marriage to the man who should kill it.

When the boy heard this, he went out early the next morning and lay in
wait for the Red Eagle. At the touch of his magic arrow, it fell at his
feet, and the boy pulled out his arrow and went home without speaking to
any one.

But the thankful people followed him to the poor little lodge, and when
they had found him, they brought the chief's beautiful daughter to be
his wife. Lo, she was the girl who had come to borrow his grandmother's
mortar!

Then he went back to the hollow tree where his clothes were hidden, and
came back a handsome young man, richly dressed for his wedding.

TWENTY-SEVENTH EVENING

THE GHOST WIFE

TWENTY-SEVENTH EVENING

On this last evening, the children are told to be especially quiet, and
to listen reverently and earnestly, "for these are the greater things of
which I am about to tell you," says their old teacher.

"You have heard that the Great Mystery is everywhere. He is in the earth
and the water, heat and cold, rocks and trees, sun and sky; and He is
also in us. When the spirit departs, that too is a mystery, and
therefore we do not speak aloud the name of the dead. There are wonders
all about us, and within, but if we are quiet and obedient to the voice
of the spirit, sometime we may understand these mysteries!"

It is thus the old sage concludes his lessons, and over all the circle
there is a hush of loving reverence.

THE GHOST WIFE

There was once a young man who loved to be alone, and who often stayed
away from the camp for days at a time, when it was said that Wolves,
Bears and other wild creatures joined him in his rovings.

He was once seen with several Deer about him, petting and handling them;
but when the Deer discovered the presence of a stranger, they snorted
with fear and quickly vanished. It was supposed that he had learned
their language. All the birds answered his call, and even those
fairy-like creatures of the air, the butterflies, would come to him
freely and alight upon his body.

[Illustration: HE WAS ONCE SEEN WITH SEVERAL DEER ABOUT HIM, PETTING AND
HANDLING THEM.

_Page 247_]

One day, as he was lying in the meadow among the wild flowers,
completely covered with butterflies of the most brilliant hues, as if it
were a gorgeous cloak that he was wearing, there suddenly appeared
before him a beautiful young girl.

The youth was startled, for he knew her face. He had seen her often; it
was th