The Woodcraft Girls in the City

by Lillian Elizabeth Roy

“Famine visited a certain place in Alaska one time and many people died of starvation. But there was a young boy who always went to the forest with bow and arrow to hunt food for his family and friends and was never selfish about giving it to others.

“One day, as he was hunting, he found a little animal that looked like a puppy dog. This he placed under his blanket and carried home. When he washed it carefully and took it to his mother to see, she knew it was a wild forest dog.

“The boy then painted the dog’s face and feet with some red paint left him by an uncle and when he again went to the forest to hunt he took the dog with him. There the little animal ran about and brought his master grouse, birds, and other game, so the boy could carry home more food than ever before. And this was cooked in a basket-pot by his mother.

“The next day, the boy again put red paint on the feet and nose of the dog, that he might trace the little fellow as he ran through the woods. That day the game caught by the dog kept all the boy’s friends from starving.

“One day, after the boy had traced the red trail made by the dog a long way into the forest, he found the little animal had found and killed a mountain sheep. This was taken home and the fat part given to the dog as a reward. The rest of the sheep kept the boy’s kindred alive that week.

“The next time the boy and his wild dog went hunting, they found a large flock of mountain sheep. The dog ran in and killed every one for his master. The best one was cut open and the dog was fed the tenderest part and the other sheep were enough to keep most of the villagers from starving.

“Then the boy’s brother-in-law grew jealous of the many kind things the villagers said of the boy who hunted and brought in so much food. He went to the boy and said: ‘I wish to hunt and want to borrow, your dog.’

“The boy did not like to loan to another the little wild forest companion he had become attached to, so he asked: ‘What do you want of my dog?’

“‘It is doing great things for you and I too wish to find food without striving hard for it,’ replied the man.

“The boy sighed but his sister implored him to do as her husband asked, so the boy brought his little dog and carefully painted his feet and face. Then he turned to his brother-in-law and said: