" So they left their
home in the early spring when the bluebird first sang, and walked till
the fall frosts, and then into winter, and ever on till the next
midsummer. And having come to a small path in a great forest, they
followed it, till they came out by a very beautiful river; so fair a
sight they had never seen, and so went onward till it grew to be a
great lake. And so they kept to the path which, when untrodden, was
marked by blazed trees, the bark having been removed, in Indian
fashion, on the side of the trunk which is _opposite_ the place
where the wigwam or village lies towards which it turns. So the mark
can be seen as the traveler goes towards the goal, but not while
leaving it.
[Illustration: GLOOSKAP TURNING A MAN INTO A CEDAR-TREE]
Then after a time they came to a long point of land running out into
the lake, and, having ascended a high hill, they saw in the distance a
smoke, which guided them to a large, well-built wigwam. And, entering,
they found seated on the right side a handsome, healthy man of middle
age, and by the other a woman so decrepit that she seemed to be a
hundred years old. Opposite the door, and on the left side, was a mat,
which seemed to show that a third person had there a seat.
And the man made them welcome, and spoke as if he were _weleda'asit
kesegvou_ (M.)--well pleased to see them, but did not ask them
whence they came or whither they were going, as is wont among Indians
when strangers come to their homes or are met in travel.
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