliff and reviled them 
 until the valley rang with his insulting words. 
 
 The Otters held council among themselves and decided 
 they could stand mockery no longer. They sent word to 
 the chief of the Spiders, who lived farther up the valley, 
 telling him what had happened, and asking for aid. 
 
 The Spiders made a good plan. They crept up the 
 bluff and went around behind Coyote. He was so busy 
 scolding that he never noticed them. There they wove 
 strong nets among the trees and bushes. Still without 
 rousing him, they went back and told the Otters what 
 they had done. 
 
 Now the Otters began to charge up the bluff upon 
 Coyote. As before, he let them come quite near, shaking 
 his foot at them and laughing to think how easily he could 
 escape them. When they were almost upon him he leapt 
 back — and there he was, caught fast in the Spiders* webs! 
 
 He howled aloud as the Otters pounced upon him. 
 Down to the foot of the hill they dragged him and there 
 they killed him. Even the vital spots did not escape, for 
 the Cliff Swallows flew to the bottom of the canon and tore 
 him in pieces. These pieces they carried to their nests, 
 and ^ there they ate them. They saved only a few strips 
 
COYOTE AND THE BEAR AlAIDEN 53 
 
 of his skin, which they bound about their heads as trophies. 
 To this day the cHff swallows all wear such bands upon 
 their heads, in token that they, of all creatures, finally 
 disposed of Coyote. 
 
 Part II 
 
 The eleven brothers did not reach home until night. 
 No Coyote was there, and they wondered what had become 
 of him. Soon after they had gone into the lodge their 
 sister came and looked over the door curtain. She searched 
 the lodge with her eyes, and looked questioningly at them. 
 They did not speak until she had done this four times, 
 when the eldest brother said: 
 
 "Go home, and go to sleep. Don't worry about that 
 rascally husband of yours. He is not here, and we don't 
 know where he is, nor where our meat is that he ought to 
 have carried home. Because we warned him not to go, 
 we suppose he has gone down into the canon and has been 
 killed there.'* 
 
 The sister did not quite believe them. 
 
 ''What have you done with him?" she asked, and went 
 away angry. 
 
 Again the youngest brother followed her to her lodge 
 to see what she would do. This is what he saw: 
 
 At first she pretended to go to sleep, but at last she 
 arose and sat facing the east. In turn she faced the south. 
 
54 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 west, and north, moving as the sun moves. Next she 
 pulled out her right eyetooth, and inserted one of her awls 
 in its place, making a great tusk where the little tooth had 
 been. Then she opened her mouth to the east, south, 
 west, and north, and pulled out her left eyetooth. In 
 its place she inserted another awl. Again she opened her 
 mouth to the east, south, west, and north, and pulled out 
 her right dogtooth. She inserted an awl in its place. A 
 fourth time she opened her mouth to the east, south, west, 
 and north, and pulled out her left dogtooth. Her fourth 
 awl she inserted in its place. 
 
 As she began pulling out her teeth, hair began to grow 
 upon her hands, and as she went on it spread up her arms 
 and her legs until she was covered with a shaggy coat. 
 Still she moved about, as the sun moves, opening her mouth 
 to the east, south, west, and north. As she moved, her 
 ears began to wag, her nose turned into a snout, her teeth 
 gnashed against each other, her nails grew into claws, and 
 she walked her lodge a bristling bear. 
 
 Her brother watched her until dawn, and then, fearing 
 the terrible creature might discover him, he went home and 
 told the other brothers all that he had seen. 
 
 ''This must be some of the magic that Coyote taught 
 her," said they. 
 
 A moment later they heard the rustling of a bear, 
 and a she-bear rushed past the lodge, cracking the branches 
 
COYOTE AND THE BEAR MAIDEN , 55 
 
 as she went. She followed the trail Coyote had taken the 
 day before, and disappeared in the woods. 
 
 At night she crept back to her lodge, groaning, and 
 covered with wounds. All day she had been in the cafion, 
 fighting those who had killed Coyote. Her brothers saw 
 a light in her lodge, and they peeped in to see what would 
 happen. First she would walk around the fire — east, 
 south, west, north. Then she would pull an arrowhead 
 out of her body and heal the wound. Again and again 
 she did this, until all the arrows had been drawn out and 
 all the wounds healed. 
 
 Next morning the Bear Woman again rushed past the 
 lodge of her brothers and disappeared in the woods. All 
 day she fought, and at night returned to her lodge, groan- 
 ing, and covered with wounds. All night she walked around 
 the fire — east, south, west, north — drawing out the 
 arrowheads and healing her wounds. 
 
 For four days and four nights she did this. At the 
 end of the fourth day she had conquered all her enemies. 
 Many she had killed, and the others she had scattered. 
 The Swallows flew up into the high cliffs, the Otters hid 
 themselves in the water, the Spiders crept into holes in 
 the ground, and in such places these creatures have had 
 to live to this day. 
 
 The brothers feared their turn would come next, so 
 they decided to go away — all, that is, but the youngest 
 
56 INDIAN LEGENDS • 
 
 brother. He decided to stay at home. The other ten 
 divided into four bands. One band traveled to the east, 
 another to the south, another to the west, and another to 
 the north. The youngest brother was at home alone. 
 
 But he was not left friendless. Two holy ones, Niyol 
 the Whirlwind, and Pesasike the Knife Boy, came to help 
 him. They dug a hole for him under the center of the 
 lodge, and roofed it over with four fiat stones, one white, 
 one blue, one yellow, and one black. On top of these 
 they put earth, smoothing and tramping it until it looked 
 like the floor of the lodge. 
 
 Before putting him in the hole they gave him four 
 weapons — the chain-lightning arrow, a stone knife, the 
 rainbow arrow, and the sheet-lightning arrow. They also 
 gave him two advisers, Niltsi the Wind, to whisper in his 
 right ear and warn him of any danger by day; and Tsalyel, 
 darkness, at his left ear, to warn him by night. 
 
 Now when the Bear Woman came to look for her 
 brothers she could not find them. She padded about 
 from place to place, seeking them. At last she had to resort 
 to magic. She poured water on the ground, and watched 
 to see which way it flowed. It spread in a little shining 
 circle on the level earth ; a drop oozed out toward the east ; 
 another followed, and another, and another, until a little 
 stream was trickling eastward. The Bear- Woman rushed 
 after it, slapping the water to left and right with her great 
 
COYOTE AND THE BEAR MAIDEN 
 
 57 
 
 At last she had to resort to magic 
 
 flat feet. Slap, slap, the sound fell upon the ears of the 
 three brothers who fled from her to the east. Slap, slap, 
 she was upon them, and had killed them all three. 
 
 With her head hanging low and swinging from side to 
 side, she plodded back to the deserted lodge. Again she 
 poured water upon the level ground. This time it flowed 
 to the south. She followed after, steady and fierce, until 
 she found the three brothers who had fled from her to the 
 south. In the south she slew them, all three. 
 
 Again she swung up the bed of the little stream back to 
 the old camp. Again she poured water on the level earth. 
 This time it oozed, trickled, flowed to the west. Again 
 she slapped the water from left to right as she followed 
 after, her heavy body swaying from side to side, her heavy 
 
58 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 head hanging and swinging, her heavy heart set on the 
 murder of her brothers. At the west she found three more 
 of them. In the west she slew them, all three. 
 
 The fourth time the water flowed to the north. Here 
 she found one man alone and unable to resist her; she slew 
 him in the north. 
 
 For the fifth time she poured water on the ground. 
 It sank straight down into the earth. So then she knew 
 the eleventh brother must be somewhere about the old 
 camp. She lunged in and out of all the ruined huts, 
 where once her lovers and guests had stayed, eating of 
 her food and admiring her. But in none was her brother to 
 be found. Nearer she came to the lodge that had been her 
 own home — nearer — until at last that was the only lodge 
 she had not searched. Now she entered it. The youngest 
 brother heard the thud of her paws above his head, and 
 felt the jar of her weight as she moved about, looking for 
 him. He heard her scratching around the walls of the 
 lodge, scratching nearer the center, scratching just above his 
 hiding place. Here the earth was soft, because it had been 
 disturbed so recently, and she threw it rapidly to one side, 
 digging her way down to him. Soon she came to the stones. 
 She tore them away, and there, crouching under them, but 
 looking her fair in the eyes, she saw her last brother. 
 
 *' I greet you, my youngest brother," said she. '' Come, 
 take my paw, and I will pull you out of that.'* 
 
COYOTE AND THE BEAR MAIDEN 59 
 
 But Wind told him not to accept her aid. If he did, 
 she would throw him violently up into the air, and when 
 he fell half dead at her feet, he would be at her mercy. 
 
 Therefore he got up without her help, and climbed out 
 of the hole on the east side, and began to walk toward the 
 east. She lurched after him with a savage growl, but he 
 calmly faced her and said: 
 
 "It is I, your youngest brother." 
 
 Then she tried coming up to him in a coaxing way, 
 as a dog when he wants to make friends; and in this way 
 she was leading him back toward the deserted lodge, 
 when Wind again whispered in his ear: 
 
 ''We have had sorrow there; let us not go back toward 
 the lodge.'* 
 
 Ever since, the Navahos have refused to live in a house 
 in which a death has taken place. 
 
 "Come," then said the Bear Woman, "sit with your 
 face to the west and let me comb your hair as I used to do." 
 
 It was now late in the afternoon, and Wind whispered: 
 
 "Beware of her! Sit with your face toward the 
 north, that you may watch her shadow and see what she 
 does. It was in this way that she killed your brothers." 
 
 They both sat down, she behind him. She began to 
 untie his long hair, and to comb it. Soon he noticed that 
 the shadow of her snout was growing longer, as it approached 
 his head, and that her ears were wagging. 
 
6o INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 "Why does your snout grow longer and why do your 
 ears wag so?'* he asked. 
 
 She did not answer, but drew her head back and kept 
 her ears still. But presently he saw the snout shadow 
 stealing toward him again, and the shadowy ears wagging. 
 
 *'Why does your snout grow longer and why do your 
 ears wag so?" he asked. 
 
 Again she drew back and was still. She combed and 
 combed until she hoped that she had soothed him into a 
 drowse, and she leaned toward him. But he was still 
 watching the shadows, and again he asked her: 
 
 ^'Why does your snout grow longer and why do your 
 ears wag so?'* 
 
 Again she drew back and was still. She combed for a 
 long time. The sun began to go down in the west. All 
 shadows were long. The birds were getting ready for 
 sleep, and their drowsy calls were soft in the golden air. 
 The brother almost dozed off under her smooth combing, 
 as he had done a thousand times before. She bent toward 
 him. He started. 
 
 *'Why does your snout grow longer and why do your 
 ears wag so?" he asked. 
 
 She drew back and was still. 
 
 "Do not let this happen again," whispered Wind in his 
 ear. "If she puts out her snout the fifth time, she will 
 bite your head off. I will tell you a secret about her. She 
 
Page 6u 
 
 Why does your snout grow longer, and ivhy do your ears wag so?" 
 
COYOTE AND THE BEAR MAIDEN 6i 
 
 does not keep her vital parts in her body at all. They are 
 over yonder, under that tree, and that squirrel guards them 
 for her. Now run and destroy them.'* 
 
 So the youngest brother rose, and ran toward the squir- 
 rel. The Bear Woman ran after him. Suddenly a large 
 yucca sprang up in her way. When she had got around 
 that, there w^as a cactus in her path. Another yucca 
 sprang up, and another cactus. She ran faster than her 
 brother, but these big plants so delayed her that he reached 
 the tree first. He heard the lungs breathing under 
 the weeds that covered them. He drew forth his chain- 
 lightning arrow and shot it into the weeds. A bright 
 stream of blood spurted up. At the same moment the 
 Bear Woman fell, with the blood spurting from her side. 
 
 *'See,'* whispered Wind, ''the stream of blood from her 
 body and the stream from her vitals flow toward each other. 
 If they meet she will revive and be so savage that your 
 danger will be greater than ever. With your stone knife 
 draw a mark on the ground between the two streams." 
 
 The young man stooped and marked on the ground with 
 his stone knife. While he was still stooping, the blood 
 thickened before his eyes until it was too thick to flow. 
 
 Then the young man spoke to the bloody carcass of 
 her who had been his sister. 
 
 ''You shall live again," he said, ''but no longer as the 
 vengeance taker, the Bear Woman. You shall live in 
 
62 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 other forms in which you may be of service to your kind 
 and not merely a thing of evil/* He cut off the head and 
 threw it at the foot of the tree. 
 
 ^'Come to life, now, and behave well," he commanded, 
 ''or else again I shall slay you." 
 
 The head changed to a bear. It started to walk off, 
 but stopped, and looked back at the man. 
 
 "You have bidden me behave well," it said. "But 
 what shall I do if others attack me?" 
 
 "Then you may defend yourself," the young man said, 
 "but begin no quarrel. Go now to Black Mountain and 
 dwell there." 
 
 The Bear obeyed, trotting off toward the sinking sun 
 until she showed only a moving dark speck in the distance. 
 
 There are now in Black Mountain many bears descended 
 from this one. 
 
 Then the young hero went to his friends, the Whirl- 
 wind and the Knife Boy. They led him to the east, south, 
 west, and north, where he found the bodies of his ten 
 brothers. These his holy friends soon restored to life. 
 Together they went back to the place where they had 
 lived, and built a new house on which was no curse of 
 sorrow. There they lived in quiet and peace. Every 
 now and then, in the evening, they looked up at Black 
 Mountain. On its side, looking down at them, they some- 
 times saw a bear, but it never came any nearer. 
 
SCARFACE: A STORY OF LOVE AND MEDICINE 
 
 n^HIS is a tale of ancient times. In those days there 
 lived a young man, alone, in the midst of a large 
 village. There were many young men and maidens, but 
 none who belonged to him. All his relatives had journeyed 
 to the Sand Hills, never to return. 
 
 He was very poor. He had no wife to make his mocca- 
 sins, cook his food, or tan his clothes. He had no lodge. 
 He stayed first in one lodge, then in another, silent and 
 lonely in all. 
 
 He was handsome, except for a scar that marred one 
 cheek. When a boy the other boys had called him Scarface 
 in mockery, and this name clung to him. It was all he 
 had — the scar, the name from it, and the good looks it 
 partly spoiled. 
 
