(Kinni&mcft 



why the Great Spirit had made it, but he could 

 not remember the account. I inquired among 

 many Indians, feeling that I should at last learn 

 a happy legend concerning it, but in vain. One 

 night, however, by my camp-fire, I dreamed that 

 some Alaska Indians told me this legend : 



Long, long ago, Kinnikinick was a small tree 

 with brown berries and broad leaves which 

 dropped to the ground in autumn. One year a 

 great snow came while the leaves were still on, 

 and all trees were flattened upon the ground by 

 the weight of the clinging snow. All broad-leaved 

 trees except Kinnikinick died. When the snow 

 melted, Kinnikinick was still alive, but pressed 

 out upon the ground, crushed so that it could not 

 rise. It started to grow, however, and spread out 

 its limbs on the surface very like a root growth. 

 The Great Spirit was so pleased with Kinniki- 

 nick's efforts that he decided to let it live on in 

 its new form, and also that he would send it to 

 colonize many places where it had never been. 

 He changed its berries from brown to red, so 

 that the birds could see its fruit and scatter its 

 seeds far and wide. Its leaves were reduced in 



179 



