bright little house all by himself, where he weaved webs and long
flimsy ladders by which people went back and forth from the sky to the
earth. The Star-people often went at night to earth where they roamed
about as fairies of light, doing good deeds for women and little
children, and they always went back and forth on the ladder of the
Spider Man. The Spider Man had to work very hard, weaving his webs,
and spinning the yarn from which his ladders were made. One day when
he had a short breathing-time from his toil he looked down at the
earth-country and there he saw many of the earth-people playing at
games, or taking sweet sap from the maple trees, or gathering berries
on the rolling hills; but most of the men were lazily idling and doing
nothing. The women were all working, after the fashion of Indians in
those days; the men were working but little. And Spider Man said to
himself, "I should like to go to the earth-country where men idle
their time away. I would marry four wives who would work for me while
I would take life easy, for I need a rest."
He was very tired of his work for he was kept at it day and night
always spinning and weaving his webs. But when he asked for a rest he
was not allowed to stop; he was only kicked for his pains and called
Sleepy Head, and Lazy-bones and other harsh names, and told to work
harder. Then he grew angry and he resolved to punish the Star-people
because they kept him so hard at work. He thought that if he punished
them and made himself a nuisance, they would be glad to be rid of him.
So he hit upon a crafty plan. Each night when a Star-fairy was
climbing back to the sky-country, just as he came near the top of the
ladder, the Spider Man would cut the strands and the fairy would fall
to earth with a great crash. Night after night he did this, and he
chuckled to himself as he saw the sky-fairies sprawling through the
air and kicking their heels, while the earth-people looked up
wonderingly at them and called them Shooting Stars. Many Star-people
fell to earth in this way because of the Spider Man's tricks, and they
could never get back to the sky-country because of their broken limbs
or their disfigured faces, for in the sky-country the people all must
have beautiful faces and forms. But Spider Man's tricks brought him no
good; the people would not drive him away because they needed his webs
and he was kept always at his tasks. At last he decided to run away of
his own accord, and, one night when the Moon and the Stars had gone to
work and the Sun was asleep, he said farewell to the sky-country and
let himself down to earth by one of his own strands of yarn, spinning
it as he dropped down.
[Illustration: HE SAID FAREWELL TO THE SKY COUNTRY AND LET HIMSELF
DOWN TO EARTH--BY ONE OF HIS OWN STRANDS OF YARN]
In the earth-country he married four wives as he had planned, for he
wanted them to work for him while he took his ease. He thought he had
worked long enough. All went well for a time and the Spider Man was
quite happy living his lazy and contented life. Not a strand did he
spin, nor a web did he weave. No men on earth were working; only the
women toiled. At last, Glooskap, who ruled upon the earth in that
time, became very angry because the men in these parts were so lazy,
and he sent Famine into their country to punish them for their sins.
Famine came very stealthily into the land and gathered up all the corn
and carried it off; then he called to him all the animals, and the
birds, and the fish of the sea and river, and he took them away with
him. In all the land there was nothing left to eat. Only water
remained. The people were very hungry and they lived on water for many
days. Sometimes they drank the water cold, sometimes hot, sometimes
luke-warm, but at best it was but poor fare. The Spider Man soon grew
tired of this strange diet, for it did not satisfy his hunger to live
always on water. It filled his belly and swelled him to a great size,
but it brought him little nourishment or strength. So he said, "There
must be good food somewhere in the world; I will go in search of it."
That night when all the world was asleep he took a large bag, and
crept softly away from his four wives and set out on his quest for
food. He did not want any one to know where he was going. For several
days he travelled, living only on water; but he found no food, and the
bag was still empty on his back. At last one day he saw birds in the
trees and he knew that he was near the border of the Hunger-Land. That
night in the forest when he stopped at a stream to drink, he saw a
tiny gleam of light far ahead of him through the trees. He hurried
towards the light and soon he came upon a man with a great hump on his
shoulders and scars on his face, and a light hanging at his back, with
a shade on it which he could close and open at his will. The Spider
Man said, "I am looking for food; tell me where I can find it." And
the humped man with the light said, "Do you want it for your people?"
