I
will hang the cradle of the woman-child upon
Utuhu, the oak; and she shall hear the love-sighs
of the pine maiden!"
In this fashion Winona is introduced to nature
and becomes at once "nature-born," in accord
with the beliefs and practices of the wild red
man.
"Here she is! Take her," says the old
woman on her return from the woods. She pre-
sents the child to its mother, who is sitting in
the shade of an elm-tree as quietly as if she had
not just passed through woman's severest or-
deal in giving a daughter to the brave Cheton-
ska!
"She has a winsome face, as meek and in-
nocent as the face of an ermine," graciously adds
the grandmother.
The mother does not speak. Silently and al-
most reverently she takes her new and first-born
daughter into her arms. She gazes into its vel-
vety little face of a dusky red tint, and uncon-
sciously presses the closely swaddled form to her
breast. She feels the mother-instinct seize upon
her strongly for the first time. Here is a new
life, a new hope, a possible link between herself
and a new race!
Ah, a smile plays upon her lips, as she realizes
that she has kissed her child! In its eyes and
mouth she discerns clearly the features she has
loved in the strong countenance of another,
though in the little woman's face they are soft-
ened and retouched by the hand of the "Great
Mystery.
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