 His best friends were the birds and the animals. They 
 loved and trusted him, although he hunted as others did 
 when necessity drove him — when he was hungry, or in 
 need of warm clothing. But on other days — and there 
 were many of them — he would lie for hours under a bush 
 as still as a prostrate dog, until the birds hopped over him; 
 the squirrels dropped their nuts into his relaxed hands and 
 
 63 
 
64 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 ran down and got them again; the foxes dragged their 
 brushes over him as they fled; and the bears and the bees 
 waged war over the honey in the hollow treetrunk near by. 
 
 He could speak in the language of the birds and beasts. 
 The young birds on their nests chirped to him as to their 
 mother; and the quail whistled to him from every field. 
 He knew when the wood creatures were hungry, and fed 
 them from his scant store ; when they were thirsty he broke 
 the ice in the pool for them. 
 
 ''I have friends here," he would say to the forest world, 
 spreading out his lonely arms. "I have friends and helpers. 
 Some day they will help me as I help them." 
 
 He spent many hours thus, in the forest. He alone 
 was not afraid to stay there all night. Other young men 
 feared the spirits that haunted the spring within the edge 
 of the woods, and would not go near it after dark. Even 
 to woo the maidens who went thither to draw water they 
 would not go before daylight. These maidens came at 
 the first blush of sunrise, but no lover w^as there before 
 them. Scarface alone dared to spend the night, fasting, 
 by the brink. People whispered to each other that he was 
 friends with the spirits of the woods and the waters — 
 that they comforted him for his lost people. 
 
 Among the maidens who came to the spring was one 
 fairer than all the others. Scarface, peeping among the 
 leaves at sunrise, was not the only one who thought so. 
 
SCARFACE: A STORY OF LOVE 65 
 
 Though no one else kept watch at the spring all night for 
 the sake of a look at her in the morning, all the young men 
 from near and far wished her for a wife. 
 
 Her father was a rich man, owning many ponies and 
 many furs. He gave dances and feasts, and to them came 
 the finest young braves from all the neighboring villages, 
 wearing their best clothes, adorned with feathers and 
 trophies. They danced before the young maiden, told 
 stories, laughed and shouted; they wrestled before her and 
 ran races. She looked and smiled, well pleased; but she 
 would marry none of them. 
 
 It was the morning after such a dance. Many of the 
 young men had not slept at all, and now, in the gray dawn, 
 were going home to their lodges. They were laughing and 
 jesting, but more than one heart was sore. 
 
 "Did she choose you last night. Little Moccasin?" 
 one asked. "How your feet twinkled in the dance! You 
 are well named. She looked at you and smiled — but so 
 has she looked at us all. Did she give you any promise?" 
 
 "She is too proud," said Little Moccasin, sulkily. "No 
 man ought to take so proud a woman into his lodge. She 
 would be too proud to work." 
 
 " Kyi-yi ! " shouted the young men, laughing, and making 
 signs to one another. "We think so too, brother-in-law. 
 She is much too proud — and not so very pretty, either. 
 You were only pretending last night, weren't you?" You 
 
 5 
 
66 INDIAN LECxENDS 
 
 did n't really care? Yes, indeed, that was the way with 
 us all. None of us really wanted her — -not one of us is 
 tired of living alone! 
 
 "Here comes a fellow who needs a proud wife. Look 
 at his clothes! He would soon break in any woman who 
 had to mend them. Hey, Scarf ace! We have picked out 
 a wife for you!" 
 
 Scarf ace was going by his own way to the spring. He, 
 too, had been at the dance, but silent, unobserved, watching 
 from a corner. 
 
 "Who is she?" he asked, stopping; for he would not 
 seem afraid. 
 
 "You know very well. That proud girl over yonder. 
 She will not have any of us; but she may take a fancy to 
 you — you are so handsome! There is nothing to spoil 
 your face! And so rich — with such a fine lodge! Why 
 have n't you asked her before? You are the only man 
 left now — she has refused every one else and she'll have 
 to take one. Why don't you ask her to-day? Take pity 
 on her! She might go unwed!" 
 
 "I will ask her," said Scarf ace. The red blood swept 
 over cheek and brow, drowning out the crimson scar. 
 "I am no prouder than you. Since you have asked her, 
 I will ask her, too. She can say no worse to me than she 
 has to you." 
 
 He seemed to grow taller before their eyes as he walked 
 
SCARFACE: A STORY OF LOVE 67 
 
 slowly off toward the dim woods none of them dared enter. 
 
 There he placed himself, all trembling, behind a tree, 
 and waited. The air was sharp and sweet; his sighing 
 lungs drank deep of it. Birds were stirring and calling 
 overhead; the night creatures crept to their lairs as the 
 level rays of the rising sun touched the moss at his feet 
 with gold and silvered the bubbling water of the spring. 
 Dark against the shining disk he saw her coming, her water 
 basket on her head. For her the world was curtained 
 in rosy clouds; the sun spread his rays to embrace her. 
 
 She saw Scarf ace, brown among the tree trunks. She 
 paused, alert for flight, but he stood as still as for the wild 
 things of the forest, and in his eyes was the look no creature 
 feared. Stooping to the fountain, she filled her basket — 
 emptied it again — looked up for a second into his quiet 
 eyes — filled it, and offered it to him. He stooped and 
 drank, as she knelt before him. Then he spoke; and his 
 voice was low. 
 
 "To-day, as I came to the spring, the young men met 
 me and mocked me. They bade me come to you and tell 
 you I was tired of living alone. They said you had refused 
 the richest and handsomest of them; that perhaps my 
 riches and my beauty you would not refuse. I answered 
 that I should come, and I am here." 
 
 The maiden bent over the spring and filled her basket 
 again — ^ emptied it — filled it — 
 
68 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 ''I was not afraid to come," the low voice went on. 
 ''Not from you should I hear taunts as to my poverty. 
 You would never speak of my scar. . I have watched you 
 since you were a child, for since I was a boy have I loved 
 you." The girl's eyes shone suddenly bright in the 
 mirror of the spring. ' * And I saw you nurse the wounded 
 buffalo calf, and put the young birds back in their nests. 
 You will be tender to my wounded heart, and take pity 
 on my loneliness." 
 
 The maiden marked with a slender moccasined toe in 
 the rippled sand at the fountain's brink. Shyly she glanced 
 up. Still he waited, his eyes no longer on hers but looking 
 away into the distance. 
 
 ''I may not wed," she said, at last. ''I will tell you 
 what I have told no man save my father. Two years 
 ago, when men first sought me, I had a wonderful dream. 
 That Above Person," she pointed to the risen sun, ''spoke 
 to me from the sky. 'You are mine,' he said. 'Give 
 yourself to no one else.' Therefore have I smiled on all 
 men — for why should I be angry with them merely for 
 loving me? — yet I have refused to go to the lodge of any 
 man, but have lived at home, like a child, with my father 
 and mother." 
 
 Scarf ace leapt to her side, and stood between her and 
 the blazing sun. His shadow was upon her. His eyes 
 were like two suns. 
 
SCARFACE: A STORY OF LOVE 69 
 
 "Go to that Above Person," whispered the maiden 
 against his breast. "Ask him for me, and bid him take 
 this mark from your face as a sign of his consent." 
 
 The laughter and talk of other maidens on their way 
 to the spring floated over the eastern hill; she fled from 
 him, and he vanished noiselessly into the woods. 
 
 Toward nightfall he went to an old woman who lived 
 on the edge of the village. She was his best friend. He 
 brought her wood and water, and she often cooked and 
 sewed for him. 
 
 "Grandmother," he told her, "I am going on a long 
 journey. I need moccasins. Will you give me a pair?" 
 
 The old woman gave him seven pairs — all day, in the 
 winters, she sat sewing moccasins — and she packed him 
 a bag full of pemmican. He threw it over his shoulder, 
 put on a pair of the new moccasins, and started forth on 
 his long journey. No one knew that he went except the 
 old woman, and she did not know where he went. In 
 her father's lodge, the maiden he loved trembled for him, 
 and prayed to the Sun to help him. 
 
 For many days he traveled east — day after day — 
 day after day. Every night he lay down in a strange place 
 — now under the wide sky with tall grass waving about 
 him; now under a roof of tree branches, where crushed 
 brakes breathed sweetly over his resting place ; now under 
 shelter of a rock, torrents dashing down the mountain 
 
70 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 beside him. He ate berries and roots and the pemmican 
 from his bag. 
 
 At last one day he came to the house of a Wolf. 
 "Here is a friend," he thought, and entered. Wolf 
 greeted him cordially, and gave him meat. 
 
 "What is my brother doing so far from home? " he asked. 
 "I am seeking the lodge of the Sun," Scarf ace answered. 
 "Do you know the trail? Many days and nights have I 
 sought it, but no trace of it have I found." 
 
 "I do not know the trail," Wolf said, slowly. ''I am 
 sorry; I should like to help you. But I have a neighbor, 
 a very wise big person. Perhaps he can tell you." So he 
 sent Scarface to the Bear. 
 
 But Bear shook his head; he shook it long and slowly, 
 walking up and down in front of his lodge. 
 
 "I will tell you what to do," said he, from his wisdom. 
 "Go straight to Striped Face, the Badger. He has more 
 time than I for such little things. He is always finding 
 hidden trails." 
 
 Scarface went to Striped Face. His lodge was under- 
 ground and the entrance was too small for the young man. 
 He lay down on his face and called into it : 
 
 "Ho, cunning Striped Face— you who know the hidden 
 things! The wise Bear has sent me to you saying that 
 perhaps you can tell me what he cannot tell." 
 
 Badger looked forth, his stripes wrinkling his face. 
 
SCARF ACE: A STORY OF LOVE 71 
 
 "Eh, what is it, what is it? " he asked in a hurried, busy 
 voice. "Tell me quickly what you want." 
 
 "I seek the lodge of the Sun," explained Scarf ace. 
 "Do you know the trail?" 
 
 "How should I? What do I want with the Sun? I 
 get out of his way as much as possible. What a question ! ' ' 
 
 He was going back into his lodge, but just as he was 
 disappearing he called out: 
 
 "Go to Wolverine. He is always gadding about. 
 Sometimes he finds out queer things — useless things, like 
 this. Go to him, and tell him I sent you." 
 
 Wolverine was not at home, nor did any creature 
 know when he might come home. Scarf ace sat down to 
 rest and think. His eyes grew fixed, his breath came deep 
 and slow, and he began to chant: 
 
 "Hai-yu. Hai-yu! Wolverine!" 
 
 He swayed his body from side to side. 
 
 "Hai-yu! Wolverine!" 
 
 Still Wolverine came not. Scarface thought of the 
 maiden far behind him to the west; he thought of the Sun, 
 still as far as ever to the east. Wolverine must come and 
 help him. 
 
 * * Hai-yu ! Hai-yu ! Wolverine ! 
 Have pity upon me, and come. 
 Come to me here while I wait, 
 Set me upon the trail, 
 Set my feet upon the trail — 
 The trail that leads to the Sun." 
 
72 
 
 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 "Rest here in ?ny lodge to-night," he said, "and to-morrow I will show you the trail' 
 
 Two bright eyes shone through the bushes; Wolverine 
 
 was there. 
 
 I 
 
 "Rest here in my lodge to-night," he said, "and to- | 
 morrow I will show you the trail. Sun lives on the other \ 
 side of the Big Water. I will show you the trail to the 
 water." | 
 
 That night Scarface rested well. His friend gave him 
 meat to eat, and comforted him with promises for the mor- 
 row. For the first time since he set forth he slept in hope, j 
 In his dreams he seemed already to be treading the trail 
 to the Sun's lodge. 
 
 Next day Wolverine showed him the way — a hidden 
 and lonely way, a trail like a thousand others, made years 
 before and forgotten. Scarface followed it alone. All 
 
SCARFACE: A STORY OF LOVE 73 
 
 day he broke branches from before his face; all day he 
 felt with his feet for the packed earth beneath the tangled 
 growths of wood and prairie; and at evening he lost the 
 trail. 
 
 For it had run out into the sands of the Big Water. 
 The waves had washed away all traces of other steps. 
 Scarf ace stood alone on a desolate shore, looking out upon 
 miles and miles of trackless waters. At his feet ripples 
 broke; farther out, breakers, white-crested, rose at the 
 beach, and then fell full length upon it. Beyond, miles of 
 water heaved to the sky, and at the far edge waved close 
 against it. 
 
 Darkness crept on while he looked. The distant 
 billows faded from his straining view. The nearer waves 
 whispered to him from the dimness. They told him he 
 was at his journey's end, but no nearer the lodge of the Sun. 
 All night, as he lay on the cold sands, his dreams mocked 
 him with hope. He woke to feel the closeness of the pitiless 
 waters, to hear the surge of them in the night. 
 
 A mist veiled the oncoming day. Heavy as his heart 
 it lay on the face of the deep. Gray waves rolled out of it, 
 thick and slow. 
 
 Through the fog the white crests of the breakers startled 
 him now and then with a promise of some new presence — 
 they fell, and he was alone. Again and again this happened, 
 but at last — was it a breaker that moved out there? How 
 
74 
 
 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 Rejoicing he got upon the back oj one oj the swans 
 
 long it stayed, showing white in the fog! It drew nearer 
 — there were two white shapes moving toward him. 
 Here were friends out of the watery distances, come to his 
 need. 
 
 Two Swans sailed close to shore, ruffling their snowy 
 plumage. 
 
 "My brother," they said, ''why have you come so far? 
 What trail do you follow?" 
 
 "I seek the lodge of the Sun," he answered. "Many 
 days and nights have I traveled. I was set upon a trail 
 that led me here. I was told that the Sun lives beyond 
 these terrible waters." 
 
 "He lives far beyond, on the other side," assented the 
 Swans. 
 
SCARFACE: A STORY OF LOVE 75 
 
 ''How then can I reach him?" the young man asked. 
 "No man can swim so far and live. Is there no other 
 trail? I am willing to walk for many moons." 
 
 "There is no other trail, but we can carry you across 
 to where the trail begins again. First one of us will carry 
 you and then the other." 
 
 Rejoicing, he got upon the back of one of the Swans, 
 and gloom lifted from his soul as the fog lifted from the 
 waters. He rode triumphant over the awful depths. 
 Below him, strange people moved. Some of them hunted 
 with fierce greed; some of them fled, afraid. The Swans* 
 black feet paddled swiftly in the water below him, safe 
 among the fishes; their white plumage ruffled in the clear 
 air above. 
 
 When his heart sank with fear, it pulled down the 
 Swan that bore him until its long neck scarce sufficed to 
 lift its head above water; when he thought of the maiden 
 he loved and of the trail that yet waited for his footsteps, 
 his eager thoughts drew both Swans ahead, plunging through 
 the water in a track of foam. 
 
