But why did the lover so long delay?
And whitherward rideth the chief to-day?
As he followed the trail of the buffalo,
From the _tees_ of _Kapoza_ a maiden, lo,
Came running in haste o'er the drifted snow.
She spoke to the chief of the tall _Hohe_:
"Wiwaste requests that the brave Chaske
Will abide with his band and his coming delay
Till the moon when the strawberries are ripe and red,
And then will the chief and Wiwaste wed--
When the Feast of the Virgins is past," she said.
Wiwaste's wish was her lover's law;
And so his coming the chief delayed
Till the mid May blossoms should bloom and fade--
But the lying runner was Harpstina.
And now with the gifts for the bridal day
And his chosen warriors he took his way,
And followed his heart to his moon-faced maid.
And thus was the lover so long delayed;
And so as he rode with his warriors gay,
On that bright and beautiful summer day,
His bride he met on the trail mid-way.
God arms the innocent. He is there--
In the desert vast, in the wilderness,
On the bellowing sea, in the lion's lair,
In the mist of battle, and everywhere.
In his hand he holds with a father's care
The tender hearts of the motherless;
The maid and the mother in sore distress
He shields with his love and his tenderness;
He comforts the widowed--the comfortless--
And sweetens her chalice of bitterness;
He clothes the naked--the numberless--
His charity covers their nakedness--
And he feeds the famished and fatherless
With the hand that feedeth the birds of air.
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