Wigwam Evenings Part 6

And the little Duck that peeped forever after had red eyes!

The children liked this story very much, but it was shorter than usual.

"Tell us about the feast!" they cried. "Tell us about the feast of Unktomee!" So old Smoky Day began again:

Now Unktomee wished to make a feast. The first thing he did was to stand and cry aloud:

"Chagah aoo po-o-o! (Somebody bring me a kettle!)"

He called and called for a long time. At last somebody appeared with the kettle. It was the Fox, who was carrying it in his mouth. Unktomee thanked him carelessly, and after waiting awhile, the Fox went sadly away again.

Then Unktomee dressed the Ducks whose necks he had wrung, built a fire, fetched water and put them on to boil. But he was tired as well as hungry, and while his dinner was cooking, he thought he might as well take a nap. So he lay down in the warm sand near by, first telling his Face to be on the watch and to twitch if any one came, so as to awaken him.

While Unktomee slept, the Fox returned with a friend. Unktomee's Face did not twitch as it had been told to do, for the Foxes stroked it very gently, and told it to be quiet. Having done this, they quietly ate every bit of the rich meat, and put the bones back into the pot.

When at last Unktomee yawned and awoke, he was very hungry indeed. He looked to see whether his dinner was ready, and found nothing in the kettle except bones!

"Ah! the Ducks have boiled too long," he said to himself. "The meat will all be in the bottom of the pot."

When he discovered that the bones had been picked clean, he was very angry, and scolded his Face severely for not awakening him in time.

_He who deceives others may himself be caught some day._

TENTH EVENING

UNKTOMEE AND THE ELK

[Ill.u.s.tration: TANAGELA AND HER LITTLE BROTHER.]

TENTH EVENING

"Tell us another story of Unktomee, grandfather!" cry several of the children, as soon as they are inside the old story-teller's wigwam on the tenth evening.

"Ah, I thought you would ask for another!" remarks the old man with quiet satisfaction. "There are many stories of his dealings with the animal people. He loves to go among them and even to take their shape, that he may make fools of them the more easily. This may do very well for a time, but it is generally not long before he is ready to cry 'Enough!'"

UNKTOMEE AND THE ELK

It was midsummer, and the Elk people were feasting in great numbers upon the slopes of the mountain. Sleek, fat and handsome, they browsed hither and thither off the juicy saplings and rich gra.s.s, drank their fill from the clear mountain streams, and lay down to rest at their ease in the green shade through the heat of the day.

Unktomee, who had been travelling far and was hungry and foot-sore, looked upon them with envy.

"Ah," said he to himself, "that is the life for me! Surely these are the happiest people on earth, for they have all things in abundance and are so fleet of foot that they need fear no danger!"

Accordingly, he hid his bow and quiver full of arrows in a hollow tree, with all of his clothing and other weapons, so that he might appear quite naked and harmless before the timid Elk people. They saw that he was unarmed, and they stood still as he approached.

"Here comes Unktomee," said they doubtfully to one another.

"Ah, brothers!" he pleaded with them, "you have enough; you are at peace with the tribes; you overlook the valley and all its dwellers are below you! None is so happy as you. Will you not make me one of you?"

"Friend!" exclaimed their leader, "you do not know what you ask! To be sure, it is now midsummer; our clothing and our weapons are new, there is food in plenty, and we may seem to be happy. However, our antlers, our only weapons, are yet soft, and the Wolf and the Wild Cat are ready and fearless to attack us. Our only hope of escape is in our fleetness, since we are watched all day by the cruel eyes of those who live upon flesh, of whom the most dangerous of all is Man!"

"I know all this," replied Unktomee. "Others may have stronger weapons than you, but I see none with your beauty, your stately height, your freedom and ease of life. I beg of you to allow me to share it!"

"If you can pa.s.s the test, we will admit you," they said at last.

"Notice our eyes--we must be ever watchful; our ears--they are constantly on guard! Can you smell an enemy even against the wind? Can you detect his footfall before he is near?"

Unktomee pa.s.sed the test and was finally admitted to the company of the Elks; in fact, he was made the chief of them all, for such he wanted to be.

"Now," said they, "we have made you our leader. You must guide us so that we shall be safe from the hunters!"

Proud of his long limbs and of his stately antlers, he led them all down the hill, running back now and then to urge the hindermost ones into line. When they stopped to rest, he lay down a little apart from the others, under a spreading oak.

Suddenly they all sprang up and fled, for Unktomee had cried out to them:

"Fly! fly! I am struck by an arrow!"

But when no hunter appeared, they were provoked, and grumbled among themselves:

"Unktomee is deceiving us; it was only a stick that fell from the tree!"

Then they all lay down a second time, and a second time the Elks were aroused in vain. They were still more displeased, and said to one another:

"It was only an acorn that fell upon him while he slept!"

A third time they lay down, but this time the Elks stole away from Unktomee and left him sleeping, for they had scented the hunter. When the hunter came, therefore, he found only the chief Elk still sleeping, and he let fly an arrow and wounded him severely.

Unktomee was now in great fear and pain, and he bitterly regretted that he had become an Elk, for he had learned that their life is full of anxiety. The Elks had taught him that it is well to be content with our own, for there is no life that is free from hardship and danger.

ELEVENTH EVENING

THE FESTIVAL OF THE LITTLE PEOPLE