ople on the
earth."

The things under his cloak were strange indeed, for one was the sun, and
one was the moon. There were hundreds of bright stars, and there were
brooks and rivers and waterfalls. Best of all, there was the precious
gift of fire. The raven put the sun high up in the heavens, and fastened
the moon and stars in their places. He let the brooks run down the sides
of the mountains, and he hid the fire away in the rocks.

After a while men found all these precious gifts. They knew when it was
night and when it was day, and they learned how to use fire. They cannot
mount into the air like the eagle, but in some things they are almost as
wise as the birds.

THE STORY OF THE EARTH AND THE SKY.

The sky used to be very close to the earth, and of course the earth had
no sunshine. Trees did not grow, flowers did not blossom, and water was
not clear and bright. The earth did not know that there was any other
way of living, and so she did not complain.

By and by the sky and the earth had a son who was called the Shining
One. When he was small, he had a dream, and he told it to the earth.
"Mother Earth," he said, "I had a dream, and it was that the sky was far
up above us. There was a bright light, and it made you more radiant than
I ever saw you. What could the light have been?"

"I do not know, my Shining One," she answered, "for there is nothing but
the earth and the sky."

After a long, long time, the Shining One was fully grown. Then he said
to the sky, "Father Sky, will you not go higher up, that there may be
light and warmth on the earth?"

"There is no 'higher up,'" declared the sky. "There is only just here."

Then the Shining One raised the sky till he rested on the mountain
peaks.

"Oh! oh!" cried the sky. "They hurt. The peaks are sharp and rough. You
are an unkind, cruel son."

"In my dreams you were still higher up," replied the Shining One, and he
raised the sky still higher.

"Oh! oh!" complained the sky, "I can hardly see the peaks. I will stay
on the rough rocks."

"You were far above the rocks in my dream," replied the Shining One.

Then when the sky was raised far above the earth and no longer touched
even the peaks, a great change came over the earth. She, too, had
thought the Shining One unkind, and she had said, "Shining One, it was
only a dream. Why should you change the sky and the earth? Why not let
them stay as they were before you had the dream?"

"O Mother Ear