The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1901-11-07
look wise and say, 'Nepawhamis
has found her master at last"

look wise and say, "Nepawhamis
has found her master at last"
But it was not to be. No sooner
did Nepawhamis begin to remember
who she was than her old ways be-
gan to reassert themselves until,
when sakatehoc finally crossed his
fingers and laid them gravely beside
his nose, she opened her fingers in
his face and laughed, and Sakatehoc
went back to his village.
Then no others came to WOO, and
Sakatehoc went a-wooing no more.
He threw himself face down upon a
great bearskin in his lodge and so
remained, and the days and the
weeks went by and the winter pass
ed and the sap began to run in the
trees and the birds to sing, but all
of this passed unheeded by Saka-
tehoc.
His relatives came to him and
urged him to bestir himself, but he
waved them away and moved not,
and his brothers and sisters urged
him, but still he would not speak,
until at last, when the spring was
almost come, the village broke up
and the tribe moved on, leaving
Sakatehoc, who was sick with love.
Then he bestirred himself, for a
plan had formed in his head as he
lay. Over the site of the deserted
village he roamed, picking up all
that had been misunderstanding,
ornaments and trinkets-and Of
these rags and tatters he fashioned
an image like a man. He patched
together his pieces and ornamented
them with bits of beading and
feathers and wampum, and he stuff
ed the whole with bones of men
and of animals and with sticks and
stones, and he found some snow
with which he nodded the whole to-
gether.
Then he called upon his guard
ian, Manitou, to breathe the breath
Of life into the figure, and SO it was
a wondrous sight. No such being
ever lived before as this creature of
rags and stones, and Sakatehoc
named him Moowis, which means
the man of rags and tatters.
And then Sakatehoc took Moowis
to the neighboring village where
Nepawhamis dwelt, for it had not
broken up as yet, and he took
Moowis into her presence, and
something spoke to Nepawhamis,
and she loved Moowis from the mo-
ment she first beheld him.
And the wooing went on mer-
rily.
Nepawhamis was in haste, for she
never knew before what love was,
and at last the wedding took place
and all the village came to see Ne
pawhamis married at last.
The next morning Moowis made
ready to depart, and Nepawhamis
followed him out of the village at
respectful distance, as was the GUS
tom, and as they entered the woods
the sun shone down hot through
the trees and began to melt the
snow with which Moowis was kept
together. And little by little he
began to fall apart. Here trinket
dropped in the trail and there few
rags were caught up by sharp
thorns. And here was the bone of
deer's hind leg and there bit of
glass which was once an eye.
And little by little Moowis
dropped away and was scattered
along the trail, but Nepawhamis
knew not what had befallen her
lord.
And she called "Moowis, Moowis"
many times, and still he answered
not. And on and on Nepawhamis
wandered, searching for her lost
love, and still she wanders. And
now of nights in the forests you
may hear a sound which you may
think is the call of a loon to it's
mate, but it is the voice of Nepa-
whamis still wandering through the
forest and ever calling as her pun
ishment, ''Moowis, Moowis !''-New
York Commercial Advertiser.