26 FOREST FANCIES 



sels, found them suddenly half -full of thick 

 sirup. He put his finger into the sirup, then 

 popped it into his mouth, and found it 

 sweet. 



''Mj grandmother," he said, ^Hhis is all very 

 good, yet it will not do to have the trees give 

 sirup in this way. The people will not have 

 any work to do if they make sugar so easily ; 

 they must cut wood and boil the sirup several 

 nights, to keep them busy, that they may not 

 form bad habits. I will change all this." 



Then Manabush climbed to the very top of 

 a maple tree and threw water all over it like 

 rain, to dissolve the sugar and let it flow from 

 the tree in the form of sap. 



So Farmer Brier had Manabush to thank 

 when he cut much wood in his grove, ready to 

 sugar off. 



He now brought an auger and bored a hole in 

 a maple tree, and when he had driven in a 

 sumach spout and hung a pail for the dripping 

 sap, he bored a hole on the other side of the 

 tree, drove in another spout, and hung another 

 pail. So he went from tree to tree. 



