It had now come to pass that all the girls in the world had called at the mansion of Red-breast for the purpose of wooing him for a husband, except one. All these girls had agreed among themselves that each take their turn in calling upon Red-breast until he selected one of them for his wife. Now all the girls in the world had called with exception of one, and all the other girls were restless and wondering what her fate would be. She was a sweet young thing with cheeks as red as cherries, eyes that sparkled like dew-drops and hair that hung in ringlets. It was an ideal Autumn morning when this maid called at Red-breast’s mansion, the madrone berries were ripe and hung in crimson clusters from the branches of the tree, filling the atmosphere with a dewy scent of sweetness. Heaven and earth seemed blending together and then fading away into the melancholy shadows of Autumn. Such was the appearance of the surrounding world when this shy sweet maiden came tripping lightly up the long wooded avenues to the door of Red-breast’s mansion with her heart all a flutter. The usher greeted her with a pleasant “good morning,” as her appearance was very stunning, and he bade her wait at the door until he returned with his message from his master. Upon announcing her arrival the haughty Red-breast said, “ah! I don’t care the snap of my fingers for the prettiest and sweetest maiden that ever walked the earth, it is not for her love and companionship that I care, but for what she might wear, her beautiful gown if it is made of the right material is all I want. I say again that they are all foolish young things to seek my love, for I have none to waste upon them, it is all concentrated upon myself and no one else.” Then he asked the usher the same question, as to what kind of a dress she wore. For the first time the usher replied that she did not wear a dress of the teach-ah-me-tah like all the other girls had worn, but she wore a gown of pretty red, bedewed with clustering ornaments of its same gorgeous hues. My! exclaimed Red-breast, you can show her in at once, and he jumped to his feet in delight, his eyes sparkling with false pride. Go tell her quick that she is the only girl that ever had the honor to be admitted into my presence. Now I will woo her with all my heart and flatter her very soul away for the purpose, but not for my wife you know. You know what I am, so mind you don’t put her wise. Poor little girl, poor little foolish girl, it is a shame to treat her so cruel but I cannot help it when she wears such a tempting gown of red, red at last, my favorite color, and that color I am going to have.
A minute later a sweet shy maid of scarce three seasons old was ushered into his halls and the magnificent apartments in which she stood before Red-breast. Her heart had ceased to beat for a few moments as he rose and greeted her in an elegant manner. He was far handsomer than she ever dreamed a man could be, and for the first time in her life she fancied that she was deeply in love. Breathlessly she recollected the stories of the other girls that had been before her, and now she could hardly blame them for their mad actions of self-destruction over such a striking personality. Red-breast received the maiden with a hearty welcome of flattery as he dismissed the usher from the apartment, that they might be alone to plan out the future. Gallantly he knelt at the fair maiden’s feet and poured out to her full measures of his love, in his elegant and commanding language he pictured in her mind how he had turned away so many other girls from his door who had come to seek him as their lover. How he had done because he could never love and knew that some day he would find his only true love which he believed to be her, as he had never felt the emotion of love until he first gazed into her bright eyes. His sweet voice sounded in her ears so soft and the touch of his fingers was as magical as Heaven itself. Her cheeks blushed redder than ever as she listened to his tender words of devotion. She shyly whispered, “yes” as he rose and pressed her against his breast, and they planned together for the marriage vows. They both agreed they would exchange the wedding vows on the following morning, then he held her by the hand and showed her into a nice room where he said she could spend the night in peaceful dreams, and then he took his leave, leaving her alone in her room, and he told her that this room would always be her own private room, where she could retreat and find solace in being alone. Once alone she sat still for a long time, dreaming of the blissful future she would enjoy with a husband that so many had tried to woo but could never win because he loved her only.
Night came with its shadows and she found herself very tired as her poor brain had been kept in a constant whirl since meeting Red-breast. Wearily she took off her beautiful gown and laid it carefully on a chair beside her bed and then hid her face under the silken covers. Soon in slumberland she did not waken until morning and the sun was already high in the sky. The gown she wore was the beautiful spangles of the madrone berries that blushed in their tint of the deepest vermillion red. While the maiden was sleeping Red-breast stole softly into the room and devoured the beautiful gown and all that night he feasted upon the berries and ornaments of the gown. As he gulped down the last berry he crept softly to the side of the sleeping beauty and gazed a farewell look upon her innocent face. He then changed his mansion into a dreary isle of Autumn dampness and flew away as a bird. Henceforth Red-breast never again appeared on earth as a man, but has ever since been on earth as a bird.
