46 THE DRAMA OF THE FORESTS 



The Indian, like the white man, has many superstitions, 

 some ugly, and some beautiful, and of the latter class, I quote 

 one: he believes that the spirits of still-born children or very 

 young infants take flight, when they die, and enter the bodies 

 of birds. A delightful thought — especially for the mother. 

 For as Kingsley says of St. Francis, "perfectly sure that he 

 himself was a spiritual being, he thought it at least possible that 

 birds might be spiritual beings likewise, incarnate like himself 

 in mortal flesh; and saw no degradation to the dignity of human 

 nature in claiming kindred lovingly, with creatures so beautiful, 

 so wonderful, who praised God in the forest, even as angels did 

 in heaven." 



The forest Indian, however, is not content with merely 

 stating that the spirits of infants enter birds; but he goes on to 

 say that while the spirits of Indian children always enter the 

 beings of the finest singers and the most beautiful of all the 

 birds, the spirits of the children of white people enter the bodies 

 of stupid, ugly birds that just squawk around, and are neither 

 interesting to look at nor pleasant to listen to, but are quarrel- 

 some, and thievish. When I asked Oo-koo-hoo to name a few 

 birds into which the spirits of white children entered, he men- 

 tioned, among others, the woodpecker — which the Indians 

 consider to have, proportionately, the longest and sharpest 

 tongue of all birds. That reminds me of the reply I received 

 from one of the characters in this book, when I wrote him, 

 among others, requesting that he grant me permission to make 

 use of his name, in order to add authority to my text. Like 

 others, he begged me to refrain from quoting his name, as he 

 was afraid that the information he had given me might be the 

 cause of the Hudson's Bay Company stopping his pension. I 

 had suggested that he refer the matter to his wife as she, too, 

 figures in this story, and the following is part of his reply: 

 "This being an affair between you and I — I have not consulted 

 my wife. For as you know, the human female tongue is very 



