The next morning the wolverine put the young man on the trail, and at last he came to a great water. Here his courage failed; he was in despair. There was no way to cross. Just then two swans appeared and asked him about himself.
When he told his story, they took him safely over. “Now,” said they, as he stepped ashore, “you are close to the sun's house. Follow that trail.”
Scar-face soon saw some beautiful things in the path,—a war-shirt, shield, bow, and arrow. But he did not touch them.
Soon he came upon a handsome young man whose name was Morning Star. He was the child of the sun and the moon. They became great friends.
Together they went to the house of the sun, and there Morning Star's mother was kind to Scar-face because her son told her that Scar-face had not stolen his pretty things. When the sun came home at night, the moon hid Scar-face under some skins, but the sun knew at once that some one was there. So they brought him [pg 038] forth and told him he should always be with Morning Star as his comrade. And one day he saved his friend's life from an attack of long-beaked birds down by the great water.
Then the sun and moon were happy over what he had done and asked what they could do for him. And Scar-face told them his story, and the sun told him he should marry his sweetheart. And he took the scar from his face as a sign to the girl. They gave him many beautiful presents, and the sun taught him many things, and how the medicine lodge should be built and how the dance should be danced, and at last Scar-face parted from them, and went home over the Milky Way, which is a bridge connecting heaven and earth.
And he sat, as is the custom of strangers coming to a town, on the hill outside the village. At last the chief sent young men to invite him to the village, and they did so. When he threw aside his blanket, all were surprised, for they knew him. But he wore rich clothing, he had a beautiful bow and arrow, and his face no longer bore the scar. And when he came into the village, he found the girl, and she knew that he had been to the sun, and she loved him, and they were married.
Erminnie A. Smith.—A highly accomplished woman. Shortly before her death she made a study for the Bureau of American Ethnology upon Myths of the Iroquois.
Charles Godfrey Leland.—Poet, prose writer, and traveler. His poems appear under the nom de plume of “Hans [pg 039] Breitmann.” His Algonquin Legends of New England is important.
George Bird Grinnell.—Writer. His Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk-Tales and Blackfoot Lodge Tales are charming works. We have drawn upon him for much material, especially here and in [XVI.] and [XX.]