The Princess Pocahontas | Page 9

wider and wider as the rings widen when thou casteth
a stone into a still lake, till it had grown so large that a swift young
wolf, though he ran till he dropped of old age, could not come to its
ending. This earth rose all covered with trees and hills and beasts and
men and women, and Michabo, the Great Hare, the Spirit of Light, the
Great White One, hunted through earth's forests and he fashioned
strong nets for fishing and he taught the stupid men, who knew naught,
how to hunt also and to catch fish that they might not die of hunger.
"But Michabo had mightier deeds to do than the slaying of the fat deer
or the netting of the salmon. His father was the mighty West Wind,
Ningabiun, and he had slain his wife, the mother of Michabo. So when
Michabo's grandmother had told him of the misdeeds of his father,
Michabo rose up and called out to the four corners of the world: 'Now
go I forth to slay the West Wind to avenge the death of my mother.'
"At last he found Ningabiun on the top of a high mountain, his cheeks
puffed out and his headdress waving back and forth. At first they talked
peacefully together and the West Wind told Michabo that only one
thing in all the world could bring harm to him, and that was the black

rock.
"'Wert thou the cause of my mother's death?' questioned Michabo, his
eyes flashing, and Ningabiun calmly answered 'Yes.'
"So Michabo in his fury picked up a piece of black rock and struck at
Ningabiun with all his might. A terrible conflict was this, such as hath
never been seen since; the earth shook and the lightnings flashed down
the sides of the mountain. So great was Michabo's strength that the
West Wind was driven backwards. Over mountains and lakes Michabo
drove him and across wide rivers, till they two came to the very brink
of the world. Ningabiun feared that his son was going to push him off
and cried out:
"Hold, my son, thou knowest not my power and that it is impossible to
kill me. Desist and I will portion out to thee as much power as I have
given to thy brothers. The four quarters of the globe are theirs, but thou
canst do more than they, if thou wilt help the people of the earth. Go
and do good, and thy fame will last forever.'
"So Michabo ceased from the battle and went down to help our fathers
in the hunt and in the council and in the prayer-lodge; but to this day
great cliffs of black rock show where Michabo strove with his father,
the West Wind."

[Illustration: Decorative]
CHAPTER III
MIDNIGHT IN THE FOREST
Nautauquas, son of Powhatan, was returning at night through the forest
towards his lodge at Werowocomoco. Over his shoulder hung the deer
he had gone forth to slay. His mother had said to him:
"Thy leggings are old and worn, and thou knowest that good luck
cometh to the hunter wearing moccasins and leggings made from skins

of his own slaying. Go thou forth and kill a deer that I may soften its
hide and make a covering of it for thy feet."
So Nautauquas had taken his bow and a quiver of arrows, and while
Pocahontas and Cleopatra were sporting at the waterfall he had sought
a pond whose surface was all but covered with fragrant water lilies, and
he had hidden behind a sumac, bush, waiting patiently till a buck came
down alone to drink. Only one arrow did he spend, which found its
place between the wide branched antlers; then the hunter had waded
into the pond, pushing aside the lily pads, and with one cut of his knife
he had put an end to the struggling deer. Now he was bearing it home
and he thought with eagerness of the savory meat it would yield him on
the morrow. There was no doubt that he would have appetite ready for
it, as all day long he had eaten nothing. It had been easy enough for
him to have killed a squirrel and roasted it, but Nautauquas, knowing it
was part of a brave's training to accustom himself to hunger, often
fasted a long time voluntarily.
The night was a dark one, but now that the moon had risen, long vistas
of light shone down the forest avenues, generally at that time so free
from underbrush. Nautauquas, looking up through the branches at the
moon, thought how it was the squaw of the sun and remembered the
queer tales the old women were fond of relating about it.
Suddenly before him he saw a creature dancing down the moon-path,