^H^'/Jja FICTION 87 



charmed by his great beauty of face and form. He wore a wampum 

 sash around his body and a fine headdress with black eagle plumes 

 waving over it. His entire person seemed to shine with paint and 

 oil. Without ceremony he informed the young woman that he had 

 come to marry her and that he would await her answer. Answering 

 him, the 3'oung woman said, " I will first tell my mother what you 

 have said, and when 1 get her reply I will talk to you again." The 

 strange man stood near the fire while waiting for an answer from 

 the two women. 



The young woman told her mother what he had said to her, and 

 her mother answered, " You must do as you yourself like. You have 

 already refused a great many men without good cause, so far as I 

 know. Now, therefore, it is for you to decide what you must do in 

 this case. You must please yourself." With this equivocal i-esponse 

 the girl went back to the man and gave him her mother's answer, 

 adding, " I have decided to become your wife. You may follow me 

 to my mother " ; then she took her seat at his side. When they had 

 been to talk to the mother they returned to the fireside. He seemed 

 to the mother also a very handsome man; so she agreed to the mar- 

 riage and the two became husband and wife. 



Then the young man said to his young wife, " I want you to 

 accompany me to my own lodge tonight." Then removing the 

 beautiful wampum sash, he gave it to her for her mother, saying, 

 "This shall be a sign for your mother that we are married." The 

 mother received it and hung it up, for she was much pleased with it. 

 Then the man and his wife started off toward his lodge. As they 

 traveled on the wife could see in the distance a large clearing, at 

 one end of which- she saw a lodge which her husband pointed out to 

 her as his. They went into it, and the people within seemed to be 

 delighted to .see her;. so she sat down in her husband's seat. They 

 passed that night and the next day together. On the second day 

 the young husband said, " I am going out to hunt." 



He went out. W^hen he closed the door the young woman heard 

 a very strange noise; she did not know what to think of it. Then 

 all became still. In the evening she heard sounds of the same kind. 

 Then the door was flung aside and a tremendous serpent, with his 

 tongue darting from his mouth, entered the lodge and placed his 

 head in the lap of the young woman, asking her to hunt in it for 

 vermin. She found in his head a large number of bloodsuckers, 

 angleworms, and other noisome insects.^ She killed all she found, 

 whereupon then the serpent slowly withdrew from the lodge and dis- 

 appeared. 



In a moment the young woman's husband came into the lodge and 

 he appeared to her handsome as ever. He asked his wife, " Were you 

 afraid of me when I came in a short time ago? " She replied, "No; I 



