[Illustration: 0000]
had a broad flat tail. Deeper and deeper he went; as the water closed
above his head he became a beaver, with glossy, black fur, and feet
webbed like a duck's. Down he sank with the others to the bottom, which
was covered with heaps of logs and branches.
"That," explained Ahmeek, "is the food we have stored for the winter. We
eat the bark, and you will soon be as fat as any of us."
"But I want to be even fatter," said Grasshopper. "Flatter and ten times
as big."
"As you please," agreed Ahmeek. "We can help to make you just as big as
you wish."
They reached the lodge where the beavers lived, and entered the
doorway, leading into a number of large rooms. Grasshopper selected the
largest one for himself.
"Now," he said, "bring me all the food I can eat, and when I am big
enough I will be your chief."
The beavers were willing. They set to work getting quantities of the
juiciest bark for Grasshopper, who was delighted with this lazy life,
and did little more than eat or sleep. Bigger and bigger he grew, till
at last he was ten times the size of Ahmeek, and could barely manage to
move around in his lodge. He was perfectly happy.
But one day the beaver who kept watch up above, among the rushes of the
pond, came swimming to the lodge in a state of great excitement.
"The hunters are after us," he panted. "It is indeed Man-a-bo-zho
himself, with his hunters. They are breaking down our dam!"
Even as he spoke, the water in the pond sank lower and lower; the next
moment came the tramping of feet, as the hunters leapt upon the roof of
the lodge, trying to break it open.
All the beavers but Grasshopper scampered out of the lodge, and escaped
into the stream, where they hid themselves
[Illustration: 0000]
in some deep pools, or swam far down with the current. Grasshopper did
his best to follow them, but could not. The doorway was too small for
his big, fat body; when he attempted to go through it, he found himself
stuck fast.
Then the roof gave way, and the head of an Indian appeared.
"_Ty-au!_" he called. "_Tut-ty-au!_ See what's here! This must be
Me-shau-mik, the King of the beavers." Man-a-bo-zho came, and gave one
look.
"It's Grasshopper!" he cried. "I can see through his tricks. It's
Grasshopper in the skin of a beaver."
Then they fell upon him with their clubs; and eight tall Indians, having
swung his limp carcass upon poles, carried it off in triumph through the
woods.
But his _Fee-bi_, or spirit, was still in the body of the beaver, and
struggled to escape. The Indians bore him to their lodges and prepared
to make a feast. Then, when the squaws were ready to skin him, his flesh
was quite cold, and the spirit of Grasshopper left the beaver's body,
and glided swiftly away. As the shadowy shape fled across the prairie,
into the forest, the watchful Man-a-bo-zho saw it take the human form of
Grasshopper, and he started in pursuit.
Grasshopper's life among the beavers had made him lazier than ever, and
as he ran he looked around for some easier way than running. Soon he
came upon a herd of elk, a species of deer with large, spreading horns.
The elk were feeding contentedly, and looked sleek and fat.
"They lead a free and happy life," said Grasshopper as he watched them.
"Why fatigue myself with running? I'll change myself into an elk, and
join their band."
Horns sprouted from his head; in a few minutes the transformation was
complete. Still he was not satisfied.
"I am hardly big enough," he said to the leader. "My feet are much too
small, and my horns should be twice the
[Illustration: 0000]
size of yours. Is there nothing I can do to make them grow?" "Yes,"
answered the leader of the elks. "But you do it at your own risk."
He took Grasshopper into the woods, and showed him a bright red berry
that hung in clusters on some small, low bushes.
"Eat these," he said, "and nothing else, and your horns and feet will
soon be much bigger than ours. However, it would be wise if you did not
eat too many of them."
The berries were delicious. Grasshopper felt that he could not get
enough, and he ate them greedily whenever he could find them. Before
long his feet had grown so large and heavy he could hardly keep up with
the herd, while his horns had such a huge spread that he sometimes found
them rather in his way.
One cold day the herd went into the woods for shelter; pretty soon
some of the elks who had lingered behind came rushing by with snorts
of-alarm. Hunters were pursuing them.
"Run!" called out the leader to Grasshopper. "Follow us out on the
prairie, where the Indians cannot catch us." Grasshopper tried to follow
them; but his big feet weighted him down, and he ran slowly. Then, as he
plunged madly through a thicket, his spreading horns were entangled in
some low branches that held him fast. Already several arrows had whizzed
by him; another pierced his heart, and he sank to the ground.
Along came the hunters, with a whoop. "Ty-au!" they exclaimed when
they saw the enormous elk. "It is he who made the large tracks on the
prairie. Ty-au!"
As they were skinning him, Man-a-bo-zho joined the party; and at that
moment the _Fee-bi_, or spirit, of Grasshopper escaped through the mouth
of the dead elk, and passed swiftly to the open plains, like a puff of
white smoke driven before the wind. Then, as Man-a-bo-zho watched it
melt away, he
[Illustration: 0000]
saw once more the mortal shape of Grasshopper; and once more he followed
after, breathing vengeance.
As Grasshopper ran on, a new thought came into his head. Above him in
the clear blue sky the birds wheeled and soared. "There is the place for
me," he said, "far up in the sky. Let me have wings, and I can laugh at
Man-a-bo-zho."
Ahead of him was a lake; approaching it, he saw a flock of wild geese
known as brant, feeding among the rushes. "Ha," said Grasshopper,
admiring them as they sailed smoothly here and there. "They will soon be
winging their way to the North. I would like to fly in their company."
He spoke to them, calling them Pish-ne-kuh, his brothers, and they
consented to receive him as one of the flock. So he floated on his back
till feathers sprouted on him, and he became a brant, with a broad
black beak, and a tail that would guide him through the air as a rudder
steers a ship.
