“Osseo, go from us. Leave Oweenee. She is not for you.” Osseo heard the sisters. His heart was very angry. His eyes looked like the eyes of the wolverine. He looked at Oweenee and then into the sky. He gave a strange war cry and shouted: “Sho-wain-ne-me-shing-nosa!” This means, “Pity me, my father.” “Poor old man! he is calling to his father. If he goes back, Oweenee will be the wife of a warrior,” said the sisters. Osseo crept into a hollow log to hide himself. As quick as a bird can fly he came out of the farther end of the hollow log, but he was no longer an old man. He was a young brave, finer than any in the Ojibway nation. He went to Oweenee. When he put his hand upon her she became old like the oldest squaw. Her beauty went like the lily that withers in one day. Her sisters had no words. They sat on the ground and covered their heads with their blankets. They said, “We have no Oweenee.” Osseo called her his Nenemoshee, his sweetheart. He fed her at the feast. He danced the sacred dance. His eyes were always toward Oweenee. The feast was held in a great lodge. Music came into the lodge while they were all eating. Osseo understood the music. It was his mother talking to him. “Come back to me. There is a place ready for you. Your bowls of clay shall be of copper. Your kettles of stone shall be wampum. Come.” While they were eating the lodge was lifted into the sky. All the tribe who were eating were changed into birds. Oweenee’s sisters became crows. Their husbands became blue jays. Others were changed to quails and wild geese. All but Osseo and Oweenee were birds. Osseo looked at Oweenee as they sailed through the air in the shining wigwam. She was still an old squaw. He prayed again to his father. Oweenee became like the lily again just as the lodge rested on the Evening Star. Here everything was peace. All things were happy, and none did harm to another. One day the son of Osseo was learning to use his bow and arrow. He shot one of the singing birds and a drop of blood fell on the star. The bird changed into a woman. The child fell from the star, and the woman and all the birds followed it, down, down to the same island they had left. The shining lodge of Osseo and Oweenee followed them and was fastened on a high hill far out in the big lake. The land was very small there, and as the birds became men and women again, the place was very crowded. Each one became smaller and smaller until they were the smallest people in the world. They became pukwudjinnies. Schoolcraft. XXXVI. HOW THE WATER LILY CAME (Ojibway) In the old days all men were happy. The men and women were as happy as little children. The wild animals came when they were called, and there was much food. The winters were not cold; it was always like the Strawberry Moon, for the days were warm and the nights were not cold.