 On the farther shore a broad brown trail led straight 
 east from the water's edge. He went forth upon it with 
 eager steps. 
 
 Some distance along the trail he found a war shirt, a 
 shield, and a bow and arrows. They lay beside the path 
 as if some one had dropped them there and forgotten 
 
76 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 them. Scarf ace took them up, looked well at them, and 
 laid them back again. Presently he met a young man 
 coming toward him, his face casting a light before him 
 along the way. His hair was long and bright, and so fine 
 that the wind lifted it and spread it abroad upon the air. 
 His clothing was made of strange skins, and his moccasins 
 were sewn with gay-colored feathers. 
 
 *'Hai!'* called this young man to Scarf ace. "Have 
 you seen any weapons and clothing along the trail?" 
 
 "I saw them back here a little," Scarf ace answered. 
 ''I will show you where they are." 
 
 The two young men went back together, and Scarface 
 gathered up the weapons and clothing and handed them 
 to the other. The young man did not look at them. His 
 eyes were searching Scarface 's mind. 
 
 "You are no thief, that is plain," was all he said. "How 
 do you come upon this trail? Whom do you seek? " 
 
 "I seek the lodge of the Sun," answered Scarface. 
 "Many days and nights have I traveled in vain; but now 
 I think I am on the right trail. Is it so?" 
 
 "It is so, indeed. I, myself, am Morning Star. The 
 Sun is my father. Come with me, and I will show you 
 his lodge." 
 
 They went on together, talking as young men will 
 when they meet on the way and their hearts go out to each 
 other. 
 
SCARFACE: A STORY OF LOVE 77 
 
 ''My mother is Night Red Light/' Morning Star 
 explained, "and we three Hve alone together. All my 
 brothers have been killed, and I am often lonely. Have 
 you brothers?" 
 
 "I have no one. I have nothing but a lonely heart. 
 And that is set upon a young maiden — oh, the fairest in 
 the world! — who is obedient to your father. I may not 
 marry her without his consent. For that I come. Do 
 you think he will give her to me?" 
 
 "I do not know, but I will do all I can for you. He is 
 kind, but he is stern. Do not tell all until he knows you. 
 He is not young, as we are." 
 
 Presently they came to the lodge. It was very large 
 and fine. Medicine animals were painted all over it. 
 As the wind shook the walls it seemed as if they moved and 
 were alive. 
 
 Night Red Light sat within, near the door. She came 
 out only at night. She spread a mat for her son's friend, 
 and gave him food. Scarface, looking into her mild face, 
 beaming pleasantly upon him, told his story without fear. 
 She said nothing, but he felt her sympathy. 
 
 A step was heard outside. 
 
 "Hide there," said the kindly woman, pointing to a 
 pile of skins in one corner. 
 
 The Sun came in and stood in the doorway. His 
 presence immediately filled the house; it was everywhere. 
 
78 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 except behind the pile of skins. He Hfted his head and 
 breathed deep, looking all about. 
 
 "There is a man here," he said, looking fixedly at his , 
 wife and son. "Why do I not see him?" i 
 
 "Yes, father," said Morning Star, at once. "A good 
 young man has come to see you. He found my weapons 
 and my war clothes lying beside the trail, but he did not 
 touch them." 
 
 Scarf ace came out from behind the pile of skins. The 
 Sun looked at him, and the young man bore his gaze. 
 Scarface did not look back, for no man can outface the 
 Sun, but stood before him, straight and unashamed. , 
 
 "You are welcome to my lodge," said the Sun at last. ^ 
 "Smoke a pipe with me and my boy. I am glad that he 
 has a young friend to talk with. He is often lonesome." 
 
 "I have lost all my other children," mourned Night 
 Red Light. "Down by the Big Water they were taken 
 from me. Great birds live there, with long, sharp bills. 
 They kill whatever comes in their way. My sons were 
 brave hunters. One by one they went forth against the 
 great birds, but no one of them all came back. Hunt 
 with my son wherever else you please, but do not go near 
 the Big Water." 
 
 "I do not like the Big Water myself," replied Scarface. 
 "I came across it on my way here. It is no shame to a 
 brave man to be afraid of it. It is very terrible, and it 
 
SCARFACE: A STORY OF LOVE 79 
 
 hides things still more terrible. Two helpers brought me 
 across safely, but my bones trembled. I do not wish to 
 go near it again." 
 
 For many days Scarface and Morning Star hunted 
 together in the Sun's country. There was much game, 
 and the two young men were full of life and strength. 
 Every evening they returned to the Sun's lodge well 
 laden; and Night Red Light, before she went forth on her 
 nightly journey, fed them and made them comfortable. 
 Both she and her husband were glad that their son 
 was no longer sad and lonely. 
 
 But one day the chase led them into a wild region they 
 had never been in before. Careless of where they went, 
 they lost their way in the deep woods. They were not 
 afraid, but laughed and shouted among the still shadows. 
 What fun it would be to camp out all night like warriors ! 
 
 At length the woods seemed to thin at one side. Light 
 shone through. They rushed toward it. A low noise, 
 as of something living and moving, drew them on. They 
 burst from among the trees upon the shores of the Big 
 Water, stirring and whispering secrets under the open sky. 
 
 ''We must go back," said Scarface. "You remember 
 what your mother told us." 
 
 "I am no longer a boy, to be tied to my mother's apron ! " 
 cried Morning Star. ''We did not come here on purpose, 
 but now we are here I shall stay and look well at this 
 
8o INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 wonderful thing. What is on the other side of it? Or 
 does it go off under the sky? Look, every once in a while 
 you can see it stooping to go under. And there where it 
 slips in, something is coming out — something with wings. 
 Perhaps — oh. Scarf ace! — perhaps they are the great 
 birds that killed my brothers! We are. two. We will 
 take revenge upon them." 
 
 "But your mother!" protested Scarf ace. "She told 
 us never to go near these birds." 
 
 "My mother is a woman. What does she know of 
 hunting? I feel the blood of my father in my veins. I 
 shall avenge my brothers." 
 
 There was no time for Scarf ace to remonstrate again, 
 for the air was suddenly filled with rushing wings and 
 hoarse cries. It grew dark around the two youths, and 
 they shot their arrows wildly into thick feathers on every 
 side. Wings beat down their bows, sharp beaks tore at 
 their breasts. 
 
 Upon Morning Star was the wrath of the birds directed. 
 They scarcely heeded Scarf ace, but soon his bright and 
 beautiful companion was borne down beneath their weight, 
 and lost in another rush of their beating wings. 
 
 Now Scarf ace sprang into the thick of them, and grasped 
 the midmost birds by their necks. He flung them over 
 his shoulders, and tore two others from the breast of his 
 prostrate friend. Their long beaks were dripping with 
 
r,.., So 
 Scarface sprang into the thick oj them, and grasped the midmost birds by the neck 
 
SCARF ACE: A STORY OF LOVE 8i 
 
 Morning Star's blood, but he still moved and breathed on 
 the ground, though he could no longer fight. 
 
 Scarf ace stood astride of him, daring the fierce onslaught 
 of the birds. His eyes were clear and steady. Two by 
 two he caught the creatures as they came. No matter 
 how many shrieked in his ear or tore at his flesh, no matter 
 what heavy wings beat him, he steadily reached into the 
 dark and noisome mass, found two long throats, wrung 
 them, and flung the bodies over his shoulder. 
 
 A pile grew behind him so high that he leaned against 
 it as he fought. The air grew sweeter before him. Now 
 there was room to breathe. He leaned over his wounded 
 friend and felt for his heart. As he stooped the last bird 
 plunged his bill into his back. Without looking around, 
 he caught it with one hand and tossed it aside. His 
 friend's heart still beat. 
 
 He stood up and drew a long breath. He brushed the 
 bloody feathers from his dress. The waters still whispered 
 softly at his feet and, far beyond, crept in under the edge 
 of the sky. 
 
 When he had rested a little, he tore off the heads of the 
 birds and strung them on his bow. Hanging it around his 
 neck, he stooped to his friend, shouldered him, and moved 
 off into the dark woods. 
 
 Night Red Light came forth to look for them. She 
 saw them, and lighted their way home. She hid her face 
 6 
 
82 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 with clouds, and wept through the night because her son 
 was hurt and she could not return to him before morning. \ 
 
 The Sun received them and helped to lay his boy on 
 the bed and to dress his wounds. Just before dawn Morn- j 
 ing Star opened his eyes on his father's face. 
 
 "I thought to avenge my brothers," he murmured, 
 "but you would have been childless if Scarf ace had not 
 been near. Tell me, Scarface, my friend, how did you 
 escape?" 
 
 "By killing them all," answered Scarface. "While 
 one lived, the fight went on. I will show you." 
 
 He went and brought his bow, hung, wood and bow- 
 string, with gory heads. 
 
 "So many there were," he said, "and no more." 
 
 Night Red Light sailed through the door and dropped 
 down at her son's feet. She held them to her breast and 
 wept over them. She threw the bow with its weight of 
 heads out of the door, nor would she look at the long bills 
 that had sought the hearts of her boys. 
 
 Then the Sun asked the question he had never yet 
 asked. 
 
 "Why do you travel this trail so far from home? What 
 do you seek?" 
 
 And Scarface told him. 
 
 "I came seeking you," he said. "Far back yonder, 
 in my own village, lives a maiden whom I love. But she 
 
SCARFACE: A STORY OF LOVE 83 
 
 belongs to you. Because you commanded it, she will 
 not wed. Her heart is toward me, and she told me to come 
 and ask you for her." 
 
 "She is a good girl," answered the Sun, ''and you, my 
 son, have proved your right to my help. The Sun loves 
 all good women, and pities them. They shall live a long 
 time, and so shall their husbands and children. The Sun 
 gives them good husbands, brave in war, skilled in the 
 chase. 
 
 ''Now you will soon go home. But first let me tell 
 you something. I am the only chief. Everything is 
 mine. I made the flat plains, the craggy mountains, the 
 bristling forests, the moving rivers — all the earth. The 
 people, too, and the animals, I made. They die, but I 
 never die. In the winter I grow old and weak, and men 
 think to see me die; but in the summer I grow young and 
 strong again, and men know that I live." 
 
 Scarface stood with head bent, as if listening, but he 
 heard scarcely a word. His heart was singing as he thought 
 of the maiden he loved. Night Red Light was bathing her 
 son and combing his long hair. She had heard the tale of 
 her husband's greatness before. Morning Star lay resting. 
 
 The Sun went on: 
 
 "Who is the wisest of animals? The raven, because 
 he never wants for food. Which animal do I like best? 
 The buffalo. He is food for my people, and shelter as well. 
 
84 
 
 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 And lo! That cheek was as smooth as the other 
 
 Which is better, the heart or the head? The head. The 
 heart often lies; the head never. Come with me to see 
 the world." 
 
 Scarface went with the Sun and looked over the edge 
 of the sky to the world below. It spread wide, in a great 
 circle. Mountains were heaped up on it here and there. 
 Forests covered it like thick fur. Water lay shining in the 
 hollow places. All around, at the edge, a straight wall 
 went down and down. Scarface could not see where it 
 went, but then his eyes were busy searching for the lodge 
 of her he loved. When he saw the little spring, like a 
 shining dot on the edge of the woods, and the pointed lodge 
 near by with the blue smoke rising toward him, he smoothed 
 his scarred cheek and sighed. 
 
SCARFACE: A STORY OF LOVE 85 
 
 The Sun, smiling, led the way to his lodge. There he 
 took some strong medicine and rubbed it over the scar, 
 and lo! that cheek was as smooth as the other. Scarf ace 
 had the sign he longed for. 
 
 But this was not enough to ease the heart of his grateful 
 friend. Night Red Light gave him beautiful clothes; 
 Morning Star heaped him with presents; and the Sun told 
 him exactly how to make a medicine lodge and what to 
 do to invoke his aid. These things are done to this day 
 in the Blackfoot medicine lodges. Everything is done as 
 the Sun commanded. Scarf ace, after his return, taught 
 the people. He was the first medicine man. 
 ' Then the Sun showed him the short trail home. In 
 his eagerness the young man leapt along, and his footprints 
 sparkled with joy. You can see the path yet across the 
 sky, arching down to the earth. It is fainter now, but you 
 can still see that some glad person has walked there. 
 
 The maiden sat beside the spring, waiting. Not even 
 at night was she afraid now, since here she had found Scar- 
 face. His shadow lingered in the place and made it safe 
 and comfortable. She looked into the quiet waters, 
 slowly welling up, and saw the stars shine, spread abroad, 
 vanish. She saw a trail of stars reflected there. It grew 
 as she watched, and seemed to come nearer. Startled, 
 she looked up, and found herself in her lover's arms. 
 
TULCHUHERRIS 
 
 T N the first days there lived an old woman in the midst 
 of a wide, level piece of country called Root-flat. 
 The ground was full of roots, nearly all of them good to 
 eat, and every day the old woman went about digging them 
 with a sharp, crooked stick. She began with the far edge 
 first, and dug all around the great flat ; then she dug another 
 circle just inside that, and another inside that. And so 
 she went on digging, digging, digging — a bent old woman, 
 moving in circles, prodding away with her stick day after 
 day for many days, until there was only a little island of 
 untouched land in the middle. On this island stood her 
 lodge. 
 
 One day she was digging near home. All around her 
 for miles stretched the brown earth she had turned up. A 
 faint mist rose from it into the morning air. The world was 
 big and fiat and empty; even the roots were almost gone. 
 
 She heard a noise — it sounded like a cry. *'A-ai! 
 A-ai! A-ai!" it came. 
 
 She looked up into the air. Nothing was there but the 
 high roof of the sky; not even the sun. She looked around. 
 The brown heaps of earth she had turned over in her search 
 for roots smoked to the edge of the sky in every direction. 
 
 86 
 
TULCHUHERRIS 87 
 
 ''A-ai! A-ai! A-ai!" sounded the cry again. 
 
 She put her hands to her ears. There must be some- 
 thing wrong with them, she thought, since they heard 
 such strange sounds where there was nothing. 
 
 ' ' A-ai ! A-ai ! A-ai ! ' ' She heard it clearly. 
 
 It seemed to come from the ground at her feet. She 
 stared at the ground, but it did not move. 
 
 ''A-ai! A-ai! A-ai!" She heard it clearly. 
 