Greedy as ever, he fed long after the others had had enough, so that
he soon grew into the biggest brant ever seen. His beak looked like the
paddles of a canoe; when he spread his wings they were as large as two
large _au-puk-wa_, or mats. The wild geese gazed at him in astonishment.
"You must fly in the lead," they said.
"No," answered Grasshopper. "I would rather fly behind." "As you
please," they told him. "But you will have to be careful. By all means
keep your head and neck straight out before you, and do not look down as
you fly, or you may meet with an accident."
It was a beautiful sight to see them flap their wings, stretch their
long necks, and rise with a "whir" from the lake, mounting the wind, and
rushing on before it. They flew with a breeze from the south, faster and
faster, till their speed was like the flight of an arrow.
One day, passing over a village, they could hear the people shouting.
The Indians were amazed at the size of the big
[Illustration: 0000]
brant, flying in the rear of the flock; yelling as loud as they could
yell, their cries made Grasshopper curious. One voice especially seemed
familiar to him, and he could not resist the temptation to draw in his
neck and stretch it down toward the earth. As he did so, the strong
wind caught his tail, and turned him over and over. In vain he tried to
recover his balance; the wind whirled him round and round, as it whirls
a leaf. The earth came nearer, the shouts of the Indians grew louder in
his ears; at last he fell with a thud, and lay lifeless.
It was a fine feast of wild goose that had dropped so suddenly from
the skies. The hungry Indians pounced upon him, and began to pluck his
feathers. This was the very village where Grasshopper had once lived;
little had he dreamed that he would ever return to supply it with such a
dinner, a dinner at which he himself was to be the best dish.
But again his _Fee-bi_, or spirit, went forth, and fled in the form of
Grasshopper; again Man-a-bo-zho, shouting his warcry, followed after.
Grasshopper had now come to the desert places, where there were few
trees, and no signs of animal life. Man-abo-zho was gaining on him; he
must play some new trick. Coming at last to a tall pine-tree growing
in the rock, he climbed it, pulled off all the green needles, and
scattered them about, leaving the branches quite bare. Then he took to
his heels again. When Man-a-bo-zho came, the pine spoke to him, saying:
"See what Grasshopper has done. Without my foliage I am sure to die.
Great Manito, I pray you give me back my green dress."
Man-a-bo-zho, who loves and protects all trees, had pity on the pine. He
collected the scattered needles, and restored them to the branches. Then
he hastened on with such speed that he overtook Grasshopper, and put his
hand out to clutch him. But Grasshopper stepped quickly aside, and spun
[Illustration: 0000]
round and round on one leg in his whirlwind dance, till the air all
about was filled with leaves and sand. In the midst of this whirlwind
he sprang into a hollow tree, and changed himself into a snake. Then he
crept out through the roots, and not a moment too soon; for Man-a-bo-zho
smote the tree with one of his magic mittens, and crumbled it to powder.
Grasshopper changed himself back into his human form, and ran for dear
life. The only thing left for him to do was to hide. But where? In his
headlong flight he had come again to the shores of the Great Lake; and
he saw rising before him the high cliff of the Picture Rocks. If he
could but manage to reach these rocks, the Manito of the Mountain, who
lived in one of the gloomy caverns, might let him in. Sure enough! As he
reached the cliff, calling out for help, the Manito opened the door, and
told him to enter.
Hardly had the big door closed with a bang, than along came
Man-a-bo-zho. With his mitten he gave a tap on the rock that made the
splinters fly.
"Open!" he cried, in a terrible voice.,
But the Manito was brave and hospitable.
"I have sheltered you," he said to Grasshopper, "and I would rather die
myself than give you up."
Man-a-bo-zho waited, but no answer came.
"As you will," he said at last. "If the door is not opened to me by
night, I shall call upon the Thunder and the Lightning to do my
bidding."
The hours passed; darkness fell. Then from a black cloud that had
gathered over the Great Lake, Way-wass-i-mo, the red-eyed Lightning,
shot his bolts of fire. Crash--boom--crash! An-ne-mee-kee, the Thunder,
shouted hoarsely from the heavens. A wild wind arose; the trees of the
forest swayed and groaned, and the foxes hid in their holes.
Way-wass-i-mo, the Lightning, leapt from the black cloud, and darted at
the cliff. The rock trembled; the door was
[Illustration: 0000]
shivered, and fell apart. Out from his gloomy cavern came the Manito
of the Mountain, asking Man-a-bo-zho for mercy. It was granted, and the
Manito fled to the hills.
Grasshopper then appeared; the next moment he was buried under a mass of
rock shaken loose by An-ne-mee-kee, the Thunder. This time he had been
killed in his human form, he could play his mad pranks no more.
But Man-a-bo-zho, the merciful, remembered that Grasshopper was not
wholly bad.
"Your _Fee-bi_" he said, "must no longer remain upon the earth in any
form whatever. As a man you lived an idle, foolish life, and you are no
longer wanted here. Instead, I shall permit you to inhabit the skies."
Saying this, he took the ghost of Grasshopper, and clothed it with the
shape of the war-eagle, bidding him to be chief of all the fowls. .
But Grasshopper, the mischievous, is not forgotten by the people. In
the late winter days, snow fine as powder fills the air like a vapor. It
keeps the hunter from his traps, the fisherman from his hole in the ice.
Suddenly a puff of wind seizes this light, powdery snow, blows it
round and round, and sets it whirling along; and when this happens, the
Indians laugh and say:
"Look! There goes Grasshopper. See how well he dances."
[Illustration: 0073]
[Illustration: 0074]