THE MAGIC ARROW 165

father’s bow and arrow? Why did I aim at the raven?
Why did I not learn wisdom before it was too late?
If I could only go back, I would speak straight words
of truth as long as I live. Never again would I talk
foolishly.”

At that moment he heard a raven cawing overhead.
He looked up quickly. High above him, on the broken
limb of a half-dead cedar tree which had sprung from
a cleft in a steep ledge, a raven hopped excitedly back
and forth, cawing loudly as he peered downward.
Kadonah did not know it was Thaimshim himself,
Thaimshim the Wonder-worker, who had heard his
wish and his promise to be forever truthful. As he
stared at the bird, his keen eyes caught sight of some-
thing that made him gasp. It was the gleam of bright-
colored feathers on the shaft of his father’s arrow
driven firmly into the trunk of the cedar!

Kadonah was astounded. He looked across the
valley toward the village, then back to the tree. How
could the arrow have sped so far; and, having sped,
how could it have had force enough left to drive it
firmly into the dead cedar? Thaimshim himself must
have accomplished this with his magic. Thaimshim
was all-powerful. Perhaps it was Thaimshim himself,
there in the form of a raven, who was calling atten-
tion to the arrow!

That there was magic in it, Kadonah was certain.
He was afraid of-magic, but this time he did not
hesitate. He must rescue the arrow and take it back