ot mock a
nature spirit, lest some harm should come to him. He might be captured
and made to serve that spirit.

Now when Old Man Winter heard the mocking raps of the little boy within
the lodge, he was very angry. He breathed fiercely upon the little
lodge. It shrank and shivered at his touch like a living thing. He
struck it several sharp blows with his hammer, and passed on.

The fire inside the lodge burned lower and lower. The hunter and his
little son drew closer and watched the last flame flicker and die out.

[Illustration]

As they sat by the ashes, numb with the cold, all of a sudden a new
warmth filled the lodge. The South Wind gently opened the door, and a
young chieftain, with a face like the sun, entered. He saw the dying
hunter and the boy, and he warmed them back to life. When they were
stronger, he helped them to rekindle the fire. Then he told them to take
a few dried blackberries that they had in the lodge, and boil them in
water.

He said they must eat a portion of the blackberries, and throw the rest
at Old Man Winter when he returned. This would frighten him away, for he
was terribly afraid of blackberries.

[Illustration]

Blackberries mean sunshine and summer heat. Old Man Winter cannot stay
where they are. He never visits the earth at blackberry time.

The hunter and the little boy said they would do as they had been told.
Soon the young chieftain left the lodge, with the South Wind.

Not many days later, Old Man Winter returned, and again came rapping at
their lodge. But this time the hunter and the little boy were ready.
They threw the blackberries at him, as they had been told, and he ran in
fear to his ice lodge.

The South Wind and the young chieftain with a face like the sun were
near. They followed close upon the Old Man's track. When he was again
inside the ice lodge, the South Wind rapped gently at the door.

"Begone!" said the Old Man. "No one but North Wind is welcome to my
lodge."

Then the South Wind breathed soft and warm upon the door of the ice
lodge, and it melted at their feet. The young chieftain passed in and
sat down by the strange fire that had no heat. The South Wind stayed
without, and sang, soft and low.

The Old Man was very angry. He raged about the lodge and ordered the
young chieftain with sunshine in his face and warmth in his breath to
depart.

"I am great and powerful," said the Old Man. "When I touch the sky, the
snow falls. When I speak, hunte