man could not go out to catch fish because of the turbulent sea. For
many days he stayed on shore, for the ocean, which was usually at
peace, was lashed into a great fury and the waves were dashing high on
the beach. Soon the people were in need of fish for food. And the boy
said, "I will go out with you, for I can overcome the Storm Spirit."
The man did not want to go, but at last he listened to the boy's
entreaties and together they set out for the fishing grounds far
across the tossing sea. They had not gone far when they met the Spirit
of the Storm coming madly from the south-west where the great winds
dwelt. He tried hard to upset their boat, but over them he had no
power, for the boy guided the frail craft across the water and all
around them the sea was calm and still. Then the Storm Spirit called
his nephew Black Cloud to help him, and away in the south-east they
saw him hurrying to his uncle's aid. But the boy said to the man, "Be
not afraid, for I am more than a match for him." So the two met, but
when Black Cloud saw the boy he quickly disappeared. Then the Spirit
of the Storm called Mist of the Sea to come and cover the water, for
he thought the boat would be lost if he hid the land from the man and
the boy. When the man saw Mist of the Sea coming like a grey vapour
across the water he was very frightened, for of all his enemies on the
ocean he feared this one most. But the boy said, "He cannot harm you
when I am with you." And sure enough, when Mist of the Sea saw the boy
sitting smiling in the boat he disappeared as quickly as he had come.
And the Storm Spirit in great anger hurried away to other parts, and
that day there was no more danger on the sea near the fishing grounds.
The boy and the man soon reached the fishing grounds in safety. And
the boy taught his foster-father a magic song with which he was able
to lure fish to his nets. Before evening came the boat was filled with
good fat fish and they set out for their home. The man said, "Tell me
the secret of your power." But the boy said, "It is not yet time."
[Illustration: AND SHE MAKES TO HIM AN OFFERING OF TINY WHITE FEATHERS
PLUCKED FROM THE BREASTS OF BIRDS]
The next day the boy killed many birds. He skinned them all and dried
their skins. Then he dressed himself in the skin of a plover and rose
into the air and flew above the sea. And the sea under him was grey
like his wings. Then he came down and dressed himself in the skin of a
blue-jay and soared away again. And the sea over which he was flying
was at once changed to blue like the blue of his wings. When he came
back to the beach, he put on the skin of a robin with the breast of a
golden hue like his face. Then he flew high and at once the waves
under him reflected a colour as of fire and bright gleams of light
appeared upon the ocean, and the sky in the west was golden red. The
boy flew back to the beach and he said to his foster-parents, "Now it
is time for me to leave you. I am the offspring of the sun. Yesterday
my power was tested and it was not found wanting, so now I must go
away and I shall see you no more. But at evening I shall appear to you
often in the twilight sky in the west. And when the sky and the sea
look at evening like the colour of my face, you will know that there
will be no wind nor storm and that on the morrow the weather will be
fair. But although I go away, I shall leave you a strange power. And
always when you need me, let me know your desires by making white
offerings to me, so that I may see them from my home far in the west."
Then he gave to his foster-mother a wonderful robe. He bade his
parents good-bye, and soared away to the west, leaving them in
sadness. But the woman still keeps a part of the power he gave her,
and when she sits on the island in a crevice in the dunes and loosens
her wonderful robe, the wind hurries down from the land, and the sea
is ruffled with storm; and the more she loosens the garment the
greater is the tempest. But in the late autumn when the cold mists
come in from the sea, and the evenings are chill, and the sky is dull
and grey, she remembers the promise of the boy. And she makes to him
an offering of tiny white feathers plucked from the breasts of birds.
She throws them into the air, and they appear as flakes of snow and
rise thickly into the winds. And they hurry westward to tell the boy
that the world is grey and dreary as it yearns for the sight of his
golden face. Then he appears to the people of earth. He comes at
evening and lingers after the sun has gone, until the twilight sky is
red, and the ocean in the west has gleams of golden light. And the
people then know that there will be no wind and that on the morrow the
weather will be fair, as he promised them long ago.
