The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1900-11-08
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I The ThundererS I
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49,, casselrs Magazine Reprinted by Special
Nfo" permission.J
~ ArHER says it looks like thun.

Nv ~ in the middle of the Indian snow
shoe makers.
,,,nos." said Ossawippi; but white
.on can't read the clouds like Indians,
any more than Indians can read books
vte white men. There won't be any
thunder to-day
"rm sorry for that said the little
c,rodian. | like TO hear thunder. 1t
,ounds almost as fine as menagerie.
Nm, mothers frightened"
81 don't know what menagerie is
.,,d the Indian chief; "but the Thun-
Sorers are good, and nobody ought to
no frightened of them-only the bad |
reople. at any rate"
orrn me who the Thunderers are
commanded Rennie'
And then Ossawippi told this story: |
Once upon time there were three
Wyandot braves who set out to make
aid on the Cherokees; and the country
~ the Cherokees was n long way of,
far down in the south. just before they
cot there one of the braves had his leg
broken by a tree falling on it.
"What shall we do?" said one of the
.,bers by the Wyandot law we must
carry him home, but it's a long way.
let us kill him and say the bears took
him
The other man said: mo, that would
he too wicked" But after they had
carried the broken man one day they
we're both very tired, and they threw
him into dark pit, and went home and
said he had been eaten by bears. HIS
mother was a widow, and she had no
otber son, so she cried a very long while.
But her son wasn't so dead as she
thought him. When he fell on the bot
tom of the pit his broken leg hurt him,
and he cried aloud. Then he saw an old
man come out of hole in the side of
the pit. and the old man had long, white
hair sticking straight out all round his
head
"What can do for you, my son?"
said the old man.
"You can mend my broken leg, If
yon're clever enough" said the Wyan-
dot
"My medicine is great" said the old
man. 81 could mend You If you were
broken in seven pieces. But what will
you give me?"
Anything you like" said the Indian,
fyou mend me at once"
"Then promise that you will live wit Ia
NE, and hunt for me, and bring home
the game by yourself
The young man promised, and the old
man bent down and touched the broken
leg with the hair of his head; and the
young man sprang up and danced as
iinothng had happened.
They lived together all the winter,
and the young man went out every day
and brought back deer and bears and
wild geese and fish, enough for week 5
big feasting; but after he had eaten his
supper and gone to sleep the old man
ate up all the rest, so that there was
not even a bone to pick for breakfast
One morning the young man went out,
and wandered far into the woods with
out seeing a live thing. There was not
asound to be heard except the dripping
Of the trees, for spring was coming and
the sun was hot; and the snow was soft
and all the trails were melted out. Al
Of sudden he spied monstrous bear
The bear saw him and began to climb
Tree; but the young man strung his
bow hard and let fly an arrow, and the
bear tumbled down. The snow wa:
soft, but when the big bear fell on II
here was crash like the ice breaking
up in the river. The hunter pulled out
another arrow, and looked round tC
see where the noice came from.
Put down your bow" said a voice
night over his head, like the voice OF
great chief
The hunter looked up, and there wa!
big, white bird perched on the top o
The tree; and the bird flew down, ant
when it touched the ground it was
'all man with shining face, an'
wrapped in blanket like a soft, whit
cloud.
Don't be afraid" he said; 81 am tn
murderer, the protector of men ant
'Ae enemy of their enemies. The oil
man of the pit is not man at all
sna you must help me to kill him. A
onS as he stays underground he is safe
"you must get him out"
l will try" said the Indian. The
' ne went back and said to the old man
nave killed a monstrous bear, as ia
at the beginning of winter, wit
,"ough meat on him for a month o
,eaStlng But l can't drag him HON
myself, so you must come and help.
Neyer!" said the old man, and hi
Nar bristled like bodkins. But in fey
minutes he began to lick his lips, an
's'u' go out and see if there's spec
" cloud in the sky"
Inc young man went up to see ''No
Speck,' he called out. Then the oil
.an climbed up, and the two of ther
',a %,aamped away through the woods. Tn
Wv man went so fast, though the sno'
vas soft and deep and he had no snow
,uOes' that the young man could hardl
a'ep up with him; and when they GO
"here the dead bear lay the old ma