Finally she excused herself and ran into the wickiup. There where he usually hung was her baby brother in his cradleboard, warm and sleeping. To the large cradle loop above his head, Standing Fawn hung a dainty little doll, all dressed in buckskin, that she had been so busy making that day. Next to the doll she placed a very small bow and arrows and tiny moccasins. Just at that moment her father entered the wickiup.
“See, father, what I have made for my little brother, who will one day be a great warrior. When he sees this doll it will make him want to run fast and shoot straight and carry himself as a warrior should.”
As Standing Fawn talked her mother had entered and was standing next to her father.
Flying Arrow motioned for his daughter to come to him and then kneeling on the ground and placing his hands upon his daughter’s shoulders he said:
“Surely, my daughter, if he were not destined to be a great warrior he would not be blessed with such a fine and beautiful sister. I am a very proud man to have such a wonderful family.”
Standing Fawn looked at her mother, and her mother was smiling. And inside, Standing Fawn felt all warm and good.
BLACK CLOUD REMEMBERS
It had been many weeks since the Seneca hunting party had seen the friendly smoke of their own village and as they lay among the pines, resting now, they were thinking of how it would be in their village when they returned the following day to speak of their success on the hunt. Their catch was large and there would be much dancing and celebration when they did return.
Black Cloud, leader of the hunting party, lay stretched out beneath the boughs of a large pine and gazed up through the branches at the clear sky lighted this evening by a bright full moon. The heavens were filled with stars, and this would mean a good clear day for travel when dawn finally broke upon the forest.
The party had traveled far in search of food but their labors were not in vain for they were returning loaded down with good fresh meat for their tribe.