The Story Of The First Whitefish

: The Book Of Nature Myths

One day a crane was sitting on a rock far out in the water, when he

heard a voice say, "Grandfather Crane, Grandfather Crane, please come

and carry us across the lake." It was the voice of a child, and when the

crane had come to the shore, he saw two little boys holding each other's

hands and crying bitterly.



"Why do you cry?" asked the crane, "and why do you wish to go across the

lake, away from your hom
and friends?"



"We have no friends," said the little boys, crying more bitterly than

ever. "We have no father and no mother, and a cruel witch troubles us.

She tries all the time to do us harm, and we are going to run away where

she can never find us."



"I will carry you over the lake," said the crane. "Hold on well, but do

not touch the back of my head, for if you do, you will fall into the

water and go to the bottom of the lake. Will you obey me?"



"Yes, indeed, we will obey," they said. "We will not touch your head.

But please come quickly and go as fast as you can. We surely heard the

voice of the witch in the woods."



It really was the witch, and she was saying over and over to herself, "I

will catch them, and I will punish them so that they will never run away

from me again. They will obey me after I have caught them."



The crane bore the two little boys gently to the other shore, and when

he came back, there stood the witch.



"Dear, gentle crane," she said, "you are so good to every one. Will you

carry me over the lake? My two dear children are lost in the woods, and

I have cried bitterly for them all day long."






The spirit of the lake had told the crane to carry across the lake

every one that asked to be taken over; so he said, "Yes, I will carry

you across. Hold on well, but do not touch the back of my head, for if

you do, you will fall into the water and go to the bottom of the lake.

Will you obey me?"



"Yes, indeed, I will," said the witch; but she thought, "He would not be

so timid about letting me touch the back of his head if he were not

afraid of my magic. I will put my hand on his head, and then he will

always be in my power." So when they were far out over the lake, she put

her hand on the crane's head, and before she could say "Oh!" she was at

the bottom of the lake.



"You shall never live in the light again," said the crane, "for you have

done no good on earth. You shall be a whitefish, and you shall be food

for the Indians as long as they eat fish."



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