The Wabash rounded Horseshoe Bend in a silver
circle, rimmed by a tangle of foliage bordering both its banks; and
inside lay a low open space covered with waving marsh grass and the
blue bloom of sweet calamus. Scattered around were mighty trees, but
conspicuous above any, in the very center, was a giant sycamore, split
at its base into three large trees, whose waving branches seemed to
sweep the face of heaven, and whose roots, like miserly fingers,
clutched deep into the black muck of Rainbow Bottom.

It was in this lovely spot that the rainbow at last materialized, and
at its base, free to all humanity who cared to seek, the Great
Alchemist had left His rarest treasures--the gold of sunshine, diamond
water-drops, emerald foliage, and sapphire sky.

For good measure, there were added seeds, berries, and insects for the
birds; and wild flowers, fruit, and nuts for the children. Above all,
the sycamore waved its majestic head.

It made a throne that seemed suitable for the son of the king; and
mounting to its topmost branch, for miles the river carried his
challenge: "Ho, cardinals! Look this way! Behold me! Have you seen any
other of so great size? Have you any to equal my grace? Who can
whistle so loud, so clear, so compelling a note? Who will fly to me for
protection? Who will come and be my mate?"

He flared his crest high, swelled his throat with rolling notes, and
appeared so big and brilliant that among the many cardinals that had
gathered to hear, there was not one to compare with him.

Black envy filled their hearts. Who was this flaming dashing stranger,
flaunting himself in the faces of their females? There were many
unmated cardinals in Rainbow Bottom, and many jealous males. A second
time the Cardinal, rocking and flashing, proclaimed himself; and there
was a note of feminine approval so strong that he caught it. Tilting
on a twig, his crest flared to full height, his throat swelled to
bursting, his heart too big for his body, the Cardinal shouted his
challenge for the third time; when clear and sharp arose a cry in
answer, "Here! Here! Here!" It came from a female that had accepted
the caresses of the brightest cardinal in Rainbow Bottom only the day
before, and had spent the morning carrying twigs to a thicket of red
haws.

The Cardinal, with a royal flourish, sprang in air to seek her; but her
outraged mate was ahead of him, and with a scream she fled, leaving a
tuft of feathers in her ma