Stránka:roll 1916.djvu/148

Woodcraft Manual for Girls upon him. Our sight is like that of the mole burrowing under the ground. Our wisdom is like a drop of dew upon the grass. Our ignorance is like the great water whfch no eye can measure. , , . » "Our life is like a bird coming out of the dark, flittenng for a heartbeat in the hut and then going forth into the dark again. No one can tell us whence it comes or whither it goes. I have asked the wise men, and they cannot answer; I nave listened to the voice of the trees and wind and water, but I do not know their tongue; I have questioned the sun and the moon and the stars, but they are silent. "But to-dav in te silence before the darkness gives place to Ught I seemed' to hear a still small voice within my breast saying to me: "Wo, the questioner, rise up like the stag from his lair; away, alone to the mountain ci the sun. There thou shalt find that which thou seekest. "I go, but if I fall by the trail another will take it up. If I find the answer, I will return." Waiting for none, Wo left the council of his tribe and went his way toward the mountain of the sun. For six days he made his way through the trackless woods, guided by the sun by day and the stars by night On the seventh day he came to the great mountain — ^the mountain of the sun, on whose top, according to the tradition of his tribe, the sun rested each night. All day long he cUmbed, saying to himself: "I will sleep to-night m the hut of die sun, and he will tell me whence I came and whither I go." But as he climbed, the sun seemed to climb higher and higher. As he neared the top, a cold cloud settled like a night bird on the mountain. Chilled and faint with hunger and fatigue, Wo strug- fled on. Just at sunset he reached the top of the mountam, ut it was not the mountain of the sun, for many days' journey to the west the sun was sinking in the Great Water. A bitter cry broke from Wo's parched lips. His long trail was useless. There was no answer to his questions. The sun jour- neyed farther and faster than men dreamed, and of wood and waste and water there was no end. Oveiwme with mtaay and weakness, he fell upon a bed of vaaa with his back toward the sunset and the unknown. And Wo slept, although it was unlike any sleep he had ever known before, and as he slept he dreamed. He was alone upon the mountain waiting for the answer. A cloud coveied the mountain, but all was silent. A mighty wind roit thedoud and rushed roaring throuf^ the crags, but theie was no voioe m