tly with them, for they
are wounded; you may make them bleed again.

And when you hear the Chewinks scratching in the underbrush, remember
they are putting leaves on the grave of the White Dawnsinger.

* * * * *

Surely you have guessed the secret; the flower is the Bloodroot, and the
Whizz is the Sharp-shinned Hawk.

TALE 3

The Prairie-girl with Yellow Hair

[Illustration: The Prairie-girl]

Tall and fair was the Prairie-girl. She was not very pretty, but her
form was slender and graceful, and her head was covered with a mass of
golden hair that made you see her from afar off. It has been whispered
that she was deeply in love with El Sol, for wherever he went, she
turned her head to look at him; and when she could not see him, she
drooped and languished. But he never seemed to notice her. As she grew
older her golden head turned white, and at last the swish of Mother
Carey's horses carried away all her white hair, and left her old, bald,
and ugly. So she pined and died, and Maka Ina buried her poor little
body under the grass. But some say it was Father Time that blew her hair
away, and that El Sol had the body cremated.

* * * * *

If you look on the lawns or the fields in springtime, you are sure to
find the Prairie-girl. The Guide can show her to you, if you do not
know her. But he will call her "Common Dandelion," and I do not know of
any flower that has so many things for us children to remember.

If you are learning French, you will see how it got the name
"Dandelion"; it used to be written _dent de lion_; that is, "tooth of a
lion"; because its leaves are edged with sharp teeth, like a lion's jaw.

Its golden-yellow flower is said to open when the Swallows arrive from
the south, that is, in April; and though it blooms chiefly in springtime
it keeps on blooming till long after the Swallows fly away. It certainly
thrives as long as the sun shines on it, and fades when the cold dark
season comes. But I have seen it out in November; that is, the Dandelion
blooms for fully nine months. I do not know of any other flower that
does; most of them are done in one month.

When the yellow flower is over, its place is taken by a beautiful globe
of soft, white plumes; this is why the story says its golden hair turns
white with age. The children believe that this woolly head will tell you
the time of day. You hold it up, then pretend you are Father