Therese O. Deming

“ One day the baby bear was naughty, and when tan-tsi-day's mother had gone into the house, he took the bowl and ate all the porridge himself, and didn't give his little playfellow any.
DRAG HIM HOME TO HIS TAN-TSI-DAY.
The baby was very much surprised, and called his Indian mother.
Do you know how she punished the selfish little bear? When the next meal-time came, she just brought enough of the good porridge for her tan-tsi-day, and made that naughty bear eat with the puppies. I think baby bear won't be such a greedy little fellow when allowed to eat with his little companion again. ”

“ Little Indian children, like their white brothers, have to be in bed early or their mothers tell them that the Indian bugaboo, which is a water spirit, will come after them.
Sometimes the pueblo children, just like their white brothers, too, think their mothers are only trying to frighten them, when she reminds them of the time and tells them stories of how children are taken away, if they stay up late.
One day some little boys were talking the bugaboo stories over, and they decided to try and see if their mothers were telling them true stories ”

“ Baby bear wakened up and ran as fast as his clumsy little legs would let him; but he didn't reach the top of his pole before the Indian mother had given him a good switching.
CANOE BOYS.
Little chippeway Indian boys have lots of good times. In the spring they help their fathers and big brothers to make maple sugar. They watch the birch-bark troughs and, when one is full of sap, carry and empty it into a big kettle over a fire to boil down. ”

“ SOME INDIAN BOYS ENJOY TEASING THEIR PETS.
Some Indian boys, just like the white boys, enjoy teasing their pets, which is very wrong as it makes the animals very angry, and often the boys are punished beyond their expectation for their naughtiness.
bright-eyes was a little pawnee boy, who had two pretty little puma kittens, of which he was very proud, and when he did not tease or make them angry they would let him fondle and caress them just as you would a kitten.
One day bright-eyes was sitting on a blanket under a tree playing with his kittens, when two of his friends came along. ”

“ I fancy that little white children don't know that their red brothers like to dress up in grown-up people's things just as much as they do.
KEPT ADMIRING HIMSELF IN A LITTLE PIECE OF LOOKING-GLASS.
One day several little sioux Indian boys decided to have a war dance. They braided each other's hair, and one little boy was so vain that, while his companion was braiding his hair, he kept admiring himself in a little piece of looking-glass that he held in his hand. After all had their hair finished, they put on the dance costumes just as they had seen their fathers do. ”

“ You see there were no nice fat little worms in the young tree, and so the birds may have thought that the children had a bowl full of their favorite food, and they had themselves come too late.
Little Indian children learn to know wild animals very early. Sometimes the badgers come out of their holes to look at them, and then the children are very much frightened because badgers are wise animals and play many tricks on people. ”

“ Every evening, when it begins to get dark, the little boys have to go out and gather together all the horses, drive them to the village, and picket them for the night where the men can watch and keep them safe, not only from wild animals, but from Indians belonging to hostile tribes, out on horse-stealing expeditions. ”

“ Baby bear crept along very carefully, and when he thought the mother was not looking he hid behind a bake oven and almost had his first accident, for tan-tsi-day's mother had left one of her best jars standing there with herbs to dry. ”

“ In those days, the men and boys had to watch from high places to warn the people of the approach of any of their enemies, because the navajo and apache Indians troubled the pueblo Indians a great deal in olden times. ”

“ First bo-ping was a little ahead, and then he was glad, for he had been telling how well his little donkey could go. Then the others whipped their small animals a little harder for none wanted to be beaten. How they did go! You never saw four little donkeys go faster. At last the race came to an end, and the little children, who had gathered to see the finish, clapped their hands and laughed as tō-a, who was a favorite with them all, came in just a little ahead of his companions.
LEARNING TO SHOOT.
Indian fathers are just as proud of their little sons as white fathers are of theirs. ”

“ The little boys shoot birds, rabbits, and various other small animals while they are out tending the horses.
Sometimes when Indian mothers are very busy or want to visit, they hobble their little ones by tying their feet together, so that they can take short steps only. Then the babies can play out-of-doors, and the mothers are sure they cannot get very far away from home.
THE BABIES AND THE WOODPECKERS.
One day two winnebago Indian mothers took their little baby boys and put them on a blanket to play together. ”

“ Often the bears find the sap during the night, and, as they like sweets very much, drink it all; and the little boys are disappointed in the morning, when they go around with their birch-bark buckets, to find it all gone. Sometimes the bears try to steal the boiling syrup, and then they get their paws badly burned for trying to be thieves. ”

“ They rode very quietly, and little hodgska tried to ride especially quiet because he knew if he made much noise he would frighten the game. Soon he heard a little noise in the brush and looking over he saw two pretty deer, but they saw him, too, and ran off just as fast as they could.
hodgska heard the little birds chattering and calling to one another and he saw a bear, but he found nothing he could shoot; so he had to meet his grandfather without being able to show what a hunter he had become. ”

“ When the boys are all through with their breakfasts they drive the horses first to water for a drink, and then over to the cañons where some of them are hobbled and allowed to feed all day. When the boys hobble their horses they tie their front legs together down near the hoofs, so that the horses can only take short steps, and cannot run or wander off very far. ”

“ Not long after, when the crows had grown quite big and mischievous, little beaver sat outside of the tepee on the ground, to eat some dinner. The crows saw him and came running over to him. While little beaver tried to frighten one away the other would try to steal his meat and they kept it up quite a while until the little boy whipped them away. Then the crows felt very mournful to think they had been beaten, and walked away with their heads drooping, as if they knew enough to be ashamed of what they had tried to do.
BRIGHT-EYES AND HIS PUMA KITTENS.
Indian boys have very queer pets ”

“ Whenever any of the chippeway Indians want to go visiting, they always go in canoes when possible, for they are canoe Indians and almost live in their boats. They seldom go visiting on horseback as most other tribes do. ”

“ While the little boys are out herding they keep their bright little eyes wide open to see everything. Sometimes they shoot at the little prairie dogs with their bows and arrows; but the prairie dogs have very bright eyes, too, and down they go into their little holes before the arrows can hurt them. ”

“ They built their houses to face the south, because it was warmer in winter when the fierce north wind came over the mountains to see what damage he could do. Instead of finding houses to go into, he could only blow against the mountains. ”

“ As long as the watchers could see no enemy, the women used to carry water from the river—which was quite far away—gather wood and till little patches of ground, but as soon as the enemy came down upon them, they looked for water in wells dug into the rock to hold the rain when it fell. This water was always saved for cases of this kind.
THE BURRO RACE.
tom-ō-ping was a little pueblo Indian boy and one day his father said to him, "tom-ō-ping take my big black burro over to the cañon to feed." tom-ō-ping didn't say, "wait a minute" to his father, but jumped right on his burro. ”