The Four Winds

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Title:     The Four Winds
Author: Elaine Goodale Eastman [More Titles by Eastman]

Once there were four great chiefs who lived in the four corners of the earth, and their names were North Wind, South Wind, East Wind, and West Wind. The other three all hated North Wind, for he was very rude and boisterous, and insisted upon blowing his bitter blast into their faces at all times of the year, so that the tender fruit buds and fragile blossoms were never safe from his withering breath.

Finally they united to make war upon him, and after a long struggle they succeeded in gaining his promise that he would only blow for half the year, which helped matters a little.

Now the South Wind had four sturdy sons and a beautiful daughter, while North Wind's family consisted of twin boys, one of whom was called Frosted, and the other Frozen. No sooner were the children grown up than Frosted wished to marry the daughter of South Wind, who was as fair and gentle as a summer's day, but she would have nothing to say to him.

The next year Frozen came courting. He was a handsome fellow, very determined, and proved more fortunate than his brother. The wedding feast was the finest ever known in that part of the country. It lasted for seven days, at the end of which Frozen carried home his bride in a tempest of wind and rain.

When South Wind's daughter reached the land of perpetual snow and ice, she very soon regretted her rash choice. There was not so much as a spark of fire in the house, which was built of ice blocks, and day and night she was chilled to the very marrow of her bones. Meanwhile the rest of the family were saying, "What a pleasant season we are having!" and "The weather seems unusually mild for this time of the year!"

At last she could bear it no longer, and one day as she sat sadly on the beach she picked up a bit of yellow driftwood and carved it into the shape of a duck. When she had finished, she tossed the duck into the air, saying:

"Fly south, little duck, and tell my father that I am very unhappy here in the cruel northland!" And the duck flew away southward.

Far in the southland the South Wind's wife stood in the door of their wigwam and called to her husband, "Look, husband! Spring is coming, for I see the ducks returning!"

The little yellow duck came on, and as soon as he was near enough he gave the daughter's message:

"Your child is very unhappy there in the cruel northland!"

When South Wind understood it, he was angry and called his four strong sons to his side. "Boys," said he, "go at once to North Wind's house and bring home your sister!"

The eldest son started first in the shape of a great gray cloud, and when the little bride saw the cloud in the distance she was glad, for she felt sure that it was her brother. But immediately North Wind went out with his two sons to meet him and drove him back, so that she wrung her hands in sorrow.

The second brother went as a very black cloud, and he got a little farther than the first when he too was fiercely attacked and beaten back. Then the bride of Frozen cried bitterly, for she began to be afraid she must stay there forever.

The third brother went as a great storm of rain, and he had nearly reached the spot where his sister was eagerly waiting, when the icy wind turned the rain to hail and drove it back, and the poor girl was in despair.

However, there was still the youngest brother. He went as a sharp-edged and thin cloud which slipped right by North Wind and reached his palace, where he turned all the ice to water. The whole country was flooded, and North Wind and his family were helpless.

"Not only does your son lose his bride," cried the victorious son of South Wind, as he retreated with his sister, "but I shall take away three of your months also. From this time forth you are allowed to blow but three months in the year."

Thereupon the four Winds divided the year among them in this fashion: to North Wind the three winter months, to East Wind the spring, to West Wind the summer, and the autumn to South Wind.

[The end]
Elaine Goodale Eastman's short story: Four Winds

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