[Illustration]
"At last, one day, when Mother Storm Turtle had shouted herself hoarse
and couldn't make any of them hear, she said she wouldn't put up with it
any longer, and that Father Storm had got to fix up some way to call
those children home when she wanted them, especially when it was going
to rain, as it was now. So Father Storm went out into the front yard and
sat down and looked at the clouds and thought and thought."
[Illustration: WENT RIGHT TO WORK AND DUG TWO HOLES.]
"All at once, just as he was about to give it up, he happened to be
looking right at the shell of Old Man Turtle Himself. He jumped up quick
and hit it with his cane, and when it made quite a loud sound he
laughed, for he knew, now, how he could make those children hear when he
wanted them. He didn't say a word to Mother Storm Turtle, but went right
to work and dug two holes and put up two tall posts in the yard and
fastened a stout beam across the top of them. Then he worked until he
had bored a hole in one end of the shell of Old Man Turtle Himself, and
put a chain in it and dragged it over and strung it up between the
posts, so that it swung there and didn't quite touch the ground. That,
of course, made a thing a good deal like Mr. Man's dinner gong, only a
hundred times as big, and about a thousand times as loud. Then Father
Storm went out into the woodhouse to make a club to beat it with,
laughing to himself now and then when he thought how Mother Storm Turtle
would most have a fit when she heard it for the first time.
"But while Father Storm Turtle was doing so much, Mother Storm had been
thinking and doing some herself. She was getting supper, and when she
looked into the fire to put in a stick of wood, she just happened to
think that if she could make a torch big enough and bright enough, when
she stood in the door and waved it, those children would see the light,
especially nights when it was dark just before a heavy rain. So she went
right to work and made one, just as big as she could make it, and put
lots of oil and fat on it, to make it bright. She laughed to think how
Father Storm Turtle would jump when she waved that out the door, and how
the children would come running when they saw the big flash. Then she
noticed that it was getting darker and darker and would rain in a
minute. So she hurried up and lit it and stepped to the door and gave it
a great big swing. And just that second Father Storm hit the shell of
Old Man Turtle Himself with a big hickory club, and there was never such
a light nor such a roar in the world as that was.
"Mother Storm Turtle tumbled over backward and set the house afire
with her torch, and Father Storm was so frightened by the big light that
at first he couldn't help her put the fire out. And just then it began
raining like forty, and all the children came running and screaming out
of the woods, half scared to death by the big light and noise. It made a
terrible commotion there for a few minutes, until they got the fire put
out, and people heard it all over the country, even to Mr. Man's house.
And when they found out what it was, and who started it, everybody
called it a 'storm.' And rain and wind and thunder and lightning, or
most any other kind of a big fuss, is called a 'storm' to this day,
after Father and Mother Storm Turtle."
[Illustration: SLOP AND SPLASH AND PADDLE.]
"And that," said Mr. Turtle, lighting his pipe once more, "was the first
thunder and lightning, and whenever people saw it after that they said,
'We're going to have another storm!' For Father and Mother Storm Turtle
went right on using the big torch and the shell of Old Man Turtle
Himself to call in the children just before a rain, and the children
would come running every time, all except Slop, Splash and Paddle, who
got so at last that they liked the mud and dirty water better than
anything else. They liked the mud so well that Father Storm told them
one day they might go and live in the mud and be named Mud for all he
cared; and so they did, and their names were Mud, and they and all their
families live in dirty water and are called Mud Turtles to this day.
They never went home again, but whenever they hear Father Storm
pounding on the shell, they stop whatever they are doing and listen. And
that's how the saying began that 'a Mud Turtle never lets go till it
thunders.'"
"What makes the noise always get louder and the light brighter just
before it rains?" asked Jack Rabbit.
"Why, you see," said Mr. Turtle, "Father and Mother Storm's
grandchildren and great-grandchildren are a good deal scattered now, and
as the old people run the thunder and lightning mostly on their account,
they try to make it just about bright enough and loud enough to keep up
with the rain wherever it goes."
"It's plenty loud enough," said Mr. 'Coon solemnly.
"And plenty bright enough," said Mr. Crow, blinking.
"What makes it set things on fire sometimes?" asked Mr. 'Possum
sleepily.
"That's when Mother Storm Turtle swings her torch too hard and coals fly
out of it," said Mr. Turtle, as he got up and walked over to the window.
Then the Crow and the 'Coon and the 'Possum and Jack Rabbit got up, too,
and walked over, and they all looked out together. It was dark among the
trees below them, and Mr. Turtle pointed off toward the Big West Hills.
"You see," he said, speaking low, "Mother Storm is beginning to swing
her torch, and you'll hear Father Storm pounding before long on the
shell of Old Man Turtle Himself."
[Illustration]
So the five friends stood very still and listened and pretty soon they
did hear a low far off rumble, sure enough.
"That means it's time to start for home," said Mr. Jack Rabbit, reaching
for his hat and cane.
Mr. Turtle reached for his hat and cane, too, and they felt their way
down the dim stairs, with Mr. 'Coon holding a candle, and Mr. Crow and
Mr. 'Possum looking after them.
"Good night, everybody," said Mr. Turtle.
[Illustration: CALLED TO JACK RABBIT TO PUSH IN THE LATCH.]
"Push the latch string in from the outside," called Mr. Crow. "Then, I
won't have to come down."
"All right!
Good night!"
called back Jack Rabbit.
"Good night! Come again!" called the Crow and the 'Coon and the
'Possum.