fear me. I want to jump and
leap with you. I long to be happy as you are," said he. The young fawns
stopped with stiff legs and stared at the speaking arrow with large
brown wondering eyes. "See! I can jump as well as you!" went on Iktomi.
He gave one tiny leap like a fawn. All of a sudden the fawns snorted
with extended nostrils at what they beheld. There among them stood
Iktomi in brown buckskins, and the strange talking arrow was gone.

"Oh! I am myself. My old self!" cried Iktomi, pinching himself and
plucking imaginary pieces out of his jacket.

"Hin-hin-hin! I wanted to fly!"

The real arrow now returned to the earth. He alighted very near Iktomi.
From the high sky he had seen the fawns playing on the green. He had
seen Iktomi make his one leap, and the charm was broken. Iktomi became
his former self.

"Arrow, my friend, change me once more!" begged Iktomi.

"No, no more," replied the arrow. Then away he shot through the air in
the direction his comrades had flown.

By this time the fawns gathered close around Iktomi. They poked their
noses at him trying to know who he was.

Iktomi's tears were like a spring shower. A new desire dried them
quickly away. Stepping boldly to the largest fawn, he looked closely at
the little brown spots all over the furry face.

"Oh, fawn! What beautiful brown spots on your face! Fawn, dear little
fawn, can you tell me how those brown spots were made on your face?"

"Yes," said the fawn. "When I was very, very small, my mother marked
them on my face with a red hot fire. She dug a large hole in the ground
and made a soft bed of grass and twigs in it. Then she placed me gently
there. She covered me over with dry sweet grass and piled dry cedars on
top. From a neighbor's fire she brought hither a red, red ember. This
she tucked carefully in at my head. This is how the brown spots were
made on my face."

"Now, fawn, my friend, will you do the same for me? Won't you mark my
face with brown, brown spots just like yours?" asked Iktomi, always
eager to be like other people.

"Yes. I can dig the ground and fill it with dry grass and sticks. If
you will jump into the pit, I'll cover you with sweet smelling grass and
cedar wood," answered the fawn.

"Say," interrupted Ikto, "will you be sure to cover me with a great deal
of dry grass and twigs? You will make sure that the spots will be as
brown as those you wear."

"Oh, yes. I'll pile up grass and willows once oftener than my mot