the little children who
cannot go to the mountains shall see your colors." Then the southwind
came by, and as he went, he sang softly of forests flecked with light
and shadow, of birds and their nests in the leafy trees. He sang of long
summer days and the music of waters beating upon the shore. He sang of
the moonlight and the starlight. All the wonders of the night, all the
beauty of the morning, were in his song.

"Dear southwind," said the Great Spirit "here are some beautiful things
for you to bear away with, you to your summer home. You will love them,
and all the little children will love them." At these words of the Great
Spirit, all the stones before him stirred with life and lifted
themselves on many-colored wings. They fluttered away in the sunshine,
and the southwind sang to them as they went.

[Illustration]

So it was that the first butterflies came from a beautiful thought of
the Great Spirit, and in their wings were all the colors of the shining
stones that he did not wish to hide away.

THE STORY OF THE FIRST WOODPECKER.

In the days of long ago the Great Spirit came down from the sky and
talked with men. Once as he went up and down the earth, he came to the
wigwam of a woman. He went into the wigwam and sat down by the fire, but
he looked like an old man, and the woman did not know who he was.

"I have fasted for many days," said the Great Spirit to the woman. "Will
you give me some food?" The woman made a very little cake and put it on
the fire. "You can have this cake," she said, "if you will wait for it
to bake." "I will wait," he said.

When the cake was baked, the woman stood and looked at it. She thought,
"It is very large. I thought it was small. I will not give him so large
a cake as that." So she put it away and made a small one. "If you will
wait, I will give you this when it is baked," she said, and the Great
Spirit said, "I will wait."

When that cake was baked, it was larger than the first one. "It is so
large that I will keep it for a feast," she thought. So she said to her
guest, "I will not give you this cake, but if you will wait, I will make
you another one." "I will wait," said the Great Spirit again.

Then the woman made another cake. It was still smaller than the others
had been at first, but when she went to the fire for it, she found it
the largest of all. She did not know that the Great Spirit's magic had
made each cake larger, and she thought, "This is a marv