WABENO'S GIFT 119 



what signified beautiful valleys if no buffaloes 

 grazed in them, or deep silent woods if no deer and 

 wild fowl were sheltered there ? 



" It was early spring. The Indian had no grown 

 sons to go on the far-away hunting trail ; his chil- 

 dren were young and wailed with hunger as the 

 dried fish and meat began to fail, and it was not 

 yet time for the spring shad running. 



" The oldest child was a youth upon whose time- 

 stick were cut the notches of fourteen winters, and 

 in his heart he longed to help his parents, but 

 knew not how. 



" When an Indian boy has lived fourteen winters, 

 he is no longer called a child ; his play days are put 

 away from him, divided from his manhood by a fast- 

 ing time of seven days. During these days the boy 

 lives alone on the wood edge in a hut his mother 

 builds. Alone with Heart of Nature and the Great 

 Spirit, which is the name the Red Brothers give 

 Heart of God ; alone, with time to think. If the 

 boy was held worthy in this fasting Wabeno would 

 send Wagoose, the Dream Fox, to him with a dream 

 which, being read aright, would bring good to all 

 the people of his tribe. 



" This boy, called Penaisee little bird 

 by the tribe, because he could make almost every 

 bird note with his flute of hollow reeds, longed for 