But the Spider Man said, "No, I want it for myself." Then the humped
man laughed and said, "You are near to the border of the Land of
Plenty; follow me and I will give you food." Then he flashed the light
at his back, opening and closing the shade so that the light
flickered, and he set off quickly through the trees. The Spider Man
followed the light flashing in the darkness, but he had to go so fast
that he was almost out of breath when he reached the house where the
humped man had stopped. But the humped man only laughed when he saw
the Spider Man coming puffing wearily along with his fat and swollen
belly. He gave him a good fat meal and the Spider Man soon felt
better after his long fast. Then the humped man said, "You are the
Spider Man who once weaved webs in the sky. I, too, once dwelt in the
star-country, and one dark night as I was climbing back from the
earth-country on your ladder, carrying my lamp on my back to light the
way, when I was near the sky you cut the strands of the web and I fell
to the earth with a great crash. That is why I have a great hump on my
back and scars on my face, and because of this I have never been
allowed to go back to the sky-country of the stars. I roam the earth
at nights as a forest fairy just as I did in the olden days, for I
have my former power still with me, and I still carry my lamp at my
back; it is the starlight from the sky-country. I shall never get back
to the star-country while I have life. But some day when my work on
earth is done I shall go back. But although you were cruel to me I
will give you food." The Spider Man remembered the nights he had cut
the ladder strands, and he laughed to himself at the memory of the
star-fairies falling to earth with a great crash. But the man with the
light knew that now he had his chance to take vengeance on the Spider
Man. The latter did not suspect evil. He was glad to get food at last.
Then the humped man said, "I will give you four pots. You must not
open them until you get home. They will then be filled with food, and
thereafter always when you open them they will be packed with good
food. And the food will never grow less." The Spider Man put the four
pots in his bag and slinging it over his shoulder he set out for his
home, well pleased with his success. After he had gone away, the
humped man used his power to make him hungry. Yet for several days he
travelled without opening the pots, for although he was almost
starving he wished to do as the humped man had told him. At last he
could wait no longer. He stopped near his home, took the pots out of
the bag and opened them. They were filled with good food as he had
been promised. In one was a fine meat stew; in another were many
cooked vegetables; in another was bread made from Indian corn; and in
another was luscious ripe fruit. He ate until he was full. He covered
the pots, put them back in the bag, and hid the bag among the trees.
Then he went home. He had meanwhile taken pity on his people and he
decided to invite the Chief and all the tribe to a feast the next
evening, for the pots would be full, and the food would never
decrease, and there would be enough for all. He thought the people
would regard him as a very wonderful man if he could supply them all
with good food in their hunger.
When he reached his home his wives were very glad to see him back, and
they at once brought him water, the only food they had. But he laughed
them to scorn, and threw the water in their faces and said, "Oh,
foolish women, I do not want water; it is not food for a great man
like me. I have had a good meal of meat stew and corn bread and
cooked vegetables and luscious ripe fruit. I know where much food is
to be found, but I alone know. I can find food when all others fail,
for I am a great man. Go forth and invite the Chief and all the people
to a feast which I shall provide for them to-morrow night--a feast for
all the land, for my food never grows less." They were all amazed when
they heard his story, and the thought of his good meal greatly added
to their hunger. But they went out and summoned all the tribe to a
feast as he had told them.
