THE LEGEND OF OPECHEE 63 



" ' I laugh with my brother, Shawondasee, the 

 South Wind,' said Wenonah, letting her long 

 black hair float out on his breath as he hurried 

 past. 



" But when the Moon of Snow-Shoes came again, 

 and Kaniwa cut a new notch on his stick, the six- 

 teenth since her birth, he grew anxious, and once 

 more she laughed wildly, stroking her tent com- 

 panion, a Gray Squirrel, and answering her father 

 gaily, 4 1 laugh at Mahng, the Loon ; do you not 

 hear him wailing down by the watercourse?' 



" Still, again, her father was satisfied ; but when 

 Segwun, the Spring, gladdened the land, Wenonah 

 gathered us the closer, stroked our feathers, whis- 

 pering, 4 Do not fail me, dear brothers ! Little 

 brothers, you will not fail me ? ' And though 

 not knowing what she meant, we promised. 



" One night when we were roosting in the 

 trees, a shadow came among us. It was We- 

 nonah, and she called, 4 Brothers ! Brothers ! The 

 time has come ! I need you. Wait by the wig- 

 wam when the darkness thins, at the hour when 

 night and morning wrestle for the owning of the 

 heavens ; and be silent ! ' 



" So we gathered noiselessly, as the night went 

 on. Wawonaissa, the Whip-poor-will, cried, and 

 then ceased, and long the Marsh Frogs peeped, 



