RD EVENING

"No, elder sister, it is not for a hunter and a brave to fetch wood for
the lodge fire! That is woman's task, and it is not right that you
should ask it of me."

"But see, my younger brother, you are only a small boy and can neither
hunt nor fight; surely, therefore, it is well for you to help our mother
at home!"

The two children, Wasula and Chatanna, as they draw near the old
story-teller's wigwam, are carrying on a dispute that has arisen between
them earlier in the evening, when dry sticks were to be gathered for
cooking the supper, and Chatanna, aged seven, refused to help his
sister on the ground that it is not a warrior's duty to provide wood.
Both appeal to their teacher to settle the question.

"Hun, hun, hay!" good-naturedly exclaims the old man. "Truly, there is
much to be said on both sides; but perhaps you can agree more easily
after you have heard my story."

THE EAGLE AND THE BEAVER

Out of the quiet blue sky there shot like an arrow the great War-eagle.
Beside the clear brown stream an old Beaver-woman was busily chopping
wood. Yet she was not too busy to catch the whir of descending wings,
and the Eagle reached too late the spot where she had vanished in the
midst of the shining pool.

He perched sullenly upon a dead tree near by and kept his eyes steadily
upon the smooth sheet of water above the dam.

After a time the water was gently stirred and a sleek, brown head
cautiously appeared above it.

"What right have you," reproached the Beaver-woman, "to disturb thus the
mother of a peaceful and hard-working people?"

"Ugh, I am hungry," the Eagle replied shortly.

"Then why not do as we do--let other folks alone and work for a living?"

"That is all very well for you," the Eagle retorted, "but not everybody
can cut down trees with his teeth, or live upon bark and weeds in a
mud-plastered wigwam. I am a warrior, not an old woman!"

"It is true that some people are born trouble-makers," returned the
Beaver, quietly. "Yet I see no good reason why you, as well as we,
should not be content with plain fare and willing to toil for what you
want. My work, moreover, is of use to others besides myself and family,
for with my dam-building I deepen the stream for the use of all the
dwellers therein, while you are a terror to all living creatures that
are weaker than yourself. You would do well to profit by my example."

So saying, she dove down again to the bottom of the pool.

Th