The Woodcraft Girls in the City Part 30

"But I expect to use it all the time, Dad. Right this week I shall sit on the chair and use the table," cried Zan.

"Then let us leave it just where it is for the time being as you need all the fresh air you can get during the fine Indian Summer weather.

When the snow blows we can freight it to Wickeecheokee."

Everyone Zan knew was brought to the house to admire the rustic furniture, but after a week of exhibiting she grew weary of repeating verbally the methods of manufacturing the set, and then she settled down to use it when at work on the bead-loom.

The table and a chair were carried to the birches still green, growing in one corner of the gra.s.s-plat, and here Zan wove the banding, her nimble fingers flying in and out, back and forth, as the bead tr.i.m.m.i.n.g began to take on unique and pretty pictures of camp-life.

Now and then some of the other girls would join Zan and work on the looms, and at these visits tongues would talk of the many plans for Tribe activities that Winter.

"Do you see any improvement in Eleanor?" asked Jane, one day.

"Funny that you should ask me that. I asked Miss Miller the same thing this morning," replied Zan.

"What did she say?" from Jane.

"She thought the change wrought for the better was more mental and spiritual than in material expression, but the results were bound to be apparent to everyone in time."

"Guess it will be a long time, then!" retorted Jane.

"Miss Miller says we mustn't feel that way about it. That we are killing the frail child of a weak but higher aspiration. If we train our thoughts to consider the motives and yearnings for a more harmonious life that the girl _must_ have, we will not condemn and criticise her acts. It is the _human_ judgment of _things_ that makes obstacles in the road of one's advancement, she told me."

"Dear me, I wish I was as good and wise as Miss Miller," sighed Jane, gazing skyward.

"Say, you're not the only one holding a mortgage on that wis.h.!.+ Every blessed girl of Wako Tribe tries to copy the model Guide," said Zan, smilingly, as she remembered Fiji's words: "If you knew as much as your Guide, what a wonderful sister you would be."

Miss Miller had reports to make out that week-end so there was no hope of camping, but the girls felt they had so much to do in the city that the outing would not be missed. A plan was made for the following week, however, to camp on the Palisades. The Guide invited the girls to meet her for a short time in the gymnasium that Friday, to decide upon a location for the camp.

Miss Miller was not in the room when the girls gathered together, but she came in shortly afterward. Her face beamed with pleasant news and Zan immediately said:

"We know from your expression that you know something good!"

"Yes, I do, and the letter just came on the last mail. I just received the pa.s.s for our Band admitting us to the lectures and cinematograph pictures given at the National Museum of History in New York. They start next week and the course, which is on Indian Crafts and Folk Lore beginning with the Zuni Indians, will be of great interest and help to us. I want every one of you girls to try and attend these lectures with me, so better ask permission from your parents."

"Oh, that _is_ good news!" cried Elena.

"We sure are indebted to you, Miss Miller, for all the trouble you take for our enjoyment," added Zan.

The other girls expressed their grat.i.tude, too, and then the talk centered on the expectations of what these lectures would bring forth.

Miss Miller saw the condition that often exists when folks are given something to look forward to in the near future-their thoughts fill with outlines and ideas of that which is to be, instead of living and making the best of that which is offered at the immediate present. The wise Guide knew that this form of mental picturing and outlining of things, still misty and indistinct to the individual, was an undesirable state of imagination so she quickly changed the current of their thoughts by saying:

"Girls, I have an odd Indian legend founded on the constellation of 'Charles Wain.' Want to hear it?"

Naturally every girl cried for the story and they sat down in a circle to listen.

CHAPTER ELEVEN-CAMP AT ALPINE FALLS

"This myth comes from the Tlingit Indians of Alaska and is named 'The Wain House People,'" began Miss Miller.

"Certain Indians came to a fort to live, and after a time began killing bears, ground-hogs, porcupines, mountain sheep, and other animals for food. After they had killed them, they cut off the heads and set them up on sticks about the village, then the people sang to these objects.

"Now there was a young man among them who was to be Chief. When he was born he had been placed in a sheep's skin instead of cradle. As he grew older he was able to follow the mountain sheep to places on the cliffs where no one else could go, hence he killed more sheep than anyone else.

"After he had cut off and mounted the heads of his sheep he, too, would sing and dance about them, saying tauntingly: 'I wish I was a sheep! I wish my head was cut off too!'

"Meantime, the mountain sheep were becoming angry at losing so many of their flocks and one day, when the villagers went up for a great hunt, they met a flock of sheep that led them up the steep mountain-side to a place where they appeared to be herding together.

