le finger of a full-grown man. The man did
not beat the eagle any more after this, but stroked down its feathers
gently, and told it he was very sorry for what he had done. "Now," said
he to the Indians, "take the seeds to the water and wash them." They
washed the seeds as he directed, and brought them back to him. "Build a
fire," said he. They built a fire. Then he took some of the seeds and
raked them up in the ashes of the fire, stirring them continually, until
they were of the colour of a Narragansett's skin. When he had roasted
them as much as he would, he called the tribe around him, and bade them
taste the parched seeds. They all cried out that the seeds were good,
very good, and begged him to beat the eagle, till they had procured
enough to satisfy them all, but he would not. They asked him what the
seeds were called. He told them "corn-maize," and said he would shew
them another way to cook it. He bade them bring him a big, flat stone,
and a little round one, and to fill their great stone-kettle with water,
and to make it hot, while he pounded the corn. The man that rode the
eagle pounded the corn, and the Narragansetts boiled the water. When the
water was hot, he shook the pounded corn into the water, until it became
quite thick, stirring it quickly all the while. When it had cooled, so
that it could be eaten, he tasted it, bidding the Narragansetts do the
like. "Charming _hominy_," said he. The Indians ate very heartily of it,
and declared nothing was ever so good before, and again, one and all
thanked the Great Spirit, and said he was very kind--much kinder than
the Evil Spirit. They were, as once before, just about to declare
themselves servants to the master of the man that rode the eagle and
sent them the corn, when a very spiteful old woman--one who was always
full of mischief--got up, and advised them to wait a little longer, and
give the Little Man one more chance. "The longer the trial between the
two spirits lasted, the more the Indians got, the better," she said, and
our people said the same. Upon this the man got up on his winged horse,
very sorrowful but not very angry, and flew away, leaving them the
remainder of the seeds, which, he told them, must be planted in the
earth when the winter had departed, and the trees were putting out their
leaves, and the little blue and yellow flowers began to peep through
their frost-nipped coverings.

The next sun, when the Narragansetts went out of their lodges