THE OGRESS LEGEND. 53 
worth repeating, as it shows us how readily unci- 
vilized man seizes on the supernatural to ac- 
count for everything beyond his comprehension. 
Spiritual agencies and wild myths form subjects 
for the daily chat round the lodge-fire; every- 
thing becomes mysterious that is not under- 
stood; the very language of the red-man is a 
tangled chaos of symbols, figures, and metaphors. 
A prominent performer in all their legends is 
a terrible old woman, half witch, half ogress, of 
very doubtful reputation, armed with teeth like 
a wolf, and the claws of a grizzly-bear; her 
entire time spent in doing evil, eating children, 
and waging unceasing war on the ,good and 
virtuous. 
_ To make the story brief, it seems this amiable 
old lady (at some period far away in the dim 
history of the past) spied a fat dainty young 
‘redskin,’ the son of a brave and good chief, 
playing by the side of a mountain-burn, not far 
from the wigwam of his parents. With wily 
words of endearment, and holding out a basket 
filled with ripe berries and gaudy flowers, the 
witch-woman coaxed the baby-savage within 
reach of her terrible claws: as she clutched it, 
the father and mother saw their loved one’s 
peril, too late to rescue, to save, beyond all 
