Be Brave, Be Silent and Obey;
Be Clean, Be Strong, Protect Wild Life alway;
Speak True, Be Reverent, Play Fair as you Strive!
Be Kind; Be Helpful; Glad you are alive.
And the final painting is as in the drawing. Of course the names are not
written on the real thing though the Woodcraft scout should know them.
TALE 106
The Woodcraft Kalendar
[Illustration: The Woodcraft Kalendar]
The Woodcraft Kalendar is founded on the Indian way of noting the
months. Our own ancestors called them "Moons" much as the Indians did.
Our word "month" was once written "moneth" or "monath" which meant a
"moon or moon's time of lasting." The usual names for the moons to-day
are Latin, but we find we get closer to nature if we call them by
their Woodcraft names, and use the little symbols of the Woodcraft
Kalendar.
TALE 107
Climbing the Mountain
Afar in our dry southwestern country is an Indian village; and in the
offing is a high mountain, towering up out of the desert. It is
considered a great feat to climb this mountain, so that all the boys of
the village were eager to attempt it. One day the Chief said: "Now boys,
you you may all go to-day and try to climb the mountain. Start right
after breakfast, and go each of you as far as you can. Then when you are
tired, come back: but let each one bring me a twig from the place where
he turned."
Away they went full of hope, each feeling that he surely could reach the
top.
But soon a fat, pudgy boy came slowly back, and in his hand he held out
to the Chief a leaf of cactus.
The Chief smiled and said: "My boy, you did not reach the foot of the
mountain; you did not even get across the desert."
Later a second boy returned. He carried a twig of sagebrush.
"Well," said the Chief. "You reached the mountain's foot but you did not
climb upward."
The next had a cottonwood spray.
"Good," said the Chief; "You got up as far as the springs."
Another came later with some buckthorn. The Chief smiled when he saw it
and spoke thus: "You were climbing; you were up to the first slide
rock."
Later in the afternoon, one arrived with a cedar spray, and the old man
said: "Well done. You went half way up."
An hour afterward, one came with a switch of pine. To him the Chief
said: "Good; you went to the third belt; you made three quarters of the
climb."
The sun was low when the last returned. He was a tall, splendid boy of
noble character. His hand was empty as he approached the Chief, but his
countenance was radiant, and he said: "My father, there were no trees
where I got to; I saw no twigs, but I saw the Shining Sea."
Now the old man's face glowed too, as he said aloud and almost sang: "I
knew it. When I looked on your face, I knew it. You have been to the
top. You need no twigs for token. It is written in your eyes, and rings
in your voice. My boy, you have felt the uplift, you have seen the glory
of the mountain."
* * * * *
Oh Ye Woodcrafters, keep this in mind, then: the badges that we offer
for attainment, are not "_prizes_"; prizes are things of value taken by
violence from their rightful owners. These are merely tokens of what you
have done, of where you have been. They are mere twigs from the trail to
show how far you got in climbing the mountain.
[Illustration: THE OMAHA TRIBAL PRAYER.
Harmonized by PROF. J. C. FILLMORE.]
Wa-kon-da dhe-dhu Wa-pa dhin a-ton-he.
Wa-kon-da dhe-dhu Wa-pa-dhin a-ton-he.
(By permission from Alice C. Fletcher's "Indian Story and Song.")
Translation:
Father a needy one stands before thee;
I that sing am he.
This old Indian prayer is sung by the Council standing in a great circle
about the fire with feet close together, hands and faces uplifted, for
it is addressed to the Great Spirit. At the final bars the hands and
faces are lowered to the fire.
Books by Ernest Thompson Seton
WILD ANIMALS I HAVE KNOWN, 1898
The stories of Lobo, Silverspot, Molly Cottontail, Bingo, Vixen, The
Pacing Mustang, Wully and Redruff. (Scribners.)
THE TRAIL OF THE SANDHILL STAG, 1899
The story of a long hunt that ended without a tragedy. (Scribners.)
BIOGRAPHY OF A GRIZZLY, 1900
The story of old Wahb from cubhood to the scene in Death Gulch. (The
Century Company.)
LOBO, RAG AND VIXEN, 1900
This is a school edition of "Wild Animals I Have Known," with some of
the stories and many of the pictures left out. (Scribners.)
THE WILD ANIMAL PLAY, 1900
A musical play in which the parts of Lobo, Wahb, Vixen, etc., are taken
by boys and girls. Out of print. (Doubleday, Page & Co.)
THE LIVES OF THE HUNTED, 1901
The stories of Krag, Randy, Johnny Bear, The Mother Teal, Chink, The
Kangaroo Rat, and Tito, the Coyote. (Scribners.)
PICTURES OF WILD ANIMALS, 1901
Twelve large pictures for framing (no text), viz., Krag, Lobo, Tito Cub,
Kangaroo Rat, Grizzly, Buffalo, Bear Family, Johnny Bear, Sandhill Stag,
Coon Family, Courtaut the Wolf, Tito and her family. Out of print.
