Atondido Stories
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 lead-
ing 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 ban-
ishment against Whirlwind was revoked.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, run-
ning 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
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