Sad was the maiden that woke up that morning to find only a terrible disappointment awaiting her. She found in her heart no solace, but grief, bitter grief that had no compassion upon her bitter soul. Looking about her in her loneliness she saw that Red-breast had deceived her, and that he had selfishly eaten her pretty gown, all that she could find of it was the ugly strips that had held the ornaments in their place, and lo, this maiden so young and fair, and once so beautiful, fled down the damp aisles weeping for the chill of winter was upon her and had left her desolate, without her clothing.
The moral of this story is that young women should have a care in pursuing handsome young men, lest they be deceived and left in desolation.
DR. BEAR AND MRS. SKUNK.
Once upon a time a father and mother skunk (wah-chelth) were rearing a family of two children and there was no food for them to eat. The old folks were in great distress about what to do as they were all starving. The mother was very anxious for her family, and one day she happened to think of a good plan to secure something to eat. So she announced to her family that she would play sick and have the bear (chee-ur-ra) come and doctor her. Her husband and children were delighted with her plan and Mrs. Skunk warned her children to keep very quiet when Mr. Bear came to doctor her, so she went to bed, feigning to be very ill while Mr. Skunk went after Dr. Bear and found him at home. The Doctor accompanied Mr. Skunk at once to the bedside of his wife and walking into the room began asking Mrs. Skunk about her illness and she replied in a very weak voice, pretending to feel very miserable and asked her children to go to one side of the room and be very quiet as she wanted Dr. Bear to examine her. The children went to one side of the room at once as they had been cautioned by their mother to keep very still, as she was going to throw musk in the Bear’s face and blind him. The Bear began to get things ready to doctor Mrs. Skunk and as he was about ready to examine her the children became very anxious and restless, and began whispering to each other and indulging in a big tete-a-tete, about what a large dinner they were going to have when their mother killed the Bear. They kept whispering so much that the Bear became suspicious of their actions and listened closely and his sharp ears caught a few words of their conversation about what their mother was going to do. He began moving towards the door to make his exit, when the mother Skunk saw that he was about ready to get away and threw the musk with all her might at the Bear’s face but it missed his eyes and he escaped safely. Mrs. Skunk became very angry with her children who had spoiled her plans, by being over anxious and whispering too much. Instead of getting the bear meat as they had anticipated, they both received a good sound thrashing from their mother which taught them a lesson for the future.
HOW THE ANIMALS CONQUERED THE MOON.
Many years ago there was a total eclipse of the moon which lasted for several days and nights. The night continued so dark that the people and animals were not able to see to go about, so all the animals of the animal kingdom held a council and decided to devour the moon, as it had become a useless planet and would not give them light at night. The animals journeyed from the earth up to the moon and began a fierce battle to conquer and devour it and after a long struggle the moon lost its balance in the heavens and fell earthward. It struck the earth at Ca-neck on the Klamath River where the waters whirl and rush into fearful rapids. At the lower terminations of these rapids where there is a large round depression in the land, on the south and west side of the river, is the place where the moon is supposed to have struck the earth when the animals threw it down from the heavens. While the animals and snakes were wrestling with the moon at Ca-neck it was then the frog stepped forth and objected, saying that they should not devour the moon completely, as they would need it to light the world at night in the future. Listening to the frog’s wise council they all agreed to allow him to restore the moon to its proper place. So the frog began at once to gather all the blood of the moon and fuse it together with its other remnants, and when he had completed the task all the reptiles and animals rendered their assistance in trying to throw the moon back into the heavens so it would shine again. The great multitude of animals became exhausted in their mighty efforts as they could not even move it from its resting place on earth. They were all so tired that they were about ready to give it up in despair, when the little ant (hah-pooth) came forward and suggested that he was able to do it. The multitude roared with laughter at the ant and taunted him with jeers, saying: “you little hah-pooth, what can a little insignificant thing like you do with the great big moon?” However, the little ant saw the opportunity to show his power of great strength, even if he was little and rushed in among the crowd and made his way right under the moon, the moon began at once to raise from the earth, and with one mighty effort the little hah-pooth threw the moon back into the heavens where it has ever since remained.
The Klamath Indians always remark when the moon is full, that the dark place on its face (known to the white man as the “man in the moon”) is the frog in the moon. Whenever there is an eclipse of the moon it is said that a huge frog is trying to swallow the moon.