Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 January 1914 — The Grateful Heron. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Grateful Heron.

An Indian boy named, Shastas lived In the far Northwest. He was an orphan and lived with his grandmother. He "had inafiy elder brothers and uncles but his grandmother was the only one of the family who took care of him and none- would give him food except the wife of the youngest uncle, who used to carry the hoy things to eaj by stealth. When he was old enough he made a bow for himself and went out hunting birds. With these and the berries that the grandmother picked, and the food which was brought to the hut from time to time by the wife of the youngest uncle, the hoy and the old woman managed to keep from starving, though there was never a great plenty of food in the house. One- ,day, when Shastas was out hunting, he saw a heron sitting on a rock, and the heron had a broken bill. Shastas went up to the heron and asked him why he did' not fish. The heron replied that he could not catch fish with a broken bill, "but," said he, "If some one would only sharpen my bill I would be all right again.” “Oh, I will sharpen your bill If that is all that is the matter,” said the boy. (letting a file, he went to work on the bird’s beak, and soon fixed it up so that it was as good as

ShastaS built several bear traps, new. The heron said never a word until Shastas had finished his job and gone some distance away, then It called after him: “I will help you, grandchild.” Soon after that, the grandmother told the boy how to make big beartraps out of logs, and Shastas went Into the woods and built several. The next morning he went to the nearest one and saw the heron near it. ”1 told you I would help you, grandchild,” said the heron. "I possess magic power and you Will never find ytour beartraps empty.” Sure enough, In the first trap Shastas found a big black bear. He cut the bear up and lugged the meat home. Some of it he cooked and some of It he Bmoked, and Shastas and his grandmother began to live well for the first time.

He Increased the number of beartraps till he Nad ten in all, and every morning the heron would come to the house and cry out: “Good luck, grandchild! There are bears In your traps,” He traded some of his bear meat with people who lived down theriver until he became wealthy. Then he made the house where he lived finer than any of the houses in the nearby village. .The uncles and the older brothers, who lived In the village, knew nothing of this until, one day, the youngest uncle’s wife, fearing that the boy had died from starvation, secretly made a Journey to the house, and found how things had prospered with Shastas. When she went back she spread the news df the boy’s pros-

He went to work on the bird's beak. Perlty, and the rest of the family were ashamed that they had so neglected the boy. “Let us make a visit to Shasta*,” cried they, "and see how much bear meat he fins on hand.” But the boy i mt word Chat only the wife of the youngeat ancle should come to see him. When she came she told him that there was a famine In the village. Game vtk eoaroe and the flab seemed to have deeerted the river. The people ««,