HOW RAVEN BROUGHT FIRE TO THE INDIANS
Many ages ago when the world was still young, Raven and White Sea-gull
lived near together in Canada, far in the north country on the shores
of the Great Water in the west. They were very good friends and they
always worked in harmony and they had much food and many servants in
common. White Sea-gull knew no guile; he was always very open and
frank and honest in his dealings with others. But Raven was a sly
fellow, and at times he was not lacking in treachery and deceit. But
Sea-gull did not suspect him, and the two lived always on very
friendly terms. In these far-back times in the north country all the
world was dark and there was no light but that of the stars. Sea-gull
owned all the daylight, but he was very stingy and he kept it always
locked up in a box. He would give none of it to anyone else, and he
never let it out of the box except when he needed a little of it to
help himself when he went far away on his journeys.
After a time Raven grew envious of Sea-gull's possession. And he said,
"It is not fair that Sea-gull should keep the daylight all to himself
locked up in a box. It was meant for all the world and not for him
alone, and it would be of great value to all of us if he would
sometimes let a little of it out." So he went to Sea-gull and said,
"Give me some of your daylight. You do not need it all and I can use
some of it with advantage." But Sea-gull said, "No. I want it all for
myself. What could you do with daylight, you with your coat as black
as night?" and he would not give him any of it. So Raven made up his
mind that he would have to get some daylight from Sea-gull by stealth.
Soon afterwards Raven gathered some prickly thorns and burdocks and
scattered them on the ground between Sea-gull's house and the beach
where the canoes were lying. Then he went to Sea-gull's window and
cried loudly, "Our canoes are going adrift in the surf. Come quickly
and help me to save them." Sea-gull sprang out of bed and ran
half-asleep on his bare feet. But as he ran to the beach the thorns
stuck in his bare flesh, and he howled with pain. He crawled back to
his house, saying, "My canoe may go adrift if it pleases; I cannot
walk because of the splinters in my feet." Raven chuckled to himself,
and he moved away, pretending to go to the beach to draw up the
canoes. Then he went into Sea-gull's house. Sea-gull was still howling
with pain; he was sitting crying on the side of his bed and he was
trying to pull the thorns from his feet as best he could. "I will help
you," said Raven, "for I have often done this before. I am a very good
doctor." So he took an awl made from whale-bone and he caught hold of
Sea-gull's foot, with the pretence of removing the thorns. But instead
of taking them out he only pushed them in farther until poor Sea-gull
howled louder than ever. And Raven said, "It is so dark I cannot see
to pull these thorns from your feet. Give me some daylight and I will
soon cure you. A doctor must always have a little light." So Sea-gull
unlocked the box and lifted the cover just a little bit so that a
faint gleam of light came out. "That is better," said Raven. But
instead of picking out the thorns he pushed them in as he had done
before, until Sea-gull howled and kicked in pain. "Why are you so
stingy with your light?" snapped Raven. "Do you think I am an owl and
that I can see well enough in the darkness to heal your feet? Open the
box wide and I will soon make you well." So saying he purposely fell
heavily against Sea-gull and knocked the box on the floor. The cover
flew open and daylight escaped and spread quickly over all the world.
Poor Sea-gull tried his best to lure it back again into the box, but
his efforts proved fruitless, for it had gone for ever. Raven said he
was very sorry for the accident, but after he had taken all the thorns
from Sea-gull's feet he went home laughing to himself and well pleased
because of the success of his trick.
Soon there was light in all the world. But Raven could not see very
well, for the light was too bright and his eyes were not accustomed to
it. He sat for a time looking towards the east, but he saw there
nothing of interest. The next day he saw a bit farther, for he was now
getting used to the new conditions. The third day he could see
distinctly a line of hills far in the east, rising against the sky,
and covered with a blue mist. He looked long at the strange sight.
Then he saw far away towards the hill a thin column of smoke lifting
heavenwards. He had never seen smoke before, but he had often heard of
it from travellers in strange places. "That must be the country of
which I have been told," he said. "In that land dwell the people who
alone possess Fire. We have searched for it for many ages and now I
think we have found it." Then he thought, "We now have the daylight,
and what a fine thing it would be if we could also have Fire," and he
determined to set out to find it.
