folk in the nursery. They had accepted one after another the legends as they rolled off the old woman's tongue, without question, but pretty soon she gave them a version of a Wind Song which aroused their incredulity. She sang:
Old grandmother Wind has come from the East.
She's ridden a donkey—a dear little beast.
Old mother-in-law Rain has come back again.
She's come from the North on a horse, it is plain.
Old grandmother Snow is coming you know,
From the West on a crane—just see how they go.
And old aunty Lightning has come from the South,
On a big yellow dog with a bit in his mouth.
"There is no grandmother Wind, is there, nurse?"
"No, of course not, people only call her grandmother Wind."
"Why do they call the other mother-in-law Rain?"
"I suppose, because mothers-in-law are often disagreeable, just like rainy weather."
"And why do they speak of snow and the crane, and lightning and a yellow dog?"
"I suppose, because a crane is somewhat the color of snow, and a yellow dog swift and the color of lightning."
30