 Surely the cry was coming from the ground. She took 
 her root-stick and began digging, very fast. She found 
 nothing at first, and at last there was only one lump of 
 earth that she had not broken. She pried her stick under 
 this and turned it over. There lay a little brown baby, in 
 the brown earth. 
 
 The old woman stooped and took him quickly into her 
 arms. She wrapped him in her buckskin apron, and 
 rocked him to and fro. She was glad. Now she was no 
 longer alone in the empty world. 
 
 "Tsok-tso (Good baby)! Tsok-tso! Tsok-tso!" she 
 sang. 
 
 She took him to her lodge and washed him. She rose 
 in the night and washed him. She could not sleep for 
 thinking about him. Every time she washed him she said 
 aloud: 
 
 "I wish you to grow fast — be a man soon. Be strong 
 and good." Often she would rock him in her buckskin 
 
88 
 
 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 
 r.' ■ -1 
 
 The old woman stooped and took him quickly into her arms 
 
 apron and croon to him, ' ' Tsok-tso ! Tsok-tso ! Tsok-tso ! ' ' 
 and he grew fast, in his grandmother's apron. 
 
 By the time he was five weeks old he could stand alone 
 and walk a little. He had teeth, and began to talk. By 
 the time he was six months old he was as large as a boy of 
 twelve, and played around outside the lodge. Then his 
 grandmother would warn him, saying, "You may play 
 to the south of the lodge, to the west of the lodge, and to 
 the north of the lodge. But you must not play to the 
 east of the lodge. You must not even look to the east." 
 
 By the time he was a year old Tulchuherris was a full- 
 grown man, and he went to his grandmother, saying, 
 "Grandmother, I am a man now. You have taken good 
 care of me and I have grown. I have obeyed you in all 
 
TULCHUHERRIS 89 
 
 things. It is time that I should know why I may go to 
 the south of the lodge, to the west of the lodge, and to the 
 north of the lodge, but may not go to the east of the lodge, 
 nor even look toward the east." 
 
 His grandmother considered him. Yes, he was strong 
 and large, very strong, and although so young, already a 
 man. She answered: 
 
 ''Yes, my grandson, it is time you should know, and I 
 will tell you what you ask. Far to the east there is a won- 
 derful house, called Saskewil. Old Sas lives there, and his 
 wife and two daughters. Though you see me alone in the 
 world, I have had many sons. Each son in turn has gone 
 to the east, to Saskewil, and there Sas has killed him. Or 
 else his wife has done so. She sits beside the door of the 
 lodge with her fingers over her eyes, looking through them 
 to the north. If she turns those burning eyes on a man 
 he shrivels up before her, and is no more. You are all I 
 have, and I do not wish Sas to know you. He might lay 
 traps for you, and leave me alone again. Therefore you 
 must not go to the side of the lodge which Sas can see." 
 
 ''But, grandmother, that wicked old man Sas must 
 not go unpunished. I am the only one who can punish 
 him. I will go away and think. I will see what I can do." 
 
 He went outside the lodge and stood looking straight 
 into the sky at the east — looked into the face of the east — 
 and was not afraid. Then he went into the forest and got 
 
90 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 a kind of white wood and made himself a bow. He painted 
 it blue and black and red. 
 
 Next he made himself a little arrow, very smooth and 
 straight. This also he painted blue and black and red. 
 In the end of it he fastened three bright colored feathers. 
 Then he shot the arrow into the face of the east. Tsi-i-ing! 
 it sang through the air. It looked like a humming bird 
 as it went. 
 
 Far to the east Sas was sitting in his lodge, with his wife 
 and his two daughters. He heard something fall outside 
 the door. It made a noise like a rock falling from the sky. 
 He went to look, and there was a little smooth arrow, blue 
 and black and red, sticking up in the ground, still quivering. 
 
 Sas went to pull it up, and leaned over easily, standing 
 on one foot. He could not move it. He stood up again, 
 planted both feet firmly, far apart, and took hold with 
 both hands. No; he could not move it. His wife came 
 to look, and his two daughters. They all tried it, first 
 one, then another, then all together. They could not 
 move it. 
 
 "Some one is thinking of us," said Sas. ''That is what 
 has sent the arrow to us. He must be some one very strong, 
 to send an arrow to us. But I am strong, too. I am Sas." 
 
 He went into the lodge and lighted his pipe and sat 
 thinking. He felt anxious. 
 
 Back near the old Earth Mother's lodge, Tulchuherris, 
 
TULCHUHERRIS 91 
 
 her grandson, was making ready for his journey to Saskewil. 
 First he made himself a shirt of the thorn bush, with the 
 thorns on the outside. Then he armed his fingernails with 
 sharp pieces of flint. He took with him a sky-spear, and a 
 tip for it made of green water-stone. The shoes on his feet 
 were of green water-stone also. He had two headdresses — 
 a foxskin headdress, which he wore, and a quartz head- 
 dress which he carried in his quiver. He had two dogs t— a 
 panther dog from the west and a fox dog from the south. 
 
 The old grandmother sat in her lodge, rocking herself 
 and crying because her grandson, the last and best, was 
 going from her — going, as the others had done, to the 
 wicked old man in the east. 
 
 Beneath her eyelids she watched Tulchuherris, and her 
 heart was filled with pride. How strong and wise he was — 
 and how brave ! Eh ! Eh ! that he should go to his death ! 
 
 When Tulchuherris came in she gave him a present — 
 the best gift she had. It was a little man, no higher than 
 her thumb. His name was Winishuyat — He That Looks 
 Ahead. He could see what was going to happen, and could 
 tell Tulchuherris what to do. The grandmother put him 
 on top of her boy's head and tied Tulchuherris' s long dark 
 hair over him — tied it in a knot that no one but Tulchu- 
 herris could untie. 
 
 Thus the young man set forth — straight into the east. 
 But he had not gone far before he heard his grandmother 
 
92 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 calling him. He stopped to listen. Her voice was shaking 
 with age and sorrow. 
 
 ''Tulchuherris, my grandson!" she called. ''You have 
 left me no firewood! I am too old to go and get wood for 
 myself!" 
 
 Tulchuherris went back. He laid down his sky-spear, 
 and left his two dogs to guard the house while he went into 
 the forest. He tore up great trees by the roots, and bound 
 them into a bundle, which he brought to his grandmother. 
 Then he called his dogs, took up his spear, and set forth! 
 once more. He had not gone far before he heard his 
 grandmother calling again : 
 
 "Tulchuherris, my grandson! Tulchuherris! My fire 
 is going out!" 
 
 She was feeding her fire fiercely with great heaps of 
 wood. Whenever she saw Tulchuherris nearing the east, 
 growing smaller toward Saskewil, her heart leaped, her 
 love blazed up, and the firewood disappeared. 
 
 Tulchuherris stood thinking. What was he to do? At 
 this rate he could never keep her in firewood. All the 
 forests in the world would not be proof against her desire. 
 Then Winishuyat spoke, for the first time. 
 
 "How is my brother-in-law?" said he. "Do you want 
 to keep your grandmother 's fire going? I will tell you what 
 to do. Go into the forest and gather a half bushel of wild 
 sunflower roots. These flowers have drawn heat from a 
 
TULCHUHERRIS 
 
 93 
 
 // was a little man, no higher than his thumb 
 
 flame that cannot go out. Throw them into her fire, and 
 it will last all the time you are gone, even though you are 
 gone many lifetimes." 
 
 Tulchuherris did as Winishuyat bade him. He went 
 to the edge of the woods, where the wild sunflowers held 
 up yellow stars to light the shadows behind them, and he 
 gathered a half bushel of their roots. He carried them to his 
 grandmother's lodge and threw them on her smoldering fire. 
 
 ''These will keep your fire for you, grandmother," 
 said he. ''When I have punished that old man Sas I 
 will come back to you." 
 
 The old woman did not look up. She was rocking her 
 buckskin apron in her arms and crooning over it. 
 
 "Tsok-tso! Tsok-tso! Tsok-tso!" 
 
94 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 Tulchuherris went on, straight into the east. After 
 he had reached the top of the first hill he stood still and 
 listened. He could hear nothing. His grandmother was 
 not calling him this time. A thin breath of smoke curled 
 up from the point of the lodge. Tulchuherris went on. 
 
 Presently he came to a huge rock, towering in his path. 
 It was taller than the tallest pine tree. To the north of it was 
 darkness and emptiness, and to the south of it darkness and 
 emptiness. On the top of it an old man stood, looking down. 
 
 ''Come up, my grandson!" the old man called out. 
 "Come up! There is no other way. Behind this rock 
 the road is clear. Come up! When you are near the 
 top I will give you a lift." 
 
 ''I will come," said Tulchuherris; but as he started to 
 go, Winishuyat stopped him. 
 
 ' ' This old man has been set here by Sas to trap unwary 
 travelers," said he. ''Here many of your kinsfolk have 
 been killed — their bones lie below there. If you go up 
 he will sway the rock and knock you off into the darkness. 
 Instead of climbing the rock, kick it with all your might." 
 
 Tulchuherris was surprised, but he did as he was bid. 
 He ran back a little as if he were going to rush up the face 
 of the rock; but instead of that, with his shoe of green 
 water-stone he kicked it. There was a terrible crash, and 
 the huge rock rushed roaring into the abyss to the north. 
 
 The old man went with it, and Tulchuherris, standing 
 
TULCHUHERRIS 95 
 
 above, heard him crying for help from the depths where 
 lay the bones of the Earth Mother's children. He called 
 down to the old man in the darkness. 
 
 ''I will help you," he said. ''I will turn you into a 
 little ground squirrel, and you can climb up yourself. 
 From now on you shall always live in holes in the ground." 
 
 The rock, when it fell, left a smooth, wide road stretching 
 to the east. But before Tulchuherris went forth on it he 
 stood and listened, to hear if his grandmother called him. 
 He could hear all over the world. The sounds made by 
 the little ground squirrel, scratching and slipping as he 
 climbed the sides of the abyss, came to him. He heard 
 the faint crackle of his grandmother's fire, but he did not 
 hear her calling; so he went on. 
 
 At length he came to a broad river. A man stood there, 
 watching it flow. Tulchuherris looked up and down, but 
 could see no place to cross. Everywhere the water was 
 equally deep and swift. The man said: 
 
 ''This is a hard river to cross. But I know where the 
 best places are. I have helped many persons across. I 
 will help you, too, my brother-in-law." 
 
 Tulchuherris stood listening for Winishuyat. The little 
 man whispered: 
 
 '' Let him carry you, for it is the only way you can 
 cross. But be ready with your pointed bone, and send 
 the dogs first." 
 
96 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 The two dogs leaped the river at a bound. Tulchu- 
 herris mounted the man's back. The man waded out, 
 feeHng with his staff. The muddy water sHd thickly about 
 them, pushing them out of their way. It grew deeper and 
 deeper. It was up to the man's shoulders. It was up 
 to his mouth, so that he threw his head back to breathe. 
 It was up to his eyes. 
 
 *'Be careful," said Winishuyat. ''In this way he 
 drowned your grandmother's people. Use your pointed 
 bone." 
 
 Tulchuherris drew his bone and stabbed the man 
 several times, wounding but not killing him. Then he 
 leapt from his shoulders to the farther bank. He stood 
 looking at the wounded man, twisting in the water. 
 
 ''You shall be an eel," he said, "and live in the water. 
 People will call you Hawt. They will hunt for you, kill 
 you, skin you, and eat you." 
 
 Tulchuherris walked on swiftly. In a little while he 
 came to a high ridge that stood straight across his path. 
 It stretched to the south as far as he could see, and to the 
 north as far as he could see, and it was so high and steep 
 that no one could climb it. Just in front of him, however, 
 was a narrow opening, and in this, filling it, a cleft pine 
 tree. The opening was large enough to let any one walk 
 through, and it was the only way to pass. 
 
 Tulchuherris looked well at the ridge, looked it all over, 
 
TULCHUHERRIS - 97 
 
 and stood still. On the other side he heard a clinking 
 noise, as if some one were pounding on stone. He looked 
 carefully through the hollow tree, and saw an arm moving. 
 Some one was hammering, there on the other side. The 
 dogs sprang through. The man who was hammering 
 stopped, came up, and looked through the tree at Tul- 
 chuherris. It was Sas himself. He had been getting 
 ready to welcome his visitor. 
 
 "Come right through, my son-in-law," said he, heartily. 
 ''There is room for a man. This is the only gate in the 
 ridge for miles and miles. It is my gate. Come right 
 through." 
 
 The dogs were sniffing around the old man, and growling. 
 Tulchuherris listened for Winishuyat. 
 
 "Go through very quickly," whispered the little man 
 on his head. 
 
 Tulchuherris took his bow and arrows firmly in one 
 hand, stood on the toes of one foot, poised himself sideways 
 — and was through in a flash. That instant the tree closed 
 with a great noise, and became solid. 
 
 Tulchuherris had shot through so swiftly that he flew 
 far ofl into the field. Sas did not see him go. He thought 
 that the young man was fast in the tree. He began to talk 
 to himself. 
 
 "Well, my son-in-law, you are caught. You were 
 brought up in your grandmother's apron. You knew 
 
98 
 
 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 Sas did not see him go 
 
 nothing; I know everything. You were weak; I am 
 strong. You are nobody; I am Sas." 
 
 Tulchuherris came up behind him. 
 
 ''Why, my father-in-law, to whom are you talking?" 
 he asked. 
 
 Sas turned around slowly. He put his hand to his head. 
 
 ''I am old," he quavered. ''I must be getting blind. 
 I am half crazy. I was afraid I had shut that tree on you 
 too soon. I am glad you are unhurt. Now come home 
 with me. It is a poor house, and I am an old man. Go 
 first. I will soon catch up with you. My wife and daugh- 
 ters are there." 
 
 Saskewil was the finest lodge Tulchuherris had ever 
 seen. It was very large, made of deerskins, and on the 
 
TULCHUHERRIS 99 
 
 walls all manner of men and animals were painted in bright 
 colors. But it was well guarded. On either side of it 
 were ten grizzly bears, and rattlesnakes wreathed the door. 
 Poisonous things crept in the slime on the ground, and 
 white bones lay all about. These were the bones of the 
 grandmother's many children. 
 
 The panther dog, leaping ahead, killed all the grizzly 
 bears — scarcely had they time to groan. The fox dog 
 killed all the rattlesnakes — they had no time to rattle. 
 With his sharp teeth he nipped and gnawed the poisonous 
 things in the slime, killing them like fleas. 
 
