Home > Authors Index > Browse all available works of Charles Alexander Eastman > Text of Son-In-Law (Nineteenth Evening)
A short story by Charles Alexander Eastman |
||
The Son-In-Law (Nineteenth Evening) |
||
|
________________________________________________
Title: The Son-In-Law (Nineteenth Evening) Author: Charles Alexander Eastman [More Titles by Eastman] NINETEENTH EVENING
"This Chanotedah is indeed a mischievous fellow," explains the good old man. "He is no larger than a three-year-old child, and is covered with hair. His home is in a hollow tree, and his weapons are the brilliantly colored feathers of gay birds. He delights in confusing the lone hunter who is so unlucky as to come upon him in the depths of the forest. That you may know why this little man has a grudge against our race, I will tell you a story."
Once upon a time there was a young girl whose parents had been taken by the enemy, and who lived alone with her elder brother in the forest, without kinsfolk or neighbors. The young man was a clever hunter who provided more than enough for their needs, and the sister kept his lodge in order and his moccasins well mended, so that for a long time they lived happily together without other company. A day came, however, when the young man wished to go upon a journey and to see something of the world. He therefore called upon the Little Man of the Woods, Chanotedah, and begged him to look after his sister during his absence. He then took his bow and quiver full of arrows, and set out to discover strange countries. The traveller met with no adventures until the third day, when he saw several boys playing outside the entrance to their dwelling, which appeared to be merely a cave in the side of a hill. "Here comes our brother-in-law!" they cried, and all ran back into the cave. The young man was curious to know what this meant, and he went boldly in. Opposite the door of the cave there sat a handsome young woman, while her father and mother were seated upon either side of the fire. The old man at once arose and greeted the stranger. "Ho, my son-in-law!" he exclaimed; whereupon the old wife served him with food and waited upon him hospitably. It appeared, however, that the young woman was kindly disposed toward this good-looking youth, for she soon contrived to warn him secretly of her father's intentions toward him. "When my father takes you hunting with him," she said, "you must take care always to keep behind him. If he tells you to follow any animal, do not do so, but shoot it from where you stand!" Next day the old man invited his guest to hunt, and by and by they saw a white Marten in the wood. "Chase it, chase it, son-in-law!" exclaimed the old man, but the youth stood still and killed the creature with an arrow from his quiver. Alas, it was no marten, but one of the boys whom he had seen playing outside the cave! The next day a white Magpie flew across the path, and the old man again called on his guest to follow. He stopped and aimed an arrow instead, which pierced the second boy to the heart. "Do not shoot a white Deer when you see him coming toward you," begged the girl of her lover on the third morning, for she wished to save her youngest brother's life. The young man spared the Deer, and the last of the boys came home unhurt; but he himself remembered her warning and took care to keep behind, so that the old man had no chance to kill him. "Ah, my son-in-law, you have beaten me! Take my daughter; she is now your wife," he said to the young man, who thereupon took his wife home to his own lodge, and his brother-in-law whose life he had spared he took with them to be husband to his sister. The Little Man of the Woods had guarded the girl safely, but meanwhile he had fallen in love with her and desired to marry her. Being refused, he went away angry and hid in a hollow tree, where he still lives, and all who walk alone in the forest fear to meet him, for he wishes nothing so much as to do a mischief to the descendants of the sister and brother. [The end] GO TO TOP OF SCREEN |