In her net of hair she caught him--caught Wanata with her wiles;
All in vain his wife besought him--begged in vain his wonted smiles.
Ape-duta ruled the _teepee_--all Wanata's smiles were hers;
When the lodge was wrapped in sleep a star[CL] beheld the mother's tears.
Long she strove to do her duty for the black-eyed babe she bore;
But the proud, imperious beauty made her sad forevermore.
Still she dressed the skins of beaver, bore the burdens, spread the fare;
Patient ever, murmuring never, though her cheeks were creased with care.
In the moon _Maga-o kada_, [71] twice an hundred years ago--
Ere the "Black Robe's"[CM] sacred shadow
stalked the prairies' pathless snow--
Down the swollen, rushing river, in the sunset's golden hues,
From the hunt of bear and beaver came the band in swift canoes.
On the queen of fairy islands, on the _Wita Waste's_ [CN] shore
Camped Wanata, on the highlands just above the cataract's roar.
Many braves were with Wanata; Ape-duta, too, was there,
And the sad Anpetu-sapa spread the lodge with wonted care.
Then above the leafless prairie leaped the fat-faced, laughing moon,
And the stars--the spirits fairy--walked the welkin one by one.
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