“Do not mourn for me, my father, for I am happy. I did not want to be a warrior. I wanted only to be [[210]]free. I shall find food upon the fields and the hills. I will comfort you.” Then he flew away.
Opechee lives near the homes of men. He loves to comfort them when they are sad. He is happy when they are happy.
His songs are for the little children and for the fathers and mothers who want their little ones to be brave. Opechee is not afraid in the storm, and many have heard him singing just after the great thunderbirds had called to each other and the water was coming fast from the sky to find a place to hide in the ground. Opechee is brave, but not strong.
Schoolcraft. [[211]]
XLII. THE INDIAN WHO MARRIED THE MOON
(Chippewa)
ne of the warriors in an Ojibway band had a boy who refused to fast as all other boys and men had done.
“I like to eat; it is hard to be faint and hungry,” said the boy when his father took him to the little wigwam in the forest.