FOR THE CHILDREN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14928, 28 February 1912, Page 10

FOR THE CHILDREN.

THE GATES. I Did you never wonder where the winds I came from, sind what- first set them blow. 1 ing? The Eskimo children of the lower -J Yukon country, who know many wonder- "J fui secrets, have for generations told one another this story, which is the story o£ the- very first winds that ever blew.. .& very ion- time ago, they say, there lived a hunter and his wife. And it was their great sorrow that, although they had been married many years and w?gaa to feel thai thfly would soon be old, they had-iad«aa children. "Oh, for a brave lad of our owni*-tia hunter used to sigh, with a keen ey© for seeing and a stout arm for shooting and a broad back for bearing home his game!" *' That is ail very well," 1 the wile woold admit witn a smile, '" but what I have always longed for is a little girl to stay by my side and to wear the clothes that 1 should make for her, and to-coKafcrvjiyj with love." Still more years went by and no child came to bless the loneliness of the natter and his wife, and die woman had -gross very silent and sad. One night, however, she- said to the hunter.: — "Husband, have I not always been a | good wife to you? Have yon not always : lound a fire and warm iood when, bob I came home to ma, and have I "not Unas I faithful care of your sealskin boots, « that they wera clean.and dry and soil when you needed them':" "Indeed, yon have been the best ci wives," the hunter said. " Then do what I ask of you/' di« pleaded. ■" no longer hope for a baby of our own; but what I need more than 1004 or drink is something that shall take that baby's place* So go out now, i beg c < you, while it is early evening, and take your axe upon your shoulder. And wtaa you shall come upon a fair, straight trset cut it down and carve it in the form of a child. And this I shall keep by mi aa long as I shall live." "A wooden child!"' exclaimed &9 |; I hunter. "I do not see much comfort la that!" Nevertheless, as he was a kindly man, ho set forth with his axe to carry out his wife's" wish ' .!'■' " | As he was very skilful with his knife, it did not take the hunter long to stem the tree of its bark; and to carve from it the form of a child. When he had done this and stained tho hair and the eyes black he showed the child to his wife v ' who laughed aloud with joy, for the fist time in many years. ■~ * ;^U:- ; ifv ; fei;t&f;S€i^ "I most letch for it the clothes that I have made" she said, "the jack A mi trousers and little boots of sealskin. And while I am putting them on you a* carve from the rest of the wood some little dishes, for it will need food to eat. 1. At last the child was dressed sec tested upon the bench, of . honour facing ti»«9ttrance of the home, and the litfle dabs that tho hunter had carved were filled with food and drink and set within reach, Then the hunter and his wife bade tin <MI good night and went to bed. But wSra they awoke m the morning the child . gone. Now this was, after all. not so atewg*. A child that had always been a tree lira's naturally very curious about the new; vnii '} he had entered. And though lie wag-rat . ungrateful to the hunter and his wife, he nevertheless felt, after being refreshed food and sleep, that he really must explore what lay about him. Because of his mysterious origin, ho of course had far' greater povers than any merely hamm , child, so it happened that when he started out and wandered directly east* *w» wr«: able before long to come straight up to the wall of the sky. And looking closely 1* saw that there was a hole in the wall over which a piece of thin, transparent skin had been stretched and sewn tightly. "Ho he thought. "I Trill tear this off and see what lies behind !"

Now, the strangest thing about t'as. world at this far-off time was thai the air was always completely still. There was no wind to blow the* children'? hair ! when they were at play, and the leavtti upon tho trees never stirred, and evea the ocean lay quiet, except for the aweH- i in,e of the tides. So you can gases ti« child's astonishment when, a-, he pulled ■ i away the strip of skin and stood aside from tho hole, a fearfully strong blast ■" ' blew past him; so swift and powerful that it bore with it great branches of ,! trees, and now and then even a reindeer. Wisely concluding that there was no war of plugging up the hole he had opened. i the child wandered on. And thus **•, the East Wind set loose upon the earth. .' The sealskin boots that the hunter's' I wife had made him stood the child in such pood stead that before long he .found , himself at the very southernmost part of .-. . ■, tho sky wall, where there was » hole precisely like the one he had uncovered atthe east. It had been so exciting to '. ' «<> the cast wind blow through " that », decided to try the experiment once mote. This time-it was less fearsome, for though the wind blew fast, if. was rather soft and warm, and brought gentle, rain an* sprav with it, completely wetting the child's eager face, so that "he laughed and ; turned away and ran on toward the west. And ever since that time the warm Soath Wind has blown upon tho earth. Setting the winds free was a mtich.mors. interesting pastime than the child had dreamed of. so he found himself in a hurryto uncover the western wall. But when he got there he hesitated a little because the sound that he heard was far louder and more terrifying than any you may have heard on a'stormy winter eveninw m the country, when vou were almost atraid to go to bed. And, indeed, when he did lot the wind through it bore with it * heavy rainstorm, with thick, slinging sleet" and he well knew, as he i.:» swiftly away, that the fishermen would never thank him for having loosed «!* n . the ■ ; earth, for ail time, the storm winds of the West! - ~ . I cannot explain why, after this , he fought the northern wall. But if you »f« been in his place you might have done the same. And, after all, the world would have been much less interesting if be W not, for the north wind, when it tore through the wall, was icy cold, freezing stiff everything that it touched and bringing with* it mighty drifts of snow. '■*»• child stood well out of the way of ih>» wind, but shivered at the mere sight of it. and drawing his sealskin cap m-re closer* about his ears, he *et about finding »F B that, should lead him back to the village where the hunter lived. And ever> *:n«.-' that time the earth has stiffened »n<l grown icv at the touch of the North W»««j % This excursion had taken a good deal « - time, so when the child .stood atom »<% tho hunter's threshold ho found the hunter* ; wife weeping and mourning him for *' A [ She had not realised that i, child eommi to life in such a way would have roagttt power, but she was as* delighted to ;--** him attain as though ho were an nt(-i i child "and her own. So after confessing to her his exploits in the '•■ i «1™ , ; of the earth he stayed always < «< her ■ roof, and her days after this were ion* and happy. .■■■■ ■-■■ ":- •,:,■. -.', .-■■■■ ■•■■■ .- .■-■:. '■■■"■■' '. '■- !".■-'.,■■■ : '.■' r -;■ .■!>'■■"!!l■'■s!'':'■/,■ -V.v ■; :i -/'-'-:.";^^^:i!a^(fei3!M'E3^ftpf!Sß I