" the serpent answered, "I
have been sound asleep. How could I know?"

After the quail had become a snipe and had gone to live in the marsh
among the reeds, the cruel owl looked everywhere for him, and at last
she saw him standing beside a great stone in the water.

She went to the serpent and said, "Grandfather, will you do something
for me?"

"I will," hissed the serpent softly, "What is it?"

"Only to take a drink of water," answered the owl. "Come and drink all
the water in the marsh, and then I can catch the quail that I made into
a snipe."

The serpent drank and drank, but still there was water in the marsh.

"Why do you not drink faster?" cried the owl. "I shall never get the
snipe."

The serpent drank till he could drink no more, and still the water stood
in the marsh. The owl could not see well by day, and the serpent could
not see above the reeds and rushes, so they did not know that the water
from the pond was coming into the marsh faster than the serpent could
drink it.

Still the serpent drank, and at last his skin burst.

"Oh," he cried, "my skin has burst. Help me to fasten it together."

"My skin never bursts," said the owl. "If you will drink the water from
the marsh, I will help you, but I will not fasten any skin together till
I get that snipe."

The serpent had done all that he could to help the owl, and now he was
angry. He was afraid, too, for he did not know what would happen to him,
and he lay on the ground trembling and quivering. It was not long before
his old skin fell off, and then he saw that under it was a beautiful new
one, all bright and shining. He sheds his old skin every year now, but
never again has he done anything to help the owl.

[Illustration]

WHY THE DOVE IS TIMID.

A spirit called the manito always watches over the Indians. He is glad
when they are brave, but if they are cowardly, he is angry.

One day when the manito was walking under the pine-trees, he heard a cry
of terror in the forest.

"What is that?" said he. "Can it be that any of my Indian children are
afraid?"

As he stood listening, an Indian boy came running from the thicket,
crying in fear.

"What are you afraid of?" asked the manito.

"My mother told me to go into the forest with my bow and arrows and
shoot some animal for food," said the boy.

"That is what all Indian boys must do," said the manito. "Why do you not
do as she said?"

"Oh, the great bear is in the forest, and I