II
WINONA, THE CHILD-WOMAN
Braver than the bravest,
You sought honors at death's door;
Could you not remember
One who weeps at home--
Could you not remember me?
Braver than the bravest,
You sought honors more than love;
Dear, I weep, yet I am not a coward;
My heart weeps for thee--
My heart weeps when I remember thee!
--Sioux Love Song.
The sky is blue overhead, peeping
through window-like openings in a
roof of green leaves. Right between
a great pine and a birch tree their soft doeskin
shawls are spread, and there sit two Sioux maid-
ens amid their fineries--variously colored por-
cupine quills for embroidery laid upon sheets
of thin birch-bark, and moccasin tops worked
in colors like autumn leaves. It is Winona and
her friend Miniyata.
They have arrived at the period during which
the young girl is carefully secluded from her
brothers and cousins and future lovers, and re-
tires, as it were, into the nunnery of the woods,
behind a veil of thick foliage.
Pages:
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185