On the following day he called his servants together and told them of
his plans. He said, "We shall set out at once, for the distance is
far." And he asked three of his best servants, Robin, Mole and Flea,
to go with him. Flea brought out his little wagon and they all tried
to get into it, but it was much too small to hold them. Then they
tried Mole's carriage, but it was much too frail, and it had scarcely
started to move when it broke down and they all fell out in a heap.
Then they tried Robin's carriage, but it was much too high and it
toppled over under its heavy load and threw them all to the ground.
Then Raven stole Sea-gull's large strong carriage, for Sea-gull was
asleep, and it did very well, and they started on their journey,
taking turns pushing the carriage along with a pole over the flat
plain.
After a strange journey in queer places they reached the land of the
people who owned Fire, guided along by the thin column of smoke. The
people were not people of earth. Some say they were the Fish people,
but that, no man knows. They sat around in a large circle with Fire in
their midst, for it was autumn and the days and nights were chill. And
Fire was in many places. Raven looked on for a while from afar
thinking of the best plan to obtain Fire. Then he said to Robin, "You
can move faster than any of us. You must steal Fire. You can fly in
quickly, pick it up in your bill and take it back to us and the people
will not see nor hear you." So Robin picked out a spot where there
were few people, and he darted in quickly and picked up fire in a
twinkling and flew back unharmed towards his companions. But he had
only taken a very little bit of it. When he got half-way back to his
friends, Fire was so hot in his bill that it gave him a strange pain
and he had to drop it on the ground. It fell to the earth with a crash
and it was so small that it flickered faintly. Robin called to his
companions to bring the carriage. Then he stood over Fire and fanned
it with his wings to keep it alive. It was very hot, but he stood
bravely to his task until his breast was badly scorched and he had to
move away. His efforts to save Fire were of no avail, and before his
companions reached him Fire had died, and only a black coal remained.
And poor Robin's breast was singed, and to this day the breasts of his
descendants are a reddish-brown colour because he was scorched while
trying to steal Fire ages ago.
Then Raven asked Flea to make the attempt to steal Fire. But Flea
said, "I am too little. The heat would roast me to death; and,
further, I might miscalculate the distance and hop into the flame."
Then Raven asked Mole to try, but Mole said, "Oh no, I am better
fitted for other work. My fur would all be singed like Robin's
breast." Raven took good care that he would not go himself, for he was
a great coward. So he said, "There is a better and easier way. We will
steal the baby of the Chief and hold him for ransom. Perhaps they will
give us Fire in exchange for him," and they all thought this was a
very good idea. Raven asked, "Who will volunteer to steal the baby?"
for he always made the others do all the work. Flea said, "I will go.
In one jump I will be into the house, and in another jump I will be
out again, for I can hop a great distance." But the others laughed and
said, "You could not carry the baby; you are too small." The Mole
said, "I will go. I can tunnel a passage very quietly under the house
and right up to the baby's cradle. I can then steal the baby and no
one will hear me or see me." So it was agreed that Mole should go. In
a few minutes Mole made his tunnel, and he was soon back with the
baby. Then they got into their carriage and hurried home with their
prize.
[Illustration: THEN RAVEN ASKED THE MOLE TO TRY, BUT MOLE SAID, "OH,
NO, I AM BETTER FITTED FOR OTHER WORK,--MY FUR WOULD ALL BE SINGED"]
When the Chief of the Fire people discovered the loss of his child he
was very angry. And in all the land there was great sorrow because the
Chief's heir, the hope of the tribe, had gone. And the child's mother
and her women wept so bitterly that their tears fell like rain on all
the land. The Chief said he would give anything he possessed to find
his child. But although his people searched far and near, they could
not find the baby. After many days a wayfarer who had come far from
the Great Water in the west brought them news that a strange child was
living far to the westward in the village by the sea. He said, "He is
not of their tribe. He looks like the children of your village," and
he advised them to go to see him for themselves. So the Chief sent his
men to search for them guided by the wayfarer. When they reached
Raven's village they were told that a strange baby was indeed there;
the child was described to them, but he was kept out of sight, and
Raven would not tell how he had happened to come there. And Raven
said, "How do I know he is your Chief's child? People tell strange
lies these days. If you want him you can pay for him, for he has
caused us much trouble and expense." So the messengers went back and
reported to the Chief what they had heard. From the description, the
Chief knew that the child was his, so he gave the messengers very
valuable presents of pearls and rich robes and sent them back again to
ransom his boy. But Raven, when he saw the presents, said, "No, I do
not want these gifts; they do not pay me for my trouble," and he would
not part with the baby. The messengers again reported to the Chief
what had happened. Then the Chief gave them still richer gifts, the
best he had in all his land, and sent them back. But again Raven said,
"No, your gifts are valueless, compared with my trouble and expense.
