The Story Of The First Woodpecker

: The Book Of Nature Myths

In the days of long ago the Great Spirit came down from the sky and

talked with men. Once as he went up and down the earth, he came to the

wigwam of a woman. He went into the wigwam and sat down by the fire, but

he looked like an old man, and the woman did not know who he was.



"I have fasted for many days," said the Great Spirit to the woman. "Will

you give me some food?" The woman made a very little cake and put it o


the fire. "You can have this cake," she said, "if you will wait for it

to bake." "I will wait," he said.



When the cake was baked, the woman stood and looked at it. She thought,

"It is very large. I thought it was small. I will not give him so large

a cake as that." So she put it away and made a small one. "If you will

wait, I will give you this when it is baked," she said, and the Great

Spirit said, "I will wait."



When that cake was baked, it was larger than the first one. "It is so

large that I will keep it for a feast," she thought. So she said to her

guest, "I will not give you this cake, but if you will wait, I will make

you another one." "I will wait," said the Great Spirit again.



Then the woman made another cake. It was still smaller than the others

had been at first, but when she went to the fire for it, she found it

the largest of all. She did not know that the Great Spirit's magic had

made each cake larger, and she thought, "This is a marvel, but I will

not give away the largest cake of all." So she said to her guest, "I

have no food for you. Go to the forest and look there for your food. You

can find it in the bark of the trees, if you will."



The Great Spirit was angry when he heard the words of the woman. He rose

up from where he sat and threw back his cloak. "A woman must be good and

gentle," he said, "and you are cruel. You shall no longer be a woman and

live in a wigwam. You shall go out into the forest and hunt for your

food in the bark of trees."



The Great Spirit stamped his foot on the earth, and the woman grew

smaller and smaller. Wings started from her body and feathers grew upon

her. With a loud cry she rose from the earth and flew away to the

forest.



And to this day all woodpeckers live in the forest and hunt for their

food in the bark of trees.



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