The next night all the people gathered for the feast, for the news of
it had spread through all the land. They had taken no water that day,
for they wished to eat well, and they were very hungry. They were as
hungry as wild beasts in search of food. The Spider Man was very glad
because the people praised him, and he proudly brought in his bag of
pots. The people all waited hungrily and eagerly. But when he
uncovered the first pot there was no food there; he uncovered the
second pot, but there was no food there; he uncovered all the pots,
but not a bit of food was in any of them. They were all empty, and in
the bottom of each was a great gaping hole. Now it had happened in
this way. When the humped man, the Star-fairy, had given the pots to
the Spider Man, he knew well that the Spider Man would disobey his
orders and that he would open the pots before he reached his home. He
chuckled to himself, for he knew that now he could take vengeance on
the web-weaver who had injured him. So when the Spider Man had left
the pots among the trees, the humped man used his magic power and made
holes in the pots, and the charm of the food was broken and all the
food disappeared. When the people saw the empty pots they thought they
had been purposely deceived. The remains of the food and the smell of
stew and of fruit still clung to the pots. They thought the Spider Man
had eaten all the food himself. So in their great hunger and their
rage and their disappointment they fell upon him and beat him and bore
him to the ground, while the humped man with the lamp at his back
hiding behind the trees looked on and laughed in his glee. Then the
people split the Spider Man's arms to the shoulders, and his legs to
the thighs, so that he had eight limbs instead of four. And the humped
man--the star-fairy named Fire-fly--came forth from behind the trees
and standing over the fallen Spider Man he said, "Henceforth because
of your cruelty to the star-people you will always crawl on eight
legs, and you will have a fat round belly because of the water you
have drunk; and sometimes you will live on top of the water. But you
shall always eat only flies and insects. And you will always spin
downwards but never upwards, and you will often try to get back to the
star-country, but you shall always slip down again on the strand of
yarn you have spun." Then Fire-fly flashed his light and went quickly
away, opening and closing the shade of his lamp as he flitted among
the trees. And to this day the Spider Man lives as the humped man of
the lamp had spoken, because of the cruelty he practised on the
star-fairies in the olden days.
THE BOY WHO WAS CALLED THICK-HEAD
Three brothers lived with their old Indian mother in the forest near
the sea. Their father had long been dead. At his death he had little
of the world's goods to his credit and his widow and her sons were
very poor. In the place where they dwelt, game was not plentiful, and
to get food enough to keep them from want they had often to go far
into the forest. The youngest boy was smaller and weaker than the
others, and when the two older sons went far away to hunt, they always
left him behind, for although he always wished to accompany them they
would never allow him to go. He had to do all the work about the
house, and all day long he gathered wood in the forest and carried
water from the stream. And even when his brothers went out in the
spring-time to draw sap from the maple trees he was never permitted to
go with them. He was always making mistakes and doing foolish things.
His brothers called him Thick-head, and all the people round about
said he was a simpleton because of his slow and queer ways. His mother
alone was kind to him and she always said, "They may laugh at you and
call you fool, but you will prove to be wiser than all of them yet,
for so it was told me by a forest fairy at your birth."
The Chief of the people had a beautiful daughter who had many suitors.
But her father spurned them all from his door and said, "My daughter
is not yet of age to marry; and when her time of marriage comes, she
will only marry the man who can make great profit from hunting." The
two older sons of the old woman decided that one of them must win the
girl. So they prepared to set out on a great hunting expedition far
away in the northern forest, for it was now autumn, and the hunter's
moon had come. The youngest boy wanted to go with them, for he had
never been away from home and he wished to see the world. And his
mother said he might go. His brothers were very angry when they heard
his request, and they said, "Much good Thick-head can do us in the
chase. He will only bring us bad luck. He is not a hunter but a
scullion and a drudge fit only for the fireside." But his mother
commanded them to grant the boy's wish and they had to obey. So the
three brothers set out for the north country, the two older brothers
grumbling loudly because they were accompanied by the boy they thought
a fool.
The two older brothers had good success in the chase and they killed
many animals--deer and rabbits and otters and beavers. And they came
home bearing a great quantity of dried meat and skins. They each
thought, "Now we have begun to prove our prowess to the Chief, and if
we succeed as well next year when the hunter's moon comes again, one
of us will surely win his daughter when she is old enough to marry."
But all the youngest boy brought home as a result of his journey into
the game country was a large Earth-Worm as thick as his finger and as
long as his arm. It was the biggest Earth-Worm he had ever seen. He
thought it a great curiosity as well as a great discovery, and he was
so busy watching it each day that he had no time to hunt. When he
brought it home in a box, his brothers said to their mother, "What did
we tell you about Thick-head? He has now surely proved himself a fool.
He has caught only a fat Earth-Worm in all these weeks." And they
noised it abroad in the village and all the people laughed loudly at
the simpleton, until "Thick-head's hunt" became a by-word in all the
land. But the boy's mother only smiled and said, "He will surprise
them all yet."
