VII 

 LIFE AND LOVE RETURN 



HYMEN COMES WITH SPRING 



"My SON, it is ever thus, when spring is on the way," 

 miled Oo-koo-hoo, as Granny entered with glee and displayed 

 a new deerskin work-bag, containing needles, thread, thimble, 

 and scissors; a present from Shing-wauk The Little Pine 

 Neykia's lover. 



"Now that Spring and Love are going to hunt together," 

 further remarked the Indian, "the snow will run away, and the 

 ice begin to tremble when it hears the home-coming birds 

 singing among the trees. Ah, my son, it reminds me of the 

 days of my youth," sighed The Owl, "when I, too, was a lover." 



"Tell me," I coaxed. 



" It was many years ago, at the New Year's dance at Fort 

 Perseverance that I first met Ojistoh. She was thirteen then, 

 and as beautiful as she was young. . . . No; I shall never 

 forget those days . . . When she spoke her voice was as 

 gentle as the whispering south wind, and when she ran she 

 passed among the trees as silently and as swiftly as a vanishing 

 dream; but now," added Oo-koo-hoo, with a sly, teasing glance 

 at his wife, "but now look at her, my son . . . She is 

 nothing but a bundle of old wrinkled leather, that makes a noise 

 like a she-wolf that has no mate, and when she waddles about 

 she goes thudding around on the split end of her body like a 

 rabbit with frozen feet." 



But Granny, saying never a word, seized the wooden fire- 

 poker, and dealt her lord and master such a vigorous blow 



255 



