e.

She was a terror to all their lives, and she made every spot where they
had seen her, hideous to the living eye; so that after being long
buffeted and beset, they at last resolved, together with their father,
now stricken in years, to leave the country.

They began a journey toward the South. After traveling many days along
the shore of a great lake, they passed around a craggy bluff, and came
upon a scene where there was a rough fall of waters, and a river issuing
forth from the lake.

They had no sooner come in sight of this fall of water, than they heard
a rolling sound behind them, and looking back, they beheld the skull of
a woman rolling along the beach. It seemed to be pursuing them, and it
came on with great speed; when, behold, from out of the woods hard by,
appeared a headless body, which made for the beach with the utmost
dispatch.

The skull too advanced toward it, and when they looked again, lo! they
had united, and were making all haste to come up with the hunter and his
two sons. They now might well be in extreme fear, for they knew not how
to escape her.

At this moment, one of them looked out and saw a stately crane sitting
on a rock in the middle of the rapids. They called out to the bird,
"See, grandfather, we are persecuted. Come and take us across the falls
that we may escape her."

The crane so addressed was of extraordinary size, and had arrived at a
great old age, and, as might be expected, he sat, when first descried by
the two sons, in a state of profound thought, revolving his long
experience of life there in the midst of the most violent eddies.

When he heard himself appealed to, the crane stretched forth his neck
with great deliberation, and lifting himself slowly by his wings, he
flew across to their assistance.

"Be careful," said the old crane, "that you do not touch the crown of my
head. I am bald from age and long service, and very tender at that spot.
Should you be so unlucky as to lay a hand upon it, I shall not be able
to avoid throwing you both in the rapids."

They paid strict heed to his directions, and were soon safely landed on
the other shore of the river. He returned and carried the father in the
same way; and then took his place once more where he had been first seen
in the very midst of the eddies of the stream.

But the woman, who had by this time reached the shore, cried out, "Come,
my grandfather, and carry me over, for I have lost my children, and I am