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These tribes often held councils, and
the birds wanted light admitted. This the beasts repeatedly refused to
do. Finally the birds made war against the beasts.
The beasts were armed with clubs, but
the eagle had taught his tribe to use bows and arrows. The serpents
were so wise that they could not all be killed. One took refuge in a
perpendicular cliff of a mountain in
Arizona,
and his eyes (changed into a brilliant stone) may be see in that rock
to this day. The bears, when killed, would each be changed into
several other bears, so that the more bears the feathered tribe
killed, the more there were. The dragon could not be killed, either,
for he was covered with four coats of horny scales, and the arrows
would not penetrate these. One of the most hideous, vile monsters
(nameless) was proof against arrows, so the eagle flew high up in the
air with a round, white stone, and let it fall on this monster's head,
killing him instantly. This was such a good service that the stone was
called sacred. They fought for many days, but at last the birds won
the victory.
After this war was over, although some
evil beasts remained, the birds were able to control the councils, and
light was admitted, Then mankind could live and prosper. The eagle was
chief in this good fight: therefore, his feathers were worn by man as
emblems of wisdom, justice, and power.
Among the few human beings that were yet
alive was a woman who had been blessed with many children, but these
had always been destroyed by the beasts. If by any means she succeeded
in eluding the others, the dragon, who was very wise and very evil,
would come himself and eat her babes.
After many years a son of the rainstorm
was born to her and she dug for him a deep cave. The entrance to this
cave she closed and over the spot built a camp fire. This concealed
the babe's hiding place and kept him warm. Every day she would remove
the fire and descend into the cave, where the child's bed was, to
nurse him; then she would return and rebuild the camp fire.
Frequently the dragon would come and question her, but she would say, I
have no more children; you have eaten all of them.
When the child was larger he would not always stay in the cave, for he
sometimes wanted to run and play. Once the dragon saw his tracks. Now
this perplexed and enraged the old dragon, for he could not find the
hiding place of the boy; but he said that he would destroy the mother
if she did not reveal the child's hiding place.
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