 Tulchuherris stood looking at the heaps of bones. He 
 cried aloud as he looked. These were his grandmother's 
 children — alas, for the poor old Earth Mother, alone in 
 her lodge, sitting over her sunflower fire! He lifted the 
 door curtain and went into the lodge. 
 
 Sas's wife sat east of the door, with her fingers leaned 
 together at the tips before her eyes, as his grandmother had 
 told. To the west of the door sat the daughters. They 
 rose as Tulchuherris entered, and spread a rug between 
 them. He sat down there. The old woman never 
 moved, but sat looking between her fingers at the north. 
 
 As he rested there between the daughters, waiting for 
 Sas to come home, many spiders, large, long-legged, red- 
 backed, poisonous, came and crawled over him. The 
 two girls did not seem to notice them. He, too, paid no 
 
loo INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 attention. His thorn shirt protected him. The spiders 
 stuck on the points of the thorns until the color of his 
 shirt was changed. The red backs of the spiders and little 
 points of their blood shone like red stones in the firelight. 
 
 Sas came in. Tulchuherris heard him groan outside 
 as he saw the dead bears and rattlesnakes; but when he 
 came in he was pleasant. He offered his guest a smoke. 
 Tulchuherris took Sas's pipe. It was filled with Sas's 
 tobacco, made of human flesh pounded fine. Tulchuherris 
 could not smoke it. Nevertheless, as he held the pipe to 
 his lips, smoke came out of it, and the tobacco was con- 
 sumed. 
 
 It was Tulchuherris 's turn to offer a smoke. He took 
 out his own pipe of green water-stone — a small pipe, but 
 very heavy. He took out his own tobacco — no one knows 
 what it was made of — and pressed it into the bowl of his 
 pipe. He drew a few whiffs and passed the pipe to Sas. 
 
 "It is a young man's tobacco. It may not be so good 
 as yours for thinking. I believe it is as good for talking. 
 I don't know much, but I think so." 
 
 Sas reached out his hand for the little pipe. As he 
 touched it his hand fell powerless. He could not hold the 
 pipe — could not even pick it up when it fell to the ground. 
 Tulchuherris, after watching him a few minutes, picked 
 it up for him. 
 
 ''What is the matter, father-in-law?" he asked. "Is 
 
TULCHUHERRIS. . ;\\.:'V '^^'^icyr 
 
 my little pipe too heavy for you? I will hold it while you 
 smoke." 
 
 He held it to Sas's lips. Sas drew in the smoke. It 
 nearly choked him — burned all his insides. But Tulchu- 
 herris still held it to his lips, and he had to go on smoking. 
 He choked and sputtered. The smoke blinded him and 
 made him dizzy. He trembled and fell almost into the fire. 
 
 Tulchuherris helped him up, put the pipe away in his 
 quiver, and went and sat between the two girls again. 
 
 "Be careful," warned Winishuyat. "The old woman 
 is about to turn." 
 
 Tulchuherris looked at Sas's wife, sitting east of the 
 door of the lodge, with her finger tips shading her dreadful 
 eyes. Tulchuherris looked straight at her. Sas forgot 
 to pretend that he was old, and watched his guest as a young 
 hawk watches its prey, a smile bending his lips. Only for 
 a few minutes now would that young man sit there, mocking 
 his power! The two girls gazed at Tulchuherris; then 
 one of them suddenly covered her head and turned away. 
 Tulchuherris saw none of these things; he was intent on 
 Sas's wife as she slowly turned toward him. He held his 
 right hand doubled up on his knee. 
 
 The glare of her uncovered glance reddened the northern 
 wall, the northwestern wall, the western. Tulchuherris 
 snapped his flint finger nails into her eyes, and the light 
 went out. 
 
102 • ■ ' ^^^.L'V INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 Sas rose without a word, and carried the dead body of 
 his wife outside the lodge. There he dug a grave for her, 
 and beside her he put the bodies of the ten grizzly bears 
 and the rattlesnakes. Around his head he hung a string 
 of beaver's teeth, around his neck another. He covered 
 the grave, and singing mournfully, danced around it from 
 east to west. The beaver teeth rattled as he danced the 
 death-dance and sang the death-song. 
 
 "Koki, koki, koki nom (creeping, creeping, creeping 
 west),'' he sang. 
 
 "These were all my children," he mourned. ''My 
 children, and my wife. Koki, koki, koki nom." 
 
 Sas's daughters spread a fine bed for Tulchuherris, and 
 he lay down upon it to sleep. Above his head hung two 
 obsidian knives, suspended by slender strings of the inside 
 bark of the maple tree. Although the knives hung heavy 
 and greenish above him, Tulchuherris fell asleep and slept 
 until about midnight. 
 
 **Turn over!" hissed Winishuyat, sharply. Tulchu- 
 herris turned. The knives fell and buried themselves where 
 he had just been lying. 
 
 Next morning Sas said to him. 
 
 "Now, my son-in-law, these, my daughters, are your 
 wives. They are glad to have a young husband who can 
 fish for them. I am old. I cannot fish as I used to do, 
 and it is long since they have eaten a mess of fish. Come 
 
TULCHUHERRIS 103 
 
 with me. I will show you where there are fine large fish. 
 An old pole of mine is there, and an old point. You may 
 use them." 
 
 Tulchuherris set forth with Sas, but he took his own 
 spear — the sky-spear — and his own spear point of green 
 water-stone. Sas led the way to the river. Across it was 
 a bridge made of a single hair from his daughter's head. 
 
 Winishuyat spoke to the young man. He said, **Be 
 careful. Here Sas has killed many of your people." 
 
 "There is a fishing place," said Sas, pointing to a little 
 brush hut across the river. "My old pole and point are 
 there. Go across and fish. I will go home. I am old, 
 and the long walk has tired me. I will go and lie beside 
 the fire until you come back with your fish." 
 
 Tulchuherris sprang across the river with a single bound, 
 taking with him his sky-spear and spear point. He went 
 into the hut and began to watch the river for fish. Soon 
 he saw something coming up the stream, coming from the 
 south. It had a face and a head and long hair tied with a 
 band of woodpecker's scalps. This band was wound round 
 the head many times. Tulchuherris had just such a band 
 himself, made of mountain woodpecker's scalps. 
 
 "Good morning, my brother-in-law," called the person 
 in the water. "I see you, too, have a fine band of wood- 
 pecker's scalps. Will you exchange with me?" 
 
 "I am sorry for you, my brother-in-law," answered 
 
104 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 Tulchuherris. ''I hate to kill you when you speak so 
 kindly, but I must. My father-in-law, old Sas, orders it." 
 
 He stood still, not throwing his spear — for what did 
 he know of this person in the water? Winishuyat urged 
 him on. 
 
 ''Why do you hesitate, Tulchuherris? This is Supchit, 
 Sas's son. He is sent here to kill you, though he does not 
 tell you so. Make haste and kill him, or you will be killed. 
 Sas says he is a fish. Kill him like a fish." 
 
 Tulchuherris raised his sky -spear and Supchit, seeing 
 it, turned to flee. But Tulchuherris threw too quickly 
 for him. The spear point flashed through the air and buried 
 itself in Supchit 's side. 
 
 Supchit rushed down the stream, dashing on with such 
 force that Tulchuherris could not hold him. Tulchtiherris 
 grasped the tule grass as he slipped down the river bank; 
 it came off in his hands. He clutched at the stones; they 
 rolled into the. water. He rolled after them. He was in 
 the water. Sas, at home before the fire, heard the noise 
 of the struggle, and said to his two daughters: ''Ah, ha! 
 That is my son Supchit. Now we shall be rid of Tulchu- 
 herris." 
 
 One daughter smiled; but the other turned away her 
 face. 
 
 ''What are you doing, Tulchuherris'^ Do you want to 
 die in this river?" Winishuyat spoke right out loud in 
 
TULCHUHERRIS 
 
 105 
 
 his anxiety, but the noise of the churning waters almost 
 drowned his voice. ''Send your gopher to stop all the doors 
 to Supchit's houses." 
 
 Tulchuherris took his pet gopher from his bosom, and 
 sent him to fill up the doors to Supchit's houses. 
 
 Supchit, growing tired presently, tried to escape, but 
 every door was shut. This frightened him; he grew more 
 tired. As he weakened, Tulchuherris grew stronger. He 
 drew him nearer and nearer to the bank — at last up on 
 the bank. The sides of the man-fish heaved, and were 
 still. 
 
 Tulchuherris picked him up in one hand as if he were 
 a little fish, and carried him to Saskewil. There he laid 
 him down before the door while he went in. 
 
 '' I could get only one little trout," he told his father-in- 
 law. ''It is there by the door. Look at it, and see if it 
 is fit to eat." 
 
 Old Sas went out. So did his daughters. 
 
 "It is my son Supchit!" cried Sas. "Tulchuherris is 
 killing all my children! Supchit was. my best child of 
 all!" 
 
 He put his beaver's teeth over his head; they fell on 
 either side of his face and rattled as his head swayed. He 
 dug a grave for his son. Around it he danced the death- 
 dance, and sang the death-song. 
 
 "Koki, koki, koki nom." 
 
io6 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 Next morning Sas said to Tulchuherris, ''Come, my 
 son-in-law, to-day let us play together a little. I am old, 
 I cannot play as I used to do; but I can play a little, and 
 I can show you how. Come with me. I will take you to 
 a fine place where I used to have great sport when I was 
 a strong young man like you." 
 
 Tulchuherris went willingly; but as they were walking 
 along together Winishuyat whispered to him, "You must 
 kill Sas to-day or he will kill you. He has asked help of 
 all his servants and children, and they have failed. To-day 
 he intends killing you himself." 
 
 Presently they came to a great plain, in the middle of 
 which stood a tall pine tree, very slender and straight, but 
 leaning a little to one side. Around it the grass grew thick 
 for a long way, and rustled softly in the wind. It looked 
 like a pleasant place in which to play. 
 
 Sas went to the tree and climbed it. 
 
 ''Now, my son-in-law, give me a swing!" he called. 
 "But do not swing too hard. Remember that I'm an old 
 man and cannot hold on tight." 
 
 Tulchuherris leaped up, caught a lofty branch, pulled 
 it down toward him until a higher branch was within 
 reach, pulled that, and caught the top of the tree. Hold- 
 ing it firmly, he turned his back to the trunk, bent over, 
 pulling the tree with him, then let go. The tree sprang 
 back, and old Sas had a fine swing. 
 
Fapo T05 
 
 The sides of the man-fish heaved, and then were still 
 
TULCHUHERRIS 107 
 
 ''Now, my son-in-law, it is your turn," said he, when 
 the tree had stopped swaying and he had sUppcd to the 
 ground. "Go high up on the tree — higher than I did — 
 and I will give you a fine swing." 
 
 "I do not want to go higher than you, father-in-law," 
 said Tulchuherris. ''This is new sport to me. I may not 
 be able to hold on well." 
 
 "Go just a little higher," coaxed Sas. "You do not 
 know how much better the motion is up there. When I 
 was as young as you I went clear to the top." 
 
 Tulchuherris went only a little higher than Sas had gone. 
 Sas coaxed in vain. At last Sas pulled the tree toward 
 him, bent low with his back to the trunk, and released it. 
 It sprang to its full height, then far over on the other side. 
 Tulchuherris swung to and fro dizzily. But he held on. 
 
 "Now, father-in-law, it is your turn," he called as he 
 came down. "Go higher. I will promise to go as high as 
 you do." 
 
 Sas climbed a little higher. He pretended to be very 
 much afraid. 
 
 "Be careful, my son-in-law!" he cried. "Remember, 
 I am an old man. This is very high for me. I cannot 
 hold on well. Swing gently." Tulchuherris leaped to the 
 branch, pulled down the tree, bent his back, let fly. The 
 tree sprang into the sky and rocked to and fro in the air. 
 Sas held on. 
 
io8 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 "That was a fine swing. It was hard on my old aims, 
 but it has made me feel young again. Go clear to the top 
 this time. Then I will go to the top in my turn." 
 
 ''I'm afraid, father-in-law," said Tulchuherris. ''But 
 I will go to the top if you will." 
 
 He climbed the tree. As he went, Winishuyat warned 
 him. 
 
 "Sas is determined to kill you this time. Do not let 
 him swing you. Slip down when he turns his back." 
 
 Tulchuherris climbed to the top. He was not seen 
 among the leafy branches. Sas leaped, forgetting his age, 
 caught branch after branch, and bent his back to pull down 
 the top. Tulchuherris slipped down behind him as nimbly 
 as a gopher. The tree sprang into the sky with a roar. 
 Sas turned. Tulchuherris, hidden behind the trunk of the 
 tree, was nowhere to be seen. 
 
 ''I have shot him off the earth," said Sas. 
 
 He began to walk toward Saskewil. 
 
 "Ah, my son-in-law, Tulchuherris," he chanted as he 
 went. "I have finished you this time. You escaped my 
 servants, my wife, and my children; you could not escape 
 Sas himself. You were brought up in your grandmother's 
 apron. You knew nothing; I know everything. You were 
 weak; I am strong. You are nobody; I am Sas." 
 
 Tulchuherris came up behind him. 
 
 "What is that you are saying, father-in-law?" he asked. 
 
TULCHUHERRIS 109 
 
 "And where are you going? It is your turn to swing. You 
 are not going to let me beat you, are you? — I, your son- 
 in-law, who never played this game before?" 
 
 Sas said not a word. He turned and went back. He 
 climbed the tree, clear to the top. 
 
 "Now!" whispered Winishuyat. 
 
 Tulchuherris was sorry, but the work had to be done. 
 He put forth his strength. He swept the ground with the 
 top of the tree. He let it fly back into the sky. It roared 
 as it rushed aloft. A great wind went with it. While it 
 yet waved wildly to and fro a mighty crash was heard. 
 The whole earth shook and trembled with it. Every 
 living creature sought shelter, and, cowering, whispered: 
 
 "That is Tulchuherris killing Sas." 
 
 Tulchuherris stood waiting until the earth should stop 
 trembling. He waited three hours, rocking to and fro 
 with the rocking earth. Then he heard a voice from the 
 sky. 
 
 "You have conquered, my son-in-law," it said. "You 
 have broken me in two. I can withstand you no longer. 
 One last thing I ask of you. Give me your foxskin head- 
 dress." 
 
 Tulchuherris took it off and threw it up into the sky to 
 Sas. Then he spoke his commands. 
 
