RUNNING OWL THE HUNTER

The animals wisecrack and the would-be-Indian brave is something of a clown--but if you're not put off by a story that makes sport of Indian customs, this has its amusing moments. The real trouble is that it begins conventionally with the multiple uses of the buffalo and little Running Owl's yearning to go on a buffalo hunt; and only after he's rebuffed by his father and sets out to shoot something do we suspect that not all of this is meant to be taken seriously. But it's not until a jackrabbit, ducking an arrow, talks back that the outright burlesque begins--which will come to a comical climax in an eagle's nest. There, while the greedy eaglets compete for a first bite, Running Owl explains that he only wants an eagle feather for his hair; and, with a sardonic comment (""You don't think very carefully, do you?""), the mighty eagle presents him with a loose one. More accurately aimed from the start, this might have elicited howls instead of uneasy snickers.