How the Seasons Came to Be

"How the Seasons Came to Be" by Julia Darrow Cowles is a charming children’s book that explores the enchanting origins of the seasons through imaginative storytelling. The narrative unfolds as nature personified reveals the captivating relationships between various elements of the earth, illustrating how they influence each other to create the distinct seasons. With lyrical prose and whimsical illustrations, the book invites young readers to appreciate the beauty and interconnectedness of the natural world, fostering a sense of curiosity and wonder about the changing seasons.

• Children
• Short story

								
THERE was once a little Indian boy who wanted above everything else to
become a mighty hunter.

His father, whose name was Ojeeg, the Fisher, was the mightiest hunter
of his tribe, and Omeme wanted to be like his father.

Often he went out into the forest with the little bow and arrows which
his father had made for him, to hunt the small creatures of the woods.
But it was too cold for him to stay long; for in those days there were
no seasons, only cold and snow day after day, moon following moon.

So little Omeme often came back to the lodge with fingers stiff and
numb. As he shivered and held his fingers over the fire of the lodge,
he cried, “There is nothing for Omeme to shoot. The birds fly up to
the sun for warmth. The little creatures hide in the forest: they
hide far down beneath the snow blanket. It is cold. Omeme can get no
game.”

One day Omeme met a squirrel in the forest, and the squirrel said, “Do
not shoot me, Omeme. I will tell you a great secret.”

Then Omeme said, “I will not shoot you. Tell me your secret.”

And the squirrel said, “Away up in the Sky Land it is always warm.
There is no frost, no snow. If we could have some of the warmth of the
Sky Land, we should not always be cold. There would be good hunting
for Omeme. There would be plenty for us all to eat.”

“But the Sky Land is far away,” said Omeme.

“Yes,” replied the squirrel, “but Ojeeg is mighty. Could he not go to
the Sky Land and bring away some of its warmth?”

“My father is mighty,” answered Omeme. “I will ask him.”

He ran home, for he had grown cold while listening to the squirrel’s
secret.

Ojeeg was in the lodge.

“Oh, my father,” exclaimed Omeme, “all we little creatures are so
cold! The squirrel tells me there is warmth in the Sky Land. Could
you not go there and bring some of its warmth to the earth?”

Ojeeg was silent for a long, long time. He loved Omeme dearly. He was
sorry that Omeme was cold. But the journey to the Sky Land was long.
It was full of dangers.

At length Ojeeg said, “The earth is cold. I will hold a council with
my neighbors.”

So Ojeeg, the Fisher, called together his neighbors, the Otter, the
Beaver, the Badger, the Lynx, and the Wolverine. Long and earnestly
they considered the matter, and at length they decided to undertake
the journey to the Sky Land.

Upon a given day they started. It was a great adventure, and Ojeeg
felt sure that he would never return to his lodge, and never again
would he see the little Omeme.

For a long, long distance they traveled and at last, tired and spent
with hunger, they reached the top of a very high mountain. So high it
was that the sky seemed almost to rest upon it.

There they found meat and a fire, as though some traveler had left
them. So they rested and were refreshed.

Then Ojeeg said to the Otter, “Now we will try to gain entrance to
the Sky Land. It is just above us. Jump, and see if you cannot break
through, and we will follow.”

The Otter tried, but he could not jump high enough, and he fell, and
slid all the way down to the foot of the mountain. So he gave up and
returned to his home.

Then Ojeeg said to the Beaver, “Jump, and see if you cannot do better
than the Otter.” The Beaver jumped; but neither could he jump high
enough, and he too fell, and slid all the way down to the bottom of
the mountain. So the Beaver gave up, and returned to his home.

Then Ojeeg said to the Badger, “Jump. Let us see if you cannot do
better than the Otter and the Beaver.”

The Badger jumped; but neither could he jump high enough, and back he
slid to the bottom of the mountain. So the Badger gave up, and
returned to his home.

Then Ojeeg said to the Lynx, “Surely you are stronger than the Otter,
and the Beaver, and the Badger, and you can jump farther. Try, and see
if you cannot break through into the Sky Land, and we will follow.”

The Lynx jumped; but neither could he break through the Sky, though
he made a deep scratch upon it with one of his sharp claws; and back
he slid to the bottom of the mountain. So the Lynx gave up, and
returned to his home.

Then said Ojeeg to the Wolverine, “You are stronger and more agile
than the others. Jump, and see if you cannot break through, and I will
follow you. Do your best. You must not fail me.”

The Wolverine prepared for a mighty jump. He sprang upward, and
touched the Sky just where the Lynx’s claw had scratched it. He broke
it, and sprang through the opening.

After him sprang Ojeeg, and now they two were in the Sky Land.

It was a beautiful country. There was no snow. The winds blew softly;
the air was balmy; and all about them were flowers, and grass, and
singing birds.

Ojeeg stamped hard with his foot, and a great hole was made where he
stamped. Down through the hole rushed the singing birds, and the warm
air of the Sky Land.

Down went Spring, and after Spring went Summer, and after Summer went
Autumn. But just as Autumn disappeared, Ojeeg heard a great noise and
shouting, for the people of the Sky Land were coming. He knew that
they would punish him for his daring.

The Wolverine slipped through the hole and followed Autumn; but before
Ojeeg could follow, the Sky people came, and the hole was closed.

Ojeeg ran, but the arrows of the Sky people were swift, and overtook
him.

So Ojeeg gave up his life, but he had sent warmth to all the creatures
of the earth, and since that time his people have had the four
seasons, instead of one unbroken season of bitter cold and snow.

The little Omeme was proud of the mighty deed of his father. He was
cold no more: and he grew up to be a mighty hunter, as his father the
great Ojeeg had been before him.

And when the Indians look up at the stars and see the constellation of
the fish, they say, “That is Ojeeg, the Fisher, who gave the summer to
his people.”
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