It was a musical name as he uttered it.
"Is it Appah?"
She made a movement with the shoulders, and a half, unfinished, suggested movement of the hands; it indicated weariness and contempt.
"No, he frightens me, but it isn't that. It's me. Appah is right. I'm half bird, half fish, and I can't fly and I can't swim. I flop around on the earth and gasp for breath. And I know it, and I can't make it different."
Her lip curled bitterly but he did not try to console her with feeble platitudes. It was a great relief to her to speak to one who knew, and she was grateful for his silence. He simply sat down beside her and she felt that he was sorry and would like to help her.
"I suppose I was always impossible, even as a child. My parents gave me another name, but no one ever called me by it. Wah-na-gi is a nickname. It means 'the spirit when separated from the body.'[1] You see, even as a child I must have been strange and different."
..vspace:: 2
[1] A Dakota word.
..vspace:: 2
"It's a very beautiful name," he said softly; "the most beautiful name I ever heard. I'm glad they gave it to you."