The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-03-26
T Want Fly Big Toe" A Story of the Blazing Beast
BY MARY GRAHAM.

.'rell us story, granny. dear" begged little Nell, smuggling close to her indui- gent grandmother, who was seated on the sofa in front of the cheerful grate fire after supper.
 .'Yes, story, grams" cried Billy, brother to little Nel who just that min ute came into the room munching the remnants Of bit of Jelly cake. Then he took his seat on the floor at dear old grandmas feet, and, putting his curly head against her knee, settled himself Tor the story he knew would follow.
 "A story?'' And Grandmother smiled on the two little ones as she folded an arm about little Nell and lay hand ca ressingly on Billy's head. How these children did delight in listening to the stories their grandmother told, Tor her stories were so different to those told by other people, or in story books ana pa persl They were always so old-fashioned. so queer, and sometimes they made tne curls on Biliy's head stand Gp quite
 But we must not wander from the, story.
 Well, we'll" and the old lady re- moved her specs; what sort of a story must it be tonight3''
 "A h-o-r-r-i-b-l-e story" suggested Nell feeling safe so close beside this dear old protectress. "One what will give us the
 "Yes, a thriller" bravely. added Billy; not thinking of the hour when he would have to go to bed all alone-when the ssfhriller'' would return with double force and cause him to cover his head very tightly and imagine most unreal tnlhgs were about to happen to him. .,
 But, here we are-getting outside the story path again.
 Once upon time (began Grandmal there dwelt in the great primitive forest q man who had wife, little son ano daughter. This man was lazy, ignorant, m fellow t4S azSS Ss %igb furnish vegetable and fruit food for his family, so their only sustenance was the nesn or fish, fowl and animal such h as S,a sne yooda nhn Owing to the fact of his laziness ne Wss .ss forced to take more life to sustain nfe than would otherwise have been required
 One day his wife told him that the larder was empty of provisions, ana asked him to go out and nnd something become i'll through want Of food shoul- dering his gun, the man set forth Tn quest of game, for his laziness did not master tas as'nr life It is said that this savage man de seconded from cannibal ancestors.
 As it was late in the dte afternoon noe r,tne the trees, thick with their untrimmed limos covered by interlacing vines and choked by underbrush. Thus 1t was dlincult TOT the man to distinguish one object rom another. But .as he was in no wise par ticular about the kind of flesh he ate, one animal was as good as another. A1ter WAn0erinR dDOuls HIS hten CycS Oh bhS ground then on the tree limbs, a huge. dark, moving form caught his notice. There, away in the thickest part or a great tree it was half hidden away. m stantly the man raised his gun and fired. something fell to the ground few paces away under the tree. He ran to the spot and picked up the object, which was about the size and shape of large cocoa nut. and which turned out to be big toe from some strange animals-or bird g. foot Putting. the bleeding member into his wildcat skin game poucn the . ,,,ial, man at thought of the dainty and new kind of dish they would soon enjoy:
 The woman had fire of sticks blazing in the rough stone fireplace, and an im- mense iron pot hung oyer 1t full of boil ing water, everything being in readiness to cook whatever the man might be for tunate enough to bring home. On be holding the big toe the woman fell back from it In terror, crying out: Why. that's from the foot of the Blazing would starve-and see my, children starve-before I would taste It."
 Now, there was legend among the forest people of that time and place that great beast, part animal, part bird, as large as an elephant and having beak like an eagle, eyes of ire and flaming tongue, lived in the forest. Not only one such beast was there. but great many of them. It was said that the s.Blazing Beast would do no one harm unless first attacked, but once having been DurI Tn any way IL UeNtT TcStcu udy or night till it accomplished some awful revenge It was told that once upon time one of these beasts had been killed by a band of woodmen and parts of it eaten. The .uneaten parts gathered them selves together at night and became re- animated with life, and while the. men slept 1t devoured them flesh and bone. The woman was familiar with the stories Of the Blazing Beast, but the guttonous man would not listen to her nor be guided by her warning. Since she stout fy refused to touch the big toe the man himself dressed It and put it into the boiling pot to cook. When it was done he ate 1t to the last shred of flesh, lick ing greedily the bone and nall. But his urging the children to partake of the toe had no effect on them, for their mothers warning was enough for them With their mother they went to the brook near by the log cabin and caught enough fish for their suppers. The man sat by and laughed at the woman as she broIled the fish. saying: .Wben l bring you anything extra nice you are all snch cowardy fools that you won't eat of it Go on and swaTler down your old fish; but none of