(Scribners.)
KRAG AND JOHNNY BEAR, 1902
This is a school edition of "The Lives of the Hunted" with some of the
stories and many of the pictures left out. (Scribners.)
TWO LITTLE SAVAGES, 1903
A book of adventure and woodcraft and camping out for boys, telling how
to make bows, arrows, moccasins, costumes, teepee, war-bonnet, etc., and
how to make a fire with rubbing sticks, read Indian signs, etc.
(Doubleday, Page & Co.)
MONARCH, THE BIG BEAR OF TALLAC, 1904
The story of a big California grizzly that is living yet. (Scribners.)
ANIMAL HEROES, 1905
The stories of a Slum Cat, a Homing Pigeon, The Wolf That Won, A Lynx, A
Jackrabbit, A Bull-terrier, The Winnipeg Wolf, and a White Reindeer.
(Scribners.)
WOODMYTH AND FABLE, 1905
A collection of fables, woodland verses, and camp stories. (The Century
Company.)
BIRCH-BARK ROLL, 1906
The Manual of the Woodcraft Indians, first edition, 1902. (Doubleday,
Page & Co.)
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, 1907
Showing the Ten Commandments to be fundamental laws of all creation. 78
pages. (Scribners.)
THE BIOGRAPHY OF A SILVER FOX, 1909
or Domino Reynard of Goldur Town, with 100 illustrations by the author.
209 pages.
A companion volume to "Biography of a Grizzly." (The Century Company.)
LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTHERN ANIMALS, 1909
In two sumptuous quarto volumes with 68 maps and 560 drawings by the
author. Pages, 1267.
Said by Roosevelt, Allen, Chapman, and Hornaday to be the best work ever
written on the Life Histories of American Animals. (Scribners.)
BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA, 1910
A handbook of Woodcraft, Scouting, and Life Craft Including the
Birch-Bark Roll. 192 pages. Out of print. (Doubleday, Page & Co.) The
year-book of the Boy Scouts of America is now handled by the American
News Co.
ROLF IN THE WOODS, 1911
The Adventures of a Boy Scout with Indian Quonab and little dog Skookum.
Over 200 drawings by the author. (Doubleday, Page & Co.)
THE ARCTIC PRAIRIES, 1911
A canoe journey of 2,000 miles in search of the Caribou. 415 pages with
many maps, photographs, and illustrations by the author. (Scribners.)
THE BOOK OF WOODCRAFT AND INDIAN LORE, 1912
with over 500 drawings by the author. (Doubleday, Page & Co.)
THE FORESTER'S MANUAL, 1912
One hundred of the best-known forest trees of eastern North America,
with 100 maps and more than 200 drawings. Out of print. (Doubleday, Page
& Co.)
WILD ANIMALS AT HOME, 1913
with over 150 sketches and photographs by the author. 226 pages. In this
Mr. Seton gives for the first time his personal adventures in studying
wild animals. (Doubleday, Page & Co.)
MANUAL OF THE WOODCRAFT INDIANS, 1915
The fourteenth Birch-Bark Roll. 100 pages. (Doubleday, Page & Co.)
WILD ANIMAL WAYS, 1916
More animal stories introducing a host of new four-footed friends, with
200 illustrations by the author. (Doubleday, Page & Co.)
WOODCRAFT MANUAL FOR BOYS, 1917
A handbook of Woodcraft and Outdoor life for members of the Woodcraft
League. 440 pp. 700 ills. (Doubleday, Page & Co.)
WOODCRAFT MANUAL FOR GIRLS, 1917
Like the foregoing but adapted for girls. 424 pp., Illus. (Doubleday,
Page & Co.)
THE PREACHER OF CEDAR MOUNTAIN, 1917
A novel. A tale of the open country. (Doubleday, Page & Co.)
SIGN TALK, 1918
A Universal Signal Code, Without Apparatus, for use in the Army, the
Navy, Camping, Hunting, Daily Life and among the Plains Indians.
(Doubleday, Page & Co.)
WOODLAND TALES, 1921
Delightful children's stories, of fable and fairy-tale flavour, with the
wild things of the woodland for their heroes. In the heart of each some
nature secret is revealed. (Doubleday, Page & Co.)
BY MRS. ERNEST THOMPSON SETON
(Published by DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO.)
A WOMAN TENDERFOOT, 1901
A book of outdoor adventures and camping for women and girls. How to
dress for it, where to go, and how to profit the most by camp life.
NIMROD'S WIFE, 1907
A companion volume, giving Mrs. Seton's side of the many campfires she
and her husband lighted together in the Rockies from Canada to Mexico.
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
Page 79, "gr dy" changed to "greedy" (as greedy as he)
Page 134, "throught he" changed to "through the" (through the outer)
