my guardian
spirit is a just one. Though not propitious to me in the manner I
desired, he has shown me pity in another way--he has given me another
shape; and now I must go."

At this moment the old man broke in, exclaiming:

"My son! my son! I pray you leave me not!"

But the young man, with the quickness of a bird, had flown to the top of
the lodge and perched himself on the highest pole, having been changed
into a beautiful robin red-breast. He looked down upon his father with
pity beaming in his eyes, and addressed him as follows:

"Regret not, my father, the change you behold. I shall be happier in my
present state than I could have been as a man. I shall always be the
friend of men, and keep near their dwellings. I shall ever be happy and
contented; and although I could not gratify your wishes as a warrior, it
will be my daily aim to make you amends for it as a harbinger of peace
and joy. I will cheer you by my songs, and strive to inspire in others
the joy and lightsomeness of heart I feel in my present state. This will
be some compensation to you for the loss of glory you expected. I am now
free from the cares and pains of human life. My food is spontaneously
furnished by the mountains and fields, and my pathway of life is in the
bright air."

Then stretching himself on his toes, as if delighted with the gift of
wings, Iadilla caroled one of his sweetest songs, and flew away into a
neighboring wood.

X.

WHITE FEATHER AND THE SIX GIANTS.

There was an old man living in the depth of a forest, with his grandson,
whom he had taken in charge when quite an infant. The child had no
parents, brothers, or sisters; they had all been destroyed by six large
giants, and he had been informed that he had no other relative living
beside his grandfather. The band to whom he had belonged had put up
their children on a wager in a race against those of the giants, and had
thus lost them. There was an old tradition in the tribe, that, one day,
it would produce a great man, who would wear a white feather, and who
would astonish every one by his feats of skill and bravery.

The grandfather, as soon as the child could play about, gave him a bow
and arrows to amuse himself with. He went into the edge of the woods one
day, and saw a rabbit; but not knowing what it was, he ran home and
described it to his grandfather. He told him what it was, that its flesh
was good to eat, and that if he would shoot one of his arrows