dians of all tribes and of all
degrees of civilization with wonder and reverence. The bird chiefs
have their own places in Indian myths. Owl is chief of the night;
Woodpecker, with his ceaseless tattoo on the trees, is chief of the
trees; Duck is chief of the water; but Eagle is chief of the day. It
is always Eagle who is chief of the birds, even though Wren may outwit
him in a tale told by the fire glimmering in the tepee, when the story
tellers of the tribe tell of the happenings in the days "way beyond."
It is Eagle who inspires admiration, and becomes the most sacred bird.

Round about a tree in ever widening circles an eagle flies, alert,
watching o'er his nest;
Loudly whistles he, a challenge sending far, o'er the country wide
it echoes, there defying foes.

[_Pawnee_]

In the breeze that rippled the long grass of the prairie and fluttered
the flaps of the graceful tepee, waved also the corn, sent by
Old-Woman-Who-Never-Dies, the ever returning life of the green thing
growing. In the ravines and on the lower slopes of the grassy waves of
the prairie bellowed the buffalo, or grazed in silence, having long
since come up from the underground world and become the source of the
Indian's food, clothing, home, utensils, and comfort. Endless were the
charms and enchantments to bring the buffalo herds near his camping
ground. Severe was the punishment meted out to the thoughtless warrior
whose unguarded eagerness frightened the herds and sent them away.

Over the plains and prairies, at other times, swept the Thunder Gods,
with their huge jointed wings, darkening all the land, and flashing
fire from angry eyes which struck down man and beast. Terrified were
the Indians when the Thunder Gods rolled. Vows made to them must be
kept, for relentless were they.

"Oh, grandfather," prayed the Indian when the sky was black and the
lightning flashed, as he filled a pipe with tobacco and offered it
skyward, "Oh, grandfather! I am very poor. Somewhere make those who
would injure me leave a clear space for me." Then he put the sacred
green cedar upon the fire--the cedar which stayed awake those seven
nights and therefore does not lose its hair every winter--and the
smoke from the sacred, burning wood, rolling upward, appeased the
rolling Thunders.

* * * * *

The authorities used in this compilation are those found in the annual
reports of the Bureau of American Ethno