A COUNCIL OF THE ANIMALS. 359 
them wanted to make the man like himself. They might just as well take 
one of their own cubs and call ita man. As for himself he knew he was 
not the best animal that could be made, and he could make one better than 
himself or any other. Of ceurse, the man would have to be like himself 
in having four legs, five fingers, etc. It was well enough to have a voice 
like the lion, only the man need not roar all the while with it. The grizzly 
bear also had some good points, one of which was the shape of his feet, 
which enabled him easily to stand erect; and he was in favor, therefore, of 
making the man’s feet nearly like the grizzly’s. The grizzly was also happy 
in having no tail, for he had learned from his own experience that that 
organ was only a harbor for fleas. The buck’s eyes and ears were pretty 
good, perhaps better than his own. Then there was the fish, which was 
naked, and which he envied, because hair was a burden most of the year; 
and he, therefore, favored a man without hair. His claws ought to be as 
long as the eagle’s, so that he could hold things in them. But after all, 
with all their separate gifts, they must acknowledge that there was no ani- 
mal besides himself that had wit enough to supply the man; and he should 
be obliged, therefore, to make him like himself in that respect also—cunning 
and crafty. 
After the coyote had made an end, the beaver said he never heard such 
twaddle and nonsense in his life. No tail, indeed! He would make aman 
with a broad, flat tail, so he could haul mud and sand on it. 
The owl] said all the animals seemed to have lost their senses; none of 
them wanted to give the man wings. For himself, he could not see of what 
use anything on earth could be to himself without wings. 
The mole said it was perfect folly to talk about wings, for with them 
the man would be certain to bump his head against the sky. Besides that, 
if he had eyes and wings both, he would get his eyes burnt out by flying 
too near the sun; but without eyes he could burrow in the cool, soft earth, 
and be happy. 
Last of all, the little mouse squeaked out that he would make a man 
with eyes, of course, so he could see what he was eating; and as for bur- 
rowing in the ground, that was absurd. 
So the animals disagreed among themselves, and the council broke up 
