Thus appealed to, the Blackfoot was silent for a minute, as if
gathering his thoughts. He looked up at the opening in the roof of the
lodge, then into the fire, and, addressing the three, repeated the
following myth or legend, which has been extant among the Blackfeet
Indians from time immemorial:

"Many, many moons ago, long before the parents of our oldest men were
born, a chieftain as great as Taggarak ruled the Blackfeet. His fame
reached far to the north, to the east, to the south and to the west,
beyond the Stony Mountains, to the shore of the great water, for there
was none like him. In those far-away days the home of Wahla, chieftain
of the Blackfeet, was to the south of this village, on the banks of the
Two Rivers.

"Wahla had a daughter who was the most beauteous maiden that warrior
ever looked upon. She was loving and dainty, and the idol of the stern
old warrior, who would have cut off his right hand rather than have the
slightest harm come to her. Never did father love daughter more than
Chief Wahla loved Mita the Rose of the Forest.

"Wahla returned one day from a fierce battle with the Cheyennes. A
great victory had been won, and the Blackfeet brought home a score of
prisoners, that they might be tied to the stake and burned while their
captives made merry over their sufferings. This was the custom of the
Blackfeet, and they have not yet forgotten such amusements.

"Among the captives was a manly youth, who was proud and brave, and had
slain three of the Blackfeet and wounded Wahla himself before they made
him prisoner. He scorned to ask mercy, which would have been denied
him, and, without a tremor of limb or a dimming of his bright eyes,
awaited the cruel death that he knew had been prepared for him and his
comrades.

"Wahla had to keep his captives for a week or more until word could be
sent to the other villages, that they might come and feast upon the
deaths of the Cheyennes. During that time, Mul-tal-la cannot tell how,
the young Cheyenne warrior and Mita, daughter of the chieftain, met and
learned to love each other. No one knew their secret, and so, while
preparations were going on for the cruel deaths, she managed to loose
his bonds, and one night the two fled for the home of the Cheyennes,
there to become husband and wife.

"Wahla did not learn of the flight of his daughter and lover until the
next morning, when he started in pursuit. He went alone, for his rage
was so terrible that he