The younger said, "Then I will turn into a palo verde and stand there
forever. These mountains are so bare and have nothing on them but rocks,
I will make them green."

The old woman heard the cactus whistling and recognized the voice of her
grandson. So she went up to it and tried to take the prickly thing into
her arms, but the thorns killed her.

That is how the saguaro and the palo verde came to be on the mountains
and the desert.


The Thirsty Quails
Pima (Arizona)

A Quail once had more than twenty children, and with them she wandered
over the whole country in search of water and could not find it. It was
very hot and they were all crying, "Where can we get some water? Where
can we get some water?" but for a long time they could find none.

At last, way in the north, under a mesquite tree, the mother quail saw a
pond of water, but it was very muddy and not fit to drink. But the
little quails had been wandering so many days and were so tired they
stopped under the shade of the mesquite tree, and by and by, one by one,
they went down to the water and 'drank it. But the water was so bad they
all died.


The Boy and the Beast
Pima (Arizona)