ves come too late.

Little Indian children learn to know wild animals very early. Sometimes
the badgers come out of their holes to look at them, and then the
children are very much frightened because badgers are wise animals and
play many tricks on people.

At night, when they lie awake in their little beds, the children hear
the wild geese talking to one another as they fly over the village. Then
the mother tells them what bird is making the noise, and she also tells
them, that when the geese fly south it will be too cold before very long
for their babies to sit out of doors and when they fly toward the north,
Spring is on the way with its beautiful sunshine.

[Illustration: THE WILD GEESE TALKING TO ONE ANOTHER AS THEY FLY.]

[Illustration]

HOW THE PUEBLO BOYS WERE FRIGHTENED.

Little Indian children, like their white brothers, have to be in bed
early or their mothers tell them that the Indian bugaboo, which is a
water spirit, will come after them.

Sometimes the PUEBLO children, just like their white brothers, too,
think their mothers are only trying to frighten them, when she reminds
them of the time and tells them stories of how children are taken away,
if they stay up late.

One day some little boys were talking the bugaboo stories over, and they
decided to try and see if their mothers were telling them true stories;
so, after they had been sent to bed, they were very quiet for awhile,
but when their mothers weren't watching, they slipped out.

[Illustration: IT WAS A LOVELY NIGHT.]

It was a lovely night and they thought they would go behind the houses
and play awhile. The boys were running along, thinking of how they never
again would be afraid of the water spirit, when, they all stopped short.
For a moment they were so frightened, they could scarcely move. What do
you think they saw? There, coming out of a doorway, straight ahead of
them, was one of those terrible water spirits their mothers had been
telling them about. It was coming right after them, shaking a rattle. I
tell you those boys ran!

Several very much frightened boys reached their homes, and, after that,
they were very glad to go to bed when it was time, for they never again
wanted to be chased by another water spirit.

But I will tell you a secret. There are no water spirits; and these
small Indian boys were surprised by a PUEBLO man who had seen them steal
away from their homes and had decided to frighten them. So he dresse