The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1894-12-20

again-and he could not because he was
hewitched But he asked the witch to
come out from his stomach and she would
not. Then the Eagle killed rabbit, and
when the man came out to get the rabbit
to eat, because he was hungry, the Eagle
caught him and gave him to his mother
and she took him to the place where be
was stolen and he became baby again.
Then the Eagle went to the snake to get
him to give up the witch. but he could
not. Then he tried to throw her up, and
he tried 80 long and SO hard and strug-
gled so much that he finally twisted clear
out of his hide, and the witch inside ran
away with it and hid in the rocks; and
the Eagle cried: Where are you. witch?
where are you, witch ?" and the witch, be.
ing hidden, Knocked him and repeated his
words after him. And ever since then
all rattlesnakes lie on the rocks and mock
at people. And white men hear the noise
and say, at is the echo;" but it is not.
And this is the origin OF the echo.
Centuries ago when the nations of Eu-
rope were young, like children they pos
sessed little knowledge, but great imagi-
nation. Not only all the forces Of ma
ture, but every tree, river and hill had,
according to their way of thinking, par
ticular spirit.
The Norsemen who inhabited Germany,
Denmark. Norway and Sweden had for
their great spirit or god Wooden, from
whom we got our Observation-Disclosures 8
day. His wife was Freya, giving us the
word Friday.
They had son named Baldur, called
the shining god, who was very much be-
loved. Once upon time Baldur became
much troubled, for he dreamed that he
was going to de- When he confided his
dream to his mother she, like all good
mothers, tried her best to help him. She
called all creation together. not emitting
the least of the bushes or shrubs. When
they were all assembled she asked them
to swear solemn oath that they would
not hurt her son Baldur. They all prom
Used faithfully that they would not; but
she had forgotten the mistletoe. That,
as you know, is neither shrub nor q
tree, but grows upon them, parasite.
Down in the center of the earth lived
an old god of hate named Loki. He be-
thought himself of the mistletoe, which
had not been called upon by Freya to
take the oath. Taking great branch of
it he hired an idiotic god to throw it at
Baldur. 1t hit him on the breast, max
ing hole through which his soul
, dropped out and went down to Hela, the
goddess of death.
Freya was almost frantic She went
to her eldest son, Thor or Thunderer, and
besought him to so brighten Hela that
she would give up Baldur's soul. Thor
was quite willing to make great noise.
He took mountain in each hand and
clapped them together. You may be
sure Hela was greatly frightened at this,
and told Thor that if all creation would
weep for Baldur she would give him up.
So the clouds poured out showers OF
tears. the trees, bushes and even the
grass wept, but no one shed so many
tears as the poor, innocent mistletoe, and
it is said that every tear-drop turned into
beautiful berry. So by doing it's best
to overcome the power OF hate and wick
ness the mistletoe became consecrated to
love and pity and is mingled with the
evergreen, which signifies immortality,
for our Christmas decorations
AT Christmas the spirit of love reigns,
for that is the spirit of the little Child
whose cradle was manger and who was
the light that lighteth every man. This
light began to shine in the dark coun-
tries of Northern Europe so that the peo-
pie gave up their heather gods, and as
they knew of the coming of this loving
Child, they wished to celebrate his birth.
They learned that he is the Prince of
Peace and delights not in warliks deeds
and cruelty to fellow men.
The legend of the first Christmas tree
is beautifully told in the tale OF Win
frid. The custom had been to offer hui
man life each year at the turning of the
sun. And this was done under the great
sacred oak in the middle OF the forest.
Winfrid no longer believed in this cruel
rite, and spoke to the people thus:
"Harken, ye sons of the forest No
blood shall flow this night. For this is
the birth-niRht of the white Christ, the
son of the All-Father, the Savior of man.