woman's weakness? No, I am a man.
Brother, I will tell you a tale. While the nation of the Ottoes had
their hunting-grounds in the shade of the Mountains of the Great Being,
they were led in war to battle--in peace were advised in council by a
brave and warlike chief, who was called Wasabajinga, or the Little Black
Bear. He was the head chief of the nation, and its greatest warrior. His
martial exploits and daring deeds were the theme of all the tribes who
roamed through the vast woods between the Mississippi and the Mountains
of the Setting Sun, the Missouri, and the Lake of the Woods. All had
heard of his great deeds; and many had seen and felt his prowess. He was
stronger than the bear, he was swifter than the deer, he was nimbler
than the mountain-cat or the panther. Who was so expert at stealing
horses(1) as Wasabajinga?--by his cabin-door stood the best in all the
land; and they had belonged to the Konzas, the Pawnees, the Omawhaws,
the Puncas, the Sioux, and other tribes whose eyes were sharp and arrows
long, but neither so sharp nor so long as those of the Otto warrior. He
had entered alone the camp of the Missouries, at the time when the stars
are the sole torches of night, and had brought thence many scalps; he
had crept to the lodge of an Arrowauk, and taken the beloved maiden. He
had struck dead bodies(2) of all the nations around--Osages, Padoucas,
Bald-heads, Ietans, Sauxs, Foxes, and Ioways. And who had such eyes for
the trail and the chase as he? He could show you where the snake had
crawled through the hazel leaves; he could trace the buck by his nipping
of the young buds; he could spring to the top of the tallest pine with
the ease of the squirrel, and from thence point out unerringly where
lay the hunting-lodges and grounds of all the tribes of the land; he
could endure as much fasting as the land-tortoise, or the bear of the
frozen north, and march as long as the eagle could fly; never hungry
till food was placed before him; never tired when there was more glory
to be won. Strong, healthy and nimble, Wasabajinga lived to learn that
there was no one in the wilds able to cope with him in battle, and to
have his wisdom as loudly applauded as his valour.

At home it was the good fortune of this famous chief to be equally
prosperous and happy. He had nine wives, all beautiful as the path of
the Master of Life[A]--all good and amiable. Though they all lived in
the same cabin(3), ate out of the same bowl, w