grandson bear the name of Swift Elk?"

The warriors gravely bowed their heads in approval. Again the pipe was
passed, and the smoke curled and rose in the lodge.

Swift Elk, the grandson of a great chief, had earned his name.

FIRE AND THE FIRE MAKERS

"Are you going away, Grandmother? Take me with you."

"I am on my way to the forest, White Cloud. It will be a long walk for
you. We need dry moss and decayed wood for tinder. Some cold morning
we shall wake and find no red coals in the ashes. Then we shall need
some pieces of the driest of wood to kindle a new fire."

"Let me go, and I will help you look for dry wood. I know I am big
enough to be a fire maker. Haven't I seen seven winters?"

So Nokomis and White Cloud started on the trail that led to the wild
forest. There great trees had died and fallen, and the branches had
been decaying for many moons--no one can tell how many.

"Is the fire always lost when we move our camp, Grandmother?"

"Not always. Some lodge keepers try to carry a few coals, and the one
who succeeds is glad to share with others. But one person is often
sent ahead to the new camp to make a central fire out of doors. You
know it takes a long time to get a spark by rubbing two sticks
together."

"How did the Indians get fire in the first place? And how did fire get
into wood?" asked White Cloud.

"I will tell you, my child. I have heard all about it from the
story-tellers.

"Once there was only one fire in all the world. It was kept in a
sacred wigwam and guarded by an old blind man.

"All the Indians had heard about fire and wanted very much to get it.
But no one knew where it was hidden.

"The old man had two daughters who gathered his wood. He used only the
driest branches, so that no smoke could be seen, and no odor from the
burning of green boughs be lifted to the wind.

"But one day a tiny, curling wreath of smoke rose above the lodge
opening.

"Of course the birds saw it, and flew over the lodge poles until they
discovered the secret. You may be sure that they chirped the news
wherever they flew.

"A woodpecker went into a hole in a tree to carry his mate some food
and told her where fire was kept. He was overheard by a squirrel
running up the tree trunk.

"'Chip, chip! chatter, chatter! Hear the squirrels in the tree tops,'
said a rabbit. 'What are they talking about?' By listening he soon
found out.

"Then Bruin heard the rabbits, and the bear teased the w