Fairy tales -- Canada; Folklore -- Canada; Indians of North America -- Canada -- Folklore
But one day Wolf-Wind, true to his promise, came again in a rage to
find them. He came into the land killing all he met in his path. But
he could not catch the children, for the trees with their thick leaves
kept him away. They heard him howling in the forest far distant. For
many days in the late summer he tried to find them but their home was
close to the trees, and the great branches spread over them and the
thick leaves saved them, and only the sun from the south, coming from
the Summer-Flower country, could look in upon them. Try as he could
with all his might old Wolf-Wind could not harm them although he knew
that they were there; and they were always safe while they lived in
the Willow-Willow Land.
Wolf-Wind was more angry than ever because of his failure, for he
liked to feed on his little children, and rage knew no bounds. He
swore that he would have vengeance on the trees. So he came back again
and he brought with him to aid him another giant from the north
country who had with him a strange and powerful charm, the Charm of
the Frost. And the two giants tried to kill the trees that had saved
the little children. But over many of the trees they had no power, for
when they came, the trees only laughed and merely swayed and creaked
and said, "You cannot harm us; we are strong, for we came at first
from the Night-Night Land in the far north country, and over us the
Charm of the Frost has no power." These were the Spruce and the Fir,
the Hemlock and the Pine and the Cedar. But on the other trees
Wolf-Wind had vengeance as he had vowed. One night when the harvest
moon was shining in the sky he came without warning, and with the help
of the giant bearing the Charm of the Frost he killed all the leaves
that had kept him from the children, and threw them to the ground. One
after one the leaves came off from the Beech and the Birch, the Oak
and the Maple, the Alder and the Willow. Some fell quickly, some
fluttered slowly down, and some took a long time in dying. But at last
the trees stood bare and cold against the sky and there was stillness
and sadness in the forest. And Wolf-Wind laughed and played in silence
through the leafless branches with the giant from Night-Night Land.
And he said, "Now I have overcome the leaves that kept me away, and
now when I please I can kill the children." But the children only
moved closer to the strong and sturdy trees that had come at first
from the far north country and over which the Charm of the Frost had
no power, and Wolf-Wind could not reach them and they were still for
ever safe from the giants.
The children were very sad when they saw what Wolf-Wind had done to
their friends and protectors, the trees. Summer had gone back to the
Southland following as she always did the Rainbow Road to her home in
the Wilderness of Flowers. It was lonely now in the forest and silent;
there was not a whisper in the trees; there were no leaves, for it
was autumn and Wolf-Wind had killed them all.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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