waving, and at the same time keeping up his comic song, she burst out
laughing. Then she reached over and handed her knife to the simpleton.

"Take this knife," she said. "You have taught me to forget my grief. If
while I mourn for the dead I can still be mirthful, there is no reason
for me to despair. I no longer care to die. I will live for my husband."

The simpleton left the tepee and brought the knife to the astonished
husband and relatives.

"How did you get it? Did you force it away from her, or did you steal
it?" they said.

"She gave it to me. How could I force it from her or steal it when she
held it in her hand, blade uppermost? I sang and danced for her and she
burst out laughing. Then she gave it to me," he answered.

When the old men of the village heard the orphan's story they were very
silent. It was a strange thing for a lad to dance in a tepee where there
was mourning. It was stranger that a mother should laugh in a tepee
before the corpse of her dead daughter. The old men gathered at last in
a council. They sat a long time without saying anything, for they did
not want to decide hastily. The pipe was filled and passed many times.
At last an old man spoke.

"We have a hard question. A mother has laughed before the corpse of her
daughter, and many think she has done foolishly, but I think the woman
did wisely. The lad was simple and of no training, and we cannot expect
him to know how to do as well as one with good home and parents to teach
him. Besides, he did the best that he knew. He danced to make the mother
forget her grief, and he tried to honor the corpse by waving over it his
hands."

"The mother did right to laugh, for when one does try to do us good,
even if what he does causes us discomfort, we should always remember
rather the motive than the deed. And besides, the simpleton's dancing
saved the woman's life, for she gave up her knife. In this, too, she did
well, for it is always better to live for the living than to die for the
dead."

A LITTLE BRAVE AND THE MEDICINE WOMAN

A village of Indians moved out of winter camp and pitched their tents
in a circle on high land overlooking a lake. A little way down the
declivity was a grave. Choke cherries had grown up, hiding the grave
from view. But as the ground had sunk somewhat, the grave was marked by
a slight hollow.

One of the villagers going out to hunt took a short cut through the
choke cherry bushes. As he pushed them