Once upon a time there was a man
who had two children, a boy and a girl, whom he treated cruelly. The
boy and the girl talked together one day, and the boy, Wah-wah-hoo,
said to his sister, "Dear little sister, are you happy with our
father?"
"No," answered the girl, whose name was Hah-hah. "He scolds me and
beats me, and I can never please him."
"He was angry with me this morning," said the boy, "and he beat me
till the blood came. See there!"
"Let us run away," said Hah-hah. "The beasts and the birds will be
good to us. They really love us, and we can be very happy together."
That night the two children ran away from their cruel father. They
went far into the forest, and at last they found a wigwam in which
no one lived.
When the father found that Wah-wah-hoo and his sister were gone, he
was very unhappy. He went out into the forest to see if he could
find them. "If they would only come again," he said aloud, "I would
do everything I could to please them."
"Do you think he tells the truth?" asked the wolf.
"I do not know," answered the mosquito. "He never treated them well
when they were with him."
"Wolf," called the father, "will you tell me where my children are?"
Wah-wah-hoo had once told the wolf when a man was coming to shoot
him, and so the wolf would not tell where they were.
"Mosquito," said the father, "where are my children?"
Hah-hah had once helped the mosquito to go home when the wind was
too strong for him, and so the mosquito would not tell.
For a long time Wah-wah-hoo and his sister were really happy in the
forest, for there was no one to scold them and to beat them, but at
last there was a cold, cold winter. All the earth was covered with
snow. The animals had gone, and Wah-wah-hoo could find no food.
Death came and bore away the gentle Hah-hah. Wah-wah-hoo sat alone
in the gloomy wigwam wailing for his sister. Then in his sadness he
threw himself down from a high mountain and was killed.
All this time the father had been looking for his children, and at
last he saw his son lying at the foot of the mountain. Then he too
wailed and cried aloud, for he was really sorry that he had treated
them so cruelly. He was a magician, and he could make his son live,
but he could not make him a boy again.
"You shall be a frog," said he, "and you shall make your home in the
marsh with the reeds and the rushes. There you shall wail as loud as
you will for your sister, and once every moon I will come and wail
for her with you. I was cruel to you and to her, and so I must live
alone in my gloomy wigwam."
Every summer night one can hear the frog in the marsh wailing for
his dear sister Hah-hah. Sometimes a louder voice is heard, and that
is the voice of the father wailing because he was so cruel.