Time
blowing her hair away, blow a sharp puff with your breath, then another
and another, till the plumes are blown away. If it takes four blows,
they say it means four o'clock; but it is not a very true clock.

Some children make a wish, then blow once and say, "this year"; the
second time, "next year"; the third time, "some time"; the fourth time,
"never." Then begin all over, and keep on as long as any plumes are
left, to tell when the wish is coming true.

Now pull the head off the stalk. You will find it leaves a long, open
tube that sounds like a trumpet when you blow through it from the small
end. If you force your finger into the big end, and keep pushing, you
split the tube into two or three pieces; put these in your mouth and
they will curl up like ringlets. Some children hang these on their ears
for ornaments. Take a stalk for each year of your age; pull its head
off. Then you will find that the top end will go into the bottom and
make a ring. Use all the stalks you have gathered, to make a chain; now
throw this chain into a low tree. If it sticks the first time, your wish
will come true this year. Each time it falls puts your wish a year
farther away.

This may not be true; but it is a game to play. Some big girls use it,
to find out when they are going to be married.

Now dig up the whole plant, root and all--the gardener will be much
obliged to you for doing so--take it home, and ask the Guide to make the
leaves into a salad; you will find it good to eat; most Europeans eat it
regularly, either raw, or boiled as greens.

Last of all, ask the Guide to roast the root, till it is brown and
crisp, then grind it in a coffee-mill, and use it to make coffee. Some
people think it better than real coffee; at any rate, the doctors say it
is much healthier, for it is nourishing food, and does not do one any
harm at all. But perhaps you will not like it. You may think all the
time you are eating the body of the poor little Prairie-girl, who died
of love.

TALE 4

The Cat's-eye Toad, a Child of Maka Ina

When you were little, O Guide! didn't you delight in the tales of gnomes
or _nibelungen_, those strange underground creatures that lived hidden
from the light, and busied themselves with precious stones and metals?
How unwillingly we gave up those glad beliefs, as we inevitably grew old
and lost our fairyland eyes!

[Illustration: The Cat's eye Toad (life size)]

But you must not give up all your joyful