THE STRANGER'S STORY. 117 
the stranger's leg, who answered not the boy, nor resented the injuries he 
received, but remained silent and sorrowful; and, when his leg was broken, 
he tied it up in sticks, and bathed it in the river, and sat down again under 
the tree, and beckoned the boy to approach. When the lad came near, the 
stranger told him he had something of great importance to reveal. "My 
son," said he, "did that old woman ever tell you about your father and 
mother?" "No," answered the boy; "I have never heard of them." "My 
son, do you see these bones scattered on the ground? Whose bones are 
these?" "How should I know?" answered the boy. "It may be that some 
elk or deer has been killed here." "No," said the old man. "Perhaps they 
are the bones of a bear;" but the old man shook his head. So the boy men 
tioned many other animals, but the stranger still shook his head, and finally 
said, "These are the bones of your father; Stone Shirt killed him, and left 
him to rot here on the ground, like a wolf." And "the boy was filled with 
indignation against the slayer of his father. Then the stranger asked, "Is 
your mother in yonder lodge?" and the boy replied, "No." "Does your 
mother live on the banks of this river?" and the boy answered, "I don't 
know my mother; I have never seen her; she is dead." "My son," replied 
the stranger, "Stone Shirt, who killed your father, stole your mother, and 
took her away to the shore of a distant lake, and there she is his wife to day." 
And the boy wept bitterly, and while the tears filled his eyes so that he could 
not see, the stranger disappeared. Then the boy was filled with wonder at 
what he had seen and heard, and malice grew in his heart against his fath 
er's enemy. He returned to the old woman, and said, "Grandmother, why 
have you lied to me about my father and mother?" and she answered not, 
for she knew that a ghost had told all to the boy. And the boy fell .upon 
the ground weeping and sobbing, until he fell into a deep sleep, when strange 
things were told him. 
His slumber continued three days and three nights, and when he 
awoke, he said to his grandmother: "I am going away to enlist all nations 
in my fight;" and straightway he departed. 
(Here the boy's travels are related with many circumstances concern 
ing the way he was received by the people, all given in a series of conver 
sations, very lengthy, so they will be omitted.) 
