“What a foolish Rabbit you are!” said the Lion, who is king of all the beasts. Then he went back to the other beasts and told them that the earth had not yet cracked.
If it had not been for the Lion they might all have been running until to-day.
HOW MAPLE SUGAR
CAME.
Once upon a time there was a little Indian boy named Son-of-a-Brave. He was very fond indeed of going to the lodge of the village medicine man. Here he listened to all the wise stories that the medicine man told about the forest.
This medicine man was very much thought of by the Indians and they had made him the best lodge in the village. It stood in that part of the forest where the trees were stately, and old, and straight. The lodge, itself, was covered with the most valuable skins. It was filled with gifts of beads, and drums, and arrow heads, and blankets with pictures woven in them.
Son-of-a-Brave used to gather some of the herbs that the medicine man brewed. In return, the Indian boy was allowed to sit inside the lodge, beside the medicine man’s kettle, and listen to his sayings.
“The Indians have something to learn from every beast, and fish, and bird of the forest,” the medicine man said one day.
Son-of-a-Brave felt very proud, because his father was one of the big chiefs of the tribe. He was proud, too, that he, twelve years old, could shoot an arrow as straight as the young braves. So he found it hard to understand the medicine man.