"Oh, you're fooling me. You aren't speaking the truth."

"Yes, I am. If you don't believe--come with me now!"

The girl looked down; so did the youth. At last he said softly:

"Well, which is it? Shall I take up your bucket, or will you go
with me?"

And she answered, still more softly: "I guess I'll go with you!"

The girl's aunt came down to the river, wondering what kept her
niece so long. In the mud she found two pairs of moccasin tracks
close together; at the edge of the water stood an empty keg.






THE SIMPLETON'S WISDOM

There was a man and his wife who had one daughter. Mother and
daughter were deeply attached to one another, and when the latter
died the mother was disconsolate. She cut off her hair, cut gashes
in her cheeks and sat before the corpse with her robe drawn over
her head, mourning for her dead. Nor would she let them touch the
body to take it to a burying scaffold. She had a knife in her
hand, and if anyone offered to come near the body the mother would