Mah-pi-ya Du-ta [12] the tall Red Cloud,
A hunter swift and a warrior proud,
With many a scar and many a feather,
Was a suitor bold and a lover fond.
Long had he courted Wiwaste's father,
Long had he sued for the maiden's hand.
Aye, brave and proud was the tall Red Cloud,
A peerless son of a giant race,
And the eyes of the panther were set in his face.
He strode like a stag, and he stood like a pine:
Ten feathers he wore of the great Wanmdee; [13]
With crimsoned quills of the porcupine
His leggins were worked to his brawny knee.
The bow he bent was a giant's bow;
The swift red elk could he overtake,
And the necklace that girdled his brawny neck
Was the polished claws of the great Mato [14]
He grappled and slew in the northern snow.

Wiwaste looked on the warrior tall;
She saw he was brawny and brave and great,
But the eyes of the panther she could but hate,
And a brave Hohe [15] loved she better than all.
Loved was Mahpiya by Harpstina,
But the warrior she never could charm or draw;
And bitter indeed was her secret hate
For the maiden she reckoned so fortunate.