WINONA'S WARNING.

“Wild-Rose of the Prairies,” he said,

“DuLuth listens not to the Ha-ha,

For the wail of the ghost of the dead

for her babe and its father unfaithful;

But he lists to a voice in his heart

that is heard by the ear of no other,

And to-day will the White Chief depart;

he returns to the land of the sunrise.”

“Let Winona depart with the chief,—

she will kindle the fire in his teepee;

For long are the days of her grief,

if she stay in the tee of Ta-té-psin,”

She replied, and her cheeks were aflame

with the bloom of the wild prairie lilies.

“Tanke , is the White Chief to blame?”

said DuLuth to the blushing Winona.

“The White Chief is blameless,” she said,

“but the heart of Winona will follow

Wherever thy footsteps may lead,

O blue-eyed, brave Chief of the white men.

For her mother sleeps long in the mound,

and a step-mother rules in the teepee,

And her father, once strong and renowned,

is bent with the weight of his winters.

No longer he handles the spear,—

no longer his swift, humming arrows

Overtake the fleet feet of the deer,

or the bear of the woods, or the bison;

But he bends as he walks, and the wind

shakes his white hair and hinders his footsteps;

And soon will he leave me behind,

without brother or sister or kindred.

The doe scents the wolf in the wind,

and a wolf walks the path of Winona.

Three times have the gifts for the bride

to the lodge of Ta-té-psin been carried,

But the voice of Winona replied

that she liked not the haughty Tamdóka.

And thrice were the gifts sent away,

but the tongue of the mother protested,

And the were-wolfstill follows his prey,

and abides but the death of my father.”