For some days he went around very quietly; then he began to forget his dream. After a while he could hardly remember it at all.
In a few months, he married one of the maidens of the tribe. That night he went out of his father's lodge, and was never seen again.
It is said that the spirit maiden had drawn him back to her home in the sky.
BIG CHIEF'S CONQUEST
Once in the long ago there lived a great warrior named Milkanops. He lived in a land of high, rocky mountains, and to the far north there lived a tribe of fierce, warlike Indians who were the enemies of his tribe. Many battles were fought between the two tribes, but Milkanops always won. At last, one autumn day, they fought from sunrise to sunset, and although Milkanops won the victory once more, he received his death wound. The poisoned arrow pierced his side just as the battle was won.
His warriors carried him to his lodge and laid him on his couch of deerskins.
"Send for my son," he told them. "Send for Aseelkwa." At once they brought the young warrior to his father's side.
"My boy," said the dying chief, "I have been called to the happy hunting ground, and soon my spirit will be wandering with the happy ones there. Before I go, I wish to ask one thing of you. Promise me that you will not be a warrior as I have been, but will live to be a great chief, for that is what your name means,—Aseelkwa, Big Chief. Yonder to the north are enemies, and they will want you to go to war with them, as I have done many times. Do not listen to their challenges, but try to keep peace between the tribes and make your tribe great and good, rather than strong and warlike."
The young boy, weeping, promised his father to obey his commands, and not long after, the spirit of Milkanops started on its journey to the happy hunting ground.