“So in a little while all the four-leggeds and all the wings of the air and all of those that crawl on their bellies in the grass were going to see the baby without a mother. They were coming from all sides, galloping and crawling and flying; and when they came to where the baby was lying in the soft, thick grass, they made a big hoop all around it. Everybody was there except the finned people. They had to stay in the streams and lakes, and that is why they did not come to see. “Then the old-woman magpie stood beside the baby in the center of the hoop of peoples, and she made her voice big and sent it forth like this: ‘Wings of the air, four-leggeds, and belly-crawlers, you have come to see the baby without a mother. Here you see him lying all alone with no one to care for him. Will you let him die here on the prairie?’ “Then she pointed her long nose at the bison bull, and said, ‘You are the biggest and strongest of all the four-leggeds. Will you not take care of this baby?’ And the bison bull said in his voice like thunder, ‘My wives and I would like to take this baby, but we have no tepee at all to live in, and the baby would die.’ “Then the magpie-woman pointed her sharp nose at the bull elk, and said, ‘Elk, you are almost as strong as the bison, and you could carry the baby in your antlers. Will you take care of him?’ And the elk said, ‘Even though I am stronger than the bison, I cannot take care of this baby, for I have no tepee but the sky.’ “So the magpie-woman spoke to the grizzly bear, and said, ‘Bear, you are very big and very strong, and you have a warm den to sleep in. _You_ could look after this baby that has no mother.’ And the bear said, ‘I wish I could take this baby, for he is much like a cub, except that he has no fur. Maybe he would get some fur afterwhile. But I cannot take this baby. You all know I am a very hard sleeper, and when I go to sleep I do not ’waken for a long while. Who would feed this baby while I was sleeping? He would starve before I could ’waken; or maybe I would roll over on him in my sleep.’ “Then the old-woman magpie spoke to each of the other four-leggeds in turn, the bigger ones before the smaller ones. They all felt sorry for the baby without a mother, but not one of them could take him. The wolf and his wife had too many children already. The jack rabbit and his wife also had all the children they could feed. The gopher’s home was too small, and the mouse’s was even smaller.