'Twas the moon of Wasunpa. [71]
The band lay at rest in the tees at Ka-tha-ga,
And abroad o'er the beautiful land
walked the spirits of Peace and of Plenty--
Twin sisters, with bountiful hand,
wide scatt'ring wild rice and the lilies.
An-pe-tu-wee [70] walked in the west
--to his lodge in the midst of the mountains,
And the war eagle flew to her nest
in the oak on the Isle of the Spirit. [a]
And now at the end of the day,
by the shore of the Beautiful Island, [b]
A score of fair maidens and gay
made joy in the midst of the waters.
Half-robed in their dark, flowing hair,
and limbed like the fair Aphrodite,
They played in the waters,
and there they dived and they swam like the beavers,--
Loud-laughing like loons on the lake
when the moon is a round shield of silver,
And the songs of the whippowils
wake on the shore in the midst of the maples.

[a] The Dakotas say that for many years in olden times a war-eagle
made her nest in an oak tree on Spirit island--Wanagi-wita just below the
Falls till frightened away by the advent of white men.
[b] The Dakotas called Nicollet Island "Wi-ta Waste"--the Beautiful Island.

But hark!--on the river a song,
--strange voices commingled in chorus;