while standing thus , with a heart beating more and more eagerly every moment for the possession of this fair swan , maidwa remembered the saying of his elder brother , that in their deceased father 's medicine - sack were three magic arrows . his brother had not told maidwa that their father , on his death - bed , which he alone had attended , had especially bequeathed the arrows to his youngest son , maidwa , from whom they had been wrongfully kept . the thought of the magic arrows put heart in maidwa , and he hastened with all speed to secure them . at any other time he would have shrunk from opening his father 's medicine - sack , but something prompted him to believe that there was no wrong now . snatching them forth he ran back , not staying to restore the other contents to the sack , but leaving them scattered , here and there , about the lodge . he feared , as he returned , that the swan must by this time have taken wing . but , as he emerged from the wood , to his great delight the air was as rosy as ever , and there , in her own serene and beautiful way , still sat the glorious red swan . with trembling hand he shot the first of his magic shafts : it grazed a wing . the second came closer , and cut away a few of the bright red feathers , which fluttered and fell like flakes of fire in the water . the third , which he carefully aimed and drew home upon the string with all his force , made the lucky hit , and passed through the neck of the bird a little above the breast .
the swan must by this time have taken wing .
what did maidwa fear ?
what did maidwa fear ?