lodge and trampled the fire with his great, wet feet, until he thought
he had put it all out. He meant to kill the boy, but the fire scorched
his feet and scared him. So he went away again to the edge of the forest
and sat there licking his burnt paws, waiting to see what would happen.

"Now O-pee-chee had followed the man and the boy into the Northland. He
watched the old bear and saw what he did. When he went away, the robin
flew down and scratched about among the ashes until he found a small,
live coal. Then he brought some splinters and dry moss and laid them
upon the coal and fanned it with his wings until the fire caught the
wood and burned up strong and bright.

"The heat of the blazing splinters scorched his breast and made it red,
but the robin did not stop until the fire was blazing brightly.

"Just then the hunter walked into the lodge and saw what the robin was
doing. He saw, too, the big footprints of the great bear and he knew
that the robin had saved his life and the life of his boy.

"All that winter the good hunter fed the kind robin and sheltered it in
his lodge. When he went back again to his people, he told them the
story, and they grew to love the robin more than before. To this day
they are never tired of telling their children the story of O-pee-chee
the Robin and how his breast became red."




[Illustration]