ldren
once loved them, the beautiful colors of the flames shall still live to
make glad the hearts of all who look upon them."

Then the Great Spirit struck the mountain with his magic war-club. The
smoke above it faded away; its fires grew cold and dead. In its dark and
gloomy heart only one little flame still trembled. It looked like a
star. How beautiful it was!

The Great Spirit looked upon the little flame. He saw that it was
beautiful and gentle, and he loved it. "The fires of the mountain must
perish," he said, "but you little, gentle flame, shall have wings and
fly far away from the cruel fires, and all my children will love you as
I do." Swiftly the little thing rose above the mountain and flew away in
the sunshine. The light of the flames was still on its head; their
marvelous colors were on its wings.

[Illustration]

So from the mountain's heart of fire sprang the first humming-bird. It
is the bird of flame, for it has all the beauty of the colors of the
flame, but it is gentle, and every child in all the earth loves it and
is glad to see it fluttering over the flowers.

THE STORY OF THE FIRST BUTTERFLIES.

The Great Spirit thought, "By and by I will make men, but first I will
make a home for them. It shall be very bright and beautiful. There shall
be mountains and prairies and forests, and about it all shall be the
blue waters of the sea."

As the Great Spirit had thought, so he did. He gave the earth a soft
cloak of green. He made the prairies beautiful with flowers. The forests
were bright with birds of many colors, and the sea was the home of
wonderful sea-creatures. "My children will love the prairies, the
forests, and the seas," he thought, "but the mountains look dark and
cold. They are very dear to me, but how shall I make my children go to
them and so learn to love them?"

Long the Great Spirit thought about the mountains. At last, he made many
little shining stones. Some were red, some blue, some green, some
yellow, and some were shining with all the lovely colors of the
beautiful rainbow. "All my children will love what is beautiful," he
thought, "and if I hide the bright stones in the seams of the rocks of
the mountains, men will come to find them, and they will learn to love
my mountains."

When the stones were made and the Great Spirit looked upon their beauty,
he said, "I will not hide you all away in the seams of the rocks. Some
of you shall be out in the sunshine, so that