The Sweet Gum's Amber Tears : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 26 THE SWEET GUM'S AMBER TEARS There was no finer looking tree in the forests than the sweet gum in the days before the sweet gum knew what it was to cry. High and straight in the woods it rose. Its leaves...
Why Arrows Have Feathers : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 168 WHY ARROWS HAVE FEATHERS A baby hawk once fell from its nest in a high tree and lay on the ground, too young to fly. The little bird would have soon died from lack of food, or it would have been caught...
Old Woolly Bird's Sacrifice : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 55 OLD WOOLLY BIRD'S SACRIFICE In the forests the big flowers of the magnolia tree are like white stars scattered among the leaves. When warm days of spring come the broad white petals of the flowers unfold...
Old Quanah's Gift : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 114 OLD QUANAH'S GIFT Why did old Quanah, the blanket weaver known among all the Indians of the southwest country, give so much time and care to a blanket which he had not finished after many years of work...
Why Hummingbirds Drink Only Dew : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 91 WHY HUMMINGBIRDS DRINK ONLY DEW Hummingbirds like to build their nests near water. The tiny little fellows like to skim over the surface of rivers and ponds and throw spray on themselves with the tips...
Foreword : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. v FOREWORD The Indian legends in this book have been collected by Mrs. Bruce Reid of Port Arthur, Texas, during forty years of travel over Texas as a naturalist. Mrs. Reid gathered these stories directly...
When The Stars Took Root : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 95 WHEN THE STARS TOOK ROOT White men teach that the moon is a dead, empty world. Yet there was a time, says an Indian legend, when a tribe of Indians lived and hunted there. The chief of that tribe had...
How The North Wind Lost His Hair : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 8 HOW THE NORTH WIND LOST HIS HAIR The howling old north wind is afraid to come to the country around the Gulf of Mexico. Only now and then does this cold fellow dare to come into the south, and when he does...
Indian Symbols : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 236 INDIAN SYMBOLS The Indians used signs or symbols to represent words. There were many of these signs; only a few are shown on the following pages. These are the symbols that the artist used in making...
Why The Skunk Walks Alone : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 177 WHY THE SKUNK WALKS ALONE When the Great Spirit made the first skunk he gave him fur spotted with black and white to help hide him from his enemies. If the skunk stood still in the shadows at night...
When The Rainbow Was Torn : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 152 WHEN THE RAINBOW WAS TORN There are flowers whose petals have in them part of the very colors belonging to the rainbow. These are the cactus flowers, the blooms which burst out like orange, red or yellow...
Why The Irises Hold Hands : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 137 WHY THE IRISES HOLD HANDS There is a pretty blue and purple flower with a heart of gold which blooms in early spring in the swamps and along the streams of the gulf coast. It is called the blue flag...
Maidens Who Broke A Drouth : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 162 MAIDENS WHO BROKE A DROUTH For many days a tribe of Indians had suffered from a drouth that threatened never to end. The grass dried up. Berry bushes turned yellow and died as the hot sun kept burning...
When The Storm God Rides : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 1 WHEN THE STORM GOD RIDES The shores of Texas along the Gulf of Mexico did not always have islands along them. The Indians who lived a long time ago on the coast have left behind them the story of a god...
The Pecan Tree's Best Friend : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 144 THE PECAN TREE'S BEST FRIEND In almost every pecan grove in this part of the country you will find the little orchard oriole and his mate living and raising their families in the spring. Where you find...
Title Page And Front Matter : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], WHEN THE STORM GOD RIDES Cover and spine Frontispiece WHEN THE STORM GOD RIDES TEJAS AND OTHER INDIAN LEGENDS Retold By FLORENCE STRATTON Collected By BESSIE M. REID (MRS. BRUCE REID) Illustrated By BERNIECE...
How The Turkey Hid Her Eggs : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 179 HOW THE TURKEY HID HER EGGS The big turkey cock is so proud of himself that he does not want his wife to pay attention to anything but him. He looks for her eggs when she lays, and if he can find them he...
A Tribe That Left Its Shoes : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 67 A TRIBE THAT LEFT ITS SHOES If you will look at any one of our native orchids, of which we have about a dozen kinds, you will see that this flower has the shape of an Indian moccasin. Why do the orchids...
