Sparrow's Search For The Rain

: Canadian Fairy Tales

Long ago, in a village near the sea, many Indian people were living.

Among them was a very nice old warrior who had been given great power

at his birth, and who, therefore, could do many wonderful deeds. There

was nothing that was beyond his understanding, for he knew all things.

His wife had long been dead, but he had one daughter. She was very

beautiful and gentle, and she was as nearly perfect as any woman could

be. She took no interest in frivolous things and she lived a very

quiet life, but all the people liked her well, and she was always

welcome wherever she went. Her old father was very proud of her, and

he said boastfully, "She has inherited much of my wisdom, and some day

she will marry a great man." But the girl on her part had little

thought of marriage or of men, for she said they had small minds, and

she would rather live alone than listen always to their boastfulness

and their foolish chatter.



Soon the daughter's fame spread far and wide through the sea-coast

villages, and many suitors came seeking for her hand. But her father

said, "I have nothing to say. She will make her own choice. She must

please herself. For to-day children please themselves and not their

parents." And she said, "I will marry only some one who can amuse me

and interest me and keep me company. I have scant liking for dull

people." One day Loon came to see her. He was very good looking

although he was somewhat tall and skinny, and his neck was a bit

longer and more scrawny than ordinary, but he wore good clothes and he

had great skill as a fisherman. He came because he thought he was very

handsome, and he believed that his good looks would win the maiden.

But she had no love for Loon, for he had not a word to say. When she

talked to him he only stared, and at last he burst out into loud and

foolish laughter. Then the maiden said, "You have a small mind like

the others," and in disgust she withdrew from his presence.



Then Fox came in an effort to win the maiden as his wife. And for a

whole day he cut capers, and chased his tail round and round in a

circle, trying to amuse the serious girl. But he did not succeed very

well, and like Loon he departed in despair. And many others came, but

they met the same fate, and at last the girl decided to see no more of

them, but to live alone with her father. The young men of the village

were all very angry because the girl had spoken of them all so

scornfully, and often they talked among themselves of her proud and

haughty air. "She calls us Scattered-Brains," said one. "She says we

have small minds," said another. "She must pay for these insults,"

said a third. So they vowed that they would somehow break her proud

spirit and bring her sorrow because of her ideas and her decision to

stay single all her life. One of the great men of the village was

Whirlwind. He could make himself invisible, and he was often guilty of

many wicked pranks. So the young men went to him and asked his aid in

humbling the pride of the haughty maiden. As they were talking to him,

they saw the girl approaching not far off. And quite unawares,

Whirlwind rushed towards her and knocked her down in the mud and tore

her hat from her head and swept it into the sea. The young men looked

on at her plight and they all laughed loudly, and the girl was very

much ashamed. She went back home and told her father what had

happened, and showed him her soiled clothes and her blown hair falling

about her face. Her father was very angry, and he said, "Whirlwind

must pay for this. He shall be banished at once."



Then her father went to the Chief and made complaint against

Whirlwind, and the Chief decreed that Whirlwind must leave the village

forthwith. He did not consider very carefully what the result of this

decree might be, and he acted hastily and without thought, for he

feared to differ from the wise man. So Whirlwind prepared to leave the

place. Now his best friend was Rain. Rain had been born without eyes.

He was black blind, and Whirlwind always had to lead him along

wherever he wished to go. So Rain said, "If you are leaving the

village, I want to leave it too, for I cannot live here without you. I

will be helpless if I have no one to lead me." So the two set out

together, Whirlwind leading old Rain along by his side. Where they

went no man knew, for they had told nobody of their destination. They

were gone for many months before the people missed them very much.

Then their absence began to be felt in all the land, for there was no

wind and there was no rain.



At last the Chief summoned a council, and the decree of banishment

against Whirlwind was revoked. The people decided to send messengers

to the two wandering ones to tell them what had happened and to bring

them back. So they first sent Fox out on the quest. Fox went through

the land for many weeks, running as fast as he could over many roads,

in and out among marshy lake shores and over high wooded mountains. He

searched every cave and crevice, but he had no success. Not a leaf or

a blade of grass was stirring, and the country was all parched and the

grass was withered brown and the streams were all getting dry. At

last, after a fruitless search, he came home and shamefully confessed

that his quest had failed.



