ugh.

"Fire! fire!" cried the raven. "Come and help me! My nest is on fire!"

The other birds were not sorry to see him flutter. "He is a thief," said
they. "Let him be in the fire."

By and by the fire burned the grass and the pieces of birch-bark that
fastened his feet together, and the raven flew away. He was not burned,
but he could no longer be proud of his shining white feathers, for the
smoke had made every one of them as black as night.

HOW FIRE WAS BROUGHT TO THE INDIANS.

PART I. SEIZING THE FIREBRAND.

Oh, it was so cold! The wind blew the leaves about on the ground. The
frost spirit hid on the north side of every tree, and stung every animal
of the forest that came near. Then the snow fell till the ground was
white. Through the snowflakes one could see the sun, but the sun looked
cold, for it was not a clear, bright yellow. It was almost as white as
the moon.

The Indians drew their cloaks more and more closely around them, for
they had no fire.

"How shall we get fire?" they asked, but no one answered.

All the fire on earth was in the wigwam of two old women who did not
like the Indians.

"They shall not have it," said the old women, and they watched night and
day so that no one could get a firebrand.

At last a young Indian said to the others, "No man can get fire. Let us
ask the animals to help us."

"What beast or what bird can get fire when the two old women are
watching it?" the others cried.

"The bear might get it."

"No, he cannot run swiftly."

"The deer can run."

"His antlers would not go through the door of the wigwam."

"The raven can go through the door."

"It was smoke that made the raven's feathers black, and now he always
keeps away from the fire."

"The serpent has not been in the smoke."

"No, but he is not our friend, and he will not do anything for us."

"Then I will ask the wolf," said the young man. "He can run, he has no
antlers, and he has not been in the smoke."

So the young man went to the wolf and called, "Friend wolf, if you will
get us a firebrand, I will give you some food every day."

"I will get it," said the wolf. "Go to the home of the old women and
hide behind a tree; and when you hear me cough three times, give a loud
war-cry."

Close by the village of the Indians was a pond. In the pond was a frog,
and near the pond lived a squirrel, a bat, a bear, and a deer. The wolf
cried, "Frog, hide in the rushes across the pond. Squirrel,