HOW THE GRASS GREW 21 



bonokka begins to murmur afar off, and the tree 

 blood, hearing the sound, creeps from the branches 

 to the trunk, and from the trunk down to the roots 

 beneath the ground, to stay there lest it should 

 freeze while Kabibonokka reigns. 



44 Then the leaves, having no blood to fill their 

 veins and nourish them, drop off and dry away. 

 So Kabibonokka, coming, cries out, 4 See how 

 Shawondasee fears me. All the leaves that sang 

 to him have fallen before me, trembling; all the 

 flowers that he wreathed about him are pale and 

 dead with fear. Even his mate, the sun god 

 Gheezis, hastens away and leaves short days to 

 harbour Bukadawin and Pauguk. 



44 4 Come back, soft Summer Wind, with tender 

 muscles. Come back, thou, pink-lipped with 

 strawberry-eating. I, even I, the North Wind, 

 will wrestle with you for your strengthening! ' 



44 Now the plant blood should stay beneath the 

 ground, until Heart of Nature calls the South 

 Wind back, and bids the Sun shine through the 

 earth and say, 4 Up ! up ! flow up, green sap, and 

 swell the buds to make the Moon of Leaves,' 

 your spring. 



44 But sometimes Shawondasee is lingering too 

 near, and hears Kabibonokka's challenge, and 

 breaking the law, comes back to fight, and then 



