The Book of Nature Myths | Page 8

tree," called another, "and it rocks like a
child's cradle. Come and build beside it," but the magpie said "No."
Before long all the birds but the magpie had their nests built. The
magpie cried, "I do not know how to build a nest. Will you not help
me?"

The other birds were sorry for her and answered, "We will teach you."
The black-bird said, "Put the twigs on this bough;" the robin said, "Put
the leaves between the twigs;" and the humming-bird said, "Put this
soft green moss over it all."
[Illustration]
"I do not know how," cried the magpie.
"We are teaching you," said the other birds. But the magpie was lazy,
and she thought, "If I do not learn, they will build a nest for me."
The other birds talked together. "She does not wish to learn," they said,
"and we will not help her any longer." So they went away from her.
Then the magpie was sorry. "Come back," she called, "and I will learn."
But by this time the other birds had eggs in their nests, and they were
busy taking care of them, and had no time to teach the lazy magpie.
This is why the magpie's nest is not well built.

WHY THE RAVEN'S FEATHERS ARE BLACK.
Long, long ago the raven's feathers were white as snow. He was a
beautiful bird, but the other birds did not like him because he was a
thief. When they saw him coming, they would hide away the things that
they cared for most, but in some marvelous way he always found them
and took them to his nest in the pine-tree.
One morning the raven heard a little bird singing merrily in a thicket.
The leaves of the trees were dark green, and the little bird's yellow
feathers looked like sunshine among them.
"I will have that bird," said the raven, and he seized the trembling little
thing.
The yellow bird fluttered and cried, "Help, help! Will no one come and
help me!"

The other birds happened to be far away, and not one heard her cries.
"The raven will kill me," she called. "Help, help!"
Now hidden in the bark of a tree was a wood-worm.
"I am only a wood-worm," he said to himself, "and I cannot fly like a
bird, but the yellow bird has been good to me, and I will do what I can
to help her."
When the sun set, the raven went to sleep. Then the wood-worm made
his way softly up the pine-tree to the raven's nest, and bound his feet
together with grass and pieces of birch-bark.
"Fly away," whispered the wood-worm softly to the little yellow bird,
"and come to see me by and by. I must teach the raven not to be cruel
to the other birds."
The little yellow bird flew away, and the wood-worm brought twigs,
and moss, and birch-bark, and grass, and put them around the tree.
Then he set them all on fire. Up the great pine-tree went the flames,
leaping from bough to bough.
"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