Flying Plover: His stories, told him by Squat-by-the-fire

by Theodore Goodridge Roberts

"Long ago, in the country of Gluskap's people—the new country to which he had led them from the barren lands—there lived three boys in one big lodge. They were the sons of the chief of the village. One day, while they were at play in the woods at some distance from their father's lodge, they heard a sudden squeak and a sound of struggling in a nearby thicket. They ran swiftly to the place, and were in time to save a little brown hare from the hunger of a wildcat. They beat the wildcat with sticks until it sprang away. They carried the wounded hare to their lodge, and there washed and dressed its hurts. In a day or two it was able to hop about the lodge. One morning, when the father and mother were fishing in the river, the hare spoke to the children with a human voice. 'My friends,' it said, 'to-day I must journey far to the northward, on Gluskap's business. For your kindness to me each of you shall receive a magic gift. I shall name the gifts, so each can make his choice, and to-night you will find them at the door of your lodge.' The boys were dumb with wonder, for they knew that the little brown hare must be a great magician. 'First,' the hare continued, 'are the moccasins of the wind. With these on his feet a man can run above the tree-tops, on the currents of the air. Second, is the wallet of plenty. With this at his belt, a man will never lack either food or water. The third gift is an arrow of red wood, feathered with red and barbed with yellow metal.'

"The oldest boy chose the moccasins of the wind. The second in age said that the wallet of plenty seemed a fine thing to him. So the youngest got the red arrow. Then the hare hopped away into the bushes; and at night the three gifts lay by the door of the lodge. The seasons passed. The boy who possessed the moccasins of the wind became a great hunter and warrior.

"When he was twenty years of age he was made chief of the village. His lodge was spread deep with the pelts of wolves and bears and foxes. He was a great man—and all owing to the virtue of the magic moccasins. But he did not always remember that. He was full of pride. The second brother grew sleek, and slow of wit. Cooked food and fresh water were always at his side, so he was content to sit still. But the youngest of the brothers was neither famous nor lazy. He was a brave fighter, but he led no war parties. He was a good hunter and worked hard for his living. He could find no magic in the red arrow, though he had put it to many tests. It shot no straighter and flew no farther than the other shafts in his quiver. But he always kept it near him, ready for whatever might happen, for his faith in its virtue was strong.

"One day in early autumn the young man with the red arrow left the village of his people. Something had spoken to him in his sleep, and had told him that a great adventure awaited him in a far country. So he journeyed northward and westward, by whatever trails came most readily to his feet. Game was plenty, so he did not want for food. On the evening of the third day of his journey he came to the edge of a great barren. It spread before him, treeless from horizon to horizon. But a little voice in his brain told him that his way led straight on.

"After he had traveled over that great barren for more than two days he saw a line of blue hills far to the north. While he was still many miles distant from them he caught sight of something running swiftly toward him. As it drew near him he saw, greatly to his wonder, that it was a young woman. Her eyes were bright with terror, and she ran unsteadily over the rough ground. When she saw the young man she swerved in her course and ran to him, crying out that a terrible wizard followed her in the form of a great bear. The youth set an arrow to the string of his bow; and, as he waited for the bear to appear, the girl told him that he who hunted her was the most powerful of all the evil wizards, and that he could take upon himself at pleasure the form of any bird or animal.

Suddenly the great bear appeared, galloping heavily

"Suddenly the great bear appeared, galloping heavily but swiftly. Its small eyes burned with ferocity. Its narrow, scarlet tongue hung from its jaws. As the youth drew his bow he noticed that the red arrow was the one he had chanced to draw from his belt. He loosed it straight at the shoulder of the advancing beast. It flashed from the string and vanished. The bear advanced. The young brave trembled, and the girl cried out in dismay. But in a second the red arrow fell at its master's feet, and across its haft hung the moccasins of the wind. In a flash the young man understood. He tore his own moccasins from his feet and replaced them with the magic pair. Then he returned the red arrow to his quiver and caught the girl in his arms. She felt no heavier than a young fox, so great was the magic of the moccasins.

"'Have no fear,' he said, and sprang away. Under his speeding feet the earth swam back and melted behind them, and the gray, brown, blue, and red of its tinted surface mixed like colored waters. For a thousand miles the wizard followed, now with the stride of a moose, now with the wings of an eagle; but he was left so far behind in the first half-second that he lost both scent and sight of them before the magic moccasins had made a dozen strides. So you may believe that at the end of his thousand miles he was very far on the wrong trail. When the young man paused to take breath he found that floors and heaps of ice stretched away on all sides. The air was bitterly cold. Overhead the dome of heaven was alive with the magnificent, drifting radiance of the Northern Lights. The girl lay weakly against his arm, for the speed of their flight had held her breath in her nostrils. Presently she opened her eyes and looked about her fearfully.