198 A METOWAC LEGEND. 



The Master of Life was angry. He determined to do no 

 more for them. He led the woman away to a fair lodge, 

 and left her by herself. 



Na-wi-qua, (Eve, or evening,*) or the blind, was very lonely. 

 She often wept, but she did not complain. She had no com- 

 panion but the Great Spirit, who learned to love her better 

 than any thing he had ever made. And now he sent the birds 

 to sing to her, and brought a stream of water from the hill-side 

 that it might pass the door of her lodge and give her joy. She 

 was very gentle, and the fawn came and laid its head upon her 

 lap. The mocking bird learned many notes from the tones of 

 her voice. The flowers gathered about her, and there was no 

 other place so fair as that about the lodge of Na-wi-qua. 



The men and women often came to look at her and then 

 went away, for she seemed of no use in the world. She could 

 neither plant corn, nor preserve venison, nor manage a canoe, 

 look after the lodge or anything else. So she lived a long 

 time. She was affectionate, but there was no one to love her. 

 She was not unhappy, but she was very solitary. 



One day Gha-Nieu, or the War Eagle, as he was called, 

 thought he would go and see Na-wi-qua. He had often heard 

 of her, but as she seemed so much worse off than other women, 

 he had hitherto felt little curiosity to see her. Gha-Nieu was 

 the handsomest man in the world, and as brave in war, and 



♦Literally "after mid-day." 



