Never was such a play-ground anywhere.
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children could wander at will--watching the gay butterflies, making
friends with the squirrels and rabbits, or following the flight of the
bee to some tree where his honey is stored.
As for the wild animals, it was all very different from what it is
to-day, when they keep the poor things in cages, or coop them up in a
little patch of ground behind a high fence. In the beautiful valley the
animals ran free and happily, as they were meant to do. The Bear was a
big, lazy, good-natured fellow, who lived on berries and wild honey in
the summer, and in winter crept into his cavern in the rocks and slept
there till the spring. The deer were not only gentle, but tame as sheep,
and often came to crop the tender grass that grew where the two children
were accustomed to play.
They loved all the animals, and the animals loved them; but perhaps
their special favorites were Jack Rabbit and Antelope. Jack Rabbit had
long legs, and long ears--almost as long as a mule's, and no animal of
his size could jump so high. But of course he could not jump as high
as Antelope--the name of a beautiful little deer, with short horns and
slender legs, who could run like the wind.
Another thing that made the happy valley such a pleasant place to live
in was the river that flowed through it. All the animals came from miles
around to drink from its clear, cool waters, and to bathe in it on a hot
summer day. One shallow pool seemed made especially for the little boy
and girl. Their friend, the Beaver, with his flat tail like an oar and
his feet webbed like a duck's, had taught them how to swim almost as
soon as they had learned to walk; and to splash around in the pool on a
warm afternoon was among their greatest pleasures.
One day in mid-summer the water was so pleasant that they remained in
the pool much longer than usual, so that when at last they came out they
were quite tired. And as they were
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a little chilled besides, they looked around for a good place where they
could get dry and warm.
"Let's climb up on that big, flat rock, with the moss on it," said the
little boy. "We've never done it before. It would be lots of fun."
So he clambered up the side of the rock, which was only a few feet high,
and drew his sister up after him. Then they lay down to rest, and pretty
soon, without intending it at all, they were fast asleep.
Nobody knows how it happened that exactly at this time the rock began
to rise and grow. But it did happen, because there it is today, high
and bare and steep, higher than the other hills in the valley. As the
children slept, it rose and rose, inch by inch, foot by foot; by the
next day it was taller than the tallest trees.
Meanwhile their father and mother were searching for them everywhere,
but all in vain; nor was any trace of them to be found. No one had seen
them climb up on the rock, and everyone concerned was too much excited
to notice what had really happened to it. The parents wandered far and
wide saying: "Antelope, have you seen our little boy and girl? Jack
Rabbit, you must have seen our little boy and girl." But none of the
animals had seen them.
At last they met Coyote, the cleverest of them all, trotting along the
valley with his nose in the air; so they put the same question to him.
"No," said Coyote. "I have not seen them for a long time. But my nose
was given me to smell with, and my brains were given me to think with.
So who can tell but that I may help you?"
He trotted by their side, along the banks of the river, and pretty soon
they came to the pool where the children had been in swimming. Coyote
sniffed and sniffed. He ran around and around, with his nose to the
ground; then he ran right up to
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the rock, put his forepaws up as high as he could reach, and sniffed
again.
"H-m-m!" he grunted. "I cannot fly like the Eagle, and I cannot swim
like the Beaver. But neither am I stupid like the Bear, nor ignorant
like the Jack Rabbit. My nose has never deceived me yet; your little boy
and girl must be up there on that rock."
"But how could they get there?" asked the astonished parents. For the
rock was now so high that the top was lost to sight in the clouds.
"That is not the question," said Coyote severely, unwilling to admit
there was anything he did not know. "That is not the question at all.
Anybody could ask that. The only question worth asking is: How are we to
get them down again?"
So they called all the animals together, to talk it over and see what
could be done. Then the Bear said: "If I could only put my arms around
the rock I could climb it. But it is much too big for that." And the Fox
said: "If it were only a deep hole, instead of a high hill, I would be
able to help you." And the Beaver said: "If it were just a place out in
the water I could swim to, I'd show you very quickly."
But as this kind of talk did not take them very far, they decided to try
what jumping would do. There seemed to be no other way; and as each one
was anxious to do his part, the smallest one was permitted to make the
first attempt. So the Mouse made a funny little hop, about as high as
your hand. The Squirrel went a little higher. Jack Rabbit made the
highest jump of his life, and almost broke his back, to no purpose.
Antelope gave a great bound in the air, but managed to light on his feet
again without doing himself any harm. Finally, the Mountain Lion went a
long way off, to get a good start, ran toward the rock with great leaps,
sprang straight up--and
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fell and rolled over on his back. He had made a higher jump than any of
them; but it was not nearly high enough.
No one knew what to do next. It seemed as if the little boy and girl
must be left sleeping on forever, up among the clouds. Suddenly they
heard a tiny voice saying:
"Perhaps if you let _me_ try, I might _climb_ up the rock." They all
looked around in surprise, wondering who it was that spoke; and at first
they could see nobody, and thought that Coyote must be playing a trick
on them. But Coyote was as much surprised as anyone.
"Wait a minute. I'm coming as fast as I can," said the tiny voice again.
Then a Measuring Worm crawled out of the grass--a funny little worm that
made its way along by hunching up its back and drawing itself ahead an
inch at a time.
"Ho, ho!" said the Mountain Lion, from deep down in his throat. He
always spoke that way when his dignity was offended. "Ho, ho! Did
you ever hear of such impudence? If I, a lion, have failed, how can a
miserable little crawling worm like you hope to succeed; just tell me
that!"
"It's downright silly," said Jack Rabbit. "That's what it is. I never
heard of such conceit."
However, after much talk, they agreed at last that it could do no harm
to let him try. So the Measuring Worm made his way slowly to the rock,
and began to climb. In a few minutes he was higher than Jack Rabbit
had jumped. Soon he was farther up than the lion had been able to leap:
before long he had climbed out of sight.
It took the Measuring Worm a whole month, climbing day and night, to
reach the top of the magic rock. When he got there he awakened the
little boy and girl, who were much surprised to see where they were,
and guided them safely down along a path no one else knew anything
about. Thus, by patience and perseverance, the weak little creature was
able to
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do something that the Bear, for all his size, and the Lion, for all his
strength, could never have done at all. That was a long time ago; today
there are no more lions or bears in the valley, and no one ever thinks
of them. But everybody thinks of the Measuring Worm, because the
Big Rock is still there, and the Indians have named it after him.
Tu-tok-a-nu-la, they call it, a big name indeed for a little fellow, yet
by no means too big when you come to think of the big, brave thing he
did.
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