The manitou touched the dry bones of the moose. [[207]]The lost hunter stood before him. He put on his moccasins. The manitou touched Wahkandee, and he became like the dry bones of the moose. He never woke from his sleep.
The manitou turned the hunter’s head toward his home in the north. The magic moccasins carried him home. He went as the wild bee goes back to its tree. The hunter told the story of his moccasins around the council fire.
The women tried to learn from his wife the secret of their making. She told them how she colored the quills for the patterns she made on the leather. She told them how she sewed them with sinew. This the women could see; but they could not see that her fingers had been warm with love for her husband when she wove the quills into the leather and when she sewed it with the sinew.
The women could not know the secrets the manitou had whispered to the leather; nor did they know of the love the manitous have for those who try to please them. This was why the hunter was saved when he did the wrong that was not in his heart to do. All the squaws have tried to make magic moccasins, but only Mukwa has ever worn them. [[208]]
XLI. OPECHEE THE ROBIN REDBREAST
great hunter among the Chippewas, or Ojibways, wanted his son to secure a powerful spirit to protect him in war and all danger. To gain the help of the strong manitou the boy must fast twelve days.
Many Indian boys can do this, but not all. Many try and fail.
The boy did as his father commanded, for when the time came he went into the secret lodge in the deep forest and laid himself down alone on the mat his mother had woven for him. He did not fear, but his strength was weak. All night he lay there alone.