was her efficient teacher
and chaperon Such knowledge as my grandmother deemed suitable to a
maiden was duly impressed upon her susceptible mind. When I was not in
the woods with Chatanna, Oesedah was my companion at home; and when I
returned from my play at evening, she would have a hundred questions
ready for me to answer. Some of these were questions concerning our
every-day life, and others were more difficult problems which had
suddenly dawned upon her active little mind. Whatever had occurred to
interest her during the day was immediately repeated for my benefit.

There were certain questions upon which Oesedah held me to be authority,
and asked with the hope of increasing her little store of knowledge. I
have often heard her declare to her girl companions: "I know it is true;
Ohiyesa said so!" Uncheedah was partly responsible for this, for when
any questions came up which lay within the sphere of man's observation,
she would say:

"Ohiyesa ought to know that: he is a man-I am not! You had better ask
him."

The truth was that she had herself explained to me many of the subjects
under discussion.

I was occasionally referred to little Oesedah in the same manner, and I
always accepted her childish elucidations of any matter upon which I had
been advised to consult her, because I knew the source of her wisdom. In
this simple way we were made to be teachers of one another.

Very often we discussed some topic before our common instructor, or
answered her questions together, in order to show which had the readier
mind.

"To what tribe does the lizard belong?" inquired Uncheedah, upon one of
these occasions.

"To the four-legged tribe," I shouted.

Oesedah, with her usual quickness, flashed out the answer:

"It belongs to the creeping tribe."

The Indians divided all animals into four general classes: 1st, those
that walk upon four legs; 2nd, those that fly; 3rd, those that swim with
fins; 4th, those that creep.

Of course I endeavored to support my assertion that the lizard belongs
where I had placed it, be-. cause he has four distinct legs which propel
him everywhere, on the ground or in the water. But my opponent claimed
that the creature under dispute does not walk, but creeps. My strongest
argument was that it had legs; but Oesedah insisted that its body
touches the ground as it moves. As a last resort, I volunteered to go
find one, and demonstrate the point in question.

The lizard having been brou