"And whither goest thou, Maiden? Dove of the forest, whither goest thou? Maiden, as bright as the Hunter's Star, Maiden, whose hair is the grape-clustered vine, Whose neck is the neck of the swan, Whose eyes are the eyes of the dove, Whose hand is as small as the red-oak's leaf, Whose foot is the length of the lark's spread wing, Whose step is the step of the antelope's child, Whose voice is the voice of a rill in the moon, Of the rill's most gentle song; Whither goest thou?" "I go to make an offering. I go to lay the gifts of my Brave, The crest of the Song Sparrow[E], that which sang From her bower in the bush, on the beautiful night, When he called me "dearest," And the rainbow-tail of the Spirit Bird, And the shells that were dyed in the sunset's blush, And the beads that he brought from a far-off land, And the skin of the striped lynx that he slew Ere the mocassins deck'd his feet, Before the Idols, The Man, and Woman, and Dog of Stone, That stand on the willow-bank, On the willow-bank that o'erlooks the stream, The shallow and turbid stream. I make them my Okkis to guard my Brave; I go to ask them to shield his breast Against the Maha's darts; To give to his arm the strength of two; To give to his foot the fleetness of two; To wring from his heart the drop of blood, If he hath such drop, that causes fear To make his cry like the Serpent's hiss[F], Among the hills of the setting sun, And when there is Maha blood on his hand, And a bunch of Maha scalps at his back. To send him back to these longing arms, That I may wipe from his weary brow The drops that spring from his toil." "Go! Maiden, go!" [Footnote A: Thunder, sometimes called by the Indians, _par excellence_, "the Voice."] [Footnote B: "Okkis"--_protecting spirit_. See note 1, page 195.] [Footnote C: Quebec--Heights of Abraham.] [Footnote D: The Spaniards, from whom the Indians first procured the horse. This great acquisition is referred to in many of their traditions. See "The Wahconda's Son," &c.] [Footnote E: Song Sparrow--_Fringilla melodica_.] [Footnote F: Serpent's hiss, the thunder. See note 5, p. 167.]