How the Ducks Got Their Fine Feathers
Another night had come, and I made my way
toward War Eagle's lodge. In the bright moonlight the dead leaves
of the quaking aspen fluttered down whenever the wind shook the
trees; and over the village great flocks of ducks and geese and
swan passed in a neverending procession, calling to each other
in strange tones as they sped away toward the waters that never
In the lodge War Eagle waited for his grandchildren,
and when they had entered, happily, he laid aside his pipe and
"The Duck-people are travelling tonight just
as they have done since the world was young. They are going
away from winter because they cannot make a living when ice covers
have seen the Duck-people often. You have noticed that
they wear fine clothes but you do not know how they got them;
so I will tell you tonight.
"It was in the fall when leaves are yellow
that it happened, and long, long ago. The Duck-people
had gathered to go away, just as they are doing now. The buckdeer
was coming down from the high ridges to visit friends in the
lowlands along the streams as they have always done. On a lake
OLD-man saw the Duck-people getting ready to go away, and at
that time they all looked alike; that is, they all wore the same
colored clothes. The loons and the geese and the ducks were there
and playing in the sunlight. The loons were laughing loudly
and the diving was fast and merry to see. On the hill where OLD-man
stood there was a great deal of moss, and he began to
tear it from the ground and roll it into a great ball. When he
had gathered all he needed he shouldered the load and started
for the shore of the lake, staggering under the weight of the
great burden. Finally the Duck-people saw him coming with his
load of moss and began to swim away from the shore.
"'Wait, my brothers!'
he called, 'I have a big load here, and I am going to give
you people a dance. Come and help me get things ready. '
you do it,' said the gray goose to the others; 'that's OLD-man
and he is up to something bad, I am sure.'
"So the loon called
to OLD-man and said they wouldn't help him at all.
the water OLD-man dropped his ball of moss and then cut twenty
long poles. With the poles he built a lodge which he covered
with the moss, leaving a doorway facing the lake. Inside the
lodge he built a fire and when it grew bright he cried:
brothers, why should you treat me this way when I am
here to give you a big dance? Come into the lodge,' but they
wouldn't do that. Finally OLD-man began to sing a song in the
duck-talk, and keep time with his drum. The Duck-people liked
the music, and swam a little nearer to the shore, watching for
trouble all the time, but OLD-man sang so sweetly that pretty
soon they waddled up to the lodge and went inside. The loon stopped
near the door, for he believed that what the gray
goose had said was true, and that OLD-man was up to some mischief.
The gray goose, too, was careful to stay close to the door but
the ducks reached all about the fire.
"'Well,' said Old-man,
'this is going to be the Blind dance, but you will have to
be painted first.
"'Brother Mallard, name
the colors - tell how you want me to paint you.' "'Well,'
replied the mallard drake, 'paint my head green,
and put a white circle around my throat, like a necklace.
Besides that, I want a brown breast and yellow legs:
but I don't want my wife painted that way.'
painted him just as he asked, and his wife, too.
Then the teal and the wood duck (it took a long time to
paint the wood duck) and the spoonbill and the blue
bill and the canvasback and the goose and the brant and the loon
- all chose their paint. OLD-man painted them all just as they
wanted him to, and kept singing all the time. They looked very
pretty in the firelight, for it was night before the painting
said OLD-man, 'as this is the Blind dance, when I
beat upon my drum you must all shut your eyes tight
and circle around the fire as I sing. Every one that
peeks will have sore eyes forever.'
the Duck-people shut their eyes and OLD-man began
to sing: 'Now you come, ducks, now you come--tum-tum,
tum; tum-tum, tum.'
the fire they came with their eyes still shut, and
as fast as they reached OLD-man, the rascal would
seize them, and wring their necks. Ho! things were
going fine for OLD-man, but the loon peeked a little,
and saw what was going on; several others heard the
fluttering and opened their eyes, too. The loon cried
out, 'He's killing us - let us fly,' and they did
that. There was a great squawking and quacking and
fluttering as the Duck-people escaped from the lodge.
Ho! but OLD-man was angry, and he kicked the back
of the loon-duck, and that is why his feet turn from
his body when he walks or tries to stand. Yes, that
is why he is a cripple today.
"And all of the Duck-people
that peeked that night at the dance still have sore
eyes - just as OLD-man told them they would have.
Of course they hurt and smart no more but they stay
red to pay for peeking, and always will. You have
seen the mallard and the rest of the Duck-people.
You can see that the colors OLD-man painted so long
ago are still bright and handsome, and they will
stay that way forever and forever. Ho!"