of
Karkapaha. He had just raised his spear to strike the unmanly lover,
when, all at once, he found himself riveted to the ground: his feet
refused to move; his hands, which he attempted to raise, hung
powerless at his side; his tongue, when he attempted to speak, refused
to utter a word. The bow and arrow fell from his hand, and his spear
lay powerless. A little child, not so high as the fourth leaf of the
thistle, came and spat upon him, and a company of young maidens,
whose feet were not longer than the blue feather upon the wing of the
teal, danced a mirthsome dance around him, singing a taunting song of
which he was the burthen. All and each of the tiny spirits did their
part towards inflicting pain and ignominy on the hapless Maha. When
they had finished their task of punishing by preparatory torture, a
thousand little Spirits drew their bows, and a thousand winged arrows
pierced his heart. In a moment, a thousand mattocks, of the size of an
Indian's thumb-nail, were employed in preparing him a grave. And he
was hidden from the eyes of the living, ere Tatoka could have thrice
counted over the fingers of her hand.

When this was done, the chief of the Little Spirits called Karkapaha
to his seat, and spoke to him thus:--"Maha, you have the heart of a
doe; you would fly from a roused wren. Cowards find no favour in the
eyes of the spirits of the air, who do not know what fear is, save
when they see it painted on the cheeks of a mortal. We have not spared
you because you deserved to be spared, but because the maiden loves
you, and we would pleasure her. It is for this purpose that we will
give you the heart of a man, that you may return to the village of the
Mahas, and find favour in the eyes of Mahtoree and the Braves of the
nation. We will take away your cowardly spirit, and will give you the
spirit of the warrior whom we slew, whose heart was firm as a rock,
and whose knees would have trembled when mountains caught the touch of
fear, and not before. Sleep, man of little soul, and wake to be better
worthy the love of the beauteous Antelope."

Then a deep sleep came over the Maha lover. How long he slept he knew
not, but when he woke he felt at once that a change had taken place in
his feelings and temper. The first thought that came to his mind was a
bow and arrow; the second the beautiful Indian girl who lay sleeping
at his side. The Little Spirits had disappeared--not a solitary being,
of the many thousands, who