"
"Tell us a legend of that time, will you not?" pleaded Rose, who had
been watching in silence for a fitting opportunity to make her
favourite request.
"Ah, please do," said Edward, and the three settled themselves
comfortably to listen.
"It was a great many moons ago," began the chief, "long before the
time of my grandfather. All the Indian races were then as one people,
living in peace, and speaking one tongue. Not one of them worked with
his hands. The deer, the beaver, the otter, the antelope, and the bear
flourished and fattened for all, and were caught with scarcely any
skill or effort. The men were never wearied in the chase, nor the
women with pounding corn. None of the white races had as yet come upon
the earth to molest and insult the guardian spirits of hill and stream
and stately wood, and the red men, then as now, were in the habit of
propitiating these deities by offerings of maize, bright coloured
flowers, or belts of wampum laid upon the mountains, or dropped into
caves or streams. Yes, every one lived without fear of his neighbour,
and the red ochre with which our tribes paint their faces in war was
used only to decorate the pipe of peace.
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