which had troubled his hours of sleep,
and the actual appearance to him, when sleep was far from his eyelids,
of beings or phantoms not of this world; and the traditions which
told of the love, or hatred, or favour, or punishment, of the Great
Spirit--of his bounties sent to the Cherokees, when famine reared his
gaunt form among them, or of wrath provoked, and punishment inflicted,
when pride dwelt in their villages, when their thoughts were far from
him, when no clay was put on their heads, when the tender and juicy
flesh of the deer smoked not in his sacrifice. Wars he had seen,
though he had left victory to be achieved by others, for he had been a
man of peace. To the tales of her beloved father would the fair maiden
listen with great delight, for they accorded with the belief in
wonderful events and supernatural appearances, which is early
impressed on the mind of every Indian, and never leaves him but with
life. She would sit for hours with her little head rested on her palm,
her whole soul absorbed by the wild narratives, which, during the long
season of winter, are related to while away the hours spared from war
and the chace.

Beloved with a greater degree of affection than is usually felt even
among those whose lives are little subject to the incidents which
weaken or destroy attachments, the beautiful daughter of the Cherokee
priest grew up to womanhood, the cherished idol of all her friends,
the boast and pride of the nation. The young and ardent Braves sought
her hand in marriage; but she was deaf to all their entreaties and
protestations, and refused all their offers. Yet she did it with so
much kindness, and said so many sweet words to blunt the severity of
the refusal, that all her lovers became her friends, and each, with
affectionate kindness, blended with the bold bearing of one who says
what he knows he has courage to perform, promised that his love
mellowed into friendship should remain firmly fixed in his heart, and
that he would defend its object, should danger cross her path, as long
as strength was given him to carry a spear. The rejection by the fair
Winona of so many youths, most of whom were deemed worthy of her
choice, gave the father pain; but he loved his daughter too well to
wish to make her unhappy by a marriage with one she did not love. He
had seen--and who does not?--that the bird selects for its mate the
bird it likes best; that love and affection go to the pairing of all
creatures,