197 
“ The son of a chief married a girl of his own village. They 
lived happily together for many months, and the woman was about 
to bear a child. One morning she awoke very ill; by evening she 
was worse, and at midnight she died, the child being still unborn. 
The peoj^le mourned over her body for two days, and Iniried her on 
the morning of the third day. 
The husband, stricken with grief, slept each night on his wife’s 
grave. The people carried presents of food to him, but he declined 
to eat. At last his mother went and begged him to eat; and he 
entered her house and ate whatever she offered him. But at night 
he returned to his wife’s grave and slept there. 
Tlie weather grew colder, and snow began to cover the ground. 
At first he cleared it away from the grave and slept on the bare 
ground; but when the snow grew deeper and the cold inore rigorous 
he slept in his hut. 
Spring came, and he went to visit his wife’s grave again. As he 
drew near it he saw a little boy gathering fireweed;^ very quietly it 
entered the grave with a bunch of flowers, then came out again and 
began to pick more. The man concealed himself and watclied. Some- 
times the boy gathered flowers and took them inside the grave, some- 
times he gathered other things. And all the time the man watched 
from his hiding place. 
Now, as he pondered over this, he determined to try and catch 
the child. He returned to his liouse, speaking to no one, took down 
his tools, and made four tiny bows, which he covered with red paint. 
Next he cut some branches of the saskatoon tree and made four tiny 
arrows, wJiich he feathered with great care. The villagers were glad 
to see him working again, although they did not know what he was 
doing, for they grieved that he should weep each day at his wife’s 
grave. 
Three days after he had first seen the boy the man returned 
to the grave, carrying his bows and arrows in a bag upon his back. 
Again he saw tlie boy, who was now a little bigger. When he entered 
the grave the man ran forward and planted a bow and arrow in the 
ground near by. He planted the second bow and arrow a little 
farther down the trail toward the village, and the third and fourth 
a little farther still. Then he hid and waited. 
1 Like tlie Iv'aves on the trees, the eliild is born in tlie spring. 
