] and
then go, and, catching an opportunity, toss the cord upon her back. But
take care that she does not know that you have done this, and let it be
indeed a secret to all."
So he took the _sakalobe_, and, visiting the girls once again,
threw it on one of them, more hopeful of success this time. And the
cast succeeded, though she said nothing then. But the next day, alone
in the woods, he met her, for she had followed him. And she said,
"_Tamealeen_?" "Where are you going?" "I am going hunting," he
replied. "But, if you have not lost your way, what are you doing here?"
"I am not lost in the woods," she replied, but said no more. Then he,
seeing how it was, said, "It would be better, though, if I returned
with you to your parents, and told them that I found you lost, and
showed you the way home." And having done this, the girl's father,
noting that she liked the young man, asked him if he wished to marry
her; and as both were willing, and something more, the wedding feast
was soon ready, the friends invited, and the couple settled down.
Some days after, the husband, seeing his wife wearing the magic
hair-string, asked her, "Where did you get that pretty _sakalobe_?"
"I found it," she replied, "in my _'ntuboonk_" (usual sitting place
in the wigwam). This caused the young man to reflect how kindly he had
been treated by the old fairy or witch, and how easily he, without any
merit, had won his wife, and then to think of the deserving young
chiefs son who had failed.
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