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'I H E 
 
 WHITE 
 CANGE 
 
 AND OTHER LEGENDS OF THE OJIBWAYS 
 
 (Published by BROADWAY 
 PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 835 BROADWAY NEW YORK 
 
 55555555^556655^ 
 
 PREPARED FROM LEGENDS 
 HEARD FROM THE INDIANS 
 THEMSELVES BY : : : : : 
 
 ELIZABETH MONeRTOM 
 
 (Elisabeth Davis Fielder) 
 
 With reproductions of cover- 
 design and 8 original pyro- 
 graphic drawings on birch 
 bark by the author : : : : : 
 

 LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
 
 
 
 Two Copies Received 
 
 
 
 JAN 4 1906 
 
 
 
 , . Copyright Entry 
 
 CLASS CC XXc. No. 
 
 7 9' / 7 c^ 
 
 COPY B. 
 
 
 Copyrighted, in 1904, 
 
 BY 
 
 ELIZABETH MONCKTON 
 
 
 Ail Rights Reserved. 
 
 
TO MY FRIEND 
 
 MRS. ELEANOR L. ELDER, 
 This book is affectionately inscribed. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The White Canoe i 
 
 The Revenge of Unk-te-ha 15 
 
 The Daughters of the Stars 33 
 
 The Origin of the Robin 54 
 
 The Enchanted Moccasins 60 
 
 The Journey of 0-me-me 80 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 LEELINA Frontispiece 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Revenge of Unk-te-ha 15 '' 
 
 The Daughters of the Stars 23'^ 
 
 The Origin of the Robin $4^ 
 
 The Enchanted Moccasins 60-"^ 
 
 The Journey of O-me-me 80 
 
 The Little Beaver , 105 
 
 Finis 138 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 TT is finished ! The wonderful First Book which 
 ■■• has hovered in the background of my im- 
 agination as the goal of all achievement ever 
 since my youthful ambition was first fired by 
 reading of Mr. Finney's illustrious turnip. Its 
 form, however, has undergone some changes. In 
 those days the Book was a volume of poems 
 bound in green and gold, with my portrait as a 
 frontispiece and an autograph underneath that 
 nobody could read. It is useless to enumerate 
 the causes which led to this modification ; the 
 Critic doesn't need them, and the Gentle Reader 
 wouldn't appreciate them. 
 
 The legends comprised in this little volume 
 were not unearthed from musty books hidden 
 away on dark shelves in public libraries, but by 
 word of mouth, in the lodges and around the 
 camp-fires during one long lazy summer when I 
 strayed with wandering bands of Indians from, one 
 
 V 
 
vi Introduction 
 
 camping ground to another. The squaws told 
 them as they crouched on their rush mats beading 
 moccasins or braiding baskets ; the old men told 
 them as they lay before the camp-fires at evening 
 and watched the smoke from their pipes curl 
 upward, and I give them as they were given to 
 me, as the old men had handed them down from 
 generation to generation, as they will be passed 
 on to their children, and their children's children, 
 as long as their is a wandering Ojibway left in 
 the forests along the Big-Sea- Water. The truth 
 is. Gentle Reader, Voracious Critic, I had to do 
 something to make back the money I spent that 
 Summer for tobacco to keep the story-teller's 
 pipe working. 
 
 The natural attitude of the young writer com- 
 ing with his first book, is meek and apologetic. 
 He comes on all-fours, so to speak. I am only 
 enabled to stand erect and claim for my book 
 what it deserves by means of constant bolstering 
 with Mr. Brander Matthews' shrewd advice in 
 ''The Philosophy of the Preface." I am also 
 supported by the firm conviction that it will take 
 a critic to discover all the good things that arc 
 
Introduction vii 
 
 really in it. The student of theology will be 
 interested in tracing the analogy between these 
 legends and Bible narrative, and noting how 
 nearly the lines approach sometimes, leaving 
 only the racial differences of the people between 
 them. The student of literature wall find them 
 worthy of consideration as a contribution to folk- 
 lore, and the small boy and little girl who want 
 only a good story will be delighted to find an en- 
 tirely new tribe of fairies, and a new and horrible 
 giant. In short, you have only to read this intro- 
 duction — and I hope nobody will fail to read it — 
 in order to be convinced that no family and no 
 individual can afford to be without this First 
 Book. 
 
 I think I have now followed Mr. Matthews' 
 advice to the letter, saving and excepting that 
 of boasting of its defects. The only reason I 
 have omitted this is that there are no defects. 
 
 E. M. 
 
THE WHITE CANOE. 
 
 T T was four days since the women had borne 
 her out of the lodge and buried her in the 
 edge of the forest. Four days, and Waywas- 
 simo had not tasted food and only left his lodge 
 at evening to kindle the fire upon her grave. 
 Four times was the spirit's camp-fire lighted as 
 Waywassimo followed the soul of his beloved 
 on its lonely journey to the Land of Shadows, 
 but now the charred and blackened embers lay un- 
 touched upon her grave and a veil had fallen be- 
 tween the soul of Waywassimo and his beloved. 
 The squaws brought food and placed it inside 
 the lodge door, but Waywassimo turned away 
 his face. He had no desire for the food of the 
 old women when all his soul was hungry for the 
 voice of his beloved, his beautiful Lcelina with 
 eyes like stars and a voice like the wind in the 
 pines. Tall and straight as a young fir tree ! 
 
2 The White Canoe 
 
 Graceful, bending like a willow, swift of foot 
 and light of laughter! No, there was never an- 
 other like her, Leelina the gentle, Leelina the fair ! 
 Another moon and she would have been his bride, 
 but now the w^omen had buried her in the edge of 
 the forest, and Waywassimo was alone ! 
 
 They brought his bow and arrows and laid 
 them inside the lodge door. For a moment 
 the blood of the hunter quickened in his veins ; 
 then he remembered that no longer could he lay 
 at the feet of Leelina his trophies from the chase, 
 so he turned away his face and heeded them not. 
 
 Again they came and laid his tomahawk and 
 war-club inside the lodge door and without he 
 heard the tom-toms and the saw-saw-quan of the 
 w-arriors. Once more his pulse leaped and he 
 made as if to array himself for battle ; but when 
 he laid his hands on the war garments, rich with 
 wampum and porcupine quills, he remembered 
 that Leelina would not be there to join in the 
 feasting, and to hear the stories of his prowess 
 on their return, so he turned away his face and 
 heeded them not. 
 
 Then they came no more, and Wavwassimo 
 
And Other Legends 3 
 
 sat alone in his lodge, neither eating nor drink- 
 ing, until the women shook their heads and said : 
 "We will soon kindle the spirit's camp-fire on 
 another grave in the forest." 
 
 As Waywassimo sat alone in his lodge, weak 
 and faint from long fasting, he dreamed strange 
 dreams. All the stories the old men had told 
 him came back to him, but now they were not as 
 old men's tales, but mingled strangely with his 
 dreams of Leelina. 
 
 They told him of a pathway leading from 
 earth to the Land of Souls, and how the great 
 Master of Life, in pity for those who loved well, 
 had granted this boon that they might see one an- 
 other again. Dim and uncertain was the path- 
 way and few on earth had found it, for the way 
 was long and weary and the love of many grew 
 cold. 
 
 Night after night, as Waywassimo lay on the 
 mat in his lodge, the dream came to him as the 
 old men had told it, and at last he knew that he 
 should have no peace until he had found the 
 mysterious pathway and seen Leelina again. 
 
 He took a handful of corn in his meda-bag and 
 
4 The White Canoe 
 
 a few arrows in his quiver, then steaHng out of 
 the village in the darkness, he stood beside the 
 grave of Leelina. His spirit w^as going to seek 
 hers, yet in all the four corners of the earth he 
 knew not which way to turn. At last he drew 
 his bow-string and sent an arrow singing toward 
 the stars. The arrow fell to the southward, 
 and setting his face in that direction, Waywas- 
 simo started on his journey. 
 
 For many days he walked, through forests, 
 over rank beaver-meadows, across streams and 
 marshes, without finding any trace of the myste- 
 rious pathway. Bewildered and faint with weari- 
 ness, he kept on until his limbs gave way beneath 
 him and it seemed as if he had but left the vil- 
 lage to perish in an unknown wilderness. But 
 not to save life itself would he turn back from 
 seeking Leelina, for if it was the will of the Great 
 Spirit that he perish, then his soul should be for- 
 ever with hers in the Islands of the Blessed. 
 Then, as Waywassimo strengthened his resolve 
 and moved forward on his journey, a Spirit came 
 to him out of the shadows of the forest, and, 
 taking his hand, pointed to a trail under the 
 
And Other Legends 5 
 
 leaves and dead grasses. No word did the Spirit 
 speak, and when Waywassimo Hfted his eyes 
 from the trail, he was alone, but he was standing 
 in the pathway to the Land of Souls. 
 
 On and on he went, his weariness falling from 
 him and his limbs strengthening with renewed 
 vigor. The snow was deep on the ground and 
 matted thick on the trees when he left the vil- 
 lage; but, as he proceeded on his journey, the 
 snow gradually disappeared, the gray clouds dis- 
 solved and floated away, and over him arched the 
 tender blue of Spring skies. The boughs flushed 
 with swelling buds, and through them swept 
 a breeze warm and balmy and odorous with the 
 breath of flowers. 
 
 No sign of human life did Waywassimo see in 
 all his journey, but the breeze grew warmer and 
 balmier, the trees burst into full leaf, wild flowers 
 grew along his pathway, and the forest was 
 melodious with the song of birds. Moving on to 
 the southward the foliage became richer and 
 more luxuriant, more brilliant the plumage of 
 the birds, and at night-time myriads of fireflies 
 twinkled and ^rlowed in the dense forest. 
 
6 The White Canoe 
 
 Now the trail became plainer, and by this sign 
 Waywassimo knew that he was nearing his jour- 
 ney's end. At last it emerged from the forest and 
 led along a sloping hillside, on the summit of 
 which stood a solitary lodge. Within the lodge 
 sat an old man, with whitened locks upon his 
 shoulders. He was clothed in a single garment 
 of skins and held a staff in his hand. Waywassi- 
 mo knew by the stories of the old men that it was 
 Chebiabos, the ruler of the Land of Souls. 
 
 "I have looked for you long, my son," the old 
 man said, advancing to meet Waywassimo. ''She 
 whom you seek is not here, but she passed this 
 way a few days before you. Enter. I will give 
 you food, you may rest in my lodge, and then I 
 will guide you upon the same journey." 
 
 Waywassimo entered the lodge of Chebiabos, 
 he partook of the food placed before him, and 
 lying down on a bed of boughs he slept as he had 
 not slept since Leelina went away. 
 
 The sun was high in the heavens when Che- 
 biabos led Waywassimo out of the lodge, and 
 pointed to a lake stretching through the valley be- 
 low. Its clear waters sparkled in the sunlight, 
 
And Other Legends 7 
 
 and beyond it, misty and blue lay the fair plains 
 of the Land of Souls. 
 
 "Behold the Plains of the Blessed, my son," 
 Chebiabos said. "You stand now upon its bor- 
 der, but before you can go forward you must lay 
 aside your bow and arrows, for no sign of war- 
 fare or bloodshed is allowed to enter that land.'' 
 
 Then leading Waywassimo back into his lodge 
 Chebiabos stripped him of his travel worn rai- 
 ment, of all the implements of hunting and war- 
 fare, and clothed him in a beautiful garment, soft 
 and white as the finest moose skin, and fringed 
 with wampum that shone like silver in the sun- 
 light. Then when Waywassimo walked forth 
 from the lodge, he found his feet light as if 
 winged so that he could travel with no feeling of 
 weariness. 
 
 Together they entered the forest bordering the 
 lake which divided them from the Land of Souls. 
 Here Waywassimo found all things ac he had left 
 them behind. The trees of his own forest grev: 
 around him, birds flitted through their branches, 
 and animals sprang across his path. The sun 
 shone brightly on a familiar world, but over all 
 
8 The White Canoe 
 
 brooded a strange oppressive stillness. The trees 
 swayed in the breeze, but there was no rustling of 
 leaves, no chirp and twitter of bird song, no whir 
 of wings, no drone and hum of insects, and not 
 even a twig crackled under foot as they moved on 
 through the forest. 
 
 The silence grew heavier and more oppressive 
 until Waywassimo felt a strange surging and 
 singing in his ears, and his brain reeled with a 
 sense of unreality. His companion uttered no 
 word as they passed through the silent forest, and 
 he felt himself suffocated with the pounding of 
 his own heart in his bosom, and the surging of 
 the blood in his ears became as the roaring of a 
 cataract. 
 
 Stretching out his hand Waywassimo made as 
 if to lay it on the trunk of a tree growing beside 
 the way, then the surging in his ears stopped, 
 and his heart stood still, for his hand swept 
 through the air and dropped at his side. There 
 was no tree ! Again he stooped to pluck a flower 
 growing among the moss, but his fingers closed 
 upon themselves, and there was no flower ! Then 
 Chebiabos turned to him and said ; 
 
And Other Legends 9 
 
 "It is so, my son, we are in the Land of Sha- 
 dows. Behind you are all realities. These are 
 but the forms of things that have beautified the 
 earth and perished. The Master of Life is great 
 and very good, and he has ordained that nothing 
 be lost. The flowers that bloom for a day, the 
 trees that waved their branches through the sun 
 and storm of many years, all things that his hand 
 has fashioned live forever. See, my son, the 
 forest is full of birds, but there is no song. They 
 are the shadows of birds that have sung to you 
 on the other side, and the animals which you 
 see around you are but the forms of your own 
 good and evil thoughts. You walk in the Land 
 of Shadows, my son, the border country to the 
 Land of Souls." 
 
 At last they emerged from the forest and found 
 themselves on the bank of the lake. As Way- 
 wassimo strained his eyes across the level shining 
 water a speck appeared among the mists upon the 
 horizon, the lingeripg floating mists of morning 
 that melted sea and sky together. Now it fell 
 and now it lifted, sometimes flying, sometimes 
 floating like a heron or a wild goose, dipping, 
 
lo The White Canoe 
 
 flashing in the sunlight, but ever coming nearer, 
 nearer, until the straining eyes of Waywassimo 
 saw the speck upon the water, not a wild goose nor 
 a heron, but a shining white Cheemaun coming 
 toward him across the water. None there was to 
 steer or paddle, but straight along a track of 
 splendor came the white canoe to Waywassimo. 
 Now it grounded safe among the glittering peb- 
 bles, then he saw that on the bottom lay a paddle 
 made of silver. 
 
 **It is the White Canoe come to carry you 
 across the lake," Chebiabos said, "and there is no 
 other means of passage to the Land of Souls. I 
 leave you here, for every pilgrim must make the 
 voyage alone, but if you have faith all will be 
 well." 
 
 Then Waywassimo stepped into the White 
 Canoe, and taking the silver paddle, pushed off 
 from shore. When he had gone some distance 
 out upon the lake he saw another canoe approach- 
 ing, gliding over the shining water, and drop- 
 ping showers of crystal spray from the gleaming 
 silver paddle. Nearer and nearer It came, and 
 Waywassimo dropped his paddle and again 
 
And Other Legends ii 
 
 strained his eyes across the ghmmenng sheet of 
 water. The slender figure which swayed with 
 every dip of the paddle w^as a woman. Now he 
 could see the glittering fringe of wampum on her 
 arms, and w^aist and bosom, see her dark and 
 floating tresses, see the oval of her features, — yes, 
 it was his lost love, Leelina ! 
 
 On and on she came until the tw^o White 
 Canoes floated side by side, but when Waywassi- 
 mo stood up and held out his arms to her, Leelina 
 smiled and laid her finger on her lips as if warn- 
 ing him to silence. 
 
 Together they paddled on, and now Wayw^as- 
 simo noticed that the weaves w^ere running high 
 though the sun still shone, and there w^as not a 
 cloud in the sky. Higher and higher they grew^ 
 rolling against the canoes, as if they w^ould swamp 
 them, and as Waywassimo bent to his paddle he 
 found himself looking down through the clear 
 transparent water straight to the bottom of the 
 lake, and his heart grew cold with fear as he saw 
 that the sands on tlic bo Horn were strewn with 
 the bones of those who had perished in crossing. 
 
 Waywassimo would have turned back, but 
 
12 The White Canoe 
 
 v/lien lie looked at Leelina he saw no terror in 
 her face, but she Hfted her finger again and again 
 to her Hps, and smiled at him across the billows. 
 Then Waywassimo's courage and faith came back, 
 and as he bent again to the paddle he found that 
 whenever the White Canoe touched the foaming, 
 angry waves they melted away and left a smooth' 
 path before it. 
 
 Now he saw other canoes likewise struggling 
 among the waves. Some toiled for a little while 
 and then sank out of sight ; others kept on, bat- 
 tling among the billows, and a few, like their own, 
 foimd the waters calmed before them. Only the 
 canoes of little children met no v/aves but the 
 waters parted before them, leaving a luminous 
 pathway straight to the Land of Souls. 
 
 So Waywassimo learned that it was according 
 to their faith, and all fear and uncertainty de- 
 parted from him and with steady arm he dipped 
 his paddle and smiled back at Leelina across the 
 water. 
 
 Now an island seemed to rise out of the lake 
 before his eyes and an invisible hand was steer- 
 ing him straight toward its sloping shores, on 
 
And Other Legends 13 
 
 and on until a great wave swept the canoe liigh 
 upon the sandy beach. Looking up he found Lee- 
 lina before him, and she held out her hands to 
 him, with a smile on her lips and the light of 
 love in her starry eyes. 
 
 "It is the Happy Island," she said. ''The Great 
 JMaster of Life has permitted us to tarry here 
 awhile," and taking his hand she led him along 
 the shore and into the forest. 
 
 Long they lingered on the Happy Island, Way- 
 wassimo and his love, Leelina. Together they 
 wandered over green and sunny meadows, 
 through the dim and shadowy woodlands, listened 
 to the songs of gladness, to the robin and the blue 
 bird ; heard the wind among the branches, heard 
 the rippling of the waters, heard their own 
 licarts throb together while they sat in blissful 
 silence, with the smiling heavens above them and 
 the smiling earth around them. The icy breath of 
 Kab-bi-bon-ok-ka never blew upon that island, 
 not a snowfiake from the Northland, not an ice- 
 crust on the brooklets, but drowsy, dreamy, end- 
 less Summer reigned upon the Happy Island. 
 
 Waywassimo knew not how long they lingered 
 
14 The White Canoe 
 
 there together, for light of sun and moon there 
 was none, naught to measure days in passing, 
 naught to mark the night and morning, but all 
 was one long radiant noonday and the smiles 
 and sighs of lovers were ics light, its air, its sun- 
 shine. 
 
