feast out of the body of
poor "Unktomi."

THE RESUSCITATION OF THE ONLY DAUGHTER

There once lived an old couple who had an only daughter. She was a
beautiful girl, and was very much courted by the young men of the
tribe, but she said that she preferred single life, and to all their
heart-touching tales of deep affection for her she always had one
answer. That was "No."

One day this maiden fell ill and day after day grew worse. All the best
medicine men were called in, but their medicines were of no avail, and
in two weeks from the day that she was taken ill she lay a corpse. Of
course there was great mourning in the camp. They took her body several
miles from camp and rolled it in fine robes and blankets, then they laid
her on a scaffold which they had erected. (This was the custom of burial
among the Indians). They placed four forked posts into the ground and
then lashed strong poles lengthwise and across the ends and made a bed
of willows and stout ash brush. This scaffold was from five to seven
feet from the ground. After the funeral the parents gave away all of
their horses, fine robes and blankets and all of the belongings of
the dead girl. Then they cut their hair off close to their heads, and
attired themselves in the poorest apparel they could secure.

When a year had passed the friends and relatives of the old couple tried
in vain to have them set aside their mourning. "You have mourned long
enough," they would say. "Put aside your mourning and try and enjoy a
few more pleasures of this life while you live. You are both growing old
and can't live very many more years, so make the best of your time." The
old couple would listen to their advice and then shake their heads and
answer: "We have nothing to live for. Nothing we could join in would be
any amusement to us, since we have lost the light of our lives."

So the old couple continued their mourning for their lost idol. Two
years had passed since the death of the beautiful girl, when one evening
a hunter and his wife passed by the scaffold which held the dead girl.
They were on their return trip and were heavily loaded down with game,
and therefore could not travel very fast. About half a mile from the
scaffold a clear spring burst forth from the side of a bank, and from
this trickled a small stream of water, moistening the roots of the
vegetation bordering its banks, and causing a growth of sweet green
grass. At this spring the hunter camped