But
their vocation as story tellers is ended the moment the spring opens.
The shrill piping of the frog, waking from his wintry repose, is the
signal for the termination of their story craft, and I have in vain
endeavored to get any of them to relate this species of imaginary lore
at any other time. It is evaded by some easy and indifferent remark.
But the true reason is given above. Young and old adhere to this
superstition. It is said that, if they violate the custom, the snakes,
toads, and other reptiles, which are believed to be under the influence
of the spirits, will punish them.
It is remarkable that this propensity of inventing tales and allegories,
which is so common to our Indians, is one of the most general traits of
the human mind. The most ancient effort of this kind by far, in the way
of the allegorical, is in the following words: "The Thistle that was in
Lebanon sent to the Cedar, saying, give thy daughter to my son to wife:
and there passed by a wild beast and trod down the Thistle.
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