Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-05-03
LEGENDS OF ANIMALS.
Interesting Old Time Stories of Bird
and Beast.

Interesting Old Time Stories of Bird
and Beast.
In the beginning the birds had no
feathers, but at last word was brought
that the Great Spirit had their clothes
ready if they would send some one for
| them. AS the distance was long, the
turkey buZzard was selected on ac-
count of his endurance, and in recogni-
ton of the service he was to have first
choice of apparel, the one condition be-
| ing that he could try no suit on the
second time. Can you guess the re-
suit? For one trihing objection or
another he let all the fine feathers go
| by until, to his Mortified astonishment,
there was nothing left but the poor,
commonplace suit that he wears to-
| day.
We talk conceitedly Of the airship
as though a brand new invention of the
modern brain when thousands of years
ago King Solomon had most satisfac-
| tory one, a magic carpet upon which
he frequently took a spin through
space. Only one fault could be found
with this carpet touring car. 1t had
| no covering, and too often the sun
shone uncomfortably upon the royal
| head. Now, the wisdom of Solomon in
cluded a rare linguistic accomplish
ment. The King spoke the language Of
| birds. So one day when out riding on
mis- carpet he called upon some pass
| ing vultures to hold their wings over
him by way of awning. But they We're
going north, the king toward the south,
and to his righteous Indignation the
| birds insolently refused.
Cursed be ye, O vultures." he cried
| in wrath. And because you will not
obey the commands of your lord who
rules over the whole world the feath-
ers of your necks shall fall off and the
heat of the sun and the coldncSs of
winter and the keenncsS of the wind
| and the beating of the rain shall fall
| upon your rebelliOus neckS, which shall
not be protected with feathers like the
necks of other birds. and. whereas you
| have hitherto Jared delicately, hence
| forward you shall eat carrion and your
race shall be impure until the end Of
the world"
According to Arab folklore, one day
Allah called the south wind to him,
condensed it, took a handful, blew
| upon it the breath of life and thus Gre
| ated a horse. But the steed at once
began to find fault. His neck, he COM
planned was too short to reach the
grass, his back had nothing to steady
saddle. his hoOfS were so sharp that
they Duld surely sink into the sand.
Instead of reproving his insratitude in
words Allah then created the camel
as an object lesson Of reproach.
The horse Shudderrd at the sight of
what he wanted to become. and this
is the reason that every horse starts
when first meeting his cariCature.
Perhaps you have not had the OPP
pOrtunity of gazing dentist-wiSe into
the mouth of Il coyote and so have ncv-
er wondered why its back teeth looked
as though they We're broken off and
forced down into the gums. but you
! empty locust skin.
To the south of the Zuni lands in
| New Mexico coyote started out hunt
ing. but got no farther than the foot
of certain old pin" tree, so fascinated
| did he become in locust VINO sat play
| u, RI IN nf
branches. In fact, such was the ami
mails enthusiasm that ne insisted upon
taking Il lesson on the spot. His voice
proved hOarse and SrOwly. but he per-
severed until he learned the words of
| the locust song and turned homeward,
proudly repeating them. when by bad
| luck he fell into gopher'S hole. said
other words under his breath and for
got his lines.
Back to the pine tree he trotted
again imposed upon the l"custs good
nature, once more sailed forth in tri-
umph But this time as he practiced
aloud he frightened flock Of pigeons
that flew out with such a noise as COM
was nothing left for him but another
| appeal to the wornout locust
Now. even music teacher will turn,
and the locust, seeing him coming from
afar and having heard that coyotes ate
| insects. decided to rid himself of this
| tircSOme fellow. No sooner Thought
| than done In flash he Swcllcd up,
split his skin and Crawled out. Find
ing at hand Il clear. light cnlorrd bit
of quartz. he put it i'm the empty skin,
mucilaged il up the back with pitcn
and flew off to another tree.
| The trick worked tn charm. The
| coyote called out to the supposed 10
| Gust again ANA again without receiving
| q reply, became enlag"d. Snatchcd the
ctfigy out of the tree and bit :" hard
| on the stone thai h" ran yelping away.
| The water uf Il creek partly S"oth"d
| his pain. but ever since the mouth of
Il coyote has shown tn" effect of that
| tragic bite and "whcncv"r Il locust
ventures out on Il summer morning to
| sing Il song il is his custom to protect
himself from the consequences of at
tracting too much attention by skin
| ming himself and leaving his counter
part i'm the tree.