meekly following the voice of his Master,
One mourner alone by his side--
Ta-te-psin's compassionate daughter.
She wailed the dead father with tears,
and his bones by her kindred she buried.
Then winter followed winter. The years
sprinkled frost on the head of her father;
And three weary winters she dreamed
of the fearless and fair, bearded Frenchmen;
At midnight their swift paddles gleamed
on the breast of the broad Mississippi,
And the eyes of the brave strangers beamed
on the maid in the midst of her slumber.

She lacked not admirers;
the light of the lover oft burned in her _teepee_--
At her couch in the midst of the night,--
but she never extinguished the flambeau.
The son of Chief Wazi-kute--
a fearless and eagle-plumed warrior--
Long sighed for Winona,
and he was the pride of the band of _Isantees_.
Three times, in the night at her bed,
had the brave held the torch of the lover, [75]
And thrice had she covered her head
and rejected the handsome Tamdoka. [T]

[T] Tah-mdo-kah, literally, the buck-deer.

'Twas Summer. The merry-voiced birds
trilled and warbled in woodland and meadow;
And abroad on the prairies the herds
cropped the grass in the land of the lilies,--
And sweet was the odor of rose
wide-wafted from hillside and heather;
In the leaf-shaded lap of repose
lay the bright, blue-eyed babes of the summer;
And low was the murmur of brooks,
and low was the laugh of the _Ha-Ha_; [76]
And asleep in the eddies and nooks
lay the broods of _maga_ [60]and the mallard.
'Twas the moon of _Wasunpa_. [71]
The band lay at rest in the tees at _Ka-tha-ga_,
And abroad o'er the beautiful land
walked the spirits of Peace and of Plenty--
Twin sisters, with bountiful hand
wide scattering wild-rice and the lilies.
_An-pe-tu-wee_[70] walked in the west--
to his lodge in the far-away mountains,
And the war-eagle flew to her nest
in the oak on the Isle of the Spirit.[U]
And now at the end of the day,
by the shore of the Beautiful Island,[V]
A score of fair maidens and gay
made joy in the midst of the waters.
Half-robed in their dark, flowing hair,
and limbed like the fair Aphrodite,
They played in the waters, and there
they dived and t