The Press., 1905-11-08
AN INDIAN LEGEND.
The Way Nan-ab-beiu Made the Ne,

The Way Nan-ab-beju Made the New Earth After the Flood. Il will tell you the story of Nan-ab-
 beJu. He is the man who made the. new earth after the big water came and covered it.
 Big waters came, and there was nothing anywhere except water and the sky and the sun and the stars" said the old Chippewa. ''Nan-ab-beju made great raft and put on 1t some relic of everything that had been on the earth-specimens of each kind of animals, of all the trees, shrubs, plants. flowers, birds, rocks, and one man and one woman. In short, he did not leave anything except sand. He forgot to save some sand, and yet he could not do anything without it. He sailed out far into the flood and made little island, very, very small. Then he found he had no sand. He made a very big line, longer than hundreds of deer skins cut up into ribbons and tied to- gether, and he took a muskrat off the raft and tied the line to 1t and threw 1t into the water. The frightened rat dove down and down, and when there was no longer any pulling at the line Nan-ab-beju knew the rat was at the bottom of the sea. Then he began to pull the line up. At the end of it came the poor muskrat, stone dead, drowned. But Nan-ab-be1u saw that the little black paws of the animal were clench- ed as if there was something in their palms and that the rat held tight hold of even after death. The little paws were forced open, and in them were found half dozen grains of sand. One grain would have been enough for the great Nan-ab-beju.
 "Nan-ab-beju blew his breath on the muskrat, and it's life came back to it. Then he mixed the sand in the little island that he had made and blew on that also, AS he blew and blew it Rwelled and swelled until it was so big that Nan-ab-beju could not see the sides or end of 1t in any direction. Nan=ab=betu was not quite certain whether he had made 1t as big as the old earth before the big water came. He had to make it as big as 1t had been-so big. in fact, that no man or creature could find the end of 1t. He had plenty of animals that could travel over tho earth and find out how big 1t was. so he decided to take two huge buffaloes off the raft and send them to see whether there was any end to what he had made: The huffaloes ran off with all speed. and Nan=ah-beju sat down and waited, In few days the buffaloes came back and said they had found the end of the earth, So Nan-ah- Peju blew and blew and blew on the ground again, and 1t swelled so fast that you could see it broadening, When Ae had blown until he was tired he took crow off the raft and sent 1t to see if 1t could find the end of the earth. The crow was gone a very long time. but at last 1t came sailing back on the wind and said 1t had flown till 1t was tired out and there was DC, s:gn of any end to the earth.
 "Nan-ab-bejY, to make sure, blew again and sWelled the earth a great deal bigger. Then he united and un- caged and untrapped all the animals and drove them from the raft on to the land and left them free to roam where they might He took all the trees, plants, RHshes and shrubs and planted them around. and he blew the grass out of his hands as hard as he could blow it, so that 1t scattered all over Next he let loose all the birds and bee ties and bugs and snakes and toads and butterflies, and finally he invited the man and woman, both Chippeways, to go ashore and make the new earth their hunting ground And Nan-ah- beiu's task was done. ."4St. Nicholas.