Say this to your Chief."
When the Chief heard this from his messengers he was sore perplexed,
for he had offered the best he had, and he thought that he had reached
the end of his resources. So he said, "Go back and ask the people to
demand what they wish in exchange for my boy and they will receive it
if it can be provided." So the messengers went back to Raven and spoke
as they had been commanded. And Raven said, "Only one thing can pay
for the child, and that is Fire. Give me Fire and you can take the
baby." The messenger laughed and said, "Why did you not say so at
first and save us all this trouble and anxiety? Fire is the most
plentiful thing in our kingdom, and we hold it in no value." So they
returned happy to the Chief. And he sent back much Fire and received
his child unharmed from Raven in exchange. And he sent Raven two small
stones which the messengers taught Raven how to use. And they said,
"If you ever lose Fire or if it dies for lack of food you can always
call it back to life with these two little stones." Then they showed
him how to make Fire with the two little stones and withered grass,
and birch-bark and dry pine, and Raven thought it was very easy. And
he felt very proud because he had brought Fire and Light to the earth.
He kept Fire for himself for a long time, and although the people
clamoured loudly for it, he would not give any of it away. Soon,
however, he decided to sell a quantity of it, for he now had the power
of making it. So he said to himself, "This is a good way to get many
wives," and he announced that he would only sell some of his fire in
return for a wife. And many families bought his fire and in exchange
he received many wives. And to this day he still has many wives and he
still moves about from place to place with a flock of them always
around him. But the Indians when they arrived took Fire away from him.
Thus Fire came to the Indians in the olden days. And when it has died,
as it often does, they still sometimes use Raven's flint stones to
bring it back to life.
THE GIRL WHO ALWAYS CRIED
On the bank of a stream far in the West, Owl-man lived long ago in a
little house under the ground. He had very strange habits. He always
kept away from the Great Water and he dwelt for the most part in the
forest. He had very few friends, and he usually went hunting by
himself. He lived on toads and frogs and flies. He would say but
little, and when other people sat around him talking pleasantly, he
was always silent, gazing into space with wide-open eyes, and trying
to look wiser than he really was. Because of this, people thought he
was very queer, and strange stories about him soon spread far and
wide. It was said that he was very cruel, and that he was silent
because he was always brooding over his past wickedness or thinking
about some evil deed he was soon going to do. And when children were
troublesome or disobedient, their mothers always frightened them into
goodness by saying, "The Owl-man from the stream will come and take
you if you do not mend your ways." And although the Owl-man was a
solitary fellow he thus had great influence in all the land.
Not far away lived a man and a woman who had one adopted daughter.
Because she was the only child in the house she was much petted, and
she was never satisfied, and she cried and fretted all the time, and
kept always asking for things she could not get. She disturbed all the
neighbours round about so that they could not sleep because of her
constant wailing and complaining. At last her foster-parents grew
tired of her weeping and they said, "The Owl-man will carry you off if
you do not stop crying." But still she pouted and fretted. And the old
man of the house said, "I wish the Owl-man would come and take her
away." Now the old man was a great magician, and as he wished, so it
came to pass.
