74 STORIES OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS 



" Still through it all I am your Water Brother ; 

 I am here, there, everywhere, in the rain clouds, 

 in the rainbow that follows them; I am the sea 

 itself, holding the earth in my embrace ; I am 

 in the tree blood and iri your own blood, flowing, 

 always flowing, and I am the emblem of the life 

 that shall be." 



There was not a sound for a moment ; the river 

 and Tommy-Anne each waited for the other to 

 speak, then the river broke the stillness. 



" I cannot keep quiet long when I come in this 

 shape," he laughed; "for here, I am only a bab- 

 bling bit of a Water Brother, and though I never 

 forget my origin and history, my work now is with 

 small things. Here, I am a very tattler and a 

 tell-tale. I am a bearer of trivial news, carrying 

 messages from my birthplace, all the way down 

 to the last water gate, where the salt enters my 

 veins. 



" So I wander along, giving drink to the Fox 

 and Coon, a bath to the Hawk and Hummingbird 

 alike ; turning the wheel for the Miller, making 

 pools for the big fish and sweeping the little ones 

 into my shallows where their enemies may not 

 follow. Everything brings me news, which I re- 

 peat to the Wind if there is no one else near to 



