The league of the Iroquois and other legends : from the Indian muse

THE
BEAR-WIFE.
IN days of old
There lived an Indian hunter bold ;
In childhood skilled
In hunting, he a Bear had killed ;
To more extol and record fair
A deed so famed,
His people hence him Yek-wai named-
Named him the Bear.
When manhood came
He hunted Bears, his chosen game ;
And many a beast
Slain by his hand, had piled the feast ;
Until no more that shaggy brute
Did near abound ;
By hunters brave alone was found
In wilds remote.