THE STORY OF THE PET CRANE
There was once upon a time a man who did not
care to live with his tribe in a crowded village, but
preferred a secluded spot in the deep forest, there
to live with his wife and family of five children. The
oldest of the children (a boy) was twelve years of
age, and being the son of a distinguished hunter, soon
took to roaming through the forest in search of small
game.
One day during his ramblings, he discovered a
crane's nest, with only one young crane occupying
it. No doubt some fox or traveling weasel had eaten
the rest of the crane's brothers and sisters. The boy
said to himself, "I will take this poor little crane
home and will raise him as a pet for our baby. If
I leave him here some hungry fox will be sure to
eat the poor little fellow." He carried the young
crane home and it grew to be nearly as tall as the
boy's five-year-old sister.
Being brought up in a human circle, it soon grew
to understand all the family said. Although it could
not speak it took part in all the games played by the
children. The father of the family was, as I have
before mentioned, a great hunter. He always had a
plentiful supply of deer, antelope, buffalo and beaver
meats on hand, but there came a change. The game
migrated to some other locality, where no deadly shot
like "Kutesan" (Never Miss) would be around to
annihilate their fast decreasing droves. The hunter
started out early one morning in hopes of discovering
some of the game which had disappeared as suddenly
as though the earth had swallowed them. The
hunter traveled the whole day, all to no purpose. It
was late in the evening when he staggered into camp.
He was nearly dead with fatigue. Hastily swallowing
a cup of cherry bark tea (the only article of food they
had in store), he at once retired and was soon in the
sweet land of dreams. The children soon joined their
father and the poor woman sat thinking how they
could save their dear children from starvation. Suddenly
out upon the night air rang the cry of a crane.
Instantly the pet crane awoke, stepped outside and
answered the call. The crane which had given the
cry was the father of the pet crane, and learning
from Mr. Fox of the starving condition of his son
and his friends, he flew to the hunting grounds of the
tribe, and as there had been a good kill that day, the
crane found no trouble in securing a great quantity
of fat. This he carried to the tent of the hunter and,
hovering over the tent he suddenly let the fat drop
to the earth and at once the pet crane picked it up
and carried it to the woman.
Wishing to surprise the family on their awakening
in the morning she got a good stick for a light,
heaped up sticks on the dying embers, and started
up a rousing fire and proceeded to melt or try out
the fat, as melted fat is considered a favorite dish.
Although busily occupied she kept her ears open for
any strange noises coming out of the forest, there
being usually some enemies lurking around. She held
her pan in such a position that after the fat started
to melt and quite a lot of the hot grease accumulated
in the pan, she could plainly see the tent door reflected
in the hot grease, as though she used a mirror.
When she had nearly completed her task, she
heard a noise as though some footsteps were approaching
Instantly her heart began to beat a tattoo on her
ribs, but she sat perfectly quiet, calling all her self-control into play to keep from making an outcry.
This smart woman had already studied out a way in
which to best this enemy, in case an enemy it should
be. The footsteps, or noise, continued to advance,
until at last the woman saw reflected in the pan of
grease a hand slowly protruding through the tent
door, and the finger pointed, as if counting, to the
sleeping father, then to each one of the sleeping
children, then to her who sat at the fire. Little did
Mr. Enemy suppose that the brave woman who sat
so composed at her fire, was watching every motion
he was making. The hand slowly withdrew, and as
the footsteps slowly died away, there rang out on the
still night air the deep fierce howl of the prairie wolf.
(This imitation of a prairie wolf is the signal to the
war party that an enemy has been discovered by the
scout whom they have sent out in advance). At once
she aroused her husband and children. Annoyed at
being so unceremoniously disturbed from his deep
sleep, the husband crossly asked why she had awakened
him so roughly. The wife explained what she
had seen and heard. She at once pinned an old
blanket around the crane's shoulders and an old piece
of buffalo hide on his head for a hat or head covering.
Heaping piles of wood onto the fire she instructed
him to run around outside of the hut until
the family returned, as they were going to see if they
could find some roots to mix up with the fat. Hurriedly
she tied her blanket around her middle, put
her baby inside of it, and then grabbed her three year
old son and packed him on her back. The father
also hurriedly packed the next two and the older
boy took care of himself.
Immediately upon leaving the tent they took three
different directions, to meet again on the high hill
west of their home. The reflection from the fire in
the tent disclosed to them the poor pet crane running
around the tent. It looked exactly like a child
with its blanket and hat on.
Suddenly there rang out a score of shots and war
whoops of the dreaded Crow Indians. Finding the
tent deserted they disgustedly filed off and were swallowed
up in the darkness of the deep forest.
The next morning the family returned to see what
had become of their pet crane. There, riddled to
pieces, lay the poor bird who had given up his life to
save his dear friends.