That evening it happened that the people were gathered at a feast of
shell-fish on the beach by the bright moonlight, as was their weekly
custom. But the sorrowful girl would not go with the others. She
stayed at home and sulked. As she sat alone in the house, old Owl-man
came along carrying his basket full of toads and frogs. The girl was
still crying when he came in. "I have come for you," he said, "as the
old man wished." And he put her in his basket with the toads and frogs
and carried her off. She yelled and kicked and scratched, but the lid
of the basket was tightly closed and Owl-man laughed to himself and
said, "Now I have a wife at last. I shall be alone no more, and the
people will not now think I am so queer." So he took her to his
underground house by the stream. That night the people noticed that
the girl's cries were no longer heard and they said, "What can have
cured Sour-face; what can have pleased Cry-Baby into silence?" And the
girl's foster-mother wondered where she had gone. But only the old man
knew that it had happened as he had wished, because of his magic
power, and that Owl-man had taken her away.
The girl was not happy in her new home, for she would not be happy in
any place. She still kept up her caterwauling and there was no peace
in the house. Owl-man was a great hunter. Every day he went out
hunting with his big basket on his arm, but he always locked his wife
in the house before he went away. He was always very successful in the
chase, and each night he came back with his basket full of toads and
frogs and field-mice and flies. But his wife would eat none of them
and she threw them in his face when he offered them to her, and said
in a bad temper, "I will not eat your filthy food. It is not fit food
for gentle-folk." And Owl-man said, "Gentle-folk indeed! You should
find a more suitable name; you are not gentle; you are a wild evil
thing, but I am going to tame you." And the girl wept again and sulked
and stamped her feet in her temper.
At last the girl became very hungry, for there was little to eat
except the food that Owl-man brought home for himself. He gathered a
few berries for her, but even these did not satisfy her hunger. So she
thought out a plan of escape. One day when Owl-man was away, she took
some oil she found in the house and rubbed it all over her face and
hair. When Owl-man came home in the evening, he said, "You are very
pretty to-night. What have you done to make yourself look so sleek and
shiny?" And she answered, "I have put on my face and hair gum which I
picked from the trees last night when I went walking with you." And he
said, "I should like to put some on too, for perhaps it would make me
beautiful." The girl told him that if he would go out and gather some
gum she would put it on his face and hair for him. So he went out and
gathered a great store of gum from the trees and brought it back to
her. She melted it on a hot stove until it was balsam again and would
pour easily out. Then she said, "Shut your eyes so that it will not
harm your sight, and I will make your face and hair beautiful and
shining like mine." Owl-man shut his eyes, and the girl soon covered
his face and head with the soft gum. She put it on very thick, and she
said, "Keep your eyes shut until it dries or it may blind you."
Owl-man did as he was told, but when the gum dried he could not open
his eyes, and while he was trying to rub it off, the girl slipped out
the door and ran back to her parents, far away by the Great Water.
Owl-man scraped the gum from his face and head as best he could, and
when he could open his eyes again and could see pretty well, he went
out into the night in search of his wife. And as he went along he
cried, "Oh, oh, oh, where is my wife? Where is my girl? I have lost my
wife. I have lost my girl. Oh, oh, oh." And when the people heard him
calling they thought they would play a trick on him. So they said,
"She is here, she is here." But when he entered their houses, the
woman they showed him was not his wife, and he went away sorrowful.
And the people all laughed at his confusion, and said, "Owl-man is
getting queerer each day. He is far gone in his head." Owl-man went
from house to house, but he could not find his wife. Then he went to
the trees and searched among the branches. He pulled the trees up by
the roots, thinking she might be hiding underneath. And he looked into
the salmon-traps in the rivers, and kicked them to pieces in his
frenzy. But nowhere was his wife to be found.
Then he went to the girl's house, where she was hiding, and he yelled,
"Oh, oh, oh, give me my wife. Give me my girl. I know she is here. Oh,
oh, oh." But the girl's foster-mother would not give her up. Then he
began to tear down the house over their heads, for the old man of the
house was away and there was no one else strong enough to stop Owl-man
in his rage. When the woman saw her house in danger of falling about
her ears, she cried, "Stop; your wife is here." And she brought forth
the girl from her hiding-place. When Owl-man saw her, his rage left
him and he was happy again.
[Illustration: AND WITH HIS MAGIC POWER HE CHANGED HER INTO A
FISH-HAWK AND SENT HER OUT TO THE OCEAN]