200 A METOWAC LEGEND. 



and did not see a large stone that was in her path-way. Gha- 

 Nieu sprang forward and saved her, or she would have fallen. 

 She learned she could not go alone. She trembled and stood 

 still. And now Gha-Nieu spoke that which no woman had 

 ever before heard ; and it was pleasant, for it was new. 



Na-wi-qua stood before Gha-Nieu, her head drooping, and she 

 wept bitterly — for she loved him, and grieved that she could 

 not see him. Her tears fell at the feet of the strong and the 

 brave. They watered the earth. Gha-Nieu also wept that she 

 was blind — and then he thought, perhaps Na-wi-qua would not 

 love a chief she had seen weeping. And so he was content. 



Now it was so, that where the tears of the lovers fell, and 

 mingled on the earth, a cheerful, light-loving flower sprang up; 

 for it is the will of the Great Spirit that fruits should grow to 

 satisfy every innocent desire, and flowers should spring from 

 the earth as records of human emotions. They are the types 

 of sentiments registered upon the earth, just as the sentiment 

 itself is registered in the heart. The Eye-bright was thus 

 the birth of tears ; but such tears as are the heralds of cheer- 

 fulness. 



Na-wi-qua stood with her head drooping. She had never 

 seen light, and knew not where to direct her eyes : thus she 

 bent her head to listen to Gha-Nieu. Now as he told of his 

 love, and tried to comfort her on account of her blindness, 

 Na-wi-qua began to see. She was not surprised at this, for 

 love was new to her, and that was a greater surprise. She 