 At last there came a day when a voice spoke 
 to Waywassimo out of the perfumed breezes, say- 
 ing: 
 
 *'The desire of your soul has been given you. 
 You have seen Leelina and had a foretaste of the 
 joy which shall be yours when you are summoned 
 to the Land of Ponemah. But the time is not 
 yet. It is ordained that you return to your people 
 and rule them for many years. Not in sadness 
 and sorrow shall you dwell among them, but as 
 my messenger of joy and peace. Leelina remains 
 to await your coming; you will find her still 
 young and beautiful when at last I call you from 
 the Land of Snows." 
 
 Then Waywassimo awoke and found himself 
 still in the Valley of Bitterness and Tears. 
 
i» 
 
 
 ^ 
 
And Other Legends 15 
 
 M 
 
 THE REVENGE OF UNK-TE-HA. 
 
 An Ojibway Legend of the Flood. 
 
 ANY ages ago when the world was new 
 and the gods and men dwelt together 
 upon it, the mighty Wa-zha-wand, who had cre- 
 ated earth, and air, and water, placed three great 
 Manitous to rule over them and rested from his 
 labors. 
 
 Then Unk-te-ha, the Manitou of Waters, called 
 together the tribes of men and laid thus his com- 
 mands upon them : 
 
 "Of all the fish that are in the waters shalt thou 
 have for food. Of all the fowl that are on the 
 marshlands, and of every creature belonging to 
 my kingdom shalt thou have to eat. Each day 
 shalt thou take for each day's need, but never in 
 distrust of the goodness of Unk-te-ha shalt thou 
 take food for the morrow, and never in wanton- 
 ness shalt thou take the life of any creature be- 
 
i6 The White Canoe 
 
 longing to the Kingdom of Waters. Hear and 
 heed, lest the anger of Unk-te-ha come upon you 
 and he slay you." 
 
 Now Nanabozho was a great fisherman. Every 
 creature of the Under-Water World knew him, 
 and when he went forth on the Gitchee-Gumee in 
 his canoe of birch-bark up from the green and 
 shadowy depths came the pike and the sturgeon, 
 came all the fish in the Kingdom of Waters, and 
 sported about the canoe and played with the bait 
 of Nanabozho. 
 
 Cunning were they and very active, and as 
 they dived and darted in the water they dared the 
 skill of Nanabozho, and mocked and taunted when 
 he could not take them. 
 
 Then the anger of Nanabozho arose strong 
 against them, and taking his magic line of twisted 
 cedar he threw it far across the water. Quickly 
 the fishes dropped to the floor of the Gitchee- 
 Gumee, for they feared the magic line of Nana- 
 bozho. But the line was long and soon it found 
 them, and without hook or bait it drew them, 
 until Nanabozho covered the bottom of his Ghee- 
 maun with the panting and helpless bodies of his 
 
And Other Legends 17 
 
 tormentors. The dropping sun warned him that 
 night was coming on, and when he drew his 
 canoe upon the shore, he found that it contained 
 more fish than he could eat in many days. 
 
 At evening, when Unk-te-ha came and walked 
 along the sandy beach he found the canoe of 
 Nanabozho and in it the fish that he had taken. 
 Then the anger of Unk-te-ha was great against 
 Nanabozho, because he had forgotten his com- 
 mands, and he determined to punish him, that 
 never again should a mortal forget or defy the 
 wrath of the God of Waters. 
 
 Long Unk-te-ha pondered how he might take 
 Nanabozho and make of him an example to the 
 people forever, for he was wise and great and 
 very cunning ; more cunning by far than any crea- 
 ture in all the Upper World, and Unk-te-ha knew 
 of none in all his kingdom wise and great 
 enough to capture Nanabozho. 
 
 So he called a council of his people that they 
 might talk together and choose one of their 
 number for the task. At his command the White 
 Loon, the door-keeper of the Under- Water World, 
 went forth and bade the people come to the coun- 
 
1 8 The White Canoe 
 
 cil of Unk-te-ha. The Ken-o-zha, the Na-ma, 
 and all the fish that had sported about the canoe 
 of Nanabozho, and by their taunting made him 
 forget the commands of Unk-te-ha, came to the 
 council called to bring him to punishment. 
 
 Long ^hey talked and wise their councils, for 
 much they feared and much they hated Nana- 
 bozho, and while they talked and while they pon- 
 dered, up from the rivers and marshlands, like 
 a mist arose the smoke of their Puk-wa-nas. But 
 naught came of the great council, for when the 
 pipes were cold and empty, when the smoke had 
 all ascended, not one had been found who would 
 undertake to capture Nanabozho. 
 
 Then the council of Unk-te-ha was dissolved 
 and the anger of the Manitou of Waters was hot 
 against his own people for their cowardice as it 
 was against his enemy, Nanabozho, and Unk-te-ha 
 said: "No mortal shall forget my commands or 
 defy my laws, for if one goes unpunished then 
 will all my kingdom be despoiled. Nanabozho 
 shall be taken though I send all the waters of the 
 Gitchee-Gumee to overwhelm him." 
 
 On the same day as Nanabozho was baking a 
 
And Other Legends 19 
 
 fish before his camp-fire at evening, a Wawonaissa 
 flew into a bush near by and called to him : 
 
 "Leave your fish and flee to the mountains, 
 Nanabozho, for behold! the great Unk-te-ha is 
 angry, and he has sent the waters of the Gitchee- 
 Gumee to overwhelm you." 
 
 Nanabozho looked toward the spot where he 
 had left his canoe, and he saw the waters rising 
 high upon the shore, then he knew that the 
 Wawonaissa had spoken truly, and that the 
 Under-Water ]\Ianitou sought to destroy him. 
 So he left his fish on the twigs before the fire, 
 and as he fled he looked behind him and saw the 
 oncoming waters sweep over the spot and put out 
 his camf)-fire. 
 
 Far up the hillside he found a wolverine bur- 
 rowing into the earth. 
 
 "Hide me, hide me, my little brother!" Nana- 
 bozho cried. "Hide me deep in the ground, for 
 I have angered the great Unk-te-ha, and he has 
 sent the waters of the Gitchee-Gumee to over- 
 whelm me !" 
 
 "Come inside, my brother," the wolverine re- 
 plied, "and I will hide you so deep that no crea- 
 
20 The White Canoe 
 
 ture of the Under- Water World will ever find 
 you." 
 
 Into the burrow went Nanabozho with his little 
 brother, the wolverine, and they dug deep into 
 the heart of the mountain, casting the earth be- 
 hind them so that the opening was filled against 
 the pursuing waters. But all in vain was the 
 labor of the wolverine, for soon little rivulets 
 penetrated the burrow, and Nanabozho knew that 
 he would be imprisoned and starved by the up- 
 rising waters, if he was not drowned. 
 
 Then he besought the wolverine to open a way 
 for him on the other side of the mountain, as far 
 as might be from the shore of the Gitchee-Gumee, 
 but when Nanabozho looked out again upon the 
 earth, he saw that not upon the highest moun- 
 tain could he find safety. Over all the world 
 spread the waters of the Gitchee-Gumee, creeping 
 through the valleys, rising along the hillsides, and 
 in all the earth there was not a spot where they 
 might not find him. 
 
 Nanabozho knew that all his wisdom and 
 all his skill would be required to save 
 him from the anger of the God of Waters. 
 
And Other Legends 21 
 
 Then he remembered thai not he alone 
 would suffer, but all his friends of the 
 Upper World, so he determined to call a 
 council of his people, as the God of Waters had 
 done, that they might conspire together to save 
 themselves and defeat the revenge of Unk-te-ha. 
 
 So he sent the flying turtle, the messenger of 
 the Ojibways, abroad over the land with a mes- 
 sage to his people that they meet him in council. 
 
 Quickly they came at the summons of Nana- 
 bozlio, for was he not their elder brother, wise 
 and great and good to look upon, the beloved of 
 the Great Spirit ? From the meadows and the low- 
 lands, from the forests and the prairies, came the 
 friends of Nanabozho, — came the deer, the Skan- 
 odo, came the squirrel and the rabbit, came the 
 elk and the bison — all the friends of Nanabozho 
 swiftly came at his summons. 
 
 Then, as he filled a pipe with fragrant leaves 
 and gave it to them, thus spake Nanabozho : 
 
 "Hear me, O my brothers, for little time is left 
 for speaking. I have angered Unk-te-ha, the 
 Manitou of Waters, and because there was none 
 in his kingdom strong and brave enough to take 
 
22 The White Canoe 
 
 Nanabozho, he has sent all the waters of the 
 Gitchee-Gumee to overwhelm him. But behold, 
 O my brothers, not I alone must suffer but every 
 creature of the Upper World must perish that 
 Unk-te-ha be avenged. Shall it be so, my broth- 
 ers? Are we not yet strong and wise and cim- 
 ning enough to defeat the wrath of the God of 
 Waters and save ourselves? If you will but help 
 me we will show to the tribes of men that Unk- 
 te-ha is not a mighty Manitou but a Shau-go- 
 dai-a, who is not able to take the friends of 
 Nanabozho in battle. Let us built a raft, my 
 brothers, great and strong, so that every creature 
 of the Upper World may come upon it and be 
 saved." 
 
 Even as he spake they replied with one voice 
 of assent : "It shall be as our brother Nanabozho 
 wills. Let us build a raft which wnll float in 
 safety all the friends of Nanabozho, that they 
 may mock the anger of L'nk-te-ha!" 
 
 There upon the top of the mountain they built 
 the raft. Strong and firm they made it, and 
 when the rising waters lifted it from the summit 
 on it were gathered in safety all the friends 
 
And Other Legends 23 
 
 of Nanabozho, all the animals of the forests and 
 the prairies, but no creature of his own kind was 
 with Nanabozho on the raft. 
 
 Many days they floated on the waters and 
 around the raft came the people of the kingdom 
 of Unk-te-ha to mock and taunt them, for now 
 that there were no lands to hunt in, no fields of 
 rice, and corn, and berries, they hoped that 
 Nanabozho and his friends would starve on the 
 raft which they had made. But it was not so, 
 for still they had the magic line of twisted cedar, 
 and when they cast it into the waters, they drew 
 up fish so that they had food enough and to 
 spare. 
 
 By and by the friends of Nanabozho wearied 
 of the raft and longed for the forests and prairies 
 of their own country. Then they determined to 
 send one of their number, that he might dive 
 into the water and find how far the land lay be- 
 low. The otter was the first to make the effort, 
 but after remaining long under the water he 
 came back without having found any trace of 
 land. Again he dived, but though they v/aited 
 and watched for him long, he never came back 
 
24 The White Canoe 
 
 to the raft, for Unk-te-ha lay in wait for him 
 and drew him into his lodge in the Under- 
 Water World, so that he might carry no mes- 
 sages to his brothers on the raft. 
 
 Again Nanabozho and his friends took council 
 together and the musk-rat was selected to go in 
 search of land. Long he remained under water, 
 so long that his brothers on the raft feared that 
 he, too, had been captured and carried to the 
 lodge of the Under- Water Manitou, but at last 
 his dead body appeared floating on the water and 
 was drawn up on the raft. 
 
 When Nanabozho examined the body of their 
 little brother, he found that the tightly closed 
 paws were filled with moist earth. Then he said 
 to his friends on the raft: ''Be happy, O my 
 brothers, for we are saved. The great Unk-te-ha 
 will never call back this flood that we may have 
 our own lands to hunt in, our own rivers to fish 
 in and our own fields to plant the Mondamin. 
 But the great Master of Life has seen our weari- 
 ness upon this raft, and has had pity on his peo- 
 ple, so he has sent a new earth that we may not 
 float forever on this flood of waters." 
 
And Other Legends 25 
 
 When Nanabozho had ceased speaking, he took 
 a bit of earth from the paw of the musk-rat, and, 
 rubbing it dry upon the palm of his hand, he held 
 it before his lips, and with the breath of his 
 mouth blew it far out upon the waters. Then 
 before their eyes, where the earth fell, there grew 
 up an island large enough to afford a resting place 
 for the raft. 
 
 "But what avails this barren island?" the 
 brothers of Nanabozho pleaded when once they 
 felt the solid earth beneath their feet. "There 
 are no forests and prairies, and nothing but fish 
 to eat. We are weary, O our elder brother, and 
 long for the green forests, the roaring rivers 
 and rushing winds of our Northland." 
 
 So they vexed Nanabozho with their complain- 
 ing until he made a lodge apart and went into it, 
 that by fasting and prayer he might learn of the 
 Gitchee Manitou how to relieve his brothers and 
 free himself of their repining. 
 
 Six days he remained in the fasting-lodge, 
 tasting no food until a Spirit came to him in his 
 dreams and told him the will of the Master of 
 Life concerning them. On the seventh day Nana- 
 
26 The White Canoe 
 
 bozho came out of the fasting-lodge and 
 asked food of his brothers. When he had 
 eaten, he arose and walked to the edge of the 
 water, and, taking up a handful of earth, he 
 rubbed it dry in the palm of his hand, and, hold- 
 ing it before his lips, with the breath of his mouth 
 he blew it out upon the water. Where it fell 
 there arose other earth and joined to the island, 
 and so he walked around the shore blowing hand- 
 fuls of earth upon the water, while his brothers 
 followed him and watched the island grow. 
 
 Many days Nanabozho worked as the Gitchee- 
 Manitou had directed him, stopping to rest 
 when he was weary, and eating the food that 
 was brought to him when he was hungry, until at 
 last the earth stretched behind him farther than 
 the eye could see. Then he sent out the Singebis 
 that she might go around the island and bring 
 back to him word of its size. Each day he sent 
 out scouts, and, as it took them longer and longer 
 to complete the circuit, he knew how rapidly the 
 island grew. 
 
 At last there came a day when the messenger 
 did not return, neither the next nor the next, and 
 
And Other Legends 27 
 
 Nanabozho knew that it had grown to be a great 
 land, with broad prairies and mighty forests, with 
 rushing rivers and placid lakes, and that his 
 brothers who were with him on the raft, were now 
 scattered abroad over it never to be gathercvl to- 
 gether again. 
 
 While Xanabozho pondered on the strange and 
 wonderful thing which had happened, a beautiful 
 light began to steal across the sky and drop its 
 reflection in the water ; a light such as he had 
 never seen before, tender like the glow in the east 
 at morning, and trembling like the silver track of 
 the moon on the water. Brighter and brighter 
 it grew, until it took upon itself a shape like unto 
 the curve of his bow of ash wood, and glorious 
 with the dyes of all the flowers that grew upon 
 the Muskoday in springtime. 
 
 Then, while Nanabozho gazed in awe and won- 
 der, the White Loon came floating to him along 
 the curve of the many-colored bow, and as she 
 sailed straight to his feet, this is the message she 
 bore: 
 
 ''It is a sign to you, my brother, that the Unk- 
 te-ha has forgiven, and that never again will 
 
28 The White Canoe 
 
 there be enmity between the children of earth 
 and the people of the Under-Water World. Cast 
 your line into the water and you will find an offer- 
 ing from Unk-te-ha, and as long as you shall see 
 the many-colored bow in the heavens you will 
 know that the Manitou of Waters is your friend." 
 
 Then Nanabozho cast his line into the water 
 as the White Loon had directed, but when he 
 would pull it in he felt it draw and tighten so that 
 all his strength was required to bring it to shore. 
 When it was done he found a great fish upon the 
 sand at his feet, armored with bone and striped 
 like a w^arrior with war paint. It was the Nishe- 
 Nama, the King of Fishes, an offering of good- 
 will from Unk-te-ha to Nanabozho. 
 
 So Nanabozho stripped the bark from the 
 birch trees and made him a ivigwam to live in. 
 A bow of ash wood also made he, and with ar- 
 rows filled his quiver. Into the forest he went 
 once more to hunt the bear, and deer and bison. 
 At night he cooked his meat before the camp-fire, 
 and smoked his pipe filled with leaves and bark 
 of willows. But Nanabozho was lonely, for there 
 was no one to hear his stories and smoke a pipe 
 
And Other Legends 29 
 
 with him beside the camp-fire, and he longed for 
 one of his own kind to bear him company. 
 
 Again he built a wigwam apart and went into 
 it to fast, that the Master of Life might look upon 
 him in his loneliness and send other people to be 
 with him upon the earth. 
 
 Six days he fasted and no food passed his lips. 
 On the seventh day as he lay on his mat of rushes 
 weak with hunger, a voice came to him out of 
 the sky, saying: 
 
 "1 have heard your prayers, O Nanabozho, and 
 seen your fasting. It is not given me to enter 
 the dwellings of men, but you may come to the 
 lodge of the Gitchee-Manitou that we may take 
 council together how the new earth may be peo- 
 pled with those of your own kind." 
 
 As the voice ceased Nanabozho felt himself 
 slowly rising into the air until he passed through 
 an opening in the heavens and entered the lodge 
 of the Gitchee-Manitou. 
 
 Many days lasted the great council of Nana- 
 bozho and the Gitclue-Manitou, and many pipes 
 they smoked together while the great Master of 
 Life told him of the tribes that would be sent on 
 
30 The White Canoe 
 
 the earth and how he should rule them in love. 
 Then, when the council was ended, Nanabozlio 
 saw the heavens opened and heard the voice of 
 the Master of Life sayng : 
 
 "Go, my son, to a land and a people that will 
 be ready for you. Remember all the words I 
 have spoken to you that you rule them in kind- 
 ness and love. Let war and bloodshed cease, 
 and as long as the many-colored bow remains as 
 a sign of the peace of Unk-te-ha let there also be 
 peace among the tribes of men. Not in your own 
 body do I send you back, but as a great White 
 Eagle will you return to earth. Far below you, 
 where lies a shining spot like a bead of wampum 
 on a belt of green, Vv'ill you find the Big-Sea- 
 Water. In all the length and breadth of the new 
 land which I have made this spot I have kept as 
 the home of my chosen people. Here the forests 
 are greener, the meadows are fairer ; here are all 
 things needful for the life and happiness of my 
 people, and from the dawn of Seg-wun, the 
 Spring, vmtil the coming of Pe-bo-an, the Win- 
 ter, the land is as fair as the smile of the Grca*^^ 
 Spirit can make it. Go, my son, and when you 
 
And Other Legends 31 
 
 reach the shores of the shining Big-Sea- Water, 
 pluck from beneath your wings the soft and 
 downy feathers, and scatter them on the earth. 
 Do all things as I have commanded you, for I 
 speak with you face to face no more until you 
 come to me in the Islands of the Blessed, in the 
 land of Ponemah !" 
 
