Bluebird 



Bluebirds and Robins 



AN INDIAN LEGEND. 



Wenonah, the motherless daughter of an Indian chief, 

 loved nothing so well as the birds and beasts of the field. 

 She was happy only when she was with them. Even the 

 fiercest of the animals often carried their young to her that 

 she might caress them. 



Of all the birds she loved the robins and the bluebirds 

 best, and, when, one spring morning just at day-dawn, 

 she received a message to join her mother in the spirit-land, 

 she asked these birds to accompany her part of the way 

 that her departure might be unseen. 



Before they set out, she took some moist clay and rubbed 

 it on the breasts of the birds as a sign that they should re- 

 turn in safety to the earth. After a long flight the rays of 

 the rising sun shone upon their breasts and turned them to 

 a brick-red color. When Wenonah saw this she told them 

 that they must turn back. The tender-hearted bluebirds 

 began to weep. To comfort them, Wenonah stroked their 

 backs, and their feathers, with the touch of her fingers, 

 became as blue as the sky above them. The birds all begged 

 to go on with her to her journey's end, but she knew that 

 this would be impossible. So she bade them farewell and 

 requested them to wear forever on their breasts, in remem- 

 brance of her, the red color which had come upon them 

 while doing her this last loving service. 



To this day both the robins and the bluebirds have 

 kept their red breasts, and the bluebirds still have their 

 blue backs and sad note, and if the young do at first wear 

 the old-time spots they quickly moult away. 



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