One day two WINNEBAGO Indian mothers took their little baby boys and put
them on a blanket to play together. They were two happy little children,
and after they had finished the bowl of dinner their mothers had given
them, they didn't cry, but started playing with their little fingers and
toes, and trying to catch the little stray rays of sunshine.
They were sitting in the shade of a little sapling, and suddenly they
heard a little "tap! tap!" against the tree. The babies looked all
around, but they couldn't see anything. Then they heard another, "tap!
tap!" just like the first one. This time they looked at the tree, and,
can you tell what they saw? Two great, big woodpeckers, with great red
heads. The babies thought they were such pretty birds, but they did not
know what to say to them, and so were a little bashful; while the
woodpeckers were very curious to know what new kind of animal they had
found.
[Illustration: THE BADGERS COME OUT OF THEIR HOLES.]
You see there were no nice fat little worms in the young tree, and so
the birds may have thought that the children had a bowl full of their
favorite food, and they had themselves come too late.
Little Indian children learn to know wild animals very early. Sometimes
the badgers come out of their holes to look at them, and then the
children are very much frightened because badgers are wise animals and
play many tricks on people.
At night, when they lie awake in their little beds, the children hear
the wild geese talking to one another as they fly over the village. Then
the mother tells them what bird is making the noise, and she also tells
them, that when the geese fly south it will be too cold before very long
for their babies to sit out of doors and when they fly toward the north,
Spring is on the way with its beautiful sunshine.
[Illustration: THE WILD GEESE TALKING TO ONE ANOTHER AS THEY FLY.]
[Illustration]