The Woodpecker's Stumpy Tail : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 40 THE WOODPECKER'S STUMPY TAIL The woodpecker, who knocks on the trees and cuts holes in them to find the bugs he eats, has a ragged, stumpy tail. He once had a long tail like other birds, but a fish bit...
How Sickness Entered The World : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 123 HOW SICKNESS ENTERED THE WORLD Sickness did not always exist among men. It used to be that all Indians lived long lives and were never ailing until time came for them to die, as the time comes to all...
The Swift Blue One : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 78 THE SWIFT BLUE ONE There was a time when the Indians had never seen a horse. When the first Spanish explorers brought horses with them in their ships to this country the Indians looked with great wonder...
The Wise Man's Big Bald Head : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 84 THE WISE MAN'S BIG BALD HEAD An Indian tribe had in it a man who from his boyhood had always tried to find out secrets which nature kept from the Indians. He would not believe the old legends of his tribe...
Grandmother River's Trick : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 87 GRANDMOTHER RIVER'S TRICK Once the little fish that lived in a river, who was their grandmother, were in danger of being eaten by the garfish. The garfish, because they were long and slim, could catch...
About The Tejas Indians : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 186 ABOUT THE TEJAS INDIANS The White Man Finds The Tejas Indians Texas is the largest state in this great land of ours. Long ago, long before Columbus came to the New World, the people who lived in Tex...
The Magnolia Babies : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 53 THE MAGNOLIA BABIES Look into the heart of one of the large magnolia flowers that grow like white stars on trees in the woods. Inside is a little green-brown figure that looks just like a baby wrapped...
The Cloud That Was Lost : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 74 THE CLOUD THAT WAS LOST In the country of high mountains the little white clouds that float around in the sky during the day go to sleep on the tops of the peaks. They do this because they become tired...
The Plant That Grows In Trees : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 29 THE PLANT THAT GROWS IN TREES The mistletoe is a strange little plant. It does not live on the ground with other plants, but always is found growing up in the limbs of trees by itself. Only the birds c...
Why The Dog's Ears Flop : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 181 WHY THE DOG'S EARS FLOP If you look at the kind of dog that sleeps on his master's front porch and begs for a bone at dinner and crawls away when his master shakes a stick at him you will see that this...
Kachina Brings The Spring : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 15 KACHINA BRINGS THE SPRING An Indian tribe living in the south-western country was once filled with fear and suffering. It was the beginning of spring, when the green buds should have been peeping...
Chief Two Hawks' Trail : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 44 CHIEF TWO HAWKS' TRAIL A great hunter named Two Hawks stood on a dry, hot plain at the edge of his camp and looked far away across the dying bushes. Two Hawks was looking for signs of wild animals which...
The Maiden Who Loved A Star : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 109 THE MAIDEN WHO LOVED A STAR There was once a young and beautiful Indian girl who went from her home into a desert of the western country to gather there the purple ripe fruit of the prickly pear. She...
Paisano, Hater Of The Rattlesnake : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 156 PAISANO, HATER OF THE RATTLESNAKE There is eternal war between Paisano and the rattlesnake. They are deadly enemies, but it was not always so. Once Paisano, who is the long-legged black and white bird...
The Cottonwood Remembers : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 171 THE COTTONWOOD REMEMBERS When April comes to stir the forests and fields into new life after the winter months have gone, the cottonwood tree spreads her arms and shakes her head and sends her white...
Why The Woodpecker Pecks : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 33 WHY THE WOODPECKER PECKS When you hear a Tap! Tap! Tap! sounding in the top of a dead tree or at the top of a telephone pole in the spring time you look up and what do you see? A woodpecker, of course! No...
The Evil Water Spirits : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 127 THE EVIL WATER SPIRITS Where did the big and ugly fishes and the snakes that swim in the water come from? The Indians know. From their forefathers comes this story. A long time ago, before the Gre...
Interesting Things To Do : * "When the Storm God Rides", by Florence Stratton, collected by Bessie M. Reid [1936], p. 234 INTERESTING THINGS TO DO 1. Make an Indian book showing: types of Indian homes the dress of several tribes designs on Indian pottery designs on Indian baskets designs on Indian blankets An encyclopedi...