will catch them, and I will punish them so that they will never run away
from me again. They will obey me after I have caught them."

The crane bore the two little boys gently to the other shore, and when
he came back, there stood the witch.

"Dear, gentle crane," she said, "you are so good to every one. Will you
carry me over the lake? My two dear children are lost in the woods, and
I have cried bitterly for them all day long."

[Illustration]

The spirit of the lake had told the crane to carry across the lake
every one that asked to be taken over; so he said, "Yes, I will carry
you across. Hold on well, but do not touch the back of my head, for if
you do, you will fall into the water and go to the bottom of the lake.
Will you obey me?"

"Yes, indeed, I will," said the witch; but she thought, "He would not be
so timid about letting me touch the back of his head if he were not
afraid of my magic. I will put my hand on his head, and then he will
always be in my power." So when they were far out over the lake, she put
her hand on the crane's head, and before she could say "Oh!" she was at
the bottom of the lake.

"You shall never live in the light again," said the crane, "for you have
done no good on earth. You shall be a whitefish, and you shall be food
for the Indians as long as they eat fish."

WAS IT THE FIRST TURTLE?

Once upon a time there was a great fight between two tribes of Indians.
It was so fierce that the river ran red with blood, and the war-cries
were so loud and angry that the animals of the forest ran away in
terror. The warriors fought all day long, and when it began to grow
dark, all the men on one side had been killed but two warriors, one of
whom was known as Turtle. In those days there were no such animals as
turtles in the ponds and rivers, and no one knew why he was called by
that name. At last Turtle's friend was struck by an arrow and fell to
the ground.

"Now yield!" cried the enemies.

"Friend," said Turtle, "are you dead?"

"No," said his friend.

"Then I will fight on," said Turtle, and he called out, "Give life again
to the warriors whom you have killed with your wicked arrows, and then I
will yield, but never before. Come on, cowards that you are! You are
afraid of me. You do not dare to come!"

Then his enemies said, "We will all shoot our arrows at once, and some
one of them will be sure to kill him." They made ready to fire, but
Turtle, too, made ready. He had t