more than she really did.

"So she said to the other birds, very haughtily, 'You are all very kind,
and I am very much obliged to you. But I think I can get along without
your help. I know how to build a nest that will suit me better than any
of yours.'

"'Indeed, is that so?' cried the other birds. 'You must have learned
very quickly. Who was your teacher anyway?'

"'Oh,' said Mother Mo-lo, 'nobody taught me, but I know how just the
same.'

"'Very well,' said the other birds, 'we only wanted to be kind and help
you. But we won't bother you any more. Good-bye.' And they all flew away
to attend to their own affairs.

"After a while Mother Mo-lo tried to build a nest. First she tried to
bore a hole in a dead branch, but she couldn't do it. Then she tried the
sandbank, but the sand caved in and got in her eyes and almost smothered
her. Then she tried the other kinds of nests. But every one was a
failure. At last she gave it up, and ever since then she has laid her
eggs in other birds' nests and let them rear her young ones for her."

[Illustration]

X. THE STORY OF O-PEE-CHEE THE FIRST ROBIN

One day little Luke heard Old John the Indian speak of redbreast as
Little Brother O-pee-chee. He wanted to ask the old man about the name,
but did not get a chance. So the next morning he went down to the apple
tree in the meadow and asked Father Redbreast about it.

"That," answered redbreast, "is an old tale which both the Red Men and
our people know. According to the story, the first redbreast was an
Indian boy, and that is why he calls us Little Brothers."

"Tell me about it," said the little boy.

* * * * *

"Long, long ago," began Father Redbreast, "there was a tribe of Indians
which dwelt in the distant Northland. Their chief, who was a wise man
and a brave warrior, had an only child, a little son. The boy was a
bright little fellow, but not very strong. Somehow he was not so big and
hardy as the other Indian boys. But his father loved him more than
anything else in the world and wanted him to become the wisest man and
the greatest warrior of his tribe.

"'My son,' said the old chief one day, 'you are about to become a
warrior. You know the custom of our tribe. You must go apart and fast
for a long time. The longer you fast, the greater and wiser you will
become. I want you to fast longer than any other Indian has ever fasted.
If you do this, the Good Man-i-to, the M