"But once near the sheep, the people were surprised to see them race still higher up the side of the steep rocks. The young hunter who wished to be a great chief ran after them and became separated from his companions. When on the very top of the peak he was met by a fine looking young man who shone like the sun and had a long white beard like the mountain ancients. This stranger turned to the youth who had been cradled in a sheep's skin and invited him to his home. He led the way inside of the mountain where everything looked weird and strange. Great heaps of horns were piled everywhere, and the stranger said: 'These are the horns I am keeping to fit to the heads of the villagers.'

"When the young man's friends missed him they sought day and night without success, then they went home to plan how to rescue him. For many days the search was resumed until finally they discovered his horn-spear stuck in the ground near the top of the peak. But no other clue could they find although they kept up a search for many days.

"Then the villagers declared that he was lost to them and they wailed and beat the drums for the hunter who came not back.

"Now the s.h.i.+ning stranger tried to fit a pair of horns on the young hunter's head. They were heated and, when taken from the terrific fire that burned continually in the pit of the mountain, they were put upon and held to his head so that the poor hunter thought the insides of his head would be burnt out.

"During this trial, a few of the hunter's friends still sought for him whenever they hunted on the mountain-side, and after a year's time, a young man climbed up the peak after a flock of mountain sheep, and there he heard someone shout to him. He knew it was the friend who had been lost. He shouted back, but the lost friend began singing and saying: 'I must go now, the s.h.i.+ning stranger comes and will find me.'

"The young man ran back to the village and told everyone what he had heard. They were surprised to hear that a stranger lived on top of the mountain, but one old villager said: 'It must be the Man-of-the-Sun-s.h.i.+ning-on-the-Mountain-Peaks.'

"So they set out to capture all the sheep that lived on that mountain, knowing that the Man-of-the-Sun would try to prevent his sheep from being killed. Then they would bargain for the life of their friend in exchange for the sheep.

"Now the sheep that lived on the very peak of the mountain could see down into the valleys when the villagers went out to hunt. And they said to the young man: 'Your people come again to kill all the sheep. Tell them, therefore, that if they will throw away their weapons we will let you go, but if they persist in killing our flocks we will also kill you.'

"The young captive then went out on the very edge of the cliff and called down to his people: 'The sheep say they will send me back if you will give up the chase of their flocks. Now you must hear them or I shall be thrown into the pit of fire.'

"But the young hunter who heard the voice called back: 'We must have food. What shall we do without sheep?'

"Then an old ram came up to the captive and said: 'Tell them if they must have us for food, they can at least hang up our sheep-skins on the poles which hold our heads. If the heads and skins are faced toward the rising sun our Chief will bring us all safely home again for another time. If you stick eagles' feathers on our skins we can fly from your village without trouble. You should mount the heads of grizzly bears on poles and face them toward the night. For they are wicked animals.'

"So the captive repeated the words of the ram and when he had finished speaking he was hurried back inside the mountain for fear his friends would shoot at and kill the sheep waiting on the peak.

"And the people did try to kill the sheep and recover their friend, and so many of the flock were killed and carried away that the Man-of-the-s.h.i.+ning-Sun came out and spoke.

"'This is the last time the mountain sheep will talk with you. If your people will not do as we say, then I will kill you. But if they will listen to you and will not make war on the sheep till Fall, when we always go down from the peaks to graze in the timber lands below the glacier, then they can come with their dogs and save you.'

"In the Autumn, therefore, the people prepared to make a great hunt and kill sheep for Winter food. The sheep were already in the timber lands below the glacier and when the villagers came up the side of the mountain the Man-of-the-s.h.i.+ning-Sun sent the captive down the steep cliff to meet his friends. As he stood there with horns on his head and a sheep-skin covering his body, the dogs thought he was a sheep and charged upon him. But they soon recognised a friend and ran back to bark for the hunters.

"When the villagers heard the story they promised they would not kill any sheep that year, but hunt for grizzlies and deer for food. They broke their spears and other weapons and threw them over the side of the cliff, and as they did so the horns fell off and the sheep-skin disappeared from the young man's form. And he stood forth strong and courageous as ever; his people found he smelled like the things that grow up on top of the mountains where the wind and sky and earth are pure and sweet.

"The people were happy and escorted him to the village. The moment he saw the sheep-skins lying about he said: 'Dampen these and hang them up on poles with feathers stuck to them. Place them facing the rising sun as I promised the ram we would do.'

"When the skins were ready to mount the young man painted each face red and stuck eagles' down on the backs. As he hung each skin facing the sun he said: 'You are in just the position your Chief ordered, now fly away.'

"Early the next morning the fort shook as with a mighty earth-quake and every piece of flesh that had been eaten from the sheep-skins was replaced by new flesh, and as the young chief opened the door of his wigwam the sheep-skins, now plumped out and alive again, ran away towards the mountain.