025276 faithful friends comp - amazon s3 · 025276_faithful friends_comp 2/8/07 8:56 am page 31...

SnowbirdTwo men, Luke and Beaver, lived in

Alaska. They worked in the cold bringingsupplies from stores to houses far away.

Luke and Beaver used snowshoes towalk in the snow. As they walked, they hadto carry the supplies on their backs.

Once they were walking back aftercarrying supplies to a house far off in thehills. Their snowshoes helped them walk,but it was snowing, and they could notsee well.

As they walked, the men heard a dogbarking. They knew that something wasnot right. They ran to where the barkingcame from and found that a big wolf wasfighting a black dog.

Luke got the wolf to go away, but thewolf had hurt the dog.

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Dolch® Reading Program – Faithful Friends from Independent Books, Tales & Legends

When the men got to the dog, they foundthat it was a mother dog. She was hurt, butshe knew the men were friends. She tookthem to where there were two puppies.One puppy was white and one puppy wasblack.

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The mother had been trying to keep thewolf away from her puppies. But she knewthat the men were friends, and that theywould not hurt her puppies. She got downon the snow and cried. She was trying totell the men that she was too hurt to carefor her puppies.

Luke and Beaver took the mother dogand her puppies back to the small townwhere they lived. The puppies were sosmall that their eyes were not open.

The men had some milk, and they fedthe puppies. They took care of the motherdog too. They kept her and her puppiesvery warm.

Day by day, the mother dog got a littlebetter. And her puppies grew and grew!The white puppy was called Snowbird.The black puppy was called Lucky.

Luke and Beaver liked the dogs verymuch. They liked to play with Snowbirdand Lucky. They were very happy to havethe puppies.

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The two men had to do their work everyday. They had to carry many supplies. Theyhad to go from the store to many housesfar, far away. It was hard to take good careof the puppies and to keep them warm.

Luke and Beaver had a small sled thatthey pulled. But they could not put thepuppies on the sled. The puppies would betoo cold. So the men made little pouchesfor the puppies. They put these pouchesunder their coats.

Luke carried Snowbird and Beavercarried Lucky. Each man had a puppy ina pouch under his coat. In the coats thepuppies could not put their heads out andget them cold.

Once the men went to an Inuit villagewith their supplies. The Inuits came out tosee the puppies. Snowbird was all white,with blue eyes. Lucky was all black, withbrown eyes. The Inuits looked and lookedat them.

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Snowbird and Lucky grew to be big,strong dogs.

When their mother was well again, Lukeand Beaver gave her to a friend. But theywanted to keep Snowbird and Lucky andshow them how to pull a sled.

In Alaska at that time, the best way toget from place to place was by sled. A sledpulled by dogs could go over snow, throughwoods, and along rivers.

The sled Snowbird and Lucky pulledwas small. A lot of men used a big sled. Ithad to have many dogs to pull it. Men withthis kind of sled would give a lot of moneyfor big dogs like Snowbird and Lucky.

Luke and Beaver would not take a lot ofmoney. They would always keep their dogs.

One day Luke and Beaver thought theywould go over the mountains to find a riverin Alaska that was very far away. Theywere told they could not do it, but theywanted to try. So they started.

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For many days the two men, their twodogs, and the sled went higher and higherinto the mountains. The wind blew andblew. They got very tired. Their food wasall gone. The way was much longer thanthe men had thought.

Snowbird went on and on, but Luckywas not as strong. He could not go onpulling the sled. He could not go onwithout food. And so he had to be pulledin the sled by Snowbird.

The sled, pulled only by Snowbird, wenton and on. The men ran with the sled.At last they began to go back down themountain. The men found some food andgave some to Lucky and Snowbird. At lastthey could get out of the wind and rest.

After a long time the men and the dogsgot to the river they had wanted to find.There were towns there and people whocould give them food.

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Lucky was better after he got somewarm food and rest. But Luke and Beavercould see that Lucky did not want to pulla sled through the cold snow any longer.They made him their watchdog and let himlive always at their house.

But Snowbird was now a great sled dog.And soon people all over Alaska had heardthe story of this big, strong dog.

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025276 faithful friends comp - amazon s3 · 025276_faithful friends_comp 2/8/07 8:56 am page 31...

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