The boy kept the Earth-Worm in a tiny pen just outside the door of his
home. One day a large Duck came waddling along, and sticking her bill
over the little fence of the pen she quickly gobbled up the Worm. The
boy was very angry and he went to the man who owned the Duck, and
said, "Your Duck ate up my pet Worm. I want my Worm." The man offered
to pay him whatever price he asked, but the boy said, "I do not want
your price. I want my Worm." But the man said, "How can I give you
your Worm when my Duck has eaten it up? It is gone for ever." And the
boy said, "It is not gone. It is in the Duck's belly. So I must have
the Duck." Then to avoid further trouble the man gave Thick-head the
Duck, for he thought to himself, "What is the use of arguing with a
fool."
The boy took the Duck home and kept it in a little pen near his home
with a low fence around it. And he tied a great weight to its foot so
that it could not fly away. He was quite happy again, for he thought,
"Now I have both my Worm and the Duck." But one day a Fox came
prowling along looking for food. He saw the fat Duck tied by the foot
in the little pen. And he said, "What good fortune! There is a choice
meal for me," and in a twinkling he was over the fence. The Duck
quacked and made a great noise, but she was soon silenced. The Fox had
just finished eating up the Duck when the boy, who had heard the
quacking, came running out of the house. The Fox was smacking his lips
after his good meal, and he was too slow in getting away. The boy fell
to beating him with a stout club and soon killed him and threw his
body into the yard behind the house. And he thought, "That is not so
bad. Now I have my Worm and the Duck and the Fox."
That night an old Wolf came through the forest in search of food. He
was very hungry, and in the bright moonlight he saw the dead Fox
lying in the yard. He pounced upon it greedily and devoured it until
not a trace of it was left. But the boy saw him before he could get
away, and he came stealthily upon him and killed him with a blow of
his axe. "I am surely in good luck," he thought, "for now I have the
Worm and the Duck and the Fox and the Wolf." But the next day when he
told his brothers of his good fortune and his great skill, they
laughed at him loudly and said, "Much good a dead Wolf will do you.
Before two days have passed it will be but an evil-smelling thing and
we shall have to bury it deep. You are indeed a great fool." The boy
pondered for a long time over what they had said, and he thought,
"Perhaps they are right. The dead Wolf cannot last long. I will save
the skin."
So he skinned the Wolf and dried the skin and made a drum from it. For
the drum was one of the few musical instruments of the Indians in
those old times, and they beat it loudly at all their dances and
festivals. The boy beat the drum each evening, and made a great noise,
and he was very proud because he had the only drum in the whole
village. One day the Chief sent for him and said to him, "I want to
borrow your drum for this evening. I am having a great gathering to
announce to all the land that my daughter is now of age to marry and
that suitors may now seek her hand in marriage. But we have no musical
instruments and I want your drum, and I myself will beat it at the
dance." So Thick-head brought his drum to the Chief's house, but he
was not very well pleased, because he was not invited to the feast,
while his brothers were among the favoured guests. And he said to the
Chief, "Be very careful. Do not tear the skin of my drum, for I can
never get another like it. My Worm and my Duck and my Fox and my Wolf
have all helped to make it."
[Illustration: THAT NIGHT AN OLD WOLF CAME THROUGH THE FOREST IN
SEARCH OF FOOD]
The next day he went for his drum. But the Chief had struck it too
hard and had split it open so that it would now make no sound and it
was ruined beyond repair. He offered to pay the boy a great price for
it, but the boy said, "I do not want your price. I want my drum. Give
me back my drum, for my Worm and the Duck and the Fox and the Wolf are
all in it." The Chief said, "How can I give you back your drum when it
is broken? It is gone for ever. I will give you anything you desire in
exchange for it. Since you do not like the price I offer, you may name
your own price and you shall have it." And the boy thought to himself,
"Here is a chance for good fortune. Now I shall surprise my brothers."
And he said, "Since you cannot give me my drum, I will take your
daughter in marriage in exchange." The Chief was much perplexed, but
he had to be true to his word. So he gave his daughter to Thick-head,
and they were married, and the girl brought him much treasure and they
lived very happily. And his brothers were much amazed and angered
because they had failed. But his mother said, "I told you he was wiser
than you and that he would outwit you yet although you called him
Thick-head and fool. For the forest fairy said it to me at his
birth."
