"Come, my brother, we will go and
sit by the banks of the lake, why should you be unhappy! the buffalo is
still to be found upon our hunting-grounds--the spirit of the lake
watches over us--we shall not want for food."
He would go, because she asked him. The quiet and beauty of nature were
not for him; rather would he have stood alone when the storm held its
sway; when the darkness was only relieved by the flash that laid the
tall trees of the forest low; when the thunder bird clapped her wings as
she swept through the clouds above him. But could he refuse to be happy
when Wenona smiled? Alas! that her gentle spirit should not always have
been near to soften his!
But as the beauty and warmth of summer passed away, so did Wenona's
strength begin to fail; the autumn wind, that swept rudely over the
prairie flowers, so that they could not lift their heads above the tall
grass, seemed to pass in anger over the wigwam of the old man--for the
eye of the Dahcotah maiden was losing its brightness, and her step was
less firm, as she wandered with her brother in her native woods.
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