Nature Myths and Stories for Little Children
fallen seaward, and the nest lies in the water; my wife and pretty children are in it; I fear that it will float away. Therefore all day and all night I must dip the water from the sea. I hope soon to bale it dry. I must save my darlings even if I spoil my tail." Shiva stooped and with his great hand stroked the little squirrel. On the geloori's soft fur from his nose to the end of his tail, there came four green stripes! They were the marks of Shiva's fingers, placed there as signs of love. Shiva raised his hand, and the water rolled back from the shore. Safe among the rocks and seaweeds, the palm tree lay on dry land. The little squirrel hastened to it; his tail was now high in the air. He found his wife and children dry and well in their house of woven grass-blades. As they sang their welcomes to him, the geloori noticed with delight that each smooth little back was striped with marks of Shiva's fingers. This sign of love is still to be seen upon the back of chipmunks. That is the reason why in India, good men never kill them. A man who loves both children and chipmunks says, when he tells this story, "Perhaps our squirrels, though Shiva never stroked them, would be grateful if we left them, unharmed, to play in the maples in our woods."

THE FOX AND THE STORK. A fox met a stork and invited him to dinner. "With all my heart, friend," said the stork. When they arrived at the home of the fox and dinner was served, he was not so happy. The fox had fine hot soup, but he served it in shallow plates. The poor stork could only stand by and watch the fox eat. The fox seemed to think that it was a very good joke. The next day the stork met the fox and invited him to dinner. The stork brought out fine hot soup in a high narrow necked bottle, but the fox could not see the joke at all. The stork said, "Friend fox, enjoy your dinner. I hope that the soup is as well flavored as yours was yesterday." As he said this he poured out half of the soup into a bowl and set it before the fox. The cunning old fox felt so ashamed that he has never looked anyone straight in the face since that day.

PROMETHEUS. Greece is far away to the east over a great ocean. It is a very small country with high mountains in every part of it. The people who lived there long ago could not easily go from one place to another. Some of the mountains reached above the clouds and made great walls around their homes. Men sometimes lived all their lives near the sea and never saw it. These people who were shut up in the little valley of Greece did many wonderful things. As they could not go far from their homes they had time to see how beautiful the things around them were. Perhaps they looked at the 
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