 "Stay there in the sky," he directed. "Travel from 
 east to west. In the east is a place full of fire. Go there 
 
no INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 every morning; warm yourself. Light your torch there 
 and carry it all day through the sky, that men may see you 
 as you go. As you come up from the east they will see 
 first the rays of my foxskin head-dress, before they see 
 you. They will remember that I sent you. You will 
 look upon all things as you travel, but yoti will always be 
 alone. At night you will go down into the Big Water in 
 the west. It is well you are broken in two. The earth 
 has long waited for this to be done, but no one was strong 
 enough to do it. Now you will obey, and keep your path." 
 
 Then he heard another voice — a voice smaller and 
 fainter. It was the smaller part of Sas talking. 
 
 "My son-in-law, you have conquered. What do you 
 give to me as your last gift? I should like your quartz 
 headdress." 
 
 Tulchuherris took the quartz headdress out of his 
 pocket and tossed it into the sky. 
 
 "You, too, shall travel from east to west," he said. 
 "But you will grow old in a few days and die. You will 
 come to life again, and you will live many lives, growing 
 old and dying." 
 
 Then Tulchuherris called his dogs and set forth for 
 home. He did not go back to Saskewil. One of Sas's 
 daughters was glad not to see him again; the other still 
 watches for him. 
 
 In the west the old grandmother sat over her fire of 
 
TULCHUHERRIS m 
 
 wild sunflower roots, rocking her buckskin apron in her 
 arms. 
 
 "Tsok-tso, tsok-tso, tsok-tso! " she crooned. 
 
 Then she looked up and saw Tulchuherris coming from 
 the east, with Sas holding a flaming torch above him to 
 light his way. 
 
THE ICE KING 
 
 (A Micmac Legend) 
 
 r\HCE there was a large town on the banks of a river. 
 A cold winter came, and the people suffered greatly. 
 All the w^ood they had laid in was soon burned. 
 
 At first the children went to the forest for more wood, 
 but their noses froze, and their ears. The women 
 went next, but the cold was too much for them, too. Their 
 hands became so badly frozen they could not work. 
 
 Then the men went, but even they were soon overcome. 
 The forest was far, the cold was terrible; some of the men 
 fell by the way and were frozen stiff. The people huddled 
 around their scanty fires, hungry and shivering. They 
 died, one after another. Only a few of the strongest 
 survived. 
 
 At last spring came. The snow got full of little holes, 
 melted, and ran away. It ran over the top of the river 
 bank into the river. In all the small streams the ice 
 was softening. It piled up at the mouths of the brooks, 
 fell over into the river — crash, crackle, smash — the noise 
 was all about. The river was full of cakes of ice, grinding 
 against one another. Up on the level above the banks, 
 
 112 
 
THE ICE KING 113 
 
 pools of water lay shining. The wind puffed across them, 
 and filled them with waves. The bluebirds came back 
 and built nests. Everywhere was the wet, sweet smell of 
 melting snow. 
 
 One of the men who had lived through the winter 
 found a great ice cake that would not melt. In a deep 
 fissure of the bank, where it was safe from the warm sun, 
 it lay, and down there it kept winter. The man went 
 every day to see if it had moved yet. He hated the sight 
 of it. It spoiled the spring season and made him remember 
 the friends and kinsmen he had lost. 
 
 He made himself a long pole from a straight young pine 
 tree, and tried to push the ice cake down into the river. 
 It would not stir. Again and again he tried. Finally he 
 gave up everything else and resolved to work at it until 
 he conquered it. He pried with his pole and chopped 
 with his hatchet. 
 
 *'Be off, now!" he commanded. ''You are staying 
 too long. I hate you. I will not have you." 
 
 He chopped and chopped. The cold splinters flew 
 into his face. 
 
 ''Oh, yes! You think you can do some more harm! 
 Well, you can't. Freeze away! Do your worst! I am 
 not afraid of you." 
 
 The ice cake yielded a little. The man pushed harder 
 than ever with his long pole. Although he w^as standing 
 8 
 
114 
 
 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 In the spray he saw the Ice King riding on the block of ice 
 
 on the ice itself, he was warm with effort. The cake 
 moved faster and faster — he almost went into the river 
 with it. He sprang to the bank and gave it one last kick 
 as it moved off. As it fell into the river a great spray 
 arose. In the spray he saw the Ice King riding on the 
 block of ice. 
 
 "Thank you!" he heard the Ice King call, above the 
 noise of the river. "You have set me free at last. Now 
 I can go where I belong. But beware! He whom you 
 hate will come again next winter.*' 
 
 The man decided he would be ready for the visit. He 
 built himself a fine strong wigwam in the woods, near a 
 spring of good water; he mended every hole in the walls, 
 and made them tight and thick. Many trees he chopped, 
 
THE ICE KING 115 
 
 making a huge pile of firewood. He saved the fat of the 
 animals he killed, melted it, and put the oil away for 
 winter. He had warm fur clothes, and plenty of dried 
 meat. 
 
 When the Ice King began his advance the man knew 
 it from many signs, though the enemy kept himself in 
 ambush. The ground grew hard and black. In the early 
 morning it was white. By and by it was white all day. 
 The surface of the lake crinkled over, filled with spikes, 
 grew stiff, and moved no more. The river hardened along 
 the edges, then farther out — at last even in the middle. 
 To fish the man had to cut holes in the ice. But he ate 
 well, kept a good fire, and watched for his enemy. 
 
 The Ice King grew bolder. He laid his hand on the 
 walls of the wigwam and turned them to stone. But that 
 only kept the heat in better. He froze the meat and 
 berries; but the fire thawed them. He threw darts at the 
 man; but the fur clothing turned them back. 
 
 At last, one night, the Ice King came boldly into the 
 lodge. As he advanced the earth cracked beneath his 
 footsteps. The walls of the wigwam clattered. He came 
 in and sat down, spreading a white rug for himself. The 
 cold from his body and his icy breath shook the skin of 
 the man. 
 
 The man could hardly move to reach the wood pile. 
 He felt stupid; suddenly he roused himself, and with a 
 
ii6 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 mighty effort reached out for the bowl of oil near by. For 
 this he had kept it. He threw a handful on the dying 
 fire, which instantly roared and leaped to the roof. The 
 Ice King turned away his face and blinked. New life 
 came into the man's limbs. He threw another handful 
 of oil on the fire. Then he got wood. He fed the fire 
 with branch after branch, and the fire ate all greedily. 
 The Ice King hitched back from the heat and glare. 
 
 More oil — more wood. The flames licked the roof of 
 the wigwam. The Ice King was sweating and gasping. 
 He hitched back again. At last he hitched right into the 
 wall of the wigwam and could go no farther. The sweat 
 poured from him in streams, and ran out under the side of 
 the lodge. His strength was leaving him. He spoke in 
 a weak voice : 
 
 " You are victor. Let me go." 
 
 The man raked the fire away from the side where his 
 visitor was sitting. The Ice King moved toward the door. 
 
 ''You have conquered me fairly," he said. "I shall 
 not trouble you again. Henceforth you are master." 
 He slipped out of the wigwam, leaving only a little wet 
 track behind him. 
 
 After that the man had no more fear of the winter. 
 He needed no moccasins, cap, nor mittens. It was always 
 summer with him. 
 
HOW THE BEAR FAMILY GOT ITS NA] 
 
 {A Totem Tale) 
 
 1\ /FY great-grandmother's name was Bear. She was 
 very proud of the fact, and often talked to us about 
 it. We boys must be brave hunters and skillful fishers, 
 because the men of the Bear family had always been 
 great hunters and skillful fishers. The girls must sew well, 
 and especially know how to dry meat and berries, for so 
 the women of the Bear family had always done. On rainy 
 evenings, when we all sat around the lodge fire, we would 
 say to the old woman, nodding in the smoke, ''Grand- 
 mother, tell us: How do we come to be called Bears? 
 Are any of the wild bears in the mountains relatives of 
 ours?" 
 
 And then she would tell us this story: 
 
 ''Long ago there was a large Indian village on the 
 banks of a river. In it lived an orphan boy who had no 
 special home. However, all were kind to him; he was 
 welcome in every lodge. He would live in one for a week 
 or two, and then, some one inviting him, would live in 
 another. But no one person had charge of him. 
 
 "One day, late in the fall, when winter was drawing 
 
 117 
 
ii8 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 near and the leaves had all fallen to the ground, this little 
 boy went to the woods to gather berries. Many had been 
 there before him, laying in supplies for the winter, and he 
 had to go far before he found any fruit. The wind-stripped 
 trees, letting in plenty of sunlight, made the woods look 
 open and harmless, so he wandered farther than he knew. 
 
 *'When it began to grow dark and cold he turned to 
 go home. All about him stretched trees and trees — and 
 yet more trees — as far as he could see. Under foot the 
 earth was deep in leaves. He could not find his own trail ; 
 he did not know where the village was. He was lost in 
 the woods, on the edge of night and of winter. 
 
 "Night fell. He shivered, and cried for the mother 
 he had never known. At last, through his tears, he saw a 
 light shining. He dashed his hand across his eyes. The 
 light still shone. He hurried toward it. Yes, there was 
 a lodge. 
 
 ''Within, by the fire, sat a woman and two boys. The 
 woman told him to enter. The boys danced around him, 
 for joy that they had a new comrade. He was given dried 
 berries and dried meat to eat, and lay down between 
 the boys to sleep. 
 
 "In the morning he looked with new eyes on the people 
 who had been so kind to him. Then he saw that it was 
 not an old woman who had taken him in, but a she-bear, 
 and that the two boys were two cubs. However, they 
 
HOW THE BEAR FAMILY GOT ITS NAME 119 
 
 knew how to play as well as any boy, and so the three 
 romped together until the mother bear chased them out of 
 the lodge — or the den, as it now showed itself to be — to play 
 in the open air where the noise would not split her ears. 
 The she-bear was very kind to the little boy who had sought 
 her shelter. She fed him when she fed her cubs, and he 
 was warm and comfortable. He stayed with the bears 
 all winter. 
 
 ''Back in the village the people missed him, after a day 
 or so; but although they searched for him they could not 
 find him. They gave him up for lost. 
 
 "At last spring came, and the whole village was astir. 
 This was the time of year when the smelts came up the 
 river and into all the little fresh-water streams to lay their 
 eggs. They came in crowds, and both bears and Indians 
 went to catch them. 
 
 ''Sometimes the Indians shot the bears while they 
 were busy catching fish, and thus got good fur and meat. 
 This was the good luck one hunter expected as he came 
 to a little stream in the depths of the woods, and saw the 
 tracks of a bear and two cubs. They showed plainly 
 in the springtime mud. But how was this? Beside them 
 were the marks of a boy's naked feet. 
 
 " 'Here is a strange thing,' said the hunter to himself. 
 'I will watch and see what more happens.' He hid him- 
 self in some bushes on the bank. 
 
120 
 
 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 And so the three romped together until the mother bear chased them out oj the lodge 
 
 "Presently he heard the crackHng of broken twigs, 
 then the thud-thud of heavy steps, and looking out he saw 
 a she-bear coming down to the opposite bank of the brook. 
 With her were two cubs and the missing boy. He was talk- 
 ing to the cubs as he pattered along beside them. The man 
 could hear and understand all he said, and the boy seemed 
 to understand all the cubs said; but to the man the sound 
 the cubs made was just an unmeaning animal mutter. 
 
 "When she got down to the brook the mother bear 
 waded in and sat down in the water, her broad haunches 
 filling up much of the bed of the brook, and her forepaws 
 spread out on either side. Thus she made a dam of herself, 
 and the fish, swimming hastily up the stream, in a blind 
 hurry to lay their eggs and be off home again, dashed full 
 
HOW THE BEAR FAMILY GOT ITS NAME 121 
 
 against her. She threw them out on the bank with her 
 paws. Behind her stood the httle boy, his brown legs wide 
 apart, catching those that escaped her. The two cubs 
 danced about on the banks, stuffing themselves full of fish. 
 
 ''The old bear was having fine sport. 
 
 '"There they come! There they come!' she shouted, 
 and splashed like mad. The air was full of shining drops 
 of water and shining fish, curving from her paws to the bank. 
 She threw them in a fast glittering shower — threw them 
 faster than a fisherman throws them from a net. 
 
 "The hunter went home and told his people what he 
 had seen. They held a council. It was hard to think how 
 they could get the boy without enraging the old bear, who 
 might hurt him if she were made desperate. Many pipes 
 they smoked over it. At last they decided on a plan. 
 
 ''Next day toward sunset — for the fish come up most 
 wildly as the dark draws near — twenty strong men set 
 out for the brook in the depths of the woods. They went 
 a long way around, so as not to cross the bear's tracks 
 or let her get scent of them. They hid themselves in the 
 bushes on each side of the brook. 
 
 "The old bear swung into view, her cubs lumbering 
 after her. Beside them ran the little boy, naked, and light 
 on his feet. To the edge of the brook they came; in 
 pkmged the old bear. Splash! the water wet the leaves 
 far off as she flopped down. 
 
122 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 ''The boy stood behind her, and, spreading out her 
 paws, she began to fish. The water rushed, the Httle bears 
 danced, the fish flew out of the water and beat the ground 
 with their tails. The old bear slapped fast, shouting and 
 growling for joy. How could she hear the hunters closing 
 in on her? 
 
 "They made a great circle on both sides of the brook. 
 They made a narrower circle — narrower yet — they were 
 upon her. They seized her boy, his brown body wet and 
 slippery. 
 
 "The old bear rose on her hind legs, the water spiking 
 her fur and dropping off the points into the brook again. 
 She growled in her throat. Red and angry her little eyes 
 were. She turned them on the boy she had nursed, and 
 their look changed. After all, these were his own people. 
 That is what she must have thought, for she did not 
 fight. She dropped to her four legs, hung her head, and 
 shambled off. She went slowly. She was not afraid; and 
 no one hurt her. 
 
 "Once she stopped and looked at the little boy. He 
 was struggling like a wild thing, biting and scratching as 
 his brothers in the den had taught him to do. The bear 
 hung her head again, but not so low. She looked to see 
 if her own two cubs were close by her side, and together 
 they disappeared into the woods. 
 
 "Eh, that was a wild boy they had on their hands! 
 
Page 121 
 
 The air was full of shining drops of water and shining fish 
 
HOW THE BEAR FAMILY GOT ITS NAME 123 
 
 He had not forgotten how to talk, but he Hked his food 
 raw and he hked to go without clothes. All over his little 
 naked body small black hairs were sprouting. 
 
