The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1894-12-13
LEGEND OF THE MOO-MOO
The Watch Dogs Of the Subterranean
CaVernS
TELL OF A Mild YAKIMA WINTER
How the Indians Know that the
Coming Three Months are 10 Be
Exceptionally warm-Semetimes
the Dogs do Not Bark.

Like and unlike the geese whose warn
ing hiss aud Quacking saved ancient Rome,
the subterranesn watch dogs chained in
the wind and ice caverns presided over
by Old Probabilities bay their discordsnt
dissent to the dresry winters ad, at
and tell of the approach of warmer
weather. So say the Yakima Indians.
However, even the Indians may not
At all times hear the protests OF
these brothers of Cerberus, even though
such protest be made. 1t is only at one
place on the great Yakima reserve that
old..Moth.r Earth's outside crust is assured
and scanned and cracked enough for the
rsverberating echoes to find vent. That
! 10 a moo-moo (spring) away over on the
Ahtsnum hills.
A triangular background OF sloping,
rock-ribbed mountains opens at the base
into little valley, in which the crystal
waters of q mountain lake sparkle in the
MONDAY sun or shiver under the silver
sheen Of cold and distant moon. Fed
by the SHOWS OF the mountains, seeping
and trickling through numberless cram
MES in the sides OF the lonly sentinals
OF the plains beyond, the sparkling wa.
ters flow ever in; constantly dripping,
dropping, ripping in streamlets over the
grass-grown banks OF the natural BASIN
which yet is never filled. For deep In
the center Of the Lilliputisn ocean is an
outlet, or inlet rather; and through, it the
waters pour, emptying into some dark
cavern whose recesses are habitable only
by members of Lytton's Coming Race"
the people of our dreams, the fanciful
sprites OF elfdom-and the watch dogs OF
the American Indian.
When winters SHOWS and ice and sleet
and winds are to freeze the blood OF the
puny mortal; when nature is to hiber.
nate for long and dreary months; when
sleighbells are to tinkle and jingle and
chime on the frosty air; when the preco-
cious and fun-loving youth 10 to be per-
mitted to enjoy himself with skates and
sled as only the small boy can-then g
silence az of the tomb may be noticed at
the moo moo; its waters CONCEAL, its mu-
steal tinkling 10 silenced, Its harmonies
are mute. The dogs Of the under world
are drowsily slumbering, never waking
nor disturbing the silent halls OF their
home with deep-toned warning or the
yell and howl of anger and war. And
when, for days and days, and night after
night, in the clear November weather.
the Indian listener in the valley far below
hears in the rsrifed atmosphere no sound
from the heights above, no murmur from
the spring, no echo from the mountain,
he goes to his people with the warning to
bring ont the heavy bear skins, the
double blankets; to convey to the wig
wan fresh and large stores OF bark and
wood and chips, that the campfire may
always burn, and the warmth and smoke
of it fill the sloping walls before it finds
an egress 'twixt the crossed poles at the
apex. 1t 10 then the woe-begone son OF
the forest tells his white brother to look
to the furnaces and fires, and shiveringly
appreciates how
Miserable they
Who, here entangled in the gathering ice,
Take their last look at the descending sun
While, full of death and fierce with ten
fold frost,
The long. long night, incumbent DER their
heads,
Falls terrible"
But, should the silent courier who waits
with fear and hope for some first faint
sound from the moo-moo, hear the rum
bic and roar of deep-throated baying,
echoing and re- echoing. bounding and re-
bounding along the slopes of the foothills;
list to the tones OF the bubbling spring
| singing and laughing in liquid notes; ;
find valley and tablelsnd resembling
with the harmony he longs to hsar-then
does he ioyfully shout: at is the sym.
Dol of life; it is the play of the great
dogs 10 the cavern; it is the warm breath