American Museum of Natural History -- Fiction; Indians of North America -- Fiction; Nature stories, American; Western stories
"'_She_!' he said, and '_Hai_!' they answered from within. 'Help me
down,' he would say, which was to tell them that he had a bundle with
him and it was a large one. Then the mother of the girl would know what
was afoot. She would rise and pull the bundle down through the
sky-hole--all pueblo houses are entered from the top, did you not know?"
asked the Condor.
The children nodded, not to interrupt; they had seen as they came along
the trail the high terraced houses with the ladders sticking out of the
door-holes.
"Then there was much politeness on both sides, politeness of food
offered and eaten and questions asked, until the girl's parents were
satisfied that the match would be a good one. Finally, the Old Ones
would stretch themselves out in their corners and begin to scrape their
nostrils with their breath--thus," said the Condor, making a gentle
sound of snoring; "for it was thought proper for the young people to
have a word or two together. The girl would set the young man a task, so
as not to seem too easily won, and to prove if he were the sort of man
she wished for a husband.
"'Only possibly you love me,' said the daughter of the Chief Priest of
the Bow. 'Go out with the light to-morrow to hunt and return with it,
bringing your kill, that I may see how much you can do for my sake.'
"But long before light the girl would go out herself as a puma and scare
the game away. Thus it happened every time that the young man would
return at evening empty-handed, or he would be so mortified that he did
not return at all, and the girl's parents would send the bundle back to
him. The Chief Priest and his wife began to be uneasy lest their
daughter should never marry at all.
"Finally Ho-tai of the pueblo of Matsaki heard of her, and said to his
mother, 'That is the wife for me.'
"'_Shoom_!' said his mother; 'what have you to offer her?' for they were
very poor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account