Iagoo, the Story-teller

HERE never was anyone so wise and knowing as old Iagoo. There never was

an Indian who saw and heard so much. He knew the secrets of the woods

and fields, and understood the language of birds and beasts. All his

life long he had lived out of doors, wandering far in the forest where

the wild deer hide, or skimming the waters of the lake in his birch-bark

canoe.

Besides the things he had learned for himself, Iagoo knew much more. He

knew the fairy tales and the wonder stories told him by his grandfather,

who had heard them from his grandfather, and so on, away back to the

time when the world was young and strange, and there was magic in almost

everything.

Iagoo was a great favorite with the children. No one knew better where

to find the beautiful, colored shells which he strung into necklaces for

the little girls. No one could teach them so well just where to look for

the grasses which their nimble fingers wove into baskets. For the boys

he made bows and arrows--bows from the ash-tree, that would bend far

back without breaking, and arrows, strong and straight, from the sturdy

oak.

But most of all, Iagoo won the children's hearts with his stories. Where

did the robin get his red breast? How did fire find its way into the

wood, so that an Indian can get it out again by rubbing two sticks

together? Why was Coyote, the prairie wolf, so much cleverer than the

other animals; and why was he always looking behind him when he ran? It

was old Iagoo who could tell you where and why.

Now, winter was the time for story-telling. When the snow lay deep on

the ground, the North. Wind came howling from his home in the Land of

Ice, and the cold moon shone from the frosty sky, it was then that the

Indians gathered in the wigwam. It was then that Iagoo sat by the fire

of blazing logs, and the little boys and girls gathered around him.

"Whoo, whoo!" wailed the North Wind. The sparks leapt up, and Iagoo laid

another log on the fire. "Whoo, whoo!" What a mischievous old fellow

was this North Wind! One could almost see him--his flowing hair all hung

with icicles. If the wigwam were not so strong he would blow it down,

and if the fire were not so bright he would put it out. But the wigwam

was made on purpose, for just such a time as this; and the forest nearby

had logs to last forever. So the North Wind could only gnash his teeth,

and say, "Whoo, whoo!"

One little girl, more timid than the rest, would draw nearer and put her

hand on the old man's arm. "O, Iagoo," she said, "Just listen! Do you

think he can hurt us?"

"Have no fear," answered Iagoo. "The North Wind can do no harm to anyone

who is brave and cheerful. He blusters, and makes a lot of noise; but

at heart he is really a big coward, and the fire will soon frighten him

away. Suppose I tell you a story about it."

And the story Iagoo told we shall now tell to you, the story of how

Shin-ge-bis fooled the North Wind.