 ''But every one was so kind to him that at last he grew 
 tame and quiet. He became a mighty hunter, but he 
 would never hunt bears. Neither would he ever allow 
 the old mother bear or her two cubs to be hurt. Often, 
 in the winters, he carried food to their den. He was 
 called the Bear, and we, who belonged to his family, who 
 are of his blood, are called Bears to this day. All the 
 Bears in the woods and in the mountains are our friends, 
 and never do we hurt them." 
 
HAWT, OR THE GREAT WORLD CONCERT 
 
 Ty^AIDA DIKIT lived all alone on the side of a small 
 mountain. A little stream rushed foaming past his 
 door. It was full of bright pebbles. Here and there a 
 large flat stone lay in it, with quiet places underneath 
 where a full-fed fish might rest. 
 
 After a time Waida Dikit grew tired of living alone, so 
 he built himself a fine sweat house, to which he could invite 
 people. He painted the east side of it with paint made 
 of red earth. It glowed in the morning sun, and even in 
 the afternoon it looked warm. The west side he painted 
 green, with green earth. Bushes grew out of this earth 
 and waved softly over all that side of the house. It looked 
 cool and quiet when all the western sky was hot. 
 
 When he had made everything ready he went to see 
 his relative Tsaroki — he whose spirit moves in the brown- 
 green snakes. 
 
 "My son-in-law,'* said Waida Dikit, *'I should like to 
 have you come and make me a little visit. I live alone 
 on the mountain side. I have not much to give you, but 
 I have food, and we can visit pleasantly.'* 
 
 Tsaroki went with him. When he first saw the sweat 
 house it was small — just such a sweat house as you would 
 
 124 
 
THE GREAT WORLD CONCERT 125 
 
 expect a lonely person to have, one who did not look for 
 more than two or three friends at a time. They both went 
 into this house, and Waida Dikit sat on the east side, while 
 Tsaroki sat on the west. 
 
 After they had eaten a little, and smoked, Waida gave 
 Tsaroki a flute to play upon. Tsaroki had never handled 
 a flute before, and he hardly knew what to do with it ; but 
 as soon as he touched his lips to it, beautiful music came 
 from it. He was so pleased that he could not stop playing. 
 He could not eat nor drink. He played three days and 
 three nights without stopping. 
 
 When at last he stopped, very weary, Waida Dikit gave 
 him food, and as they sat smoking together afterward, he 
 remarked : 
 
 ''How is it, my son-in-law, would you not like to have 
 some one hear how you can play? Would it not be pleasant 
 to have a young man about your own age join us here?" 
 
 "I think I should like that," Tsaroki answered. ''If 
 there were another young man here we could both play, 
 and then we could talk about many things. It would 
 amuse you, too, my father-in-law." 
 
 "I think it will be well for you to go at once, then, to 
 invite another man. Go to-night, in the middle of the 
 night." 
 
 "But how shall I find my way, father-in-law? And 
 who is this man I am to invite?" 
 
126 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 '* You will soon discover that for yourself,'* Waida Dikit 
 told him. ''Go west to-night to the old woman, your 
 grandmother. Ask her where your brother is." 
 
 ''But I do not know this grandmother. I have never 
 visited her. I could never find her in the dark." 
 
 "Nevertheless, it is thus you must look for her," said 
 Waida Dikit firmly. "I cannot explain everything to 
 you, but I can set you on the trail. The night is dark, 
 and her house is small, — but you will not miss it. It is 
 far away, but you will go quickly." 
 
 All the afternoon the young man played on his flute, 
 thinking over Waida Dikit 's words. He played softly 
 so as not to interrupt his own thoughts — he was half 
 afraid of them. 
 
 At last night came. The east side of the house was as 
 black as the west. Clouds were in the sky. No stars 
 shone. Straight west from the door of the sweat house 
 ran a little sand trail. Though there was no light it 
 glimmered on the ground, pointing straight to the west. 
 The earth all round was dark, the air overhead was dark; 
 but the little trail shone with its own light. 
 
 Tsaroki went out over it. He cut his way smoothly 
 through the black night, following the shining pathway. 
 At the end of the path he found a small bark house. Within 
 lay an old woman by the dying fire, asleep. Tsaroki 
 entered and sat down quietly. He did not speak. He 
 
THE GREAT WORLD CONCERT 127 
 
 was filled with wonder. At last the old woman turned over 
 and peered through the dimness at him. She sat up, 
 and stirred the fire to make more light. 
 
 "I see some one sitting over there," she quavered. 
 "Who is it?" 
 
 *'It is Tsaroki, grandmother. Waida Dikit sent me 
 to ask you where my brother lives. He said you would 
 know. He wants to invite him to his house for a little 
 visit." 
 
 "You must go farther west," said the old woman. 
 "Straight west, as you came here. There is no longer 
 any trail, but you have been traveling west so long that 
 you will know how to go on. Go now; do not wait. 
 Waida Dikit will want you to invite him to-night." 
 
 Tsaroki went west. It was dark all about him, but he 
 went straight. Presently he came to a large open space. 
 The air was thick, and seemed to move. It was dark, 
 but the people in it could see each other. There were 
 many people, all moving, all busy. Some were sharpening 
 .arrowheads, wearing away the stone; others were dressing 
 skins. All moved in curves, and silently. Tsaroki felt 
 the air smoothing his face as it moved, felt the people 
 lightly touch him as they moved. 
 
 In the center of the open place was a still space, and 
 here a tall man was standing. He watched the people 
 and kept them at work, but he himself did no work. This 
 
128 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 was Hawt, Tsaroki's brother, whom he had come to seek, 
 and these were his people. This was Hawt, the Spirit 
 of the Waters. 
 
 Tsaroki did not know what to do. How could he reach 
 his brother and deliver his message without being seen by 
 all the people? On the edge of the open space, in the moving 
 darkness, he stood thinking. 
 
 A way occurred to him. He slipped down into the 
 earth, that here was moist and soft, slid through it, and 
 came up at Hawt's feet. He made no sound, and where 
 everything was moving it was wonderful that Hawt noticed 
 the faint stir of the mud at his feet. He looked down and 
 saw Tsaroki. 
 
 ^'Waida Dikit sent me," Tsaroki explained, whispering 
 softly from the ground. ''He would like to have you 
 come and visit him. I will play for you on his flute." 
 
 ' ' Who told you where to find me ? " Hawt asked. ' ' And 
 how shall I find my way to Waida Dikit's house?" 
 
 ''The old grandmother in the bark house told me where 
 you were. I will meet you there and show you the way 
 to Waida Dikit's." 
 
 Tsaroki slipped back into the ground, and slid through 
 under Hawt's people. They never knew he had been there 
 at all. 
 
 Hawt told them merely that he was going away for a 
 few days ; then he, too, was gone. At the old grandmother's 
 
THE GREAT WORLD CONCERT 129 
 
 house he met Tsaroki. He sat down, as the other had 
 already done, and both young men sat there silent for a 
 long time, waiting for the grandmother to speak. 
 
 "Now go," she told them at last. "It will soon be 
 day, and Waida Dikit will not yet want every one to know 
 what is happening. I shall stay at home, but I shall see 
 and hear all you do." 
 
 Day was just breaking as they came to Waida Dikit 's 
 house, but he was already up and combing his long red hair. 
 It reached almost to his feet. He greeted the young men 
 cordially, and gave them some breakfast. Then Tsaroki 
 began to play. He played and played, while Hawt stood 
 listening, not knowing quite what to do with himself. 
 
 "Lie down north of the fire," Waida Dikit directed 
 him. "Be comfortable while you listen." 
 
 And this was well, because Tsaroki played two days and 
 two nights without stopping. 
 
 "Let Hawt play a little," then said Waida Dikit; and 
 Tsaroki passed the flute to Hawt. 
 
 As soon as it touched the young man's lips it gave forth 
 exquisite sounds, very soft at first, but presently louder 
 and clearer. Sometimes the little flute roared as he blew 
 into it. For ten days and nights Hawt and Tsaroki 
 practiced, first one and then the other. Waida Dikit 
 listened, smoking his pipe, well pleased. At last he said: 
 
 "My children, you have done well, but I think that 
 
 /- 
 
130 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 you can do better. I have a friend, Old Man Weasel, 
 who knows much about playing. Go, Tsaroki, and ask 
 him to come over here and teach you." 
 
 Tsaroki went to the northeast and found Old Man 
 Weasel at home, lying on his back and playing beautifully 
 upon his flute. 
 
 "W^aida Dikit sent me," Tsaroki explained. "He 
 wants you to come to his house and play for us. Hawt is 
 there, practicing." 
 
 '*I will go," said Old Man Weasel. 
 
 He wriggled quickly into the ground, and rose at Waida 
 Dikit 's feet. His host spread a mat for him next to his 
 own place, near the fire, and offered him food and a pipe. 
 While they smoked and talked the two young men played 
 softly. In the smoky dimness of the lodge Old Man 
 Weasel gave out a light like a torch. He was a grandfather 
 to the North Star. 
 
 *'My friend," said Waida Dikit at last, "these boys of 
 mine play pretty well, but you could teach them to play 
 better. That is why I sent for you." 
 
 '' I am old. I cannot play as I could when I was younger. 
 But I will try." 
 
 Old Man Weasel lay on his back and began to play on 
 his own flute. He played all that night, all the next day, 
 and all the next night again. 
 
 In the morning of the second day, just at dawn, Tsaroki j 
 
THE GREAT WORLD CONCERT 131 
 
 He found Old Man Weasel lying on his back and playing beautifully on his flute 
 
 saw a light stripe down the Old Man's breast. At sunrise 
 it was white. He had played all the breath out of his body. 
 
 "I think we have three good players here," said Waida 
 Dikit, after breakfast. ''I should like to hear if there are 
 any better players in the world. Let us invite every one 
 who can play, and let us give each one a trial. Then we 
 can decide who plays best." 
 
 ''But what will you do with them all?" asked Old Man 
 Weasel, looking around. "Your home is not very large." 
 
 Tsaroki went northwest, first, to Deer House. Inside 
 he heard stamping, as if many persons were dancing, and 
 when he looked in he saw, indeed, many persons, but they 
 were sitting around the wall. Only two were dancing— an 
 
132 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 old woman and a young girl. The young girl had fawn's 
 teeth tied behind her head, and these rattled gayly when 
 she danced. Old Man Deer lay north of the fire, looking 
 on. Tsaroki went up to him. 
 
 ''Waida Dikit sent me," he announced. "He is going 
 to have a flute-playing at his house. All who can play 
 will be invited. He would be glad to have you come." 
 
 ''Who is there already?" asked Old Man Deer. 
 
 "Old Man Weasel is there, and Hawt. They play 
 beautifully." 
 
 "I will come," said Old Man Deer. 
 
 Tsaroki would not wait to eat and smoke. Waida 
 Dikit himself was to invite all the people who lived in the 
 water, but Tsaroki had to invite all the land people. This 
 was a big task, and he got very tired; so he asked Wood 
 Dove to carry some of the invitations for him. 
 
 Wood Dove went all around the world, up to where the 
 sky comes down, inviting everybody. At last all three 
 returned to Waida Dikit's house. They were tired and 
 hungry. 
 
 As they sat eating and resting. Wood Dove exclaimed: 
 
 "Oh, but this is a large world! I never knew before 
 how large it is. I went far, but it goes farther than I 
 went. I was two whole days without water or food, but 
 I have not yet seen all the world. However, I invited all 
 the people I could find." 
 
THE GREAT WORLD CONCERT 133 
 
 By this time many of the guests had arrived, and sat 
 listening to all that was said. Humming Bird sat there, 
 over on one side. He was a little man, but he felt powers 
 within himself. 
 
 ''Did you manage to invite North Star?" asked Waida 
 Dikit. 
 
 "Now, I ask you, how could I do that?" said Wood 
 Dove. He was very tired and he knew that as it was he 
 had done a great deal. "North Star lives farther than 
 the end of the world, and as it is, I was two whole days 
 without water or food." 
 
 "It is hard work," agreed Waida Dikit. "Did you 
 invite Jack Rabbit, or Coyote?" 
 
 "No, I did not," jerked out Wood Dove. "They live 
 almost as far as North Star, and I tell you I was two days 
 without water or food. But I invited many persons. See 
 how many are coming now." 
 
 Sure enough, crowds of people were coming to the sweat 
 house. They crept up from the earth; they swam through 
 the water; they flew down from above. But no matter 
 how many there were, there was plenty of room for them. 
 Every time a new group arrived, Waida Dikit blew out 
 his cheeks and said : 
 
 " I wish this sweat house to be bigger." 
 
 It grew larger at once. There was room for everybody, 
 although there seemed to be no end to the number of 
 
134 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 persons who kept arriving. All talked about North 
 Star — who was he, and how was he to be invited? And 
 who wovild go for Jack Rabbit and Coyote? They lived 
 beyond the sky. 
 
 Humming Bird sat back and listened. He said nothing. 
 They talked all night, but no one offered to go. Each 
 one thought some one else ought to do it. At last one said : 
 
 "Let us ask that little man over there. He says 
 nothing, and looks wise." 
 
 Waida Dikit spoke to him. 
 
 "Humming Bird, will you go on this errand for us? 
 Can you do it?" 
 
 Humming Bird lifted one eyebrow languidly. He 
 meant yes by this. To himself he said: 
 
 "Why did they not ask me before? Could they not 
 see at once that I was the man for the work?" 
 
 Waida Dikit gave Humming Bird a blue flower as a 
 reward for his kindness in undertaking a difficult errand. 
 Humming Bird took it, crushed it between his hands, and 
 made a lovely blue paste. With this he painted himself all 
 over. To this day Humming Bird is blue — a blue made out 
 of flowers, as any one can see. He spoke for the first time. 
 
 " Look at me, people." 
 
 Every one looked. He stood on the west side of the 
 sweat house. The green light poured through on his body. 
 He seemed to quiver with color. 
 
THE GREAT WORLD CONCERT 135 
 
 ''You are beautiful!" cried out all the people. 
 
 The light that poured in was new light. Day was just 
 breaking. The east half of the sweat house was all rosy. 
 
 ''I shall be back," cried Humming Bird, ''before the 
 sun touches the tops of those trees out there." 
 
 Wood Dove had been watching all this with a gloomy 
 brow. 
 
 " Do you think you can go so far in a minute?" said he. 
 "I traveled for two days without water or food, and I did 
 not go so far. I know what I am talking about. What 
 do you know about it? Have you ever tried it?" 
 