Then the people called on Bear to continue the search. And Bear went

lumbering over the earth, sniffing the air, and turning over logs and

great rocks with his powerful shoulders, and venturing into deep

caverns. And he made many inquiries, and he asked the Mountain Ash,

"Where is Whirlwind?" But Mountain Ash said, "I do not know. I have

not seen him for many months." And he asked the Red Fir, and the Pine,

and the Aspen, which always sees Whirlwind first, but they were all

ignorant of his whereabouts. So Bear came home and said, "Not a trace

of either of them have I found."



The Chief was very angry because of the failure of Fox and Bear, but

the wise man said, "The animals are useless in a quest like this. Let

us try the birds. They often succeed where the animals fail." And the

Chief agreed, for the land was in great distress. Many fishing-boats

lay silent on the sea near the coast unable to move because Whirlwind

was away, and the wells and streams were all dry because Rain was

absent, and the grass and the flowers were withering to decay. So they

called the birds to their aid. The great Crane searched in the

shallows and among the reeds, thrusting his long neck into deep

places, and Crow looked among the hills, and Kingfisher flew far out

to sea, but they all came back and said, "We, too, have failed. The

wandering ones are nowhere on the land or upon the sea." Then little

Sparrow took up the search. Before he set out, he plucked from his

breast a small down-feather and fastened it to a stick no bigger than

a wisp of hay. He held the stick in his bill and flew off. For many

days he went towards the south-land, all the time watching the feather

hanging to the stick in his bill. But it hung there motionless. One

day, after he had travelled a great distance, he saw the down-feather

moving very gently, and he knew that Whirlwind must be not far away.

He went in the direction from which the feather was blowing. Soon he

saw beneath him soft green grass and wonderful flowers of varied

colours, and trees with green leaves and many rippling streams of

running water. And he said to himself, "At last I have found the

wanderers." He followed a little stream for some distance until it

ended in a cave in the hills. In front of the cave many flowers were

blooming and the grass was soft and green, and the tall grasses were

nodding their heads very gently. He knew that those he was seeking

were inside, and he entered the cave very quietly. Just beyond the

door a fire was smouldering and near it lay Rain and Whirlwind both

fast asleep. Sparrow tried to wake them with his bill and his cries,

but they were sleeping too soundly. Then he took a coal from the fire

and put it on Rain's back, but it spluttered and fizzled and soon went

out. He tried another, but the same thing happened. Then he took a

third coal, and this time Rain woke up. He was much surprised to hear

a stranger in the cave, but he could not see him because he was blind.

So he woke up Whirlwind to protect him.



Then Sparrow told them of the great trouble in the north country and

of the great hardship and sorrow their absence had brought to the

people, and of how sadly they had been missed and of the decision of

the council to call them back. And Whirlwind said, "We shall return

to-morrow if we are so badly needed. You may go back and tell your

people that we are coming. We shall be there the day after you

arrive." So Sparrow, feeling very proud of his success, flew back

home. But when he arrived after many days, he went first to his own

people to tell them the good news. And the Sparrow-people all gathered

together and held a feast of celebration, and they twittered and

danced and made a great hub-bub in their excitement because Rain was

coming back on the morrow. Then Sparrow went to the Chief and said,

"Oh, Chief, I have found Rain and Whirlwind and to-morrow they will be

here," and he told the story of his flight to the south and of his

discovery. And the Chief said, "Because of your success, you will

never be hunted for game or killed for food."



The next morning the two travellers who had been so long away came

back to the land. Whirlwind came first and great clouds of dust

foretold his coming, and the sea dashed high against the rocks, and

the trees shrieked and tossed their heads, all dancing gaily because

of his return. When Whirlwind had passed by, Rain came along following

close, because of his blindness. For several days Rain stayed with

the people and the flowers bloomed and the grass was green again and

the wells and streams were no longer dry. And since that time Wind and

Rain have never long been absent from the Atlantic Coast. And to this

day the Sparrow-people know when Rain is coming, and to signal his

approach they gather together and twitter and hop along and make a

great hub-bub, just as they did when their ancestor found him by means

of his down-feather in the olden days. But the Indians have been true

to the Chief's promise, and they will not hunt Sparrows for game nor

kill them for food or for their feathers. For they remember that of

all the birds it was old Sparrow who long ago searched successfully

for the Rain.