 Thus Nanabozho left the lodge and council 
 t)f the Gitchee-Manitou, and came back to earth 
 in the form of a great White Eagle, but as he 
 drew near the shores of the Big-Sea- Water he 
 saw no sign of the people whom he had been told 
 would be there to receive him. Yet Nanabozho 
 doubted not, for he knew that the Master of Life 
 could not lie ; and, remembering all things that 
 he had told him, he plucked the white and downy 
 feathers from beneath his v/ings and scattered 
 them along the shore. Then he looked behind 
 him, where the feathers had fallen to the earth, 
 and he saw men and women walking where none 
 had been before. And Xanabozho knew that thus 
 was fulfilled the promise of the Gitchee-Manitou 
 that he should not be left alone, and that thus he 
 had sent his chosen people upon the earthy 
 
32 The White Canoe 
 
 And to-day, along the shores of the Big-Sea- 
 Water are the lodges and the camp-fires, the 
 hunting-grounds and the corn fields of a peace- 
 ful and happy people — the people whom the Great 
 Spirit sent to earth on the wings of Nanabozho, 
 and we call them the Ojibways. 
 
11 
 
 ,1 
 
 \\\ 
 
 1 
 
 1,1 
 
 Vi.i. ,0 ii'l 
 
 ■r 1 lull ''!'' I ■ 
 
 i; 1,1 ,1 :l iMli'.i ' 
 
 u 
 
And Other Legends 33 
 
 THE DAUGHTERS OF THE STARS. 
 
 WAU-PEE, the White Hawk, Hved alone 
 in his lodge in the midst of tlie 
 forest. It was not because Wau-pee was old, 
 or ugly, or feeble that he lived alone, for he 
 was young, and straight, and strong, and many 
 of the maidens in the village followed him with 
 tender glances wdien he came to join the young 
 men in their games and the old men in their coun- 
 
 cils. 
 
 It was only because Wau-pee loved the still- 
 ness of the forest better than the chattering of 
 women in his wigwam that he cooked his own 
 food and kept his own lodge-fire burning. Never 
 once did he look back to meet the tender glances 
 of the maidens, and never once did he linger in 
 the village when the games and councils were 
 ended, for his heart w^ent after the rippling waters 
 and singing winds and his own wigwam in the 
 dim forest 
 
34 The White Canoe 
 
 When Wau-pee put arrows into his quiver and 
 went forth into the forest to hunt, he came not 
 home empty-handed. There were skins in his 
 lodge, and wampum, and food, and the voices of 
 the forest spoke to the soul of the White Hawk, 
 so he lived alone, remote from the villages of his 
 people, and he was rich and happy. 
 
 But one day there came a change. The sing- 
 ing of the wind sounded not so sweet to Wau- 
 pee, but mournfully sighed around the wigwam 
 until his heart grew heavy with loneliness and he 
 longed for a human voice to answer to his own. 
 At night sleep departed from his eyelids and he 
 lay until morning staring into the darkness and 
 longing for the dawn. 
 
 Many days and many nights Wau-pee strug- 
 gled with the silence and darkness and with the 
 strange unrest which had come upon his spirit; 
 then one day he arose at daybreak and said : 'T 
 will go to the village and bring back a wife to be 
 with me in the wigwam, to laugh and sing and 
 make merry, for this loneliness is greater than I 
 can bear." 
 
 Then Wau-pee dressed himself in all his rich- 
 
And Other Legends 35 
 
 est garments, trimmed with wampum, decked 
 with feathers, and went into the village to find 
 him a wife. But where once they had followed 
 him with tender glances, the maidens now looked 
 upon him coldly, and not one was found to re- 
 spond to his tardy wooing. So Wau-pee left the 
 village and turned his face again toward his 
 lodge in the forest, but now his heart was heavy 
 and the singing of the wind and the laughter of 
 the waters drew him not as they had done be- 
 fore. 
 
 Longer and lonelier grew the days from dawn 
 to darkness, and drearier the nights, for Ne-pah- 
 win, the Spirit of Sleep, had departed from the 
 lodge of the White Hawk, and now he knew that 
 he should not find a wife among the daughters 
 of his people and no longer could the voices of 
 the forest satisfy. 
 
 Then, one day Wau-pee came to himself and 
 found that he was weak and faint with long fast- 
 ing and there was nothing to eat in the lodge, so 
 he put arrows into his quiver and went forth to 
 find food. But his heart was not in the chase, 
 and he walked with his head bowed and his eyes 
 
36 The White Canoe 
 
 bent unheeding on the ground, so that he saw not 
 the track of the red deer that crossed his path- 
 way and there was nothing to lure him aside or 
 tempt the arrows from his quiver. 
 
 At last he came to the end of the forest and 
 found himself standing on the border of a beau- 
 tiful grassy plain. It was sprinkled with many 
 colored flowers, and in the center was a circle 
 worn as by the tramping of many feet. Wau- 
 pee looked in wonder at the flowery plain, with 
 its circling pathway, for he knew that no animals 
 of the forest and no creatures of his own kind 
 could have made it without leaving some trace of 
 their coming and their departure. 
 
 While Wau-pee stood in the edge of the for- 
 est gazing at this strange sight, the sound of 
 music came faintly to his ears. Not from the 
 forest behind him, nor yet from the plain lying 
 out before, but dropping from the sky above 
 came the sounds, nearer and nearer, silvery and 
 sweet, such music as Wau-pee had never heard. 
 Now it seemed directly overhead, and as he 
 looked up he saw a strange object descending out 
 of the heavens ; and, straining his eager eyes, he 
 
And Other Legends 37 
 
 discerned it to be a great basket in which sat 
 twelve women. 
 
 Then Wau-pee remembered the stories the 
 old men in the village had told him of the twelve 
 Daughters of the Stars ; how a man once having 
 looked upon them, never saw beauty in the face 
 of another woman, and once having heard the 
 alluring music of their voices, never found peace 
 on the earth again. Strange stories they had 
 told of these beautiful maidens who only came 
 to earth to tempt and try the souls of men, but 
 who never might wed with mortals or live in the 
 country below the stars. 
 
 Straight tow^ard the center of the circle came 
 the great basket, and as it drew near Wau-pee 
 saw that all the old men had told him of their 
 beauty was true, for he had seen none to compare 
 with them, not in the villages of his own people 
 nor in the lodges of stranger tribes. 
 
 He saw that each maiden carried two slender 
 wands tipped w^ith silver balls, and as the basket 
 touched the earth they leaped out and danced 
 and whirled around the magic circle, striking to- 
 gether the balls as they danced. 
 
38 The White Canoe 
 
 Wilder and wilder grew the dance and more 
 alluringly sweet the music. The eyes of the 
 maidens glowed under their flying tresses, and 
 their voices mingled with the silver clashing of 
 the balls. Wau-pee's pulses leaped and the blood 
 coursed tingling through his veins. Forgotten 
 were the warnings of the old men, forgotten the 
 fate of the young men who had suffered their 
 hearts to go after the Daughters of the Stars. 
 All his soul was consumed with the desire to 
 capture one of the dancing maidens and carry 
 her away to be his wife and live with him in his 
 wigwam in the forest. 
 
 Slowly he crept forward from his hiding place, 
 gliding stealthily from tree to tree, until he 
 reached a point near the magic circle ; then, as 
 the youngest and most beautiful of the maidens 
 whirled past him, he sprang toward her with out- 
 stretched arms. 
 
 Swift as were his movements, the Daughters 
 of the Stars were svv'ifter, and before he could 
 reach the magic circle they v;ere all safely in the 
 basket and ascending into the sky. 
 
 Sad and disappointed, Wau-pee returned to 
 
And Other Legends 39 
 
 his lodge to meditate alone upon the beauty of 
 the maidens and the sweetness of their voices. 
 Next day when he went into the forest he put 
 no arrows into his quiver, for the necessity of 
 food was forgotten, and the only desire remain- 
 ing in the breast of the White Hawk was that he 
 might again behold the beautiful Daughters of 
 the Stars. 
 
 Straight toward the flowery plain he made his 
 way. Hoping to approach nearer the maidens, 
 he resolved to use the magic power acquired at 
 his first fasting; and, changing himself into the 
 form of an opossum, he concealed himself behind 
 a fallen log and awaited their coming. 
 
 Again he heard the far, sweet music falling 
 from the sky, and then the basket came in sight 
 bearing the twelve sisters to their playground on 
 the flowery plain. Leaping out of the basket, 
 they struck all the silvery balls together until the 
 air tingled and vibrated with the sound, and as 
 they whirled past his hiding place Wau-pec 
 heard the rustling of their garments and caught 
 the nearer gleam of their starry eyes. 
 
 Stealing from behind the fallen log, he made 
 
40 The White Canoe 
 
 his way cautiously toward the circle, but sud- 
 denly the music stopped with a crash, and before 
 the White Hawk could advance or retreat the 
 maidens had leaped into the car and were rising 
 into the air. 
 
 Again Wau-pee returned in sorrow to his 
 lodge. Now he had looked longer upon the Star- 
 Maidens, and all beauty had departed from the 
 earth. There was naught in the voices of the 
 forest, in the rushing of the rivers, in the echoes 
 of the mountains, or the smiling, silent valleys to 
 satisfy the soul of the White Hawk. Only when 
 the stars of evening trembled in the sky above 
 him did he gaze enrapt and dreaming of the 
 tender, radiant beauty of the Daughters of the 
 Starland, daughters of the chieftain O-jis-hon-da. 
 
 Another night Wau-pee spent beside his lodge- 
 fire planning how he might outw^it them and cap- 
 ture one of the maidens to be his wife. 
 
 Again he left his bow and arrows in the wig- 
 wam and went out to the flowery plain beyond 
 the forest. As he looked about, seeking how 
 he might hide himself near the magic circle, 
 he beheld the trunk of a dead tree standing 
 
And Other Legends 41 
 
 beside the pathway, and about it were some 
 field-mice scampering in and out the hollow 
 spaces. Then the thought came to Wau-pee 
 to take upon himself the form of one of 
 these small creatures that he might easier ap- 
 proach the maidens unobserved. 
 
 As on other days the basket descended heralded 
 by the music of the silver balls. But now the 
 Daughters of the Stars had grown very cautious 
 and they did not begin their dance at once, but 
 looked about to see if there might be a spy upon 
 their movements. There was nothing in sight 
 save the trunk of a dead tree with the mice scam- 
 pering about it,, but as if to make sure that noth- 
 ing larger could be hidden within, the youngest 
 of the sisters approached and struck it a blow 
 with her silver ball. And then there sprang up 
 at her side a tall young man, who seized her in 
 his arms and bore her away into the forest. In 
 vain she called to her sisters for help, for they, 
 seeing that they could not save her, sprang into 
 the car and arose quickly into the air. 
 
 Very tenderly Wau-pee comforted the Star- 
 Maiden as he bore her away to his lodge in the 
 
42 The White Canoe 
 
 forest. The wands with their silver balls he con- 
 cealed beneath a heap of skins, that there might 
 be nothing to remind her of the life from which 
 he had taken her, and then with gentle wooing 
 he won the heart of the Star-Maiden until she 
 became reconciled to have for her husband the 
 brave and handsome White Hawk. 
 
 Very happy were the lovers. Wau-pee taught 
 the Star-Maiden how to cook their food and dress 
 the skins, and to make beautiful their garments 
 with quills, and dyes, and wampum; and as she 
 sat beside him and listened to his stories while she 
 worked, she forgot her sisters in Starland and the 
 magic circle on the flowery plain. 
 
 But bye and bye, when many moons had passed 
 Wau-pee went again to the forest to hunt, and 
 the Star-Maiden was left alone in the lodge. 
 Then her thoughts returned to her sisters and to 
 her aged father O-jis-hon-da, who had sorely 
 missed her and grieved for her many days. Very 
 long and lonely were the hours while Wau-pee 
 was awav in the forest, for there were no voices 
 to speak to the maiden, and more and more her 
 
And Other Legends 43 
 
 heart went after her own people and her own 
 home in the distant Starland. 
 
 One day she found the silver balls, w^hich Wau- 
 pee had hidden when first he brought her to his 
 lodge. When she struck them together and their 
 music smote her ear, all her soul awoke with 
 longing, and she knew that the decree of the 
 Master of Life must be fulfilled, and that it was 
 not given her to live among mortals or to find 
 happiness below the Stars. 
 
 Day after day Wau-pee left the lodge with his 
 bow and arrows, and day after day the maiden 
 remained alone with only the music of the silver 
 balls for company. When Wau-pee returned at 
 evening he found her moving with slow step and 
 eyes heavy as a sky overcast with rain-clouds. 
 
 Thus passed the Moon of Snow-Shoes, then 
 the ice melted in the lakes and rivers, and the 
 snow disappeared from the sheltered coves and 
 hollows in the forest. Along the streams appeared 
 the tender green of sprouting rushes and the trees 
 in the forest flushed with swelling buds. Seg- 
 wun, the Spring, had breathed upon the meadows 
 and the song of O-wa-issa was heard in the land. 
 
44 The White Canoe 
 
 Then the maiden remembered the flowery plain 
 where she had danced with her sisters through 
 many Summers, and her heart grew sick with 
 longing and her eyes heavy with weeping, so that 
 when Wau-pee came home from the hunt he 
 found no kettle bubbling over the fire and no fish 
 baking on the coals. 
 
 One day after the White Hawk had left the 
 lodge the maiden went out to the meadows and 
 returning with an armful of rushes she fell to 
 braiding a basket. All day her fingers moved 
 swiftly, in and out among the rushes, weaving 
 them close and strong, and while she worked she 
 sang softly to herself, the same strange, alluring 
 music to which she had danced with her sisters 
 on the flowery plain. Then when evening came 
 she hid the basket under a heap of skins and 
 hung the kettle over the lodge-fire, that there 
 might be food ready against Wau-pee's return. 
 There were no tears that night in the eyes of the 
 Star-Maiden as they shone on the White Hawk 
 from the shadows beyond the lodge-fire, but they 
 glowed strange and mysterious in the dusk, 
 
And Other Legends 45 
 
 thrilling but remote as the lamps that shone in 
 the sky above them. 
 
 On the next day and the next, after Wau-pee 
 had gone out into the forest, the Star-Maiden 
 brought forth the basket of rushes from its hid- 
 ing place and braided and sang until the coming 
 of evening. At last the basket was finished and 
 for many days it lay hidden under the heap of 
 skins, for now that all things were ready for her 
 departure the heart of the Star-Maiden yearned 
 over her brave and handsome husband, and she 
 longed to carry him with her to her own home in 
 Starland. But this was not permitted her, and 
 one balmy day in the Moon of Leaves, after Wau- 
 pee had gone away into the forest, she brought 
 forth the basket and hurried with it through 
 the forest. Running, stumbling over stumps and 
 stones and roots of trees, she made her way to 
 the flowery plain. Straight to the center of the 
 circle she bore the basket, and, seating herself in 
 it, she struck together the silver balls. Once, 
 twice, thrice, then she lifted her voice in the 
 strange, sweet chant which had entranced the ears 
 of the White Hawk on that first day when he be- 
 
46 The White Canoe 
 
 held the Daughters of the Stars descending to 
 earth. 
 
 Loud and clear rang her voice, mingling with 
 the crash of the silver balls, and as she sang she 
 forgot the brave and handsome White Hawk, for- 
 got the lodge that she had left in the forest, forgot 
 everything save her sisters and her father, the old 
 chief of Starland, whom she had not seen for 
 many moons. 
 
 Now Wau-pee, weary and unsuccessful in the 
 hunt, was returning to his lodge, when suddenly 
 there came to him on the wind the sound of dis- 
 tant music. Then his feet halted in the forest 
 pathway, and his heart stood still in his breast, 
 for he knew it to be the same alluring music which 
 heralded the arrival and departure of the Daugh- 
 ters of the Stars. But now there was only one 
 voice singing, the voice which for twelve moons 
 had made music in his own wigwam. 
 
 Fleet as the swiftest deer, Wau-pee sped 
 toward the plain, but when he reached the border 
 of the forest he saw a car in which sat one woman 
 ascending into the sky, and then he knew that it 
 was as the old men had told him and that a 
 
And Other Legends 47 
 
 Daughter of the Stars might never Hve upon the 
 earth. In vain he lifted his voice in entreaty to 
 her to return. Higher and higher arose the basket 
 and fainter and fainter grew the music which fell 
 from it, until the last sounds melted away into 
 silence and the receding speck disappeared from 
 the sky. 
 
 Then Wau-pee returned to his lodge lonely and 
 sorrowful as he had been before the coming of 
 the Star-Maiden. He went out no more to fish 
 and hunt, and again Ne-pah-win departed from 
 his wigwam. 
 
 Very happy for awhile was the maiden with her 
 sisters, so happy that there came no thought of 
 Wau-pee and his lodge in the deep forest. In 
 their magic car they journeyed over the kingdom 
 of O-jis-hon-da, and all the plains of heaven were 
 illumined in honor of the return of the Daughter 
 of the Stars, so that the people on the earth below 
 marveled at the wonderful brilliance of the eve- 
 ning sky. But bye and bye the grieving of Wau- 
 pee reached her from his lonely lodge in the 
 forest, and she knew that he was wasted with 
 famine and weak with fasting, and that already 
 
48 The White Canoe 
 
 Pau-guk, the Death Phantom, was lurking near 
 him in the shadows. 
 
 Then the Star-Maiden grew lonely and sad, 
 and she sang no more with her sisters, neither 
 did she go with them on their journeys over the 
 plains of Starland. Her heart was with her hus- 
 band on the earth, and she longed to be with him 
 and to comfort him in his loneliness. 
 
 One day 0-jis-hon-da called his daughter to 
 him and said: 'T have beheld your sadness, my 
 daughter, and it is my will that all about me 
 should be happy. It is not permitted that a Daugh- 
 ter of the Stars should live upon the earth, neither 
 may you now be satisfied in Starland without 
 your lover. Take the basket and silver balls and 
 go back to earth and bring the White Hawk to 
 live with us in the Land of the Stars. But tell 
 him that as an offering for his bride he must bring 
 to us, not blankets, and skins, and wampum, but 
 he must bring to us one of every creature that 
 walks or flies or crawls upon the earth. The 
 basket is small and they are many, but if the 
 White Hawk is wise enough to become the son 
 of O-jis-hon-da he will find a way." 
 
And Other Legends 49 
 
 Then the Daughter of the Stars took the basket 
 and did as she was commanded, but her heart was 
 very heavy, for she knew not how Wau-pee could 
 bring the offering which her father required. 
 
 She found him sitting in his lodge weak and 
 faint from fasting, but when she looked into his 
 eyes, her own wet and gleaming, and gave to him 
 the message of O-jis-hon-da, his gaunt form 
 straightened and he said : "Fear not, Ne-ne- 
 moo-sha, it shall be as he wills. I go to fulfill his 
 commands, and we shall be separated no more. 
 Wait for me with patience, and before another 
 moon shall wane I will carry to your father one 
 of every creature that walks, or flies, or crawls 
 below the stars." 
 
