The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1915-05-11
Bedtime Stories
For Little Folks
HOW THE TURTLE GOT HIS SHELL

the son of the chef, he wore sof
fringed shirts of doeskin and mecca
sins embroidered with colored beads
| On his head unere was always a gay
bonnet with bright feathers, just like
the one his father had. The old CHIEF
whose name was Brown Bear, loved
his son very dearly. The boys mother
had died when he was but a baby, and
the child was left with his grand
mother until he was II, when he re
turned to his fathers tent Though
the old grandmother was thought to
be a witch, she had been very kind to
the child.
Swift Wings was fond of fishing and
hunting, and would spend days on the
lake in his small canoe. Now, at this
time, which was many long years ago,
there lived not far off another chief
"a bad man-who was always trying
to do something unkind to Brown
Bear. This chief was called Panther,
for he would slip about in the woods
and do all kinds of mean tricks, such
as stealing game from traps and run
ming away with canoes that did not
belong to him. Brown Bear had
caught Panther one day and whipped
him severely, so ever after that Pan
Their watched for chance to do some
harm to Brown Bear.
One day Panther saw little Swift
Wings playing in the water, so he
aught the boy up in his arms, ran to
IS canoe and set out down the stream
as fast as he could go. When the
father came to his tent that night, he
could not find the child, and, though
he waited till dawn, the lad did not
come So Brown Bear went to the
tent of the old grandmother to see if
she could tell him where his son was
and how to get him.
The old witch grandmother hap
pened to be very busy when Brown
Bear came, for she was making a
magic bowl. 1t was followed out OF
one piece of wood and carved all over
the outside in pretty rings of light
and dark spots. When she had pol
ished it and f1uted it around the edges,
she went to the stream and, looking
into the water a moment, told Brown
Bear that by her magic power she
could see where Swift Wings was hid
den. ~
Panther has stolen him." she said,
"and has carried him to the top or
Smoke Mountain / will give you this
magic bowl, which l have just finished.
Sit down in it and you will be carried
at once to the top of the mountain,
where your boy is living. If you own
the bowl, any three wishes you make
will come true.
So Brown Bear took his seat in the
big bowl and wished he was at the
top of Smoke Mountain, and, whisk!
in moment he was there. The bowl
foated gently down and came to rest
on the grass outside of a big tent
painted in all sorts of colors. Inside
the boy sat on stool, while stretched
out on his blanket lay Panther. He
was fast asleep, lying with his face
and limbs spread out. The
father called softly to the boy, who
came running to greet him.
Then Brown Bear caught up the big
magic bowl in his arms, holding II
high over his head He stepped quiet
Iy into the tent and dropped it down
ON the sleeping chief, Panther. The
bad chief tried to get up, but Brown
Bear held the bowl tight, and only
FATHERS head. arms and legs stuck
outside of the rim of the bowl. The
more the man fought, the more Brown
Bear held the bowl down, until 1t
pressed far down, so that Panther was
squeezed tighter and tighter into the
bowl And last his head, arms and
legs stuck out and wiggled.
Then Brown Bear remembered about
the boil being magic and doing what
on wished. So he stood up and, wav-
ing his hand quickly, said:
Il wish that Panther may turn into
a little crawling animal and this
bowl stick on his back until | use my
third wish and wish it off again" And
in the twinkling of an eye it was done
There on the floor of the tent at the
feet of Brown Bear and Swift Wings
was, instead of the big chief, Panther,
a small ugly animal, with tiny arms,
legs and head sticking out of shell
that covered it's back. And the shell
was just like the magic bowl all fig
urede in rings.
And this is the way that turtles
came into the world, and they are