II. WINONA'S GIRLHOOD 83 III. A MIDSUMMER FEAST 93 IV. THE FAITHFULNESS OF LONG EARS 103 V. SNANA'S FAWN 118 VI. HAKADAH'S FIRST OFFERING 131 VII. THE GRAVE OF THE DOG 145 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Snana called loudly to her companion turnip-diggers _Frontispiece_ So he bravely jumped upon the nest PAGE 32 "Oh, what nice claws he has, uncle!" I exclaimed eagerly 69 He began to sing a dirge for him 140 PART ONE MY INDIAN CHILDHOOD I "THE PITIFUL LAST" What boy would not be an Indian for a while when he thinks of the freest life in the world? This life was mine. Every day there was a real hunt. There was real game. No people have a better use of their five senses than the children of the wilderness. We could smell as well as hear and see. We could feel and taste as well as we could see and hear. Nowhere has the memory been more fully developed than in the wild life, and I can still see wherein I owe much to my early training. Of course I myself do not remember when I first saw the day, but my brothers have often recalled the event with much mirth; for it was a custom of the Sioux that when a boy was born his brother must plunge into the water, or roll in the snow naked if it was winter time; and if he was not big enough to do either of these himself, water was thrown on him. If the new-born had a sister, she must be immersed. The idea was that a warrior had come to camp, and the other children must display some act of hardihood. I was so unfortunate as to be the youngest of five children who, soon after I was born, were left motherless. I had to bear the humiliating name "Hak[=a]dah," meaning "the pitiful last," until I should earn a more dignified and appropriate name. I was regarded as little more than a plaything by the rest of the children. The babe was done up as usual in a movable cradle made from an oak board two and a half feet long and one and a half feet wide. On one side of it was nailed with brass-headed tacks the richly embroidered sack, which was open in front and laced up and down with buckskin strings. Over the arms of the infant was a wooden bow, the ends of which were firmly attached to the board, so that if the cradle should fall the child's head and face would be protected. On this bow were hung curious playthings--strings of artistically carved bones and hoofs of deer, which rattled when the little hands moved them.