 Then Wau-pee arose and ate the food which 
 the Star-Maiden set before him, and prepared for 
 the work that was assigned him. New arrows he 
 made for his quiver, keen and strong and winged 
 with feathers; traps and snares he made, and 
 long lines of twisted cedar. Along the streams 
 and lakes he hid the snares and laid the lines, and 
 swift on the trail of the animals in the forest he 
 sped with his bow and arrows. 
 
50 The White Canoe 
 
 Well did Wau-pee, the White Hawk, work, and 
 well did he use all his skill and cunning, and every 
 night when he came home to his lodge he brought 
 beaks, and wings, and skins, and claws of the crea- 
 tures that he had taken. When the Star-Maiden 
 beheld what he w^as doing she knew^ that it was 
 true, as she had told her father, and that Wau- 
 pee was w'ise and great enough to become the son 
 of the Chief of the Stars. 
 
 At last the work was finished and Wau-pee and 
 the Star-Maiden were taken up into the skies 
 with the trophies which he had gathered, and 
 when O-jis-hon-da saw how cunningly had been 
 fulfilled his commands, he said : "Welcome to the 
 Land of the Stars, my son, to a place among my 
 people and to rule over them in my stead. The 
 great Master of Life did not bless me with a son 
 and to the husband of my youngest and best loved 
 daughter it is given to become the ruler of the 
 Land of the Stars." 
 
 Then O-jis-hon-da made a great feast and 
 called his people together that they might cele- 
 brate the marriage of his daughter and behold the 
 strange things w^hich her husband had brought 
 
And Other Legends 51 
 
 from the country below the stars. Forth through 
 all his dominions went messengers bearing wands 
 of willow, and in great companies they came to 
 the feast, gorgeous in feathers and paint and belts 
 of wampum, to do honor to O-jis-hon-da, and to 
 celebrate the marriage of his daughter. 
 
 When they had eaten of the food that O-jis- 
 hon-da had prepared for them, the twelve 
 Daughters of the Stars took up their silver wands, 
 and striking the balls together all the people 
 danced and whirled about the plains of heaven 
 until those on the earth looked up and said, "Be- 
 hold, the stars are falling !'' and where the flowing 
 locks and floating garments of O-jis-hon-da left a 
 shining trail of light behind him, they said, "It 
 is Ish-koo-dah, the comet." 
 
 Wearied of the dance, they sat down upon the 
 ground to rest, and the daughters of O-jis-hon-da 
 brought bark of willow and tobacco and filled 
 their pipes for smoking. Then Wau-pee brought 
 into their midst the basket filled with the trophies 
 he had gathered, and at the command of O-jis- 
 hon-da, distributed them to the people. To one 
 he gave a claw, to another a beak, to another a 
 
52 The White Canoe 
 
 wing; as his hand found them in the basket, the 
 White Hawk distributed them among the people. 
 
 Then a strange and confusing thing happened. 
 As the guests received their tokens from the hand 
 of Wau-pee, in the twinkhng of an eye they were 
 changed to birds and beasts and creeping things 
 and fled away from the feast of O-jis-hon-da, 
 away even from the Land of the Stars back to the 
 earth whence the trophies were taken. 
 
 When Wau-pee saw what had happened and 
 knew that he was alone with his bride in the Land 
 of the Stars, he said : ''Behold, my beloved, we 
 will not follow them back to earth, where there 
 is cold and darkness, and famine and pestilence, 
 and where death at last will divide us. I have 
 won you according to the will of O-jis-hon-da to 
 be my wife and to live with me forever. This is 
 a sign, my beloved," and he caught in his palm 
 two tears that dropped from her eyes. "Behold 
 one is for me and one for thee. We go not back 
 to earth, but forever remain in the heavens side 
 by side." 
 
 And to this day there is seen among the serene 
 and shining lights of heaven two stars set side by 
 
And Other Legends 53 
 
 side, that those of eartfi who look upon them 
 may learn from the story of Wau-pee and his 
 bride, that not Here nor Hereafter, may the souls 
 of those who love truly be divided. 
 
54 The White Canoe 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE ROBIN. 
 
 /^ NCE upon a time there lived in the coun- 
 try of the Ojibways, an old man who had 
 one son. Now he had been a great warrior 
 in the days when he led his people in battle, and 
 many of the enemies' strong men had he slain. 
 Fleet of foot was he also, so that only the deer 
 of the forest could out-run him ; strong of arm 
 was he, and when in their games the young men 
 wrestled together there was none in all the tribe 
 able to stand before him. 
 
 So the pride of the old man was very great, 
 and when at last age came upon him and dimmed 
 his eye, and withered his arm, and made his feet 
 to halt where once they had gone so swiftly, he 
 sat alone and sad in his lodge, and thought of the 
 triumphs of his youth. Then his eyes turned 
 toward the son of his old age, and his heart 
 yearned that in him might be restored the glories 
 
r 
 
 
 II 11'^ 
 
 'ill h'-- 
 
 i'v,ii 'I U,l 
 
 I. I 
 
 t , I 
 
And Other Legends 55 
 
 of the years that had departed. And as the youth 
 grew the father's ambition grew with him, until 
 naught was left in the old man's heart save a fierce 
 and impatient longing to see this his son fulfill all 
 his desires and become a mighty man among his 
 people. 
 
 Now, a kind and gentle lad was the son of the 
 old warrior, who well deserved his father's love ; 
 but not in battle would he lead his people, and not 
 in the sports of the young men would he excel, 
 for the strength of the father's arm, the swiftness 
 of the father's foot, and the courage of the fa- 
 ther's heart, had not descended to this his son. 
 Mild and gentle as a woman was he, with eyes 
 like a faw^n's and a countenance beautiful to look 
 on, but only when driven by the father's upbraid- 
 ings could he be induced to join the young men 
 of the village in their ball play and wrestling, 
 or follow them in the hunt. 
 
 But still the old warrior nursed his ambition 
 over the lodge-fire and looked forward to the 
 time when his son would make his first fast, for 
 even though he lacked swiftness, and strength, 
 and courage, if so be he possessed endurance, he 
 
56 The White Canoe 
 
 might fast longer than any other lad of the tribe, 
 and so win the favor of the great Master of Life, 
 who would make him a leader among his people. 
 At last the long looked for time arrived, and 
 the father's heart grew hot with anxiety that his 
 son, who had so sorely disappointed his hopes, 
 might have strength and endurance for the ordeal 
 before him. So he built him a fasting-lodge apart 
 from the village on the bank of a small stream, 
 and spreading a mat upon the floor, he left him 
 with many exhortations to courage and endur- 
 ance. 
 
 Day after day, and night after night the lad 
 lay on the mat with his face covered, and every 
 day the father came to encourage him, and tell 
 of the honor and renown that would be his if he 
 was strong and kept his fast for twelve days. 
 At night the youth's dreams were strange and 
 fitful, but nothing foretold the greatness which 
 his father coveted. Weak, and faint, and hag- 
 gard he grew with the long fast, and when his 
 father came on the ninth day he found him prone 
 on the mat and half-dead with hunger. Feebly 
 he plead with his father that he might be allowed 
 
And Other Legends 57 
 
 to break his fast, for that night in his dreams 
 the Spirits had foretold of disaster if he per- 
 sisted in the ambitious undertaking. 
 
 But the father hardened his heart to the lad's 
 pleading and to the warning of the Spirits, while 
 he bade him keep his fast but one day longer. 
 Every lad in the village had fasted nine days, and 
 what availed it for a weakling like himself to do 
 no better? He craved great gifts from the Master 
 of Life, and if he would have them, he must make 
 a great sacrifice. It was only because he was 
 weak and cowardly that he begged for food. Only 
 one day more and perhaps the Great Spirit would 
 give him strength for another and still another, 
 then he would go back to the village honored 
 above all his companions and respected by the 
 old men. Only one day more! and the old man 
 turned away, leaving the lad lying on his mat in 
 the fasting-lodge. 
 
 Then the father determined that not because of 
 his yielding should the youth fail in his endeavor, 
 so not the next day nor the next did he go to the 
 fasting-lodge without the village, but on the morn- 
 ing of the twelfth day he awoke with a strange 
 
^8 The White Canoe 
 
 foreboding in his heart for the lad whom he had 
 left alone so long in his weakness and hunger, 
 and, taking food, he hurried away to the lodge on 
 the bank of the stream. 
 
 As the old man approached he heard voices 
 within, and, drawing nearer, he recognized the 
 voice of his son speaking to himself. Cautiously 
 he approached, and lifting the curtain before the 
 door, he saw the lad standing in the center of the 
 lodge painting his body with red paint and speak- 
 ing as if to an invisible listener while he worked : 
 
 "The ambition of my father has driven away 
 the Good Spirits," the lad said, "but I have 
 obeyed, and the Great iMaster of Life will not let 
 me suffer longer. He has called me to another 
 existence, where food and shelter will be pro- 
 vided for me, and where my pathway will be light 
 as air. Not in leaping and running, not in war 
 and bloodshed could I win honor and renown, so 
 he has given wings to my halting feet, and or- 
 dered my life in ways of happiness and peace." 
 
 "My son, my son! Comfort of my old age, 
 leave me not !'' the old man cried, dropping on his 
 knees before the bov. 
 
And Other Legends 59 
 
 For a moment the youth looked down upon 
 his father with pity in his eyes, then he said : 
 
 ''Regret me not, Kne-ha, my father ; it was not 
 given me to be a great hunter and warrior, and 
 for you there remained disappointment and bit- 
 terness. The Great Spirit creates us as he thinks 
 best, and not by long fasting and prayer may we 
 change our condition in life and turn aside his 
 will concerning us. Sorrow not for me, for I shall 
 be happy ; neither fear my anger, for in token of 
 my good will you will always find me near the 
 dwellings of men. I shall be their friend and shall 
 become to them a harbinger of joy and peace." 
 
 As he spoke, he spread the bright vermillion 
 dyes over his breast and shoulders as far as he 
 could reach, then, lifting his arms above his head, 
 he disappeared through the smoke-flue to be seen 
 no more ; but outside on the tallest lodge pole 
 perched a robin red-breast caroling a new song 
 among the melodies of the birds. And from that 
 day to this, the 0-pe-chee, the robin, has been 
 the friend of mankind, making his home near 
 their dwellings and receiving his food at their 
 hands, and none is found cruel enough to turn an 
 arrow against him. 
 
6o The White Canoe 
 
 THE ENCHANTED MOCCASINS. 
 
 TT was many years before Me-sha-way, the 
 Little Elk, knew that there were any other 
 people in the world beside himself and his 
 sister, Yo-yo-hon-to. It mattered very little to 
 Me-sha-way, for he was never lonely: the birds 
 in the trees sang to him, the animals in the forest 
 played with him, the stars in the sky shone on him, 
 and all the broad and beautiful earth was made 
 for Me-sha-way and his sister, Yo-yo-hon-to. 
 
 Then there were the Spirits of the Air that 
 spoke to him when he was alone in the forest. 
 Out of the wandering breezes that stirred the pine 
 trees, out of the vast silence around him, the 
 Spirits of the Air whispered strange things to the 
 soul of the Little Elk, things that moved, and 
 calmed, and thrilled him, but things for which 
 the tongue of Me-sha-way knew no speech nor 
 language. 
 
H 
 
 f 
 
 i •■ 
 
 ' 1 ' 
 
 ' 1 
 
 ' r 
 II 
 
 1 
 
 1 1 
 
 r ! 
 
 'I. 
 
 
 1 
 
 i M 
 
 li THE ENCHAXTED MOCCASINS 
 
And Other Legends 6i 
 
 Also, there were the Ne-ba-navv-baigs, the 
 Spirits of the Water, and sometimes the eyes of 
 Me-sha-\vay had ahnost seen them when he 
 looked long into the shadowy depths of the placid 
 lakes. Sometimes he had caught the glitter of the 
 wampum on their garments as they danced and 
 sported in the rapids, sometimes he had heard 
 their voices in the roar of the cataract and the 
 surging of the torrents, and always as he sat be- 
 side the falls in the river and looked into the 
 swirling mists that arose from them, he could 
 see tresses of their floating hair and tints of their 
 rainbow colored garments. 
 
 Then there was the sandy beach where the 
 Puk-wud-jies danced. True, ]\Ie-sha-way had 
 never seen them, but sometimes when he sat long 
 on moonlight nights, awaiting their coming, he 
 had heard faint sounds of distant music in the air 
 around and above him, and he knew they were 
 not far away, and when he returned to the sand 
 beach in the morning, he found the prints of many 
 tiny feet showing where Ihey had held their 
 revels after he grew weary and fell asleep. 
 
 \Mien Winter came upon the land and drove the 
 
62 The White Canoe 
 
 birds of the forest and the marshes away to the 
 Southland, the Puk-wud-jies danced no more on 
 the sandy beach, and the rivers and lakes were 
 roofed with ice, so that Me-sha-way saw no signs 
 of the rainbow garments of the Ne-ba-naw-baigs, 
 for they had gone to their warm safe lodges in the 
 Under-Water World. 
 
 Then Yo-yo-hon-to drew the curtain of skins 
 close over the lodge door to shut out the icy blast, 
 and that jNIe-sha-way might not grow lonely, she 
 told him stories while she taught him to string 
 his bow and wing his arrows that he might go out 
 into the winter forest and find for them food. 
 
 At first Yo-yo-hon-to's stories were all about 
 the birds and the beasts, the wind and the stars, 
 the Spirits of the Air and Water, and all the mys- 
 terious things of the Here and the Hereafter. She 
 showed him the shining pathway across the 
 heavens at night where the ghosts of the departed 
 pass back and forth from earth to the King- 
 dom of Ponemah. She told him of the rainbow 
 on the clouds by day, and that it is the Hereafter 
 of the flowers, where all that have bloomed on 
 earth are taken to bloom in the sky. She told 
 
And Other Legends 63 
 
 him of the War of the Winds and the Council of 
 the Stars. Many stories Yo-yo-hon-to told to her 
 brother, the Little Elk, so that he did not miss the 
 birds from the forest nor the flowers from the 
 meadows and forgot that the days were cold and 
 dark. 
 
 As Me-sha-way grew from childhood into man- 
 hood there was a change in the stories of Yo-yo- 
 hon-to. Now she told him of the great world 
 which lay many days' journey from their lodge, 
 where tribes of his own people lived together 
 in villages. She told him of great forests and 
 mighty rivers, of broad plains and green meadows 
 such as he had never seen. Strange stories she 
 told him of a Great Water where all the rivers 
 and all the streams in the world came together, 
 where one might paddle his canoe for many days 
 without coming to the end of it, and where he 
 might fish for many moons without taking all 
 the fish that were in it. She told him of the lodge 
 of the Under- Water ]\Ianitou which was beneath 
 the Big- Sea- Water, and how when the God of 
 Waters was angry, all tlie waves arose in fury 
 before the breath of his wrath, so that everything 
 
64 The White Canoe 
 
 upon the face of the Great Water was destroyed. 
 But most of all she told him of life in the vil- 
 lages, how they built their lodges, how they made 
 and decked their garments, of their wars and their 
 hunting, of their feasts and their councils. 
 
 Very wonderful were the stories of Yo-yo- 
 hon-to, and to encourage her in talking, Me-sha- 
 way heaped the pine cones on the lodge-fire and 
 turned the logs, sending the sparks in showers up 
 the smoke-flue, until at last Yo-yo-hon-to grew 
 weary, and wrapping herself in her blanket, lay 
 down to sleep. 
 
 Then Me-sha-way sat alone in the lodge, but 
 he forgot to keep the fire burning, and while he 
 mused it sputtered and died into ashes. Then 
 Ne-pah-win stole into the lodge and touched his 
 eyelids, and he, too, lay down on his bed of skins 
 to sleep. As he slept he dreamed strange dreams 
 of the people he had never seen, and of life in the 
 far-off villages. He dreamed of the wars and the 
 hunting, of the feasts and the dancing, and some- 
 times there came visions of maidens like Yo-yo- 
 lion-to, only younger and fairer than she, and 
 lheir hair was as the floating tresses of the Ne-ba- 
 
And Other Legends 65 
 
 naw-baigs, and their eyes bright and tender like 
 the stars of evening. 
 
 As the days went by Yo-yo-hon-to saw that Me- 
 sha-way was growing moody and unhappy. He 
 went no more to hunt and fish, but walked many 
 miles through the forest, and rowed many days on 
 the lake without taking fish or game. At night he 
 asked no more for stories, but sat gazing silently 
 into the fire until Yo-yo-hon-to laid down on her 
 bed and slept, and sometimes when she awoke in 
 the grey light of the morning, she saw him still 
 sitting over the dead lodge-fire. 
 
 Then Yo-yo-hon-to knew that the time was near 
 at hand of which the Shau-go-da-ya, the Old 
 Woman, had told her when she sent them away to 
 live alone in the Northland, the time when Me- 
 sha-way must return to their people, and when 
 many strange things should befall him. But Yo- 
 yo-hon-to thought on it in her heart and kept 
 still, for it was forbidden her to speak to Me-sha- 
 way, and only the Shau-go-da-ya could tell him 
 when the time was fully come. 
 
 At last Me-sha-way said to his sister, "I arn 
 lonely, Yo-yo-hon-to, and I am going to find the 
 
66 The White Canoe 
 
 villages of my people. I am going to see the 
 feasts and the dancing ; I am going to meet the 
 warriors and the women, and if the Great Spirit 
 so wills it, I shall bring back one to live with us 
 in the wigwam and to be my wife." 
 
 Yo-yo-hon-to said no word, but she put on her 
 brother his best garments, she bound the eagle 
 feathers about his brow, and, turning his face to 
 the Southward, she bade him travel in that direc- 
 tion until he came to the lodge of the Shau-go- 
 da-ya, who would direct him on the rest of his 
 journey. Thus Me-sha-way left his sister and 
 went to seek the villages of his people, went to see 
 the feasts and councils, to meet the warriors and 
 the women, and to find a wife to live with him in 
 his wigwam. 
 
 Three days he traveled to the Southward, as 
 Yo-yo-hon-to had commanded. There were ani- 
 mals in the forest and on the prairies, and when 
 he was hungry he killed and ate; when he was 
 weary he lay down on a bed of leaves and slept, 
 and so he continued on his journey. 
 
 On the evening of the third day he saw before 
 him in the forest a wigwam made of bark, and 
 
And Other Legends 67 
 
 when he came near, he found the Shau-go-da-ya 
 sitting within. She was old and bent, and grey 
 locks fell about her brown and wrinkled face. 
 Around her shoulders was a mantle of scalps, and 
 her withered and trembling hands rested upon a 
 staff to which hung fringes made from the beaks 
 and claws of birds. 
 
