or the country be what it may. It was a law of our people,
one which tradition tells us came direct from the Great
Spirit, that the fish should be taken only in certain
seasons, and for so many moons. Some thought this law
was for the health of the people; others, that it was to
enable the fish to multiply for the future. All believed it
wise, because it came from the Manitou, and had
descended to the tribe through so many generations: all
but See-wise. He said that an Indian ought to fish when
and where he pleased; that a warrior was not a woman;
that the spear and the hook had been given to him to be
used, like the bow and arrow, and that none but cowardly
Indians would scruple to take the fish when they wished.
Such opinions pleased the common Indians, who love to
believe themselves greater than they are. See-wise grew
bolder by success, until he dared to say in council, that the
red men made the world themselves, and for themselves,
and that they could do with it what they pleased. He saw
no use in any night; it was inconvenient; an Indian could
sleep in the light as well as in the darkness; there was to
be eternal day; then the hunt could go on until the deer
was killed, or the bear treed. The young Indians liked such
talk. They loved to be told they were the equals of the
Great Spirit. They declared that See-wise should be their
principal chief. See-wise opened his ears wide to this talk,
and the young men listened to his words as they listened
to the song of the mocking-bird. They liked each other,
because they praised each other. It is sweet to be told that
we are better and wiser than all around us. It is sweet to
the red man; the pale-faces may have more sober minds--