[Pg 77]

AN INDIAN STORY OF THE MOLE.

N Indian once saw a squirrel sunning himself in a tree top.

The squirrel saw the hunter and leaped upon a passing cloud.

He had escaped into Cloudland before an arrow could reach him.

The Indian set a trap for him hoping that he would soon return to the tree for food.

The sun happened to be coming that way and was caught in the trap.

Suddenly, in the middle of the day, it became dark.

The Indian was frightened and said, “Ah me, what have I done, I have surely caught the sun in my trap.”

He sent many animals up to set it free, but all were instantly burned to ashes.

At last the mole said, “Let me try, I shall bore through the ground of the sky and gnaw off the cords which hold the trap.”

He did this, but just as he loosened the last cord the sun sprang forth and the bright light shone full in his eyes.

The poor mole dropped to the earth and though [Pg 78] his friends were able to save his life, he was blind.

[Pg 78]

“You need not pity me,” he said, “I prefer to live underground, where really there is no use for eyes.”

All the moles were so proud of this hero mole that they tried to be like him in every way.

They, too, went to live in a dark hole in the earth.

Their eyes, which they did not need to use, became so small that they were entirely hidden by their fur. Indeed it is now so hard to find them that many people think the entire mole family is blind.

[Pg 79]

[Pg 79]

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