 A strange and terrible creature was the Shau- 
 go-da-ya as she crouched in the shadow of the 
 wigwam. As the form of Me-sha-way darkened 
 the lodge door, she looked up at him with eyes 
 that glowed like live coals, and resting her hands 
 upon the staff, she arose to her feet. Then Me- 
 sha-way started back in alarm, for, as she lifted 
 the staff' the beaks and claws screamed and called 
 and sang together, every bird of the forest in its 
 own language, and as she walked the fringes 
 of scalps swayed and trembled, and laughed and 
 shouted with horrid laughter. 
 
 ''Fear not, No-sis, my grandson," the Old 
 Woman said, ''I shall not harm you. I only have 
 these to keep me company when I am alone, but 
 now I have no need of them," and she set aside 
 the staff' and dropped the mantle of scalps to the 
 
68 The White Canoe 
 
 floor of the wigwam. "I have been waiting for 
 you for many days. See, I have kept the fire 
 burning and the kettle boiHng. There is fat in it 
 for you to eat and a bed where you may sleep. 
 Come in, my grandson ; eat and rest, for there is 
 a long and wearying journey before you, and 
 many dangers to encounter." 
 
 So the Shau-go-da-ya gave ]\Ie-sha-way fat 
 from the kettle to eat, and pointed to a bed of 
 skins where he lay down and slept. When he 
 arose in the morning rested and refreshed, she 
 again gave him food, and when he had eaten, she 
 said: 
 
 "There is nothing you would tell me, my grand- 
 son, that is not already known to me. I know 
 of the journey on which you are going, and it is 
 permitted me to give you aid, but on your own 
 wisdom and courage will depend your success. 
 Many dangers await you. but to reward you for 
 them all the Great Spirit has selected a beautiful 
 maiden to be your wife. But be not over confi- 
 dent. Many have seen her to desire her, and the 
 bravest of the tribes have sought in vain to win 
 her. 
 
And Other Legends 69 
 
 'Three days' journey to the eastward you 
 will find the village where she lives with her 
 father, the chief of the tribe. Very carefully 
 he guards his beautiful daughter, and vows that 
 none save the man of his ow^n choosing shall 
 marry her, and that he shall w'in her by such feats 
 of skill and endurance as never man endured be- 
 fore. That he may keep her more securely he 
 has built a lodge for her in the top of the tallest 
 tree in the village, and not one of her loves has yet 
 been able to approach near enough to gain speech 
 with the maiden. 
 
 'This is the woman whom the Great Spirit 
 has selected to be your wife; but if you secure 
 her you must be wise, and strong, and very cun- 
 ning. To aid you in your undertaking, I give 
 you these magic bones from the medicine dance 
 which wall enable you to change your form at 
 will, and a pair of enchanted moccasins made 
 from the skin of a deer slain by Na-na-bo-zho. 
 They w^ill be of much service to you on your 
 journey, for the feet of the one who w^ears them 
 will never weary, and when hard pressed by the 
 enemy, he has but to step out of the moccasins 
 
70 The White Canoe 
 
 and they will go forward of their own accord, 
 and lead him away on a false trail. Take them, 
 my grandson ; remember all I have told you, and 
 may the Great Spirit give yon success !" 
 
 Me-sha-way took the small white bones and 
 dropped them into his meda-bag. He stripped 
 from his feet the worn moccasins which Yo-yo- 
 hon-to had made for him, and put on in their 
 place the enchanted moccasins of the Shau-go- 
 da-ya. Then, eager to be on his way, he thanked 
 her for her aid, and, with feet light as down, re- 
 sumed his journey. 
 
 Three days ]\Ie-sha-way traveled to the cast- 
 ward as the Shau-go-da-ya had bidden him, and 
 on the fourth he came in sight of the village where 
 lived the chief of the tribe. From afar he could 
 discern the tall tree with the lodge in its topmost 
 branches, and his step quickened, and his pulse 
 leaped as he thought on the beauty of the maiden 
 whom none had been brave enough to win, and he 
 determined that never would he return to his 
 wigwam in the Northland until he could take 
 her for his bride. 
 
 In the center of the village stood the lodge of 
 
And Other Legends 71 
 
 the chief, and, as Me-sha-way approached, he 
 came out to greet him. 
 
 "Welcome, my son," said the chief. "It is 
 many days since a stranger has been in the vil- 
 lage to seek my daughter in marriage. The peo- 
 ple are growing weary of feasts and dancing, and 
 long for something to make the time pass more 
 quickly. See, her lodge is there in the tree-top, 
 and if you can reach it, she is yours; but, be 
 warned, my son, others have been before you, 
 and if you fail, your scalp also shall adorn the 
 mantle of the Shau-go-da-ya." 
 
 While the chief spoke the people of the village 
 were gathering to see the sport. Me-sha-way 
 wondered how so many had failed in the ac- 
 complishment of a task which seemed so easy, 
 but he made no boast as he replied to the chal- 
 lenge of the chief. 
 
 "It shall be as you have said. Great Chief. I 
 have heard of the beauty of the maiden, and my 
 heart desires her. It is the will of the Great 
 Spirit that I shall have her for my bride ; but if 
 I am weak and faint-hearted I am not worthy, 
 
72 The White Canoe 
 
 and my scalp shall hang not at the belt of a war- 
 rior, but on the mantle of the Old Woman." 
 
 When he had ceased speaking Me-sha-way 
 began at once to climb the smooth trunk of the 
 tree. Slowly he made his way until he reached 
 the lowest branches, then he ascended rapidly; 
 higher and higher until it seemed that he must be 
 very near the lodge, but when he paused and 
 looked he found that it was as far above him 
 as at the beginning. 
 
 Then a great shout of laughter went up from 
 the people below. 'Taster! Faster!" they cried 
 between their shouts and their laughing. "Faster ! 
 or the lodge will soon reach to the land of the 
 stars ! See how he stops to rest and pants like 
 a deer weary with running ! Come back, Me-sha- 
 way, you climb up like a snail! Only the Adji- 
 dau-mo has ever been to the lodge of the chief's 
 daughter, and the Shau-go-da-ya cries for a new 
 scalp for her mantle." 
 
 Then Me-sha-way saw that faster than he could 
 climb the tree was growing toward the stars, but 
 at the taunting words of the people he remem- 
 bered the magic bones in his meda-bag, and quick 
 
And Other Legends 73 
 
 as a thought Me-sha-way disappeared, and in his 
 stead was a squirrel scampering up the bark of the 
 tree. 
 
 Now he felt himself gaining and the shouts 
 and laughter below ceased, or else the tree had 
 grown so tall that their voices no longer reached 
 him. Nearer and nearer he approached the lodge, 
 when suddenly he felt the tree shaken by a mighty 
 wind and he knew that Mud-je-ke-w^is, the Ruler 
 of the Wmds, was fighting with the chief, and he 
 was indeed great and strong who would be able 
 to withstand him. 
 
 Wilder and wilder grew the tempest and the 
 branches swayed and lashed, and beat each other, 
 while all the forest around the village bowed and 
 bent before the anger of the Mud-je-ke-wis. Still 
 the squirrel clung close to the writhing tree until 
 a mighty gust from the nostrils of the angry 
 Wind God tore him from the shelter and dashed 
 him to the ground. 
 
 ''Now I have you !" cried the chief, as he drew 
 his bow and rushed upon the fallen Adji-dau-mo, 
 but before he could loose the arrow from the bow- 
 string, a tall young Indian sprang up from the 
 
74 The White Canoe 
 
 ground and with one leap in his enchanted moc- 
 casins was out of sight. 
 
 Then began the race between the chief and 
 Ale-sha-way. Easily might the Little Elk outrun 
 him, but he was a great and powerful enemy 
 for whom the winds of heaven made warfare, 
 and Me-sha-way knew that he must be wise and 
 very cunning if he would save his scalp from the 
 mantle of the Shau-go-da-ya. 
 
 All day Me-sha-way sped on through the forest, 
 but while the enchanted moccasins could keep 
 weariness from the feet, they were powerless to 
 stay the pangs of hunger, and at last Me-sha-way 
 knew that he must stop and take food before he 
 could proceed farther on the journey. As if in 
 answer to his desire he saw a moose a short dis- 
 tance before him among the trees, and drawing 
 his bow he sent an arrow to its heart. Gathering 
 leaves and twigs he kindled a fire, and soon a 
 savory bit of fat was roasting before the coals. 
 
 After Me-sha-way had finished his meal of 
 moose fat he felt his eyes growing heavy for 
 sleep, and remembering the power of the en- 
 chanted moccasins to go forward of their own 
 
And Other Legends 75 
 
 accord he drew them from his feet and bade 
 them go into the forest, while he concealed him- 
 self behind a fallen log and fell asleep. 
 
 Bye and bye the chief came upon the smoulder- 
 ing camp-fire and the carcass of the moose close 
 by. He knew that his enemy had stopped here to 
 rest and refresh himself, but seeing the fresh moc- 
 casin tracks leading away from it, he followed 
 them into the forest. 
 
 The sun was high in the heavens when Me- 
 sha-way awoke next morning to find himself 
 weary and sore from his long journey. Then he 
 remembered with dismay that he had sent his 
 enchanted moccasins to decoy the chief from his 
 trail and now he must proceed without them. 
 Lifting himself from his bed of leaves behind the 
 fallen log, Me-sha-way glanced about him when 
 suddenly his eyes lighted on the moccasins stand- 
 ing side by side before the camp-fire, and at the 
 same moment the chief came to a place where the 
 tracks ceased, leaving liiii; bewildered in the midst 
 of a strange forest. 
 
 Hastily Me-sha-Vv^ay made a meal from the 
 meat of the moose which he had killed the night 
 
76 The White Canoe 
 
 before, and thrusting his feet into the moccasins 
 he started toward the village ; for Me-sha-way 
 had seen a dark and beautiful face looking down 
 on him from the lodge in the tree-top. The eyes 
 were deep and shining like still pools under the 
 moonlight, and they drew Me-sha-way 's heart 
 from his bosom, so that he vowed again and again 
 that he would never return to the Northland with- 
 out the maiden for his bride. 
 
 With the help of the enchanted moccasins he 
 soon reached the village and found himself stand- 
 ing under the tall tree looking up at the lodge in 
 its branches. There was no time to be lost, for the 
 chief might return at any moment, so Me-sha- 
 way again adjured the magic power of the medi- 
 cine bones, and turning himself into a squirrel, 
 he ran swiftly up the tree trunk. 
 
 "It is you, Ne-ne-moo-sha," said the maiden. 
 "I have seen you in my dreams and have waited 
 long for you to come and carry me awav from this 
 hateful place. Many times I have feared when 
 others came that they might reach the lodge be- 
 fore the Great Spirit sent you, but always it was 
 
And Other Legends ^'j 
 
 but a scalp for the Shau-go-da-ya, and the face 
 in my dreams remained." 
 
 Safely Me-sha-way bore the daughter of the 
 chief to the ground and hand in hand they turned 
 away from the village and entered the forest. 
 But now a new difficulty confronted them, for the 
 maiden, unaccustomed to much travel, soon grew 
 faint and weary, and for two days they journeyed 
 slowly to the westward, sometimes one wearing 
 the enchanted moccasins and sometimes the other. 
 Also they knew, that the chief returning to the 
 village, and finding his daughter gone, would pur- 
 sue them, and unless they were able to go more 
 swiftly, he would overtake them before they 
 reached the lodge of the Shau-go-da-ya. 
 
 "I can go no furtlier," the maiden said, at last 
 sinking down on the moss at his feet. "Yoii must 
 take the enchanted moccasins and Sc e yourself 
 while yet there is time, and as for me, I shall go 
 back to my lodge in the tree-top and grow to be 
 an old woman dreaming of you." 
 
 Even while the maiden spoke and while Me- 
 sha-way listened with bowed head and sinking 
 heart, a Wau-bos sprang out of the bushes and 
 
78 The White Canoe 
 
 cried : *''Fly ! Fly ! Me-sha-way, for your enemy 
 the chief is following close upon you. Forget not 
 the gifts of Shau-go-da-ya and tarry not against 
 the coming of your enemy. Remember the Spirits 
 fight only with the brave, but the faint-hearted 
 must perish." 
 
 Again Me-sha-way took courage as he thought 
 of the gift of the Old Woman, and clasping the 
 medicine bones in his hand he breathed a prayer 
 to the Great Spirit for succor; and behold, while 
 the wish yet lingered in his heart, the maiden 
 disappeared and a beautiful O-wa-issa fluttered 
 up from the ground and perched upon the branch 
 of a tree. Then Me-sha-way drew the enchanted 
 moccasins on his own feet and swiftly thev hur- 
 ried forward together, the tall Indian and the 
 blue bird flitting beside him. 
 
 It was evening when they came in sight of the 
 lodge of the Old Woman, where Me-sha-way 
 knew they would find food and shelter. 
 
 "Come in, my children," she said, as they stood 
 together before the door. ''Come in and hide 
 yourselves, for the chief follows close upon your 
 trail." 
 
And Other Legends 79 
 
 But Me-sha-way thrust the maiden within 
 and stepping out of his enchanted moccasins, he 
 bade them go forward to the end of the world. 
 
 Then he dropped tlie curtain before the lodge 
 door and the chief passed on following the tracks 
 of the enchanted moccasins, never pausing, never 
 straying, crossing mountains, through the valleys, 
 over marsh and over fenland, straight to the ends 
 of the world, to the Kingdom of Mud-je-ke-wis. 
 
8o The White Canoe 
 
 THE JOURNEY OF O-ME-ME. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 OOAN-GE-TA-HA was a mighty hunter. 
 ^^ His lodge was on the border of the Ku- 
 ha-go, the Great Forest, and there he Uved with 
 his wife, Yong-we, and their two children. The 
 eldest of these, O-me-me, was a little girl just old 
 enough to keep the wigwam fire burning and take 
 care of her brother A-meek, the Little Beaver. 
 
 There were bear and moose in the forest, pike 
 and sturgeon in the streams, and on the lakes and 
 marshlands water-fowl in abundance. Soan-ge- 
 ta-ha and his family were prosperous and happy. 
 The tribes were at peace and there was plenty in 
 the land. 
 
 Soan-ge-ta-ha wore the warmest, brightest 
 blankets of any Ojibway in all the North Coun- 
 try. His war-gearing was rich with wampum and 
 porcupine quills, and the garments of his wife 
 
JOURNEY OF O^ME-ME 
 
And Other Legends 8i 
 
 and children were of softest, whitest moose skin. 
 Back of the lodge was a field of corn, where, 
 during the Summer, the glossy blades glistened 
 in the sun, and where swelling ears burst the 
 browning husks of Autumn. Along the streams 
 grew the wild rice, and many baskets Yong-we 
 braided to hold the stores the Autumn harvest 
 would bring. The coming Winter found them 
 with warm furs in the wigwam, and fish and 
 meat in store. 
 
 The bow of Soan-ge-ta-ha was made of ash- 
 wood and strung with rawhide. His oaken ar- 
 rows were tipped with jasper, and every beast of 
 the forest had heard the twang of his bow-string 
 and felt the sting of his arrows. 
 
 "Soan-ge-ta-ha comes !" the Wau-bos, the rab- 
 bit cried, as she fled trembling to cover, when the 
 mighty hunter went forth with arrows in his 
 quiver. 
 
 ''Soan-ge-ta-ha comes!" the O-kwa-ho, the 
 wolf, snarled as he skulked into the darkest re- 
 cesses of the forest. The Me-sha-way, the elk, 
 crashed panting into the thicket, and taking up 
 the cry every creature of the forest fled before 
 
82 The White Canoe 
 
 the coming of Soan-ge-ta-ha, the Strong Heart. 
 
 ''He is a Wa-be-noe, a magician," they said, for 
 flee as they would Soan-ge-ta-ha's arrows found 
 them. No deer so swift but that there was an 
 arrow in his quiver swifter, and no shadow in the 
 forest deep enough to turn aside the aim which 
 trained across Soan-ge-ta-ha's bow-string. 
 
 When Seg-wun, the Spring, came back to the 
 land and the south winds blew again on the 
 beaver meadows, Soan-ge-ta-ha went no more to 
 hunt. The days grew longer and the sun warmer 
 until the w^ild strawberries began to ripen under 
 their sheltering leaves, then Soan-ge-ta-ha put 
 blankets and kettles into his birch-bark canoe, 
 and taking his wife and children he paddled away 
 to the southward where the berries grew in abun- 
 dance. 
 
 In a sheltered cove on the shore of the Gitchee- 
 Gum.ee they made their camp with a brake of 
 boughs and leaves to the windward. The cradle 
 of the Little Beaver was swung to the bough of a 
 sheltering fir tree, where all day long, as the 
 breezes swept through the forest, they swayed the 
 bough and rocked the cradle. 
 
And Other Legends 83 
 
 Early in the morning Soan-ge-ta-ha and his 
 wife took their baskets and wandered away in 
 search of berries, leaving the Little Beaver to the 
 nursing of O-me-me and the wind, but so well 
 did O-ha soothe the little one that O-me-me's 
 duties were light. 
 
 The little girl lay on the soft moss under the fir 
 trees and watched the sunshine in the branches 
 above her, and the birds as they darted on swift 
 wings through the tangle of light and shade. She 
 was not lonely as she lay there through many 
 sunny hours, for she knew all the birds in the 
 forest by name, and they had been her compan- 
 ions since she, too, swung in a linden cradle and 
 slept to the lullaby of the wind. She knew their 
 voices, each had a language of its own, and when 
 they gathered in the branches overhead and chat- 
 tered, and chirped, and rustled their feathers, and 
 flirted their wings, she kept very still and smiled 
 to herself, for she was hearing the latest sensation 
 n bird land. She understood all their plotting and 
 scheming, the insinuations and suspicions in the 
 subdued chirps and confidential chatter. But she 
 never told any one. O-me-me was far too wise 
 
84 The White Canoe 
 
 for that, even if it had been possible, but bird- 
 language is pecuHar and apart to itself in all the 
 realms of expression, in that it has no translation 
 into human speech. 
 
 So the birds had no fear of O-me-me as they 
 peered down through the branches and saw her 
 smiling back at them from her bed of moss. 
 Sometimes they grew very saucy and teased and 
 taunted O-me-me, because they knew how much 
 she desired to talk to them in their own language 
 and could not. They would flutter down to the 
 very lowest boughs above her head, and chirp and 
 screech, and chatter and call. They would circle 
 and wheel and dip, until their wings fanned the 
 little black head on its pillow of moss, and one 
 day a very saucy robin opened his beak and let 
 fall a fat worm which he was carrying home to 
 his family, so that it dropped directly on the tip 
 of O-me-me's little brown nose. This was too 
 much for O-me-me, so she sprang up and seized 
 her father's bow which she well knew how to 
 wield, and all her feathered tormentors flew 
 screeching and frightened into the forest. 
 
