ws there was a little bit of clay. Wesakchak was
very sorry when he saw that his little comrade was dead. He took the
clay from the rat's paws and breathed upon it. Now Wesakchak was
greater than a human being; he was really a spirit. So when he
breathed upon the clay, it formed itself into a ball and began to grow.
He rolled the ball in his hands, and when it grew a little larger, he
said a few words over it. At once there came forth a little mouse, who
began running around the ball. The mouse was just the color of the
earth. Wesakchak said to it, "Your name shall be The Mouse and you
shall always live amid the people, and your color shall be the color of
the earth." So to this day we find the mouse in the homes of people,
and it always is the same dark gray color.

As the mouse continued running, the ball kept growing. In a few
minutes Wesakchak said some more words and out ran a little chipmunk.
He began chasing around the ball too, but he could not stay on as well
as the mouse. He slipped and nearly fell off several times. Wesakchak
caught him and put him safely on again, but in doing so left the marks
of his fingers on the chipmunk's back. And there they have remained
ever since, and look like dark brown stripes.

The two little animals kept on running and Wesakchak now brought forth
a red squirrel. There was a strong wind blowing, and the squirrel
seemed timid. He would run for a little distance and then sit down.
The wind would catch his bushy tail and blow it up over his head as he
sat there, and so ever afterwards the squirrel curled his tail up when
he sat down.

The ball kept growing larger and larger, and Wesakchak brought forth
one animal after another. The rabbit, the fox, the wolf, the bear, and
all the rest of them came out as they were called, until at last the
ball was as big as the earth. Then he called forth the moose, and when
it came and saw miles and miles of prairie, it ran for five miles
without stopping. To this day the moose, when chased, always runs five
miles before it stops.

When Wesakchak had all the animals on the earth, he gave them all their
homes. Some were to live in the forests, some among the mountains, and
others were to live on the prairies. He made little creeks to flow to
divide their feeding-grounds, and they were told not to cross these
water lines. The water in the creeks was not clean. It had green
slime floating on the top, and reeds and rushes grew