You have
danced in the scalp-dance, and have reverenced the customs of the Sioux.
You have shed many tears. You love Red Deer, and your father has sold
you to Cloudy Sky, the medicine man. It is with you to marry the man you
love, or the one you hate."
"If you know everything," sighed the girl, "then you must know that in
four days I am to take my seat beside Cloudy Sky in his wigwam. He has
twice brought calico and cloth, and laid them at the door of my
father's teepee."
"You shall not marry Cloudy Sky, if you have a strong heart, and fear
nothing," replied the fairy. The spirits of the water have determined on
the death of Cloudy Sky. He has already lived three times on earth. For
many years he wandered through the air with the sons of the thunder
bird; like them he was ever fighting against the friends of Unktahe.
"With his own hand he killed the son of that god, and for that was he
sent to earth to be a medicine man. But long ago we have said that the
time should come, when we would destroy him from the earth. It is for
you to take his life when he sleeps. Can a Dahcotah woman want courage
when she is to be forced to marry a man she hates?"
The waters closed over the fairy as he disappeared, and the waves beat
harder against Harpstenah's feet.
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