The Eternal Maiden by T. Everett Harré
page 11 of 171 (06%)
page 11 of 171 (06%)
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head. The soft skins of blue foxes and of young birds clothed her.
From her sleeves her hands peeped; they were small, dainty, childlike. Almost childlike, too, was her face, so palely golden, so fresh, so lovely, so petite. There were mingled in her the coyness of a child and the irresistible coquetry of a woman. She waved her hands joyously to the hunters leaving the shore. They called back to her. Some of the women frowned. One shook her fist at Annadoah. Papik, lingering behind, approached Annadoah timidly. "Thou art beautiful, Annadoah; thou canst sew with great skill. With the needles the white men brought thee, thou hast made garments such as no other maiden. Papik would wed thee, Annadoah." "Thou art a good lad, Papik," Annadoah replied, laughing gaily. "But thy fingers are very long--and long, indeed, thy nose!" Papik flushed, for to him this was a tragedy. "But with my fingers I speed the arrow with skill," he replied. "True, but the fate of him who shoots with a skill such as thine is unfortunate indeed; for soon the day will come when thou wilt not speed the arrow, when thy hands will be robbed of their cunning. When _ookiah_ (winter) comes with his lashes of frost he will smite thy fingers--they will fall off. Then how wilt thou get food for thy wife? _Ookiah_ will twist thy nose, and it will freeze. Poor Papik!" |
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