RABBIT AND THE INDIAN CHIEF
Long ago an Indian Chief was living with his people far in the
Canadian forest. Life was good and food was plentiful and the people
were all very happy. But one day a wicked giant and his old witch wife
came crashing into the land from a far country beyond the prairies.
They devoured all the food they could lay their hands on and soon
there was little left to eat in all the country; and often they
carried off little children to their hiding-place and ate them up
until not a trace of them remained. Somewhere far in the forest they
dwelt in a hidden cave; they slept all day long, but at night they
always stalked forth in search of plunder. The Chief was much
troubled, and with his warriors he tried in every way to discover
their hiding-place, but no one ever succeeded in finding it. For by
the use of their magic power the giant and his old witch wife could
make themselves invisible when they walked abroad among men and they
could not be caught. The Chief called all his warriors to a council,
and he said, "Who can rid me of this pest? Who can kill the giant?"
But not a man replied. And when he saw his people's store of food
rapidly growing smaller and the little children of his tribe slowly
disappearing, he was greatly puzzled as to what he should do.
One night of bright moonlight Rabbit was prowling through the woods,
as was his custom, in search of some one on whom he could play a
prank, for he was a great joker. Suddenly he came upon the giant and
his old witch wife standing by an opening in the side of a low
mountain. He watched them for a long time from the shadow of a great
tree, and at last he saw them enter a large hole in the side of the
hill. He knew now that he had hit by accident upon the giant's cave
and he was well pleased by his discovery. But he kept his secret to
himself, for he thought, "Here is a good chance for me to win fame. I
will kill the giants by a crafty trick and I will then be looked upon
as a great warrior, the foremost in all the land, for all the Chief's
men have failed to find the giants."
So he went to the Chief and said, "Oh, Chief, I know where the giants
live and I swear to you that I am going to kill them. It is I alone
who can rid you of these pests." "You!" said the Chief in great
surprise; "little harm the like of you can do to giants; they will eat
you up in one mouthful," and he laughed loudly at Rabbit's boldness.
And he called to his warriors saying, "See what a stout fighter we
have here! Little Rabbit says he can do what we have failed to do; he
swears that he will kill the giants; he is better fitted to kill a
mouse!" And they all laughed loud haw-haws at Rabbit's vanity.
Poor Rabbit's pride was deeply hurt by the Chief's scorn and the
warriors' cruel laughter, but it all made him more determined than
ever to slay the thieving giants. So he went to an old woman who lived
near-by and said, "Give me an old faded dress and a ragged old shawl
and your coloured spectacles and a hat with a feather in it." The old
woman wondered what tricks he was up to now, but she gave him what he
asked for. He put on the tattered old dress and the battered old hat
with a red feather sticking from the top, and he wrapped the old shawl
about his face, and he wore the woman's coloured spectacles and he
carried a crooked stick. And dressed in this fashion he set out
towards evening for the giants' home. When he reached the mouth of the
cave, he stood still and waited, leaning on his crooked stick, for
night was coming on and he knew that the giants would soon be going
out on their plundering rounds.
After a time when it was quite dark except for the moonlight, the
giant's old witch wife came out of the cave. When she saw Rabbit in
the dim light she said gruffly, "Who are you, standing there in the
shadows?" "Oh, my dear niece," said Rabbit, "I have found you at last.
I am your poor old aunt. I thought I had lost my way. I have come to
see you from your home in the far country. It was a long journey and
my poor old legs and back are stiff and sore, and I am very hungry and
tired;" and he moved slowly towards the woman, hobbling along with his
crooked stick. The giant woman was deceived, and she threw her arms
around Rabbit and kissed him, and she did not feel his whiskers or his
split lip because of the old shawl that was wrapped around his face.
"I have a pain in my jaw from sleeping out of doors," said Rabbit,
"and I must keep my face wrapped up."
"Come in and rest, and you will soon feel better," said the giant
woman.
"You will have to lead me in," said Rabbit, not wishing to take off
the shawl, "for my eyesight is very bad."
So she led Rabbit into the warm cave, which was so dark that they
could scarcely see each other, and she called her husband and said,
"Here is my dear old aunt who has come all the way from the far
country beyond the prairies." And the giant, believing Rabbit to be
his wife's kindred, for he could not see him very clearly, treated him
very kindly. And they showed him the bed where he was to sleep.