Indian boys have very queer pets; they capture bear cubs, puma or
mountain lion kittens, and various other young animals of the forest and
tame them. The boys like to play with these strange pets, as much as
little white boys love to play with puppies or kittens.
Some Indian boys, just like the white boys, enjoy teasing their pets,
which is very wrong as it makes the animals very angry, and often the
boys are punished beyond their expectation for their naughtiness.
BRIGHT-EYES was a little PAWNEE boy, who had two pretty little puma
kittens, of which he was very proud, and when he did not tease or make
them angry they would let him fondle and caress them just as you would a
kitten.
[Illustration: SOME INDIAN BOYS ENJOY TEASING THEIR PETS.]
One day BRIGHT-EYES was sitting on a blanket under a tree playing with
his kittens, when two of his friends came along. He asked them to stop
and they did, because BRIGHT-EYES seemed to be having such a good time
with his pets.
The other boys did not play as gently as BRIGHT-EYES had done, and began
teasing the kittens. They became very angry and wild. They scratched at
the boys and tried to bite them, and if BRIGHT-EYES had been alone he
would have fared very badly because he could not have beaten his wild
pets off, but the other boys were older and they succeeded in quieting
them enough to lead them away and tie them up.
The kittens never trusted BRIGHT-EYES again as they did before, and the
little fellow felt very sad. His father did not trust him with his pets
either, and after that always kept the kittens tied even though
BRIGHT-EYES promised not to make them angry any more.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]