Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-03-24
TELL INDIANS LORE.
Students at Haskell Institute Trans.
late Old Legends.

late Old Legends.
The day of the blanket -clad, feath-
err r-bebecked Indian of the Leather
Stocking days may have passed, but
the fables and legends of that period
are religiously passed from generation
to generation by the red men. Last
month the student apprentices in
printing at the Haskell institute.
Lawrence, Kan, translated several of
them into English and printed them in
booklet artistically decorated with
swastikas and Indian blanket designs.
All hampers have been taken from the
imagination in the legends and they
are told just as they were dreamed a
century ago. And mixed with the
fancy are touches Of humor of the typ
ical Indian kind.
How could AEsop have improved on
this Sioux fable, for instance:
Once there was lobster on the river
bank summing himself, when suddenly
fox came along. The fox said to the
lobster: you think you are big be-
cause you have a pair Of pincers, but
I can outrun you." 1t happened to be
Just one mile to the road. The lob
ster said, II will give you your length
start Of me-"
So the fox started off. AS he did so
the lobster caught hold Of his tail and
held tight until they reached the road,
when the fox turned around. AS he
did not see the lobster he began to
laugh. but then the lobster said, What
are you laughing about? I have been
here waiting for you long time" The
fox saw that he was beaten, so he
went on very sad for letting the lob
ster fool him so badly.
Then there is this fable of the ant
and the bear, typical Of the Indian eX-
PLANTATION of the characteristics of
animals:
Once upon a time the ant and the
bear had a quarrel. The bear said he
wished it would be night and day for
six months every year. He wished
this because he stays in his house all
winter, they say, and come out in
summer The ant said she wished 1t
would be night and day all the time,
like it Is now.
So they made up their minds to race
and see which one Of them would win
their wish. So they started and the
big bear would say: Night and day
every six months! Night and day ev-
cry six months." And the ant would
say, Might and day, night and day all
the time" They said the one who
would say his wish the most for
week would win. The ant would jump
up and down all the time and say her
wish. The bear would say his wish for
while, then go and eat. But the ant
wouldn't go and eat, so she was get
ting very thin and small. The bear
was afraid now, so he quit, and she
won the wish.
It is said that the ant was as big as
the bear till they got in this quarrel
and she got small. 1t Is said that
DedTS Will always Sob tiiS ehi'sS "''~''
they come across any. 1t is because
the ant beat the bear, and so 1t Is to-
day night and day, and I am glad 1t is
too. Aren't you?
Fancy is given free fight in the old
Miami tale of the seven beavers who
went from Indiana back in the days of
Tippecanoe on a hunting trip away
down a big river. While two stayed
in camp to cook five went to kill game.
They found a big turtle and got on its
back to ride. Their feet stuck to its
shell and it ran into the river and
they were drowned. The two COM
rades went back to the Indians and
brought a man who had power over
water to help them find the missing
five. Here is what happened:
The old man went to the waters
edge and called up a fish. He cut a
piece of it's flesh off and burned 1t. He
put the fish back into the water and
said to it, You are not the one that