 Sometimes when O-me-me sfrew tired of the 
 
And Other Legends 85 
 
 chatter of the birds, as she did on occasions, for 
 birds are very Uke people after all, and given to 
 talking a great deal without saying anything, she 
 wandered off to the shore, and, stretching herself 
 on the steep bank, looked down into the water. 
 
 It was very deep and still here. Farther back 
 around the bend, it was shallow and calm, a little 
 bay cut into the sheltering hills, and there the 
 water-lilies grew rank and rich among their 
 glossy leaves. They were very pretty, and O-me- 
 me liked to look at them for awhile ; but they did 
 not interest her long, and the water was too shal- 
 low to hold much underneath. 
 
 So O-me-me seldom lingered by the Water-Lily 
 Lake, but when she wanted to be amused she went 
 to the place where the bank dropped off sheer 
 into deep w^ater, and there she lay for hours peer- 
 ing down into its brown-green depths. 
 
 At first there was only water, but as she looked 
 longer she could see tall, floating weeds and 
 grasses, slender sword-like fronds that grew out 
 of nothing and swayed and floated in the current 
 like ferns of the forest swept by the wind. 
 
 The longer she looked the farther down she 
 
86 The White Canoe 
 
 could see ; down, down, down, a misty, mysteri- 
 ous world filled with floating shadows, trees and 
 flowers, ferns and grasses dimly outlined as 
 through smoke. There a shaft of sunshine struck 
 through the overhanging trees and where it 
 pierced the shadows she could see a great pike 
 with shining scales lying among the ferns and 
 water plants, while all about it were strange form- 
 less floating creatures belonging to the Under- 
 Water World. 
 
 O-me-me knew they w^erc there though she had 
 never been able to see them clearly, though she 
 lay many a sunny day straining her eyes into the 
 waterv depths. She knew that down — farther 
 down than any eyes had ever penetrated — was the 
 lodge of Unk-te-ha, the great Under- Water Mani- 
 tou, of which the White Loon was door-keeper, 
 and where none but the Ne-ba-naw-baigs, the 
 Water Spirits, had ever gone. 
 
 It was a strange, silent world, and its people 
 were not like the birds and beasts of the forest, 
 for since Na-na-bo-zho had gone away to tb.e 
 Land of Ponemah. nobody knew their language, 
 and no word ever passed between those on earth 
 
And Other Legends 87 
 
 and the creatures of this mysterious world over 
 which their canoes floated. 
 
 She often listened to the strange, wild cry of 
 the Loon from the marshes at nightfall, and won- 
 dered if she were going to get the keys of the 
 Under-Yv'orld Water where they were hidden 
 among- the rushes, and if she were to watch her, 
 might she sometime learn where they were kept. 
 Her father was wise, and brave, and very strong ; 
 it was hard for O-me-me to believe that even Na- 
 na-bo-zho could have been stronger or wiser. 
 Why might not he talk to the Loon and learn' 
 from her all their secrets ? 
 
 Bye and bye she would be older, she would 
 build her a lodge and fast long in the forest ; she 
 would pray to the Great Master of Life to hear 
 her, and then she would ask, not for so much 
 wampum, not for a husband who was hand- 
 some and brave, but for the keys to the Under- 
 Water \\'orld. 
 
 One warm, lazy day, as O-me-me lay on the 
 mossy bank, she saw a serpent draw its slow 
 length from the leaves and coil on a flat stone 
 near the water's edo-e. O-me-me shuddered and 
 
88 The White Canoe 
 
 crept away, for she knew it was not really a ser- 
 pent, but an evil spirit in the serpent's form, and 
 she feared that its eye might fall upon her with 
 its wricked spell. 
 
 For some time O-me-me crouched in the 
 shadows under the fir tree and watched the ser- 
 pent basking on the warm stone. What did it 
 mean, this evil omen which had come to their 
 peaceful camp? All day she was quiet and very 
 thoughtful w^hile she pondered with fear in her 
 heart. 
 
 That evening, at nightfall, a stranger paddled 
 into Water-Lily Lake. Springing ashore he 
 drew his canoe up on the bank and strode into 
 the light of their camp-fire. For a moment he 
 stood motionless, the firelight playing upon his 
 bare breast and touching his keen face. O-me- 
 me gazed at him in wonder. He was quite dif- 
 ferent from any one she had ever seen before, 
 not in the least like her father or the other 
 heavy-featured, stolid Ojibways who had come 
 sometimes to their camp, and sometimes 
 to their lodge on the border of the Great 
 Forest. As he moved forward into the light, 
 
And Other Legends 89 
 
 she noticed that his fringed buckskin leggings 
 were striped with crimson, and the meda-bag 
 which hung from his beh, was richly trimmed 
 with wampum in some strange device. 
 
 Suddenly, as if feeling the gaze fixed upon 
 him, the stranger turned and looked at O-me-me. 
 There was something in the movement of his sin- 
 uous body, and in the gleam of his eye, which 
 recalled the serpent on the stone, and O-me-me 
 crept away to her bed of leaves without food 
 rather than again encounter that strange gaze. 
 
 Soan-ge-ta-ha hung another fish over the coals 
 to bake, which was his offering of hospitality 
 to the guest, and Yong-we spread a blanket in 
 a sheltered corner of the camp for him to sleep. 
 
 Next morning when O-me-me awoke the stran- 
 ger was gone, and her father stood on the shore 
 watching a tiny speck rising and falling upon 
 the water. 
 
 "Who was it?" she asked, timidly plucking the 
 fringe of his sleeve. 
 
 Soan-ge-ta-ha answered without removing his 
 eyes from the receding speck on the water : 
 
 "It is Kwan-o-shais-tah, the Great Serpent." 
 
90 The White Canoe 
 
 When her father had gone away to fish, she 
 asked her mother the same question, and she 
 looked up from the moccasin she was mending, 
 and said : 
 
 "He is an Iroquoise." 
 
 Many days Soan-ge-ta-ha and his family lin- 
 gered at their camp on the Water-Lily Lake. 
 The strawberries dried and dropped from their 
 stems under the reddening leaves, then the low 
 blueberry bushes began to droop with the weight 
 of purpling fruit. Soan-ge-ta-ha and his wife 
 still went forth with their empty baskets in the 
 morning and returned with them full at night. 
 The cradle of the Little Beaver still hung from 
 the fir bough and 0-me-me kept watch beside it 
 
 One evening she sat on the hillslope and 
 watched the red sun drop into the lake, and the 
 sky rain crimson mist, until all the water was 
 dyed like blood. She saw the last faint breezes 
 die, leaving the lake like a sheet of molten glass. 
 Then the crimson changed to purple, and the pur- 
 ple to palest violet, while across from the shore- 
 line crept the encroaching shadows. Then, as the 
 new moon swung its slender crescent above the 
 
And Other Legends 91 
 
 tree-tops, she crept away to her bed of leaves and 
 fir-spills. 
 
 Next morning she awoke with a sense of some- 
 thing new and strange in the air. A soft mist 
 hung over water and sky, and through it the sun- 
 shine shone mellow and subdued. The forest- 
 fringed shore line receded in a blue and vapory 
 haze, and the breeze that rustled the long, dried 
 grasses and stirred the pine trees, was not the 
 languorous breath of yesterday, but in a melan- 
 choly undertone it whispered of Autumn. 
 
 The little river that sent its slender silver 
 line far inland lay still and clear among the 
 rushes, and on the marshlands the purple of the 
 water-hyacinth mingled with browns, and greys, 
 and vivid greens, while, on a slender strip of up- 
 land, rising toward the forest, was a glowing sea 
 of goldenrod. 
 
 How had it happened, this strange and subtle 
 change which in a single night had created a new 
 heaven and a new earth? She could not under- 
 stand ; but somehow, while she slept, in the se- 
 cret places of Nature's workshop the change had 
 been wrought. 
 
92 The White Canoe 
 
 O-me-me rubbed her eyes to make sure that 
 she was awake, and looked around her. A crane, 
 which had been standing motionless in the shal- 
 low water, suddenly spread its wings and lifted 
 its slender body across her field of vision. Yes, it 
 was real and she was wide awake. Then she 
 noticed her father bending over the fire and 
 fashioning a moose-call from a bit of birch-bark. 
 
 "It is Autumn," Soan-ge-ta-ha said, as he lifted 
 it to his lips, and sent the dull bleating sound 
 into the forest and echoing across the water. ''It 
 is Autumn, the corn is ripe, we will go home," 
 and putting the blankets and kettles into the 
 canoe, they returned to their lodge on the border 
 of the Great Forest. 
 
And Other Legends 93 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A FEW days of warm mellow sunshine, when 
 Yong-we and O-me-me stripped the dried husks 
 from the corn-ears and braided them into great 
 yellow fringes with which to festoon their lodge. 
 A few warm, lazy days in the meadows gather- 
 ing the wild rice, then there came a wind out of 
 the Northland which sent the snow flakes whirl- 
 ing through the forest and turned the water in 
 the lakes and rivers to stone. 
 
 Wilder and wilder it grew, beating and twist- 
 ing the branches of the trees, howling around 
 the lodge, and sending the smoke in blinding 
 gusts down the smoke-flue. But within the lodge 
 there was warmth, and comfort, and light. While 
 the stinging snow flakes drove hissing against 
 the lodge, and the winds made the night hideous, 
 Soan-ge-ta-ha heaped pitie cones on the lodge-fire 
 and told wonderful stories of Gush-ke-v/ah, the 
 Land of Darkness, where lived the giant Kab-bi- 
 
94 The White Canoe 
 
 bon-ok-ka, and how the storm was but the 
 breath of his anger, as he fought with his brother 
 Mud-je-ke-wis. 
 
 So O-me-me laughed at the storm and the an- 
 gr}' giant while she nestled in the furs close to 
 lier father's side, and she heeded not that the sun 
 had hidden his face, that t' 3 days were short and 
 dark, and the nights long and cold. 
 
 Long the Winter lingered in the forest, long 
 the whiteness lay upon the plains — so long that 
 one day Soan-ge-ta-ha saw that the meat and fish 
 were gone and that little rice and corn remained 
 in the baskets. Strapping on his snowshoes, he 
 took his bow and arrows and went into the for- 
 est to find food. At night he returned, weary 
 and footsore, with snow upon his garments but 
 with all the arrow^s in his quiver, for neither deer 
 nor moose had he seen in the forest and never 
 once had he drawn his bow-string. He told no 
 stories that night, but sat moody and silent be- 
 side the fire ; and next morning, before O-me-me 
 was awake, he had gone forth again into the for- 
 est. But always it was the same, for something 
 strange and terrible had happened to Soan-ge-ta- 
 
And Other Legends 95 
 
 ha. His lightest, swiftest arrows dropped harm- 
 less to the ground and all the beasts of the forest 
 fled taunting and defiant before their old enemy 
 Soan-ge-ta-ha. 
 
 Still the rivers remained locked in ice and the 
 sonw lay heavy on the trees. Little by little the 
 rice and corn disappeared and a shadow darker 
 than Winter was upon them — the gaunt shadow 
 of Famine. 
 
 Not alone did Winter and Famine come to the 
 lodge of Soan-ge-ta-ha, but other sorrows fol- 
 lowed close upon them like ill-omened birds 
 upon their prey. As he returned day after day 
 from his fruitless journeyings in the forest, he 
 found Yong-we wrapped in her blanket and sit- 
 ting moody and silent over the lodge-fire. No 
 word of comfort or cheer did she speak and not 
 even a glance of the eye did she give him as he 
 came in at night and went out in the morning. 
 
 At last the day came when not a handful of 
 rice and corn remained in the baskets. On that 
 morning Yong-we waited until Soan-ge-ta-ha 
 had disappeared in the forest; then she threw 
 aside her blanket and arrayed herself in his war- 
 
96 The White Canoe 
 
 garments. Taking a stone axe in her hand, she 
 bade O-me-me keep the wigwam fire burning, 
 and she, too, went away into the forest. 
 
 O-me-me did as her mother had commanded, 
 and all day soothed the hungry whimperings of 
 A-meek, the Little Beaver, while she warmed 
 him by the wigwam fire, and at evening her 
 mother returned, bringing meat for their supper. 
 Hurriedly she hung the kettle over the fire and 
 cooked the food ; then, bidding the little girl keep 
 still, she removed all traces of the meal before the 
 return of Soan-ge-ta-ha. 
 
 Day after day this was repeated, Soan-ge-ta-ha 
 growing weaker and fainter with fasting, until his 
 hair hung dank about his sharpened face and his 
 garments hung loose upon his fleshless limbs. 
 
 At first O-me-me's heart was heavy with doubt 
 and perplexity ; then it grew like a hot coal in her 
 bosom, for she loved her father more than any- 
 thing on earth, and she saw him dying with hun- 
 ger while her mother prepared feasts in secret. 
 
 One evening, while the kettle was stewing over 
 the fire, O-me-me watched for an opportunity 
 when her mother was not looking, and, taking a 
 
And Other Legends 97 
 
 morsel of fat from the kettle, she wrapped it in a 
 bit of bark and hid it in her bosom. 
 
 That night her father came home, as usual, 
 haggard and weary and empty-handed, and, 
 throwing himself on a heap of skins, he was soon 
 asleep. O-me-me lay down beside him and waited 
 until she knew that her mother slept; then she 
 softly awoke him, and, thrusting into his hand the 
 savory bit which she had stolen from the kettle, 
 she told him all the story. 
 
 Soan-ge-ta-ha listened to the end ; and, spring- 
 ing up from the bed of skins, he threw the bit of 
 fat upon the smoldering coals of the wigwam 
 fire. Then, like the anger of Soan-ge-ta-ha, the 
 fat blazed up in a great flame until all the sky 
 was reddened and all the trees of the forest shiv- 
 ered and trembled in its glow. 
 
 When the last sputtering flame had died out in 
 the ashes and the wigwam grew dark, Soan-ge- 
 ta-ha laid him down again on the skins beside 
 O-me-me, and, speaking in whispers, he said : 
 
 'T know now why I walk all day in the trail of 
 the moose and deer until my limbs are weary and 
 my body faint, and kill nothing. I know why 
 
98 The White Canoe 
 
 your mother answers never a word when I speak, 
 but sits gazing into the wigwam fire. The spell 
 of an enemy is upon me; the spell of that evil 
 Kwan-o-shais-tah, w^ho hates me bitterly ; and 
 unless it is broken I must die. Say nothing of 
 what I have told you. To-morrow I go to hunt, 
 as I have done for many days, and do you wait in 
 the wigAvam until I return." 
 
 When O-me-me awoke next morning her father 
 was gone, and soon her mother arrayed herself in 
 his war-garments and went away into the forest. 
 
 Soan-ge-ta-ha was hidden near the lodge await- 
 ing her coming ; and, gliding from tree to tree, he 
 followed her as she made her way deeper and 
 deeper into the forest. 
 
 At last she came to an opening, in the center of 
 which stood the broken trunk of a dead pine tree. 
 Going up to it, Yong-we struck upon it three 
 times with her stone axe, when a serpent put its 
 head out of a hole near the top and wound its 
 length slowly down the trunk. No sooner had it 
 touched the ground than lo ! not a serpent, but 
 the tall, young Iroquoise stood before her: and 
 as he bent his burning eyes upon her, he said; 
 
And Other Legends 99 
 
 ''Why are you so late, Ne-ne-moo-sha, sweet- 
 heart?" 
 
 Filled with rage at the sight of his faithless 
 wife and her lover, Soan-ge-ta-ha drew his long 
 useless bow, and, breathing a prayer to the Mas- 
 ter of Life for revenge upon his enemy, he loosed 
 the bow-string. Then the evil spell fell from 
 Soan-ge-ta-ha, and behold! not one, but a great 
 cloud of arrows filled the air, and Yong-we and 
 her treacherous lover fell pierced by many darts. 
 
 It was late when Soan-ge-ta-ha returned to the 
 lodge where O-me-me waited and watched with 
 her little brother. He brought meat with him 
 for the first time in many days, and with his own 
 hands he prepared their food. When they had 
 eaten until they were satisfied, he said to O-me- 
 me: 
 
 ''Listen, my child, while I speak. We can live 
 here no longer. Your mother has gone away and 
 she will return no more. She has gone with that 
 evil Kwan-o-shais-tah the Iroquoisc. She was 
 not a good mother ; she was a meda — a witch. 
 She loves not you, she loves not me; she loves 
 only the Iroquoisc. This day the spell which was 
 
loo The White Canoe 
 
 upon me is removed, but the evil spirits which 
 have been driven away from me will now pursue 
 you, my children. It is forbidden me to leave this 
 place for many moons, but you must take your 
 little brother and go to a place which I shall show 
 you — a place of peace and safety in the Land of 
 the Setting Sun. A lodge is prepared for you, 
 and if you reach it you will live safe and happy 
 until the Great Spirit calls you from this Land 
 of Snows, it is a long and wearisome journey, 
 and you must make it alone. It is also beset with 
 many dangers, for the Wen-di-goe, the giant of 
 the forest, will pursue you and seek to capture 
 you and the Little Beaver, that he may carry you 
 away to his lodge in the forest. Only one thing 
 have you to do and you will be safe. It is for you 
 to remember all things I shall command you, and 
 obey. Food will be provided for you from day to 
 day, and the flying turtle, the messenger of the 
 Ojibways, will bring me word of you on your 
 long journey. Some day I may come to you in 
 your lodge in the Land of the Setting Sun ; and if 
 not there, then Che-bi-abos will guide me to you 
 in the Kingdom of Ponemah." 
 
And Other Legends loi 
 
 So spake Soan-ge-la-ha to his daughter O-rne- 
 me, and then lying down on their bed of skins 
 they slept until the morning. 
 
 Not a word did Soan-ge-ta-ha speak as he pre- 
 pared the last meal for his children, for his heart 
 was like a stone in his bosom. Not a word did 
 O-me-me say as she followed him with her eyes. 
 Little she ate, and when the meal was finished 
 Soan-ge-ta-ha wrapped about her his warmest 
 blanket, and taking strong throngs of deer-skin 
 he bound the baby to her back. Placing a little 
 kettle in her hand and a meda-bag of wampum 
 around her neck, he said: 
 
 ''Take nothing but these upon your journey. 
 Food will be ready for the kettle from day to day 
 and in the bag is everything necessary for your 
 protection. Guard it well, for the lives of your- 
 self and the Little Beaver are within. When the 
 Wen-di-goe shall pursue you so hard that no 
 other means of escape remains, put your hand 
 into the bag and take the first thing which your 
 fingers find and cast it upon the ground behind 
 you. Until that time touch not the bag nor seek 
 to know what it contains. Remember to do all 
 
I02 The White Canoe 
 
 things as I have commanded you and you will be 
 safe." 
 
