ade, when the leaves begin to
fall, and he has heard the warning. Mother Carey has sung the death-song
of the red leaves; sung in a soft voice that yet reaches the farthest
hills:

"Gone are the summer birds.
Hide, hide, ye slow-foots.
Hide, for the blizzard comes."

And Mother Earth, who is Maka Ina, cries to her own: "Come, hide in my
bosom, my little ones." And the wise Woodchuck waits not till the
blizzard comes, but hides while he may make good housing, and sleeps for
three long moons.

But ever on the second sun of the Hunger-moon (and this is the Sixth
Secret) he rouses up and ventures forth. And if so be that the sun is
in the sky, and the snow on the bosom of his Mother Earth, so that his
shadow shall appear on it, he goeth back to sleep again for one and a
half moons more--for six long weeks. But if the sky be dark with clouds
and the earth all bared of snow so that no shadow shows, he says, "The
blizzard time is over, there is food when the ground is bare," and ends
his sleep.

This is the tale and this much I know is true: In the North, if he
venture forth on Woodchuck Day, he sees both sun and snow, so sleeps
again; in the South there is no snow that day, and he sleeps no more;
and in the land between, he sleeps in a cold winter, and in an open
winter rouses to live his life.

These things I have seen, and they fit with the story of Monapini, so
you see the little Rumour told me true.

THINGS TO KNOW

[Illustration: How the Pine Tree Tells Its Own Story]

Things to Know

TALE 60

How the Pine Tree Tells Its Own Story

Suppose you are in the woods, and your woods in Canada, or the Northern
States; you would see at once two kinds of trees: Pines and Hardwoods.

Pines, or Evergreens, have leaves like needles, and are green all the
year round; they bear cones and have soft wood.

The Hardwoods, or Broadleaves, sometimes called Shedders, have broad
leaves that are shed in the fall; they bear nuts or berries and have
hard wood.

Remember this, every tree that grows has flowers and seeds; and the tree
can always be told by its seeds, that is, its fruit. If you find a tree
with cones on it, you know it belongs to the Pine family. If you find
one with broad leaves and nuts or berries, it belongs to the
Hardwoods.[C]

Of these the Pines always seem to me more interesting.

* * * * *

In September, 1002, I had a good chance