Out he rushed, and between them they tumbled the tall ghost over and,
sure enough, in one of his big ears they found their little boy.
"Poor little fellow. He was half-starved, and so thin and weak that he
could hardly stand. But they helped him into the wigwam and gave him some
soup, made out of some birds that his father had killed that day.
"The tall ghost was so frightened by the sudden way in which he had been
seized that as soon as he could get up he hurried away, and was never seen
in that part of the country again. Some tribes say he went South, and
there, when he was stealing children and carrying them off in his ears, he
was caught by the angry parents and burned to death on a big wood pile."
"Did the little boy get better?" asked Minnehaha.
"O yes, he did, after a while; but he was a long time in getting over the
fright he had had. It did him good, however, for after that he was never
rude and saucy to his mother and did all he could to help her."
"Did it do the mother any good?" asked Sagastao, who had not been
altogether satisfied with her treatment of the boy.
"Yes, indeed," said Mary; "for after that terrible fright she was never
known to shout out at her boy such words as, 'I hope the ghost will catch
you,' or any other of the unpleasant ones which she sometimes had used when
she was angry with him."
"Thank you, Sakehow," said both the children. "A pretty good story, that."
Then what a jolly romp they had with Jack and Cuffy! The two splendid dogs
were the children's special protectors and companions.
Pages:
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82