 O-me-me kept her eyes fastened on her father's 
 face while he spoke, but nothing could she see for 
 the tears that blinded her, and when he had fin- 
 ished no word could she speak for the lump which 
 filled her throat and choked her. Once she opened 
 her lips but only to murmur the word '*Kne-ha, 
 my father!" then turning her back to the sky 
 glowing with the sunrise, she walked toward the 
 forest. 
 
 Only once did she look back when she reached 
 the summit of the slope. Her father was still 
 standing beside the lodge motionless as a pine 
 tree, but as she paused, hesitating, he lifted his 
 arm as if to urge her onward, then, breathing a 
 prayer to the Master of Life to protect her and to 
 bring her father to her again, O-me-me entered 
 the Great Forest. 
 
 All day she walked over the frozen snow, her 
 back bent with its burden and her eyes stead- 
 fastly kept upon the ground. All about her was 
 the solitude of the winter woods. Here and 
 there a robin flitted across her pathway, and her 
 
And Other Legends 103 
 
 footsteps frightened a flock of brown birds feed- 
 ing in a cluster of dried weeds. To the right 
 and left were unbroken stretches of snow blurred 
 by cold blue shadows. Lower and lower toward 
 the tree-tops dropped the disc of the sun, but 
 O-me-me trudged on in the track of its yellow 
 beams. 
 
 Not until the last bit of its rim had disap- 
 peared below the horizon did she pause. Tired 
 and hungry she selected a sheltered hollow where 
 the fir trees, growing close together, had kept 
 the ground free from snow, and under the ledge 
 of overhanging rocks she built a fire of twigs and 
 pine cones. 
 
 Her moccasins were torn and her feet were 
 bleeding. She w^as benumbed with cold and her 
 body was sore with the weight she had carried 
 all day. It was such a long way from the warm, 
 safe lodge on the border of the forest, and she 
 was so lonely, and as she bent over the fire raking 
 the twigs together, a few tears fell with hissing 
 little splashes in the hot ashes. 
 
 Just then there was a rustling in the branches 
 overhead, a crash as of something falling 
 
I04 The White Canoe 
 
 through the boughs, and a young raccoon dropped 
 upon the ground at O-me-me's feet. 
 
 Her heart leaped with joy, and faith in her fa- 
 ther's promises rushed back to her. He had told 
 her that food would be provided, and he had kept 
 his word. He said she would be safe if she 
 obeyed, and now she knew there could be nothing 
 to fear. 
 
 While the tears dried upon her cheeks she set 
 to work to dress the animal. Soon the kettle was 
 bubbling over the fire, and, after a savory meal, 
 she gathered the baby close to her and lay down 
 and slept. 
 
And Other Legends 105 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Another day's journey and again the sun was 
 dropping low to the tree-tops when O-me-nie be- 
 gan to look about her for a place to camp for the 
 night. Again she was weary and faint with hun- 
 ger, but now she was happy, for all her father's 
 promises were being fulfilled. She was a day's 
 journey nearer the lodge in the Land of the Set- 
 ting Sun, and not a sign had she seen of the 
 giant of the forest, the evil Wen-di-goe. 
 
 She turned aside into a ravine where she hoped 
 to find a sheltered place where she might build 
 her fire, when suddenly, out of the shadows be- 
 hind her came a voice calling, 
 
 "Bak-ah! Bak-ah ! Stop! Stop!" 
 
 Not only did O-me-me's feet pause in their 
 tracks at the summons, but her heart stood still 
 in her bosom, for she knew it could be none other 
 than the great giant against whom her father had 
 warned her. 
 
 Only a moment did she pause, then all weari- 
 
io6 The White Canoe 
 
 ness fell from her and she sped forward like a 
 frightened Wau-bos over the frozen snow. But 
 O-me-me was no match for her pursuer. The 
 burden of the baby on her back grew heavier 
 and soon she could only stumble forward blindly 
 while the voice came nearer and nearer calling all 
 the while, ''Bak-ah ! Bak-ah !" 
 
 She could hear the crashing of the boughs as 
 his great bulk tore its way through the forest, 
 and the panting of his breath like a strong wind 
 behind her, nearer and nearer, until O-me-me 
 knew that nothing save the charm in her father's 
 meda-bag could save her. 
 
 Thrusting her trembling hand into the bag her 
 fingers closed over a small substance which she 
 drew out to the light and found to be a bit of 
 pnnk. Only a moment she hesitated with doubt, 
 then remembering the raccoon which had fallen 
 beside her camp-fire the night before, she breathed 
 a prayer to the Gitchee Manitou, and cast the 
 punk upon the ground behind her. Then where it 
 fell a great fire sprang up and spread along the 
 sky, so high that none might cross it, and so wide 
 that not in many days could one go around it. 
 
And Other Legends 107 
 
 Still O-me-me sped forward in her fear, on and 
 on, leaving the fire and the raging giant far behind 
 her, until at last her knees gave way beneath her 
 and she found herself prone upon the ground. 
 
 Here she built her camp-fire and sat down be- 
 side it waiting, never doubting that her father's 
 promise of food would be fulfilled. Then, while 
 she waited, there came again a crashing among 
 the branches, and a young beaver fell at her feet. 
 So was food provided, and with the glow of the 
 great fire between her and the enemy, O-me-me 
 lay down and slept. 
 
 Thus O-me-me journeyed on from day to day 
 toward her home in the Land of the Setting Sun. 
 Seven days she journeyed through the forest, and 
 now she was growing very lonely, for there was 
 still no sign of the lodge that was prepared for 
 her, and in all the forest there was no creature for 
 her to speak to. The birds, her friends of the 
 summer time, had gone to the Land of Shaw-on- 
 da-see, and the Wau-bos and the Ska-no-do, and 
 all the creatures of the forest fled from her as 
 from a stranger from a far country. 
 
 There was no one to speak to in all the desolate 
 
io8 The White Canoe 
 
 woods, and as O-me-me raked the twigs together 
 on her camp-fire, she wondered how many more 
 nights she must tarry in the forest before she 
 reached the lodge which her father had promised. 
 O-me-me had forgotten to be grateful for the 
 food which was sent her from day to day, and for 
 the great fire which had saved her from the giant. 
 Then there came to her again out of the forest 
 that voice which she had heard before, crying : 
 
 '"Esa! Esa! Shame! Shame! to flee from your 
 old Nesh-o-miss, Grandfather, who wants but a 
 bit of food from your kettle. Esa ! Esa ! wicked 
 O-me-me !" 
 
 O-me-me had placed the baby on a bed of 
 leaves while she made the fire, but now she 
 seized him and fled from the voice of her enemy. 
 Swift as her feet would carry her she fled in the 
 direction of the glow still lingering behind the 
 trees, and still the voice called close behind her: 
 
 "Esa ! Esa ! wicked O-me-me ! Bak-ah ! Bak- 
 ah! Wait for your old Nesh-o-miss!" 
 
 O-me-me ran on through the forest; but now 
 she had little fear of the giant, for the meda-bag 
 hung safe around her neck, and in it were 
 
And Other Legends 109 
 
 charms which would protect her from all danger. 
 Thrusting in her hand for another bit of punk she 
 felt her fingers close over a hard substance which 
 she drew out to the light and found to be not punk 
 at all but a beaver's tooth. Holding it close in 
 her hand she ran on waiting for her pursuer to 
 come nearer that she might taunt him and show 
 him how even a little girl might foil him. 
 
 Nearer and nearer he came, and then O-me-me 
 looked back, and, in full security of the charm 
 which she held in her hand, she called to him 
 tauntingly : "Come on ! Come on ! How slow 
 you are, Nesh-o-miss ! See, I am waiting !" 
 Laughing and careless in her safety, O-me-me 
 cast the beaver's tooth from her, but, alas for hap- 
 less O-me-me, she cast it not behind her as her 
 father had commanded, but on the ground before ! 
 Then where it touched the earth there sprang up 
 a wide and swift flowing river, while close behind 
 her came her enemy, so close that she could see 
 the marks about his eyes and the hideous smile 
 upon his face. 
 
 "Now you will wait, my No-sis, my grand- 
 child," he called. 'T will run no longer, for surely 
 
no The White Canoe 
 
 we will both sup from the same kettle to-night," 
 and she could hear his panting breath as his steps 
 slowed to a walk. 
 
 O-me-me looked at the baby in her arms, which 
 she had promised her father to take care of, and 
 she wondered if it were not better to cast it into 
 the foaming rapids than allow it to fall into the 
 hands of the evil Wen-di-goe. O-me-me was a 
 very brave little girl ; she would meet her own 
 punishment and soon she would be with the baby 
 again. She lifted it high in her arms as if to cast 
 it far out into the river beyond the reach of the 
 enemy, when a voice close beside her stayed her 
 arm. 
 
 ''Wait, wait, O-me-me!" the voice said. '*You 
 did not wilfully disobey your father and I have 
 been sent to help you," and there, close under the 
 bank of the river, was a great white loon. 
 
 "Yes," the loon continued, speaking to O-me- 
 me, *'I know you. I have seen you gathering wild 
 rice on the marshlands near the border of the 
 Great Forest, and I have seen you beside the 
 Water-Lily Lake. I know of your long journey 
 and how brave and patient you have been, and 
 
And Other Legends in 
 
 now I am going to help you across the river and 
 save you from the Wen-di-goe. Take the baby 
 and get upon my back." 
 
 So on the great strong wings of the White 
 Loon O-me-me and the Little Beaver were carried 
 across the river and landed safely on the other 
 side, and while she made a fire and cooked their 
 supper she could hear above the roar of the 
 rapids the saw-saw-quan of the Wen-di-goe as 
 he raged up and down the bank of the river seek- 
 ing means to cross. 
 
 O-me-me knew that he would find a way when 
 daylight came, so before it was light she was far 
 upon her journey. But there was great fear in 
 her heart for when she took the beaver's tooth 
 from the meda-bag she discovered that but one 
 charm remained, and on this depended her safety 
 for the remainder of her journey. How long it 
 would be she did not know. Every crackling 
 twig caused her to start with fright, and the call 
 of the beasts in the forest made her heart leap 
 within her with fear. Not once did she pause 
 to rest her weary limbs through the day, but 
 
112 The White Canoe 
 
 straight forward she pressed in the track of the 
 sunset. 
 
 ''So you thought to outrun me, my Httle No-sis/* 
 the voice of O-me-me's enemy again called to her. 
 ''Your Nesh-o-miss is old but he is very swift, 
 and not the magic fire nor yet the magic flood 
 could turn him aside. Esa ! Esa ! O-me-me, 
 when your grandfather would but walk with you 
 and have a bit of fat from your kettle ! Surely 
 there is enough to spare him a morsel. The baby 
 is very heavy and you have carried it long. Wait 
 Nesh-o-miss, he is strong and he will carry the 
 baby." 
 
 Panting and breathless O-me-me stumbled on 
 through the forest, the voice coming nearer and 
 nearer at every step. She knew she could not 
 outrun him, the great giant who was so tall and 
 strong, but she dare not use the last charm which 
 remained in the meda-bag. 
 
 "The baby is very heavy, O-me-me," the voice 
 called, now near than ever before. "You have 
 carried it for many days, O-me-me. Wait for 
 Nesh-o-miss, he is strong and he will carry the 
 baby." 
 
And Other Legends 113 
 
 Yes, it was the baby he wanted ! There was no 
 doubt in 0-me-me's mind now ; the precious baby 
 that she had tended since first he opened his eyes 
 and bUnked at her in the sunshine of the wigwam 
 door. She had been told that the Wen-di-goe car- 
 ried the babies far away into the forests, where 
 he killed and ate them, and now he was comxing 
 close behind her calling for the baby. 
 
 She must save it, no matter what happened 
 afterward, so she seized the last charm in the 
 meda-bag, a bit of flint, and casting it behind her, 
 she sank upon the ground overcome with weari- 
 ness and fear. 
 
 She lay upon the ground waiting for some sign 
 of the Wen-di-goe, expecting every moment to 
 hear his thunderous voice calling her and to see 
 his evil eyes bending over her. But not a sound 
 did she hear, and then she fell to wondering what 
 happened when she threw the last charm to the 
 ground. At last she raised herself from the earth 
 to see what the charm had wrought, and there 
 towering above her she saw the gleaming slopes 
 of a mountain of pure jasper. Yes, she was saved; 
 for nothing could scale the precipitous sides, and 
 
114 The White Canoe 
 
 it would take many days for even the tireless 
 Wen-di-goe to go around it. 
 
 Filled with a sense of security O-me-me gath- 
 ered the Little Beaver close to her and lay down 
 on the ground and slept. 
 
 "No-sis pen-de-ga, my grandchild, come in." 
 O-me-me moved uneasily on her hard couch. 
 Was it a real voice calling to her so faintly or 
 was it but a part of her dream ? Again it sounded 
 clearer but very faint, and now she knew that 
 some one was speaking close to her. 
 
 ''No-sis pen-de-ga." 
 
 O-me-me rubbed her eyes very hard and looked 
 around but not a soul could she see. Behind her 
 towered the shining sides of the jasper mountain 
 and there was no one in the forest that lay before. 
 The voice seemed to come from the earth at her 
 feet, but she could see nothing save a tiny white 
 worm lying among the bits of flint which seemed 
 to have scaled from the sides of the mountain. 
 
 *'Fear not," the voice again said, and now 
 O-me-me knew that it was the little white worm 
 speaking. ''I am a Puk-wud-jie, a fairy. You 
 have never seen me but I have seen you many 
 
And Other Legends 115 
 
 times. I have hidden among the ferns that grew 
 around Water-Lily Lake and watched you tend 
 the baby all the summer long. I have come on 
 the winds of Winter and rested on the poles of 
 your wigwam and seen how you kept the fire 
 burning when the days were long and cold, and 
 how you saved the best of the food for the Little 
 Beaver when there was not enough for both. I 
 know how you tried to save your father from 
 starving, and how you obeyed your mother when 
 she was wicked and forgot to be kind. I am the 
 Puk-wud-jie who watches over you always, and 
 will be near to give you aid when you are in need. 
 ]\Iany days ago the flying turtle brought me word 
 of your coming and I have been waiting for you. 
 It has been a long journey, but you have been 
 brave. Your last charm is gone and now you are 
 to come in and rest and prepare for the remainder 
 of the journey." 
 
 O-me-me looked in doubt and wonder at the 
 great jasper walls towering high above her and 
 then at the little white worm lying among the 
 scales of flint. 
 
 ^Tear not,'' the little white worm chirped again, 
 
ii6 The White Canoe 
 
 seeing her hesitation. **Lie down on the ground 
 and close your eyes, when you open them you will 
 see the way." 
 
 But still O-me-me hesitated. Might not this be 
 some trick of the Wen-di-goe to deceive her and 
 get her in his power ? She had heard of the Puk- 
 wud-jies many times, and knew, that though they 
 were small, they had power to defeat the strongest 
 giant, but she had never seen one and how could 
 she know that what the little white worm told her 
 was true. 
 
 "It is right that you should be cautious," the 
 little white worm said, "but the messenger from 
 your father bids you to stop here and rest, that 
 you may be able to continue your journey." 
 
 It was enough, and immediately O-me-me did 
 as the little white worm had commanded her. For 
 a moment she lay on the ground with closed eyes, 
 then when she opened them she found that the 
 little white worm was little no longer but larger 
 than O-me-me herself. She looked about for the 
 Little Beaver, but he was nowhere to be seen. In 
 his stead was a tiny white worm, which she was 
 sure had not been there when she closed her eyes. 
 
And Other Legends 117 
 
 "Yes, it is the Little Beaver," the Httle white 
 worm said. "We are all worms together, and now 
 you have only to creep through this hole to the in- 
 side of the jasper mountain." 
 
 As she spoke she drew herself through a hole 
 in the side of the mountain which was so small 
 O-me-me had not seen it before. 
 
 "No-sis pen-de-ga," she called from the other 
 side, and no longer fearing, O-me-me and her lit- 
 tle brother followed the Puk-wud-jie through the 
 side of the mountain. A narrow dark passage, 
 and then when they came into the light the little 
 white worm was nowhere in sight, but a little old 
 No-ko-miss with wrinkled face stood smiling 
 down at them. 
 
 "Stand up, O-me-me," she said, and then O-me- 
 me stood up her own self again with the baby on 
 her back. 
 
ii8 The White Canoe 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 O-ME-ME stood looking about her in bewilder- 
 ment, then she rubbed her eyes very hard to make 
 sure that she was awake. So strange and wonder- 
 ful were the things that had happened to her that 
 she found it hard to separate the events of the day 
 from the dreams of the night. It was all like one 
 long dream from which she could not awake, or 
 like the stories which her father told when they sat 
 together over the lodge-fire on the border of the 
 Great Forest. Only this was more wonderful 
 than any dream O-me-me had ever dreamed, so 
 she still stood looking around her and trying in 
 vain to wake up. 
 
 When she went to sleep on the outside of the 
 jasper mountain it was winter, cold, bitter winter, 
 with the ground hard and frozen, and the snow 
 heavy on the trees. Not a flower had she seen 
 since those last days of Autumn when a Spirit 
 came out of the Northland and breathed upon the 
 forests and the meadows. Then the flowers black- 
 
And Other Legends 119 
 
 ened and drooped on their stems, and the leaves of 
 the forest withered and fell to the ground. Also, 
 at the coming of this Spirit out of the Northland 
 the birds of the Summer had gone away to the 
 Land of Shaw-on-dasee, and all fair and beautiful 
 things disappeared before the Spirit which her- 
 alded the approach of the mighty Kab-bi-bon- 
 ok-ka. 
 
 But now a green meadow stretched out before 
 her, and through the midst of it flowed a clear 
 and sparkling stream. Skirting the meadow was 
 a forest, and in the branches flitted her friends 
 of the Summer, the birds that twitted and taunted 
 and teased O-me-me when she was safe and 
 happy in the camp beside the Water-Lily Lake; 
 but now they all sang together : "Welcome ! Wel- 
 come ! O-me-me !" 
 
 ''Yes, it is true," the little old No-ko-miss said, 
 smiling at O-me-me's bewilderment. "You are 
 not dreaming, but you are in the land of the Puk- 
 wud-jies, a land where you have but to wish and 
 it is done. Here we have whatever weather and 
 whatever season we desire; but now, after your 
 long, cold journey, we have desired this Summer 
 
120 The White Canoe 
 
 that you may warm yourself in the breath of 
 Shaw-on-dasee, and hear the song of the O-pe- 
 chee and the 0-\va-issa again." 
 
 Not a word could O-me-me answer, but she 
 stood looking at the beautiful woodland and the 
 sunny meadow, thinking how delightful it must 
 be to live in a land where one could have sunshine 
 and flowers for the wishing. 
 
