The Indian Fairy Book | Page 9

men had presented themselves to the
disconsolate parents, and said, "Look up, I am your son;" but when they
looked up, they beheld not the familiar face of Strong Desire.
Having been often deceived in this manner, when their own son in truth
presented himself they sat with their heads down, and with their eyes
nearly blinded with weeping. It was some time before they could be
prevailed upon to bestow a glance upon him. It was still longer before
they could recognize him as their son who had refused to draw water
from the river, at night, for fear, for his countenance was no longer that
of a timid stripling; it was that of a man who has seen and done great
things, and who has the heart to do greater still.
When he recounted his adventures they believed him mad. The young
men laughed at him--him, Strong Desire--who feared to walk to the
river at night-time.
He left the lodge, and ere their laughter had ceased, returned with his
trophy. He held aloft the head of the Red Sorcerer, with the great
ghastly leer which lighted it up before his last sleep, at prospect of a
thousand future murders, fresh upon it. It was easily recognized, and
the young men who had scoffed at Strong Desire shrunk into the
corners out of sight. Strong Desire had conquered the terrible Red Head!
All doubts of the truth of his adventures were dispelled.
He was greeted with joy, and placed among the first warriors of the
nation. He finally became a chief, and his family were ever after
respected and esteemed.

IV.
THE WONDERFUL EXPLOITS OF GRASSHOPPER.
A man, of small stature, found himself standing alone on a prairie. He

thought to himself, "How came I here? Are there no beings on this
earth but myself? I must travel and see. I must walk till I find the
abodes of men."
So soon as his mind was made up, he set out, he knew not whither, in
search of habitations. He was a resolute little fellow, and no difficulties
could turn him from his purpose: neither prairies, rivers, woods nor
storms, had the effect to daunt his courage or turn him back. After
traveling a long time, he came to a wood, in which he saw decayed
stumps of trees, as if they had been cut in ancient times, but no other
trace of men. Pursuing his journey, he found more recent marks of the
same kind; after this, he came upon fresh traces of human beings; first
their footsteps, and then the wood they had felled, lying in heaps.
Pushing on, he emerged toward dusk from the forest, and beheld at a
distance a large village of high lodges standing on rising ground.
"I am tired of this dog-trot," he said to himself. "I will arrive there on a
run."
He started off with all his speed. On coming to the first lodge, without
any especial exertion, he jumped over it, and found himself standing by
the door on the other side. Those within saw something pass over the
opening in the roof; they thought from the shadow it cast that it must
have been some huge bird--and then they heard a thump upon the
ground. "What is that?" they all said and several ran out to see.
They invited him in, and he found himself in company with an old
chief and several men who were seated in the lodge. Meat was set
before him; after which the old chief asked him whither he was going,
and what was his name. He answered that he was in search of
adventures, and that his name was "Grasshopper."
They all opened their eyes upon the stranger with a broad stare.
"Grasshopper!" whispered one to another; and a general titter went
round.
They invited him to stay with them, which he was inclined to do; for it

was a pleasant village, but so small as to constantly embarrass
Grasshopper. He was in perpetual trouble; whenever he shook hands
with a stranger, to whom he might be introduced, such was the
abundance of his strength, without meaning it, he wrung his arm off at
the shoulder. Once or twice, in mere sport, he cuffed the boys, about
the lodge, by the side of the head, and they flew out of sight as though
they had been shot from a bow; nor could they ever be found again,
though they were searched for in all the country round, far and wide. If
Grasshopper proposed to himself a short stroll in the morning, he was
at once miles out of town. When he entered a lodge, if he happened for
a moment to forget himself, he walked straight through the leathern, or
wooden, or earthen