wn children. And they are the Chippewas!

"That is a long story and now you must hurry to bed. To-morrow night I
will tell you another story--Ho!"

WHY BLACKFEET NEVER KILL MICE

Muskrat and his grandmother were gathering wood for the camp the next
morning, when they came to an old buffalo skull. The plains were
dotted with these relics of the chase, for already the hide-hunting
white man had played havoc with the great herds of buffalo. This skull
was in a grove of cottonwood-trees near the river, and as they
approached two Mice scampered into it to hide. Muskrat, in great glee,
secured a stick and was about to turn the skull over and kill the Mice,
when his grandmother said: "No, our people never kill Mice. Your
grandfather will tell you why if you ask him. The Mice-people are our
friends and we treat them as such. Even small people can be good
friends, you know--remember that."

All the day the boy wondered why the Mice-people should not be harmed;
and just at dark he came for me to accompany him to War Eagle's lodge.
On the way he told me what his grandmother had said, and that he
intended to ask for the reason, as soon as we arrived. We found the
other children already there, and almost before we had seated
ourselves, Muskrat asked:

"Grandfather, why must we never kill the Mice-people? Grandmother said
that you knew."

"Yes," replied War Eagle, "I do know and you must know. Therefore I
shall tell you all to-night why the Mice-people must be let alone and
allowed to do as they please, for we owe them much; much more than we
can ever pay. Yes--they are great people, as you will see.

"It happened long, long ago, when there were few men and women on the
world. OLD-man was chief of all then, and the animal-people and the
bird-people were greater than our people, because we had not been on
earth long and were not wise.

"There was much quarrelling among the animals and the birds. You see
the Bear wanted to be chief, under OLD-man, and so did the Beaver.
Almost every night they would have a council and quarrel over it.
Beside the Bear and Beaver, there were other animals, and also birds,
that thought they had the right to be chief. They couldn't agree and
the quarrelling grew worse as time went on. Some said the greatest
thief should be chosen. Others thought the wisest one should be the
leader; while some said the swiftest traveller was the one they wanted.
So it went on and on until they