o reach the nearest tent, I saw an
old woman emerge from a lodge and in the face of the storm begin to
climb the hill, down which the wind swept, laying low the grass and
whipping the heads of the flowers. Seemingly unmindful of the storm,
on the woman went, her scant garments flapping, and her hair, seamed
with grey, tossing about her wrinkled face. The sight was so strange
that I paused to watch her, as she climbed on and on, steadfastly
breasting the storm. The lightnings flashed around her, and the
thunder echoed among the hills as she reached the top. There she
stopped and stood, a silhouette against the surging clouds, her hands
uplifted, her head thrown back; and between the thunder peals I heard
her voice ring out loud and clear in a song,--a song, I doubted not,
that carried a message to the mighty storm, in which to her the gods
were present. Many years have passed since I witnessed this scene and
learned the story of the woman's song. She is now at rest, and let us
hope her lifelong sorrow may have turned to joy.

In the early part of the century a Dakota woman fasted and prayed, and
Thunder came to her in her vision. To the god she promised to give her
firstborn child. When she became a mother, she forgot in her joy that
the life of her little one did not belong to her; nor did she recall
her fateful vow until one bright spring day, when the clouds gathered
and she heard the roll of the thunder,--a sound which summoned all
persons consecrated to this god to bring their offerings and to pay
their vows. Then she remembered what she had promised; but her heart
forbade her to lay the infant, which was smiling in her arms, upon the
cloud-swept hill-top. She pressed the baby to her breast, and waited
in silence the passing of the god in the storm.

The following spring, when the first thunder pealed, she did not
forget her vow; but she could not gather strength to fulfil it.

Another year passed, and again the thunder sounded. Taking the
toddling child by the hand, the mother climbed the hill; and, when the
top was reached, she placed it on the ground and fled. But the boy
scrambled up and ran after her, and his frightened cry stayed her
feet. He caught her garments and clung to them; and, although the
thunder called, she could not obey. Her vow had been made before she
knew the strength of a mother's love.

Gathering the boy in her arms, she hid herself and him from the
presence of the god. The storm passed,