The Indian Fairy Book

The Indian Fairy Book, by Cornelius Mathews

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Title: The Indian Fairy Book From the Original Legends
Author: Cornelius Mathews
Illustrator: John McLenan
Release Date: August 5, 2007 [EBook #22248]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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THE
INDIAN FAIRY BOOK.
FROM THE ORIGINAL LEGENDS.
BY
CORNELIUS MATHEWS.
With Illustrations by John McLenan.
ENGRAVED BY A. V. S. ANTHONY.
NEW-YORK: PUBLISHED BY ALLEN BROTHERS. 1869.
Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1868, BY CORNELIUS MATHEWS, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New-York.
* * * * *
[Illustration: THE CELESTIAL SISTERS. Page 11.]

PREFACE.
The following stories have been, time out of mind, in their original form, recited around the lodge-fires and under the trees, by the Indian story-tellers, for the entertainment of the red children of the West. They were originally interpreted from the old tales and legends by the late Henry R. Schoolcraft, and are now re-interpreted and developed by the Editor, so as to enable them, as far as worthy, to take a place with the popular versions of the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, and other world-renowned tales of Europe and the East, to which, in their original conception, they bear a resemblance in romantic interest and quaint extravagance of fancy. The Editor hopes that these beautiful and sprightly legends of the West, if not marred in the handling, will repay, in part at least, the glorious debt which we have incurred to the Eastern World for her magical gifts of the same kind. October, 1868.

CONTENTS. PAGE
I.--THE CELESTIAL SISTERS 7
II.--THE BOY WHO SET A SNARE FOR THE SUN 16
III.--STRONG DESIRE AND THE RED SORCERER 22
IV.--THE WONDERFUL EXPLOITS OF GRASSHOPPER 34
V.--THE TWO JEEBI 68
VI.--OSSEO, THE SON OF THE EVENING STAR 74
VII.--GRAY EAGLE AND HIS FIVE BROTHERS 83
VIII.--THE TOAD-WOMAN 90
IX.--THE ORIGIN OF THE ROBIN 98
X.--WHITE FEATHER AND THE SIX GIANTS 102
XI.--SHEEM, THE FORSAKEN BOY 115
XII.--THE MAGIC BUNDLE 135
XIII.--THE RED SWAN 138
XIV.--THE MAN WITH HIS LEG TIED UP 170
XV.--THE LITTLE SPIRIT OR BOY-MAN 179
XVI.--THE ENCHANTED MOCCASINS 190
XVII.--HE OF THE LITTLE SHELL 207
XVIII.--MANABOZHO, THE MISCHIEF-MAKER 215
XIX.--LEELINAU, THE LOST DAUGHTER 252
XX.--THE WINTER SPIRIT AND HIS VISITOR 261
XXI.--THE FIRE-PLUME 264
XXII.--WEENDIGOES AND THE BONE-DWARF 288
XXIII.--THE BIRD LOVER 299
XXIV.--BOKWEWA THE HUMPBACK 315
XXV.--THE CRANE THAT CROSSED THE RIVER 324
XXVI.--WUNZH, THE FATHER OF INDIAN CORN 330

ILLUSTRATIONS.
FRONTISPIECE.--THE CELESTIAL SISTERS 11
THE BEAR SERVANTS 59
THE MAN WITH HIS LEG TIED UP 176
THE MORNING STAR AND HER BROTHER 212

I.
THE CELESTIAL SISTERS.
Waupee, or the White Hawk, lived in a remote part of the forest, where animals abounded. Every day he returned from the chase with a large spoil, for he was one of the most skillful and lucky hunters of his tribe. His form was like the cedar; the fire of youth beamed from his eye; there was no forest too gloomy for him to penetrate, and no track made by bird or beast of any kind which he could not readily follow.
One day he had gone beyond any point which he had ever before visited. He traveled through an open wood, which enabled him to see a great distance. At length he beheld a light breaking through the foliage of the distant trees, which made him sure that he was on the borders of a prairie. It was a wide plain, covered with long blue grass, and enameled with flowers of a thousand lovely tints.
After walking for some time without a path, musing upon the open country, and enjoying the fragrant breeze, he suddenly came to a ring worn among the grass and the flowers, as if it had been made by footsteps moving lightly round and round. But it was strange--so strange as to cause the White Hawk to pause and gaze long and fixedly upon the ground--there was no path which led to this flowery circle. There was not even a crushed leaf nor a broken twig, nor the least trace of a footstep, approaching or retiring, to be found. He thought he would hide himself and lie in wait to discover, if he could, what this strange circle meant.
Presently he heard the faint sounds of music in the air. He looked up in the direction they came from, and as the magic notes died away he saw a small object, like a little summer cloud that approaches the earth, floating down from above. At first it was very small, and seemed as if it could have been blown away by the first breeze that came along; but it