"We don't know," answered Lois.
"Love whispers to them that somebody is in need, of course," explained Wenonah. "You asked me if I didn't know any Indian stories and that made me think of the great chief Pola."
"Please tell us about him," begged Hal.
"Did he have any children?" asked Lois.
"Yes, a little daughter named Polawee. She was the most beloved princess in the world and it was all because Love was her constant companion. If she heard of any children who were sorrowful, or hurt, or unhappy, she went to them at once and did not leave them until they were cheered and the world again seemed a glad place to live in. Her father was a great chief with a crown of feathers, and his face and body decorated with bright paint, but he died and was forgotten, while the gentle Polawee has never been forgotten, nor ever will be in that country where they lived.
The people named a river for her. It was a narrow stream, scarcely more than a creek; for Polawee loved this river and often led a crying child to look into its clear depths, for the child was sure to laugh at such a funny face as looked up from the sparkling water. Then Polawee laughed and the ripples laughed and they were all happy together.
Many years afterward when a village of white people had come to be on this spot where the Princess Polawee lived, a little girl named Rowena used to come and stand on the bridge that crossed the stream. She knew about the Indian maiden for whom it had been named—how kind she was, and how good to everybody.
As she stood looking down into the water one day, two tears splashed into the water.
Rowena had red hair and freckles. She was thin and round-shouldered. The school children teased her and called her Hyena. So her heart was very sore and you can imagine when she leaned over the Polawee today what a reflection she saw, with her bent figure, and her sullen, plain, unhappy face. How she wished the Indian princess were here now to take her part and help her to punish the teasing children. She would like to see them all as unhappy as she was.