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

284 THE BEAR -WIFE.
The Bear-child, sore
Oppressed with heat, the mother bore
With her to sleep
Into the caves, so cool and deep ;
The other, left alone in pain,
With hunger pressed,
Would call and cry for mother's breast
And arms in vain.
When ripe and good
The nuts were fallen in the wood
Lay thick below,
The Bear-wife said "Stay while I go
"
And gather acorns : with her kin
Afar she went ;
And Yek-wai tarried well content
The lodge within.
But tired at last,
Into the woods he wary passed
A little way,
As on each still-remembered day,
With shaft and bow ;
and looking well
About, he saw
A fat she Bear ;
on her did draw,
And down she fell.