The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1906-02-10
AN INDIAN LEeENo.


Easth AiteF ths ElSods
ii vim ten you d nSaI
sbeju. he q man who dade he
new earth after The big Water atne
aud covered
Big watets came, and there
nothing an wIefe except water ami
tie and The sun and the
said lie old Chippewa Nansah &
made d great raft and put on some
relic Of everything that had been or
the elrthpecmens Of each kind
animals ota1l hetTees. shrubs plant
flowers birds tocks and one man and
one woman. IhIshort he did not
anything except sand. he forgot to
save some sandsand vet he could not
doganythlng without He sailed out
far into the food ana made little
island. very yey8 small Then he found
he had no sand he made d very
line. longer than HUNDREDS pf deer
skins cut up into ribbons and tied
gether, and he took a musktat OF the
raft and tied the Hne to Il and threw
il into the water. The frightened rat
dove down and down, and when there.
was no longer any pulling at the line
Nansab:beju knew the rat was at the
bottom OF the sea. Then he began to
pull the line up. Atthe end Of II came
the poor muskrat stelc dead, drowned
But Nan.ab-beju saw that the little
black paws Of the animal were clench:
ed as Il 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 a 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 isflife came back to IT
Then he mixed the sand in the little
Island that he had made and blew on
that also. as lie blew and blew II
swelled and swelled until It was so big,
TINT Nan,ab-beju could not see the
sides or end Of 1t In any direction
Nan.ab:beiu was not quite cersdin
whether he had made It US big as the
old cartli before tho big water came
He had to make it as big as It had
becn-so big, In fact, that no man or
creature could find the end Of It. He
had plenty Of animals that could travel
over the earth and find out how big
was. 50 he decided to take two huge
bufaloes OF the raft ands send them "a
see whether therewas any end to what
he had made. Tie buffaloes ran OF
with all speed, and Nansab.beju sat
down and waited, In n few days the
buETaloes came buck and snld they had
found the end Of tile earth. So Nan,ab
beju blew and blew and blew on the
ground again, and 1t swelled so East,
that you could scelt broadening. When
lie lad blown until he was tired he
took a crow of the raft and sent 1t 4
see IL 1t could find the end OF ttt
earth. The crow was gone avery long
time, but ut last It came sailing back
on The wind and said 1t had flown till ~
was tire1 out and There was no sign of
any end.to the earth.
"Na1.ab.belu, 70 make sure, bleM
again aud swellel tile earth a great
deal bigger. Then no united and un
Gagged and untrappel MI the animals
and drove them from the raft; on toitlie.
land and left them free to roam wlier
they might. lie took all tile trees
plants, bushes anl!shrnbs anu planted
then around, and hC blow the gris
out of Ills hands as hard as lie could
blow II, SO TINT u scattered an over
Next lie let loose an tic birds and bee
ties and bugs and snakes and r6a:ls
and butterflies, and finally lie litytte:
the man lnl woman, both Chipaeway
to 20 ashore and make tho npw eartb
their hunting ground. And Nan.db
beiu's task was dom" St. Nicholas.