ormouse was very large. He looked like a mountain
when he stood up.

"Yes," said the wolf, "let the dormouse go. He is proud of his size
and his strength. Let him show us what he can do when there is danger
before him."

They all looked around for the dormouse, but there was no sign of him.

"He thinks that we shall send him to find the sun," said the fox. "He
is afraid and has hidden himself."

"Not so," returned the beaver. "The dormouse is not a coward. Let us
call him. He cannot be far away."

With that, they all began to call the dormouse. In a moment there was
a crackling of branches and the sound of heavy footsteps, and a huge
figure loomed up in the darkness.

"Brother dormouse," said the fox, "you are so brave that we have chosen
you to go in search of the sun. What is your answer?"

"I am quite ready to go," replied the dormouse, "and if I cannot find
the sun and send it to you, I shall not return myself."

At once the dormouse started towards the sun. As he came close to it,
the hot rays began to burn his back, but he kept on, and began to chew
the cords, which bound it. In a few minutes the top of his back was a
heap of ashes, and he felt himself shrivelling with the heat. He kept
on bravely, and at last the cords were sundered and the sun free. But
by this time the dormouse was a very small animal, and has remained so
ever since.

All this time the brother, who was lying hidden, had been watching what
was happening. As the dormouse began to smoke, he grew a little
frightened, and when it began to shrivel he was terrified. All he
wished for was to escape from this glaring sun, which surely would
quickly consume him too.

Lying flat on the ground, he wriggled through the bushes for a long
distance along the bank. Reaching the plain, he made a dash for home.
His face and arms were scratched and bleeding, and when he told his
sister what had happened, she was grieved to think that she had made
the snare which had brought so much sorrow to the innocent dormouse.

THE WINDMAKER

Once there was a tribe of Indians who had always lived in the
mountains. Their village was built at the foot of a very large
mountain, and their lodges were made from branches of the pine-trees,
covered with the skins of animals.

One day one of their hunters followed a bear's track for many miles.
By evening he found himself a great distance from the village. He
noticed that the hills around him w