 While she looked and wondered, suddenly a 
 shower of snow flakes came out of the blue sky, 
 covering her garments and filling her hair, and 
 drifting in heaps about her feet. What could it 
 mean? Had some other Puk-wud-jie suddenly de- 
 sired a snow storm? How could they manage 
 such conflicting wishes in this strange country? 
 Perhaps it might not be so delightful after all to 
 live in a land where everybody got just what they 
 wanted ! 
 
 Thicker and faster the flakes came out of the 
 Summer sky, floating and whirling until O-me- 
 me and Little Beaver and the little No-ko-miss 
 were enveloped in a furious storm of snow. 
 
 At last O-me-me heard the queer cackling laugh 
 of the little old No-ko-miss; 
 
And Other Legends 121 
 
 "No, it is not a real snow storm," she said be- 
 tween her cackUng and her laughter. "It is the 
 Little White INIedicine Man come to welcome 
 you to the Land of the Puk-wud-jies," and taking 
 O-me-me by the shoulders, the little old No-ko- 
 miss turned her about so that she saw nodding, 
 and dancing, and smiling behind her, the queerest 
 little old man her eyes had ever beheld. His 
 body was painted w^hitc, and over his shoulders 
 was a mantle of white wolf skins. A queer head 
 dress of raven's feathers and porcupine quills 
 tow^ered high above him, and on this was heaped 
 a great mass of sw^an's down, wdiich, as he 
 danced, and whirled, and tossed his feathers, 
 fle\v in a miniature snow storm around O-me-me. 
 
 "Come ! Come !" he called, dancing on before, 
 nodding, and whirling, and scattering his snow in 
 their pathway. "Come! Come!" and they fol- 
 lowed him across the meadow, up the slope of the 
 hillside and through the village of the Puk-wud- 
 jies. 
 
 Not a sound did O-me-me hear as they passed 
 through the village save the chanting of the Little 
 White Medicine Man as he danced on before ; but 
 
122 The White Canoe 
 
 strange faces peered at her from the tiny lodges 
 as she passed. 
 
 On the farther side of the village he led her 
 to a lodge which had been newly swept and spread 
 with fresh fir boughs. As he paused before the 
 lodge door he shook the last remaining bits of 
 down from his quills, and the little old No-ko- 
 miss lifted the curtain from the lodge door in- 
 viting O-me-me to enter. 
 
 "Here you are to remain," the little No-ko-miss 
 said, "until the Meda of the Puk-wud-jies breaks 
 the spell of the wicked Wen-di-goe, that you 
 may continue your journey in safety. You were 
 given only the charms which were necessary to 
 bring you here, and now the Puk-wud-jies must 
 send you in safety to the lodge in the Land of the 
 Setting Sun." 
 
 O-me-me lay down on the bed of fir boughs, 
 grateful for the warmth and comfort after her 
 long and dreary journey, and while she lay there 
 half awake and half asleep, three boys entered the 
 lodge bearing bowls of meat and corn. Their 
 bodies were painted yellow but their heads were 
 white, like that of the Meda, and O-me-me knew 
 
And Other Legends I23 
 
 they were the Antelope Boys of whom her father 
 had told her. 
 
 The sun was high in the heavens when O-me-me 
 awoke to the sound of the rattles and the drum, 
 and when she arose from her bed of fir boughs 
 the Antelope Boys again stood before her with 
 bowls of food. 
 
 When she had finished eating, the little old 
 No-ko-miss entered the lodge nodding and smil- 
 ing, and bade O-me-me take the Little Beaver and 
 follow her. Wondering what new and strange 
 experiences awaited her, O-me-me did as she was 
 bidden and followed the little old No-ko-miss out 
 of the lodge and into the village through which 
 she had passed before. 
 
 Now all the village was astir. Around the 
 medicine lodge, which stood in the center of the 
 village, was gathered a great company of the Puk- 
 wud-jies. Near the door of the lodge lay a canoe 
 of birch-bark and around it crouched eight young 
 men clothed in skins of buffalo. As O-me-me 
 and the little old No-ko-miss came into the circle 
 they arose to their feet and stood in pairs around 
 
124 The White Canoe 
 
 the canoe, shaking their mysterious rattles and 
 chanting a strange weird song. 
 
 Faster and faster grew the music when two of 
 the young men leaped into the midst of the circle 
 and began to dance. The body of one was painted 
 black and covered with white stars, while the other 
 was striped with red and yellow like rays of sun- 
 light. 
 
 As the circle widened about the medicine lodge 
 O-me-me saw that two of the young men, wearing 
 the skins of grizzly bears, remained crouched be- 
 side the canoe, and the little old No-ko-miss told 
 her that these represented the evil spirits which 
 brought sickness, and famine, and all trouble to 
 the people. These spirits must first be appeased 
 before the great encounter with the mighty Wen- 
 di-goe, the Chief of Evil Spirits. 
 
 Faster grew the music and wilder the dance 
 when suddenly the Antelope Boys appeared bear- 
 ing bowls of food, and breaking through the 
 whirling line of dancers they approached the 
 crouching evil Spirits beside the canoe. Kneel- 
 ing, they presented the bowls of food, and, after 
 
And Other Legends 125 
 
 examining them a moment, the Spirits seized 
 them and made off into the woods. 
 
 Then the old men who sat around the circle 
 began to beat their drums of deer's hide, and 
 lifted their voices in a strange, wild chant such as 
 O-me-me had never heard before, while all the 
 people swelled it with their voices. As the music 
 ceased one of the old men leaped into the circle 
 and began to harangue the people. Their prayers 
 had been heard by the Great Master of Life, he 
 told them ; because they were untiring in the chase 
 and fearless in battle; because they were kind to 
 the old men, and taught the young ones courage, 
 he had granted them peace, and plenty, and vic- 
 tory over all their enemies. As a proof of this 
 the Chief of Evil Spirits had not yet dared to 
 show his face in their midst. 
 
 One after another the old men stood up and 
 harangued the people, boasting of the power of the 
 Puk-wud-jies and challenging the Chief of Evil 
 Spirits, the mighty Wen-di-goe. 
 
 When the speeches were ended the people 
 joined in a great shout of triumph, and O-me-me's 
 heart swelled with pride at the courage of the 
 
126 The White Canoe 
 
 little people who dared defy the great Wen-di-goe. 
 She wondered at her own terror when he pur- 
 sued her in the forest, and felt that she could no 
 longer fear one who dare not meet the taunting of 
 the Puk-wud-jies. 
 
 Suddenly, while O-me-me listened with swell- 
 ing pride, the drums and rattles stopped, the 
 boasting of the old men grew still and a hush fell 
 upon the people. All eyes were turned toward the 
 brow of the hill overlooking the village, and fol- 
 lowing their gaze O-me-me felt her hair creep in 
 terror under its band of deer thongs. There, 
 standing on the summit of the hill loomed the 
 great figure of the Wen-di-goe whom they had 
 been reviling, and to the eyes of O-me-me seemed 
 more terrible than he had ever appeared in the 
 forest. 
 
 In his hand he held a staff tipped with crimson, 
 and he rested upon it regarding with contempt 
 the puny people who had dared defy him. The 
 Puk-wud-jies returned his gaze, motionless as 
 if frozen with fear, and he dropped the crimson 
 tip of his staff to the ground, and pushing it on the 
 
And Other Legends 127 
 
 earth before him, he rushed upon the village like 
 a destroying hurricane. 
 
 The Puk-wud-jies fell back upon one another 
 crying aloud in terror, and O-me-me clutching 
 the baby close to her, searched frantically in the 
 meda-bag, if by any chance another charm re- 
 mained. On and on she ran in the direction of 
 the opening through which she had entered the 
 jasper mountain, and wondering if, after all, the 
 Puk-wud-jies had deceived her and brought her 
 here to be destroyed by the evil Wen-di-goe. 
 Remembering their own terror she knew this 
 could not be true, and as she stumbled on, the 
 Little White Medicine Man passed her with a 
 rush, going forward to meet the mighty Wen-di- 
 goe. 
 
 O-me-me turned to look after him and saw the 
 Wen-di-goe cross the magic circle which sur- 
 rounded the medicine lodge, and as he did so 
 the Little White Medicine Man likewise leaped 
 into the circle and seized the magic pipe into 
 which the Great Manitou had dropped a coal of 
 living fire. 
 ■ The Little White Medicine Man held the pipe 
 
128 The White Canoe 
 
 before the face of the great Wen-di-goe, and 
 suddenly he stopped as if turned to stone, for 
 nothing evil had ever been able to stand before 
 the living fire of the Great Manitou. His evil eyes 
 glared and his hideous figure stiffened before the 
 Little White Medicine Man and his magic pipe. 
 The women who had fled shrieking before their 
 enemy, seeing him standing helpless in their 
 midst returned and danced and shouted around 
 him in derision. 
 
 The Wen-di-goe could not move his eyes from 
 the magic pipe which the Little White Medicine 
 Man held before him. Trembling with fear 
 O-me-me crept back to watch the contest. Which 
 would conquer, the Little White Medicine Man, 
 his frame wasted with much fasting and his face 
 furrowed by many years, or the Wen-di-goe who 
 towered above him, mighty and strong? O-me- 
 me knew not of the live coal which the Great 
 Manitou had dropped from heaven, or she had not 
 feared for the Little White Medicine Man. 
 Earnestly she prayed to the Great Master of 
 Life to strengthen the arms which held the pipe, 
 and even as she prayed the eves of the evil Wen- 
 
And Other Legends 129 
 
 di-goe wavered, his muscles relaxed and the 
 crimson tipped staff fell to the ground. 
 
 Then a mighty shout of triumph went up from 
 the village of the Puk-wud-jies, for their enemy 
 was conquered. One of the women sprang into 
 the circle, and seizing the staff, broke it in pieces 
 and flung them into the face of the conquered 
 Wen-di-goe. Emboldened by her act the others 
 followed, pelting him with sticks and stones until 
 he turned and fled into the woods. 
 
 Then the old men seized their flutes, and drums, 
 and rattles, and made a joyful noise, while all the 
 Puk-wud-jies danced and shouted at the victory 
 of the Little White Medicine Man. Even the 
 wrinkled little old No-ko-miss seized the hand of 
 O-me-me and drew her into the dancing circle. 
 
 ''He is gone! He is gone!" she sang. ''Our 
 wicked enemy, the great VVen-di-goe, is con- 
 quered, and not for twelve moons will he show 
 his face in the land of the Puk-wud-jies. Back 
 to his cave beyond the great North Forest has 
 gone the wicked Wen-di-goe, where the sun 
 never shines and the snow never melts, to the 
 
130 The White Canoe 
 
 Land of Gush-ke-wa, the Land of Darkness has 
 gone the evil Wen-di-goe !" 
 
 Then the Httle old No-ko-miss took 0-me-me 
 by the hand, and, while all the company of the 
 Puk-wud-jies followed dancing and shouting, 
 and the Little White Medicine Man nodded and 
 whirled and covered her again with his minia- 
 ture snow storm, they led her to the entrance 
 of the jasper mountain. 
 
And Other Legends 131 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 O-me-me's heart sank within her as she re- 
 membered all the dangers through which she had 
 passed and that now not a single charm remained 
 in the meda-bag. If only she might stay here 
 with these wise and good Little People safe in- 
 side the jasper mountain ! But her father had 
 bidden her go on to the lodge which was prepared 
 for her in the Land of the Setting Sun, and she 
 dare not stop until his commands had been 
 obeyed. How long the journey might be, and 
 what things should yet befall her, she knew not; 
 but she must go on to the end. As O-me-me 
 walked and pondered with the baby on her back, 
 her head was bowed, and she could not see the 
 snow storm of the Little White Medicine Man 
 for the tears that clouded her eyes. 
 
 'Tear not, No-sis," the little old No-ko-miss 
 said as she walked beside her. ''Only a few more 
 
132 The White Canoe 
 
 days and your journey will be ended. The evil 
 Wen-di-goe is conquered and is now a prisoner 
 in his cave in the Land of Gush-ke-wa. Before 
 he is released you will be safe in your lodge in 
 the Land of the Setting Sun. Only remember all 
 your father told you and it will be well, and re- 
 member that the Puk-wud-jies keep watch over 
 children who obey." 
 
 Even as the little old No-ko-miss spoke the 
 walls of the jasper mountain melted away and be- 
 fore O-me-me could wipe the tears from her 
 eyes she found herself standing alone in the for- 
 est with the baby on her back. 
 
 Then again O-me-me rubbed her eyes and won- 
 dered if she were awake, for on that day when 
 the little white worm had bidden her come inside 
 the jasper mountain it was winter without, but 
 now the snow was gone, and the earth was car- 
 peted with green and the trees were fresh with 
 swelling buds. A rippling stream twinkled in the 
 sunlight and along its margin grew the earliest 
 flowers of springtime. As O-me-me walked on 
 over the tender grass and soft moss, she saw that 
 her own ragged moccasins had been replaced with 
 
And Other Legends 133 
 
 others, new and beaded with wampum, and in- 
 stead of her torn and travel worn garments she 
 wore a robe of softest moose skin fringed with 
 quills and beaded with wampum. Now she would 
 come to her new home already rich and happy if 
 only the way were not too long and the wicked 
 Wen-di-goe remained in his cave in the Land of 
 Gush-ke-wa. 
 
 The forest was now full of song birds, and as 
 O-me-me passed a clump of bushes her old 
 friend the O-pe-chee alighted and perked his 
 saucy head as he sang: "Welcome! Welcome! 
 O-me-me. See, all the birds have come to greet 
 you! The W^a-wa from the far Land of Shaw- 
 on-dasee, the O-wa-issa and the Saw-saw, and 
 even the Adji-dau-mo from the tree-tops calls his 
 greeting to O-me-me. The Se-bow-isha dances 
 and sings to meet you, the meadow blooms with 
 all her brightest flowers. Not unto a far-off land 
 of strangers comes the faithful O-me-me, but 
 unto friends who know and love her. Follow! 
 Follow ! O-me-me." 
 
 Flitting from bush to bush and from tree to 
 tree flew the O-pe-chee singing always : "Fol- 
 
1^4 The White Canoe 
 
 low! Follow! O-me-me!" and O-me-me taking 
 courage, smiled up at the swelling buds and spring 
 skies and followed through the forest, never rest- 
 ing, never pausing, but no weariness fell upon 
 her and no hunger vexed her. 
 
 Noon and evening, and then as the sun 
 dropped low and the sky reddened behind the 
 tree-tops, the forest opened before her, and she 
 knew that she was near her journey's end. Be- 
 fore her stretched a broad green meadow 
 through which flowed a clear stream, like to 
 the meadow and the stream in the Land of the 
 Puk-wud-jies, and then O-me-me knew that 
 they were but revealing to her the beauties of 
 the home to which she was journeying. Beyond 
 the stream the meadow arose to meet the wood- 
 land and midway between the stream and tlie 
 forest stood a w^igwam. Its tall poles arose clear 
 against the glowing sky and its white walls 
 were outlined against the dark forest. While 
 she looked and wondered the robin whirled up- 
 ward from the meadow grasses and perching 
 on the tallest pole of the wdgwam sang: "Wel- 
 come! Welcome home, O-me-me!'-' 
 
And Other Legends 135 
 
 Yes, it was true! This was indeed the home 
 which her father had promised, and the long, 
 weary journey was over, this beautiful white 
 wigwam beside the crystal river ! Here she 
 would live in safety with the Little Beaver and 
 wait for the time when her father should come 
 to be with them. 
 
 O-me-me walked through the long meadow 
 grass, and as she crossed the stream and ap- 
 proached the wigwam, the robin lifted his voice 
 and sang as he had never sung before: "Wel- 
 come! Welcome home, O-me-me!" 
 
 O-me-me paused before the lodge door, eager 
 and yet fearing to enter. W^hat treasures 
 should she find within? Her father had prom- 
 ised that she should never know want again, 
 but that all things needful for her comfort 
 should be provided. What stores of wampum 
 and blankets, and skins must be within the wig- 
 wam. 
 
 Reaching forth her hand she lifted the cur- 
 tain of skins which was drawn before the door- 
 way. At first she could see nothing; but as her 
 eves became accustomed to the darkness she ven- 
 
136 The White Canoe 
 
 tured within, to find the wigwam empty except 
 for a bed of fresh fir boughs and a bit of hol- 
 low log which stood beneath the smoke-flue. 
 
 Then O-me-me's heart dropped like a stone 
 with disappointment, and a great wave of w^eari- 
 ness and weakness sw^ept over her. Was this the 
 fulfillment of her father's promise, this bare lodge 
 with only a bed and not even food to eat? 
 
 She laid the baby down on the bed of fir 
 boughs and returned to the lodge door. As she 
 stood there looking out over the meadowy the 
 robin flew from the lodge pole, and flitting 
 toward the river, sang: ''Follow, follow, O-me- 
 me !" Then she saw that a canoe was drawm up 
 among the rushes, and as she drew near she 
 discovered three freshly caught pike lying in 
 the bottom. In such way had her food been 
 provided, so she took the pike and returned to 
 the lodge. Gathering twigs together she kin- 
 dled a fire in the lodge, and stooping beside it 
 she began to prepare the fish for cooking. With 
 a sharpened bit of stone which she had picked 
 up beside the river she scraped away the lustrous 
 scales, but while she worked her eyes were 
 
And Other Legends 137 
 
 blinded with tears of weariness and disappoint- 
 ment. 
 
 She scraped the last fish and placed it in the 
 kettle, and as she arose she dashed the tears 
 from her eyes, and gathering up the scales that 
 lay in a little heap beside her she threw them 
 into the opening of the hollow log. And then 
 there happened the strangest and most wonder- 
 ful thing that had ever befallen in all the course 
 of O-me-me's strange and wonderful life, stran- 
 ger even than the punk which kindled the magic 
 fire, or the beaver's tooth which started the 
 mighty river, stranger than the jasper moun- 
 tain and all the things which she had seen in- 
 side, for as O-me-me poured the handful of fish 
 scales into the blackened hollow log there came 
 out at the bottom a stream of beautiful glitter- 
 ing wampum, which rolled over the dark floor of 
 the wigwam and lay like bits of broken rain- 
 bow in the ashes of the fire. 
 
 Then O-me-me knew that in this manner her 
 father's promise would be made good, that here 
 was given her a mine of wealth which would se- 
 cure for her all the comforts which she desired, 
 
138 The White Canoe 
 
 and that never should she know hunger, or cold, 
 or weariness again. 
 
 As O-me-me gathered the wampum from the 
 floor of the wigwam, the breeze which stirred 
 the grasses of the meadow, the rippling waters of 
 the brooklet, and the robin on the lodge pole 
 all sang together in one melodious chorus : 
 ''Welcome, welcome home, O-me-me!" 
 
 THE END. 
 
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