The San Francisco call., 1906-09-02


the snow. Beautiful white
/mantle OF earth, he said. sign
of purity. to thee I give the
token. When the air freezes you, like
the warm arms OF mother-a mother
great and kind--cover the mountains
and shield the roots OF the flowers and
grass from harm. All the summer by
you the mountain streams are fed ard
kept alive and the earth is made fruit
full. Yours is the crown"
As you suppose. the Great Spirit put
the crown on the highest OF the Sierra
Nevada Mountains. that it might be as
near heaven as possible. 1t was stud
ded with the rarest diamonds that
shine in the caves of the mountains
The gold of which 1t was made was
found by the Great Spirit In the river
beds of California, where the waters
sing forever.
Taw- Wee-N Nee the bravest OF the In
dians. had dream. He saw in vision
the Great Spirit. He saw the crown on
the terrible peak of Wah-Moo. the king
of the SHOWS.
Waking, Taw-w wee-Nee said to Lau-
Dew, the fairest of the Indian maidens.
that for her he. would get the crown
that She might live forever and always
have power over the SHOWS. SO .nat
when she commanded the snow should
go or stay.
The Great Spirit heard this promise
and was angry. He ordered the North
Wind, with It's cutting frost xnives, to
strike Taw- Wee-Nee. He commanded
the fever. Ki-Lau, TO burn Taw-w
Nee's flesh and rob him of his strength
in the night He heaped the snow so
high around Taw- Wee Nees tcpee, or
wigwam. and froze it so hard that no
Indian brave could go to help Taw-
Wee-Nee. He made the rain to beat
through Taww wee-Nee's tepee and put
out the tepee fire of forest branches.
Alone, burning up with faver and
freezing at the same time with the
cold of the air. Taw- Wee-Nee lay in
agony on his couch of bear skins. In
all his suffering and all his sorrow at
the anger of the Great Spirit he made
no sound. With taunting smile on
his lips and the fire of courage burning
in his eyes he waited for death to come
: on the North Wind over the snow and
take him to the happy hunting ground.
Three dreadful days end nights he
lay thus. without food or fire or wa
ter. Then he had another vision.
Ipafare i,i,,, -tood tt,o too,.ie,,1
Dew. She was wrapped in fur robes.
Her moccasins glittered with beads. In
hef long black hair, which fell to her
waist and blew about her like a mid
night cloud. was snow flower, one OF
those wonderful scarlet blossoms that
take root In and bloom only in the
deep SHOWS of the highest of the Sierra
Nevada Mountains.
Beloved. she said. Il will see the
Great Spirit If | do not come BACK
think always of Lau-Dew."
Taw- wee-Nec then gave a cry of
pain--the first and last of his brave
life.
'Lau-Dew." he said. tempt not the
Great Spirlt.s See, | am not afraid of
the great White Death. But you must
live and not lose your life for me-
Lau-Dew took all her gold and filled
her hands with sweet deer's meat as "a
g.ft to the Great Spirit. Then she
dared the North Wind. the snowstorm
and the fever and the cold and wicked
as fast as she could toward the noun
tains.
Go back shrieked the North Wind.
cutting her face and chilling her blood.
rseturn..' moaned the Pine Tree.
SOL rnn.y.
Come home-comc home," pleaded
her father and mother and little sister.
Let me SO to help YOU" said Be-
Kou. the Bear-slayer. who loved her in
secret and was also ready to go to
Death with her
She waved her hands to them and
was gone and none followed her.
"oh. Great Spirit" she prayed in her
heart. "lat me reach the Crown of the
Snow to bring it to il:m-to Taw- Wee
Nee, the brave and the good--and save
him"
tho North Wind. When the sun went
down the earth was black The snow
fell so thick that it almost strangled
LauDew,
Wild animals--thc Lion. The Bear. the
Wolf--hid in their caves and tfembled
at the hoatse shouting of the North
Wind.
Through the dreadful night. Lau-Dew
went on, slowly but without fear.
Taw- wce-Nee might die If she failed,
the brave maiden knew. So she would
not stop. whatever might come.
music of the hurdy- -gurdy. When at
last the musicians moved on Oracle re-
turned to the front of the shop. where
she found her little companion waiting
for her. still hugging the doll
But this time Oracle and the child did
not search for the latter's home alone.
Oracle had told her new-found dancing
"a M