 Humming Bird did not answer. He made a swift 
 rush for the door, went through it in a blink of blue light, 
 and darted up into the sky. He had never traveled in 
 the air before, but had always walked, as we do. He 
 shot up, then down; east, then west. He twinkled and 
 sparkled until the air seemed full of him. 
 
 "Ho! Now I am off!" he shouted, and sped north. 
 The people rubbed their eyes and looked to see if he would 
 not suddenly return upon them from some unexpected 
 quarter. No; this time he was really gone. 
 
 He went first to North Star's house. It was dazzlingly 
 bright in there— so bright that it made the morning sky 
 dark. Even Humming Bird winked rapidly. His dress 
 shone so blue that it was almost white. 
 
 Presently he made out that there were two young men 
 
136 
 
 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 *'Ho! Now I am off!'' he shouted, and sped north 
 
 inside the house, though the face of one was so bright that 
 he could not look upon it. This was North Star. The 
 other was North, his brother. The brother never left the 
 house, nor wandered about. He stayed faithfully at 
 home. And North Star loved him so much that he was 
 sure to return to him after every day's absence. 
 
 "The people at Waida Dikit's house asked me to come 
 to you," explained Humming Bird, after he had been 
 asked in and had taken his seat. "Almost the whole 
 world is there to make music. They want you, too." 
 
 "Yes, I know all that," remarked North Star. "I have 
 seen them travel to Waida Dikit's house. Before daylight 
 I knew all you have told me. But I am glad to be asked. 
 I will come; but my brother, here, will stay at home." 
 
THE GREAT WORLD CONCERT 137 
 
 ''I must go now. I have a promise to keep," said 
 Humming Bird. 
 
 Nevertheless he did not go at once, but darted hither 
 and thither above the clouds — through them like a piece 
 of blue sky showing suddenly, then up again. He swooped 
 down toward the earth and back, spun in the light from 
 North Star's door, and was off like a lightning flash into 
 the east. 
 
 Now Jack Rabbit and Coyote lived in another world 
 beyond the sky, and almost at the edge of the second 
 world. When Humming Bird came to the sky he bobbed 
 against it with his bill, whirred his wings at it, and then, 
 seeing that he could not fly through it, pried it up with a 
 sky pole. He slipped through safely, but when it closed 
 behind him it made a noise that shook the world. All 
 the people' at Waida Dikit's house heard it and wondered. 
 
 Humming Bird was too busy to wait. He flew straight 
 on east, almost to the end of the second world, until he 
 found Coyote and Jack Rabbit. All in a breath he deHv- 
 ered his message, hovering up and down in the air. Then 
 calling out, "I'll show you the way!" he darted westward. 
 
 Being in a hurry, he went in no more than two or 
 three other directions first, pried up the sky in a jiffy, let 
 it bang after him, and just as the sun rose over the moun- 
 tains he appeared to the people at Waida Dikit's, a 
 fluttering blue speck in the midst of the rosy dawn. 
 
138 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 The guests he had called arrived in a more leisurely and 
 dignified manner. Jack Rabbit and Coyote took two 
 days to the journey, sending an arrow ahead of them to 
 announce their coming. 
 
 No one saw them when they arrived; only their legs 
 and shadows showed. No one knew when North Star 
 came. He entered silently, with his brightness hid, and 
 no one saw him. 
 
 Waida Dikit knew he was there, but no one else knew. 
 He knew that all his guests had come, so he stood up in 
 the mighty sweat house, which now arched away almost 
 out of sight. He spoke, and though he spoke softly, every 
 one heard his voice. 
 
 "I have invited you to hear some music," he said. ''I 
 see that you understand this, for you have all brought 
 your flutes. Let each one play alone while all the others 
 listen. When the concert is over we shall know who is 
 the best player in the world." 
 
 It was agreed between Hawt and Tsaroki that Tsaroki 
 should play first and Hawt last. Tsaroki played on Waida 
 Dikit's flute, and played so well that all were silent with 
 surprise. They never suspected Tsaroki had such talent. 
 
 Old Man Weasel played next, lying on his back and 
 playing as he did when he was alone. He forgot the 
 people in the sweat house, and played out his own quiet 
 thoughts. 
 
THE GREAT WORLD CONCERT 139 
 
 Yellow Hammer played next. It was night when he 
 began, and he played until almost morning. The inside 
 of the sweat house grew red; he had played until he was 
 red and breathless. When he stopped the house grew 
 dark, as if a fire had gone out. 
 
 Blue Jay played next; and at sunset, when the light 
 outside was yellow and red, the light inside was all blue 
 — his color filled it. He played until the blood was blue 
 in him, and his dress has been blue ever since. 
 
 One after another all the people played, and when they 
 had played as long as they could, each received a new 
 color — Murope, the Bull Snake, became spotted; Jack 
 Rabbit, roan; Master Fox, red, and Crying Loon, black. 
 
 All except Hawt had now played. The people, weary 
 with days and nights of Hstening, had fallen asleep. Hawt 
 slid into the ground, moved through it without awakening 
 a single sleeper, and came up near the fire. He had no 
 flute, but down each side of his body was a row of holes 
 like the holes in the side of a flute. He lay on his back 
 with his fingers covering these holes. He looked up 
 through the smoke hole in the top of the sweat house to 
 the night sky bending close above him. Quietly he be- 
 gan to take deep breaths, and let them escape again 
 through the holes in his sides like softest sighs. As the 
 thoughts flocked thick in his mind— as he felt again what 
 all the music he had heard had made him feel— he 
 
140 INDIAN LEGENDS 
 
 breathed deeper, and the music of his being grew louder. 
 
 Tsudi, the Mouse, was a hght sleeper; often he rose in 
 the night and walked about. He was the first to hear 
 these sounds, but he thought he must be dreaming. He 
 listened. They were too beautiful to belong to dreams 
 of his. He nibbled softly at the finger of Hus, the Turkey 
 Buzzard, who lay next him, and thus awakened him. 
 
 ''Listen, listen!" he squeaked, shrill in his excitement. 
 '' Don't you hear the music? Who is making it?'* 
 
 Hus was an old man, nearly bald. He was not easily 
 excited. He sat up, lit his pipe, and kept quiet to think 
 it over. Tsudi waked the rest, one after the other. 
 
 "Who is playing? Who is playing?" he kept asking, 
 but no one could tell him. Each one felt for his own 
 flute and hugged it tight — for the music sounded to each 
 like the voice of his own flute speaking in beautiful tones. 
 
 "Is it Hawt?" some of them asked. 
 
 "No; Hawt has no flute," others answered. 
 
 Every one woke and sat wondering. Even North Star 
 wished to know who this wonderful musician could be. 
 He called Tsudi, who was running about near him, and 
 gave him a hair from his beard. 
 
 "Hold this over the musician, and let us see who he 
 is," he directed. 
 
 Tsudi ran off with the hair to the place whence the 
 lovely sounds were coming. He held it up over Hawt; 
 
Page 140 
 
 He held the hair over Hawt; at once it gave out a light like a torch 
 
THE GREAT WORLD CONCERT 141 
 
 at once it gave out a light like a torch. All that the huddled 
 people, peering out of the dark saw, was a man lying on 
 his back. But he did not seem to be doing anything. 
 His arms were crossed over his body, he had no flute, and 
 his lips did not move. Nevertheless, a multitude of sweet 
 sounds came from where he lay. 
 
 He played Blue Jay's song, North Star's song. Snake's 
 song, even Jack Rabbit's and Coyote's— played the songs 
 of all the people, played them better than the people 
 themselves could play them. North Star longed for his 
 brother at home; Humming Bird thought of skies and of 
 flowers; Coyote grew almost modest. Sadness stole over 
 all the people, but it was pleasant sadness. Their throats 
 swelled as they listened. 
 
 Then Hawt played his own song. No one but himself 
 knew that music, yet it carried a meaning for all. The 
 people scarcely breathed, they scarcely thought — they 
 seemed to themselves to be moving, moving through light 
 and dark, through dim, whispering spaces to something, 
 somewhere, that drew them. Now sternly, now joyfully, 
 now swiftly, now slowly, but always moving, they pressed 
 on toward something that drew them. 
 
 When Hawt stopped they cried oiit with one voice: 
 
 **Hawt is the master musician of the world! He alone 
 knows the secret voices of our hearts. Hawt speaks for 
 us all, and speaks beyond our power of speaking." 
 
THE SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS 
 
 IT has been pointed out by psychologists that the child, in its early, 
 instinctive years, lives through the stages of experience which it 
 took the primitive race of man centuries to traverse. For this reason 
 the folk tales of primitive people furnish for the child's mind a mirror 
 of itself. Rarely does it happen that the sophisticated, grown-up 
 story-teller is able to give as much pleasure to the child as is contributed 
 by the naive historian of the childhood of a race. So the old stories arc 
 told over and over again, and the great world of childhood never tires 
 of hearing them. 
 
 Here in America we are fortunate in having a fresh body of myths 
 and folk lore peculiarly intimate in appeal. The heroes of Indian myth 
 or legend are more real for the American child than the Greek or Norse 
 gods of a vanished world; for the Indians still live within our boundaries, 
 and their stories thus have a double reaHty. There is hardly any child 
 who, with the help of a few feathers and a blanket, has not ''played 
 Indian." The ground is therefore well prepared for the teacher who 
 wishes to bring home to the young student the deeper significance of 
 the life of the Indians ; to show the contrast between the life of primi- 
 tive peoples and the life which the child is destined to lead, although 
 for a brief time, in the world of the imagination, he is at one with this 
 primitive world. 
 
 The fact remains that this large body of myth and legend has as 
 yet been only slightly explored. Longfellow, of course, gave us a poetic 
 classic in Hiawatha. James Fenimore Cooper, in the field of romantic 
 history, produced other classics. But in the field of folk lore and 
 legend there is no comparable achievement. There is no single book 
 that stands out above another. Instead, there are many books of 
 worth, each adding a little to the general store of knowledge and 
 enjoyment. 
 
 142 
 
THE SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS 143 
 
 Mrs. Washburne's collection is unusually successful. She has 
 chosen her stories for their intrinsic interest and beauty, and her selection 
 is important because it includes several distinctly marked types of the 
 primitive folk tale. ' ' The Flight from the Fourth to the Fifth World ' ' is 
 a legend woven about a creation myth. * ' Coyote and the Bear Maiden' ' 
 is a story of magic, a feature common to all primitive races. " Scarf ace" 
 and " Tulchuherris" are hero tales or wonder stories, introducing the 
 clement of adventure and the performance of incredible tasks. ''The 
 Ice King" represents the personification of a force of nature. "How 
 the Bear Family got its Name" and " Hawt, or the Great World Concert" 
 illustrate the close communion prevailing between men and animals 
 and the imaginative endowment of animals with human characteristics 
 common among primitive people. 
 
 It is obvious that these stories have for the most part passed 
 beyond the earliest mythic stage; they belong to the legendary stage, 
 and correspond to the larger mass of European folk lore. 
 
 The stories are so simply and beautifully told that there is little 
 need of further suggestion. If the teacher will call attention to the fact 
 that the stories have been taken from different tribes, each tribe having 
 its own conception of life and its own tradition of its beginning in the far, 
 far distant past, the young reader may gain a sense of the reality of 
 experience underlying the charm of the story. One thing that every 
 child should know is the name, and something of the life, of the tribe 
 that formerly lived and hunted in the woods and fields, or pitched its 
 tents beside the stream or river, where his town now stands. Professor 
 Frederick Starr's little book on American Indians may be recommended 
 as the best possible supplementary reference book in this respect. The 
 following list of books is furnished for the young reader. The accounts 
 of the Indians in the Bureau of American Ethnology or in the United 
 States Geographical and Geological Survey constitute a fascinating 
 source of enjoyment for the adult who is genuinely interested in the 
 primitive life of the Indians, but these books, of course, would not be 
 of much service in an elementary schoolroom. 
 
BOOKS ABOUT AMERICAN INDIANS 
 
 Folk Tales and Legends 
 
 Chandler, Katherine. In the Reign of Coyote. 
 CoMPTON, Margaret. American Indian Fairy Tales. 
 Grinnell, George Bird. Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk Tales. 
 
 Blackfoot Lodge Tales. 
 Hardy, Mary Earle. Little Ta-Wish. 
 JuDD, Mary Catherine. Wigwam Stories. 
 
 JuDSON, Katharine B. Myths and Legends of California and the 
 Old Southwest. 
 
 Myths and Legends of Alaska. 
 
 Myths and Legends of the Pacific Northwest. 
 
 Myths and Legends of the Great Plains. 
 Leland, Charles Godfrey. Algonquin Legends of New England. 
 Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. Hiawatha. 
 Proudfoot, Mary. Hiawatha Industrial Reader. 
 Wilson, Gilbert H. Myths of the Red Children. 
 
 History and Romance 
 
 Cooper, James Fenimore. The Leather Stocking Tales: 
 
 The Deerslayer; The Pathfinder; The Pioneers; The Prairie; The 
 Wept of Wish-ton-Wish; Wyandotte. 
 
 Drake, Francis S. Indian History for Young Folks. 
 
 Eastman, Charles A. Indian Boyhood. 
 
 Grinnell, George Bird. The Story of the Indian. 
 
 HiNMAN, Elizabeth Egleston. Naya. 
 
 Jackson, Helen Hunt. Ramona. 
 A Century of Dishonor. 
 
 Janvier, Thomas A. The Aztec Treasure House. 
 
 MuNROE, Kirk. The Flamingo Feather. 
 
 Starr, Frederick. American Indians. 
 
 144 
 
THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 STAMPED BELOW 
 
 AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS 
 
 WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN 
 THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY 
 WILL INCREASE TO 50 CENTS ON THE FOURTH 
 DAY AND TO $1.00 ON THE SEVENTH DAY 
 OVERDUE. 
 
 OCi i8l931 "^ 
 
 JUL 19 1645 
 
 R25 75 
 
 \6Ho^ 
 
 cOO' 
 
 ^^ur56|^ B 
 
 -m 
 
 ^'^tfBRAFY 
 
 LOAN? 
 
 ott'o n 
 
 s/, OF 
 
 ^ALiK 
 
 BERK, 
 
 CIRC t i ^ fiOT — z^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 w 
 
 LD 21-95m-7,'37 
 
,s^ 
 
 YC 49289 
 
 \ 
 
 f 
 
 r? 
 
 c? 
 
 I r6iV<^^ 388312 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY