Page:The Chinese Boy and Girl.djvu/34

 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:

"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