“You are welcome, Segun. Sit by my fire; it is warm. I have no meat. Sit down and tell me what you can do.”
“Peboan may tell first what he can do,” said Segun. [[255]]
Peboan said: “I am a winter manitou; I blow my breath, and the flowers die. The waters stand still; the leaves fall and die.”
Segun said: “I am a summer manitou; I blow my breath, and the flowers open their eyes. The waters follow me on my trail.”
Peboan said: “I shake my hair, and the snow falls on the mountains, like the feathers of Waubese, the great white swan.”
Segun said: “I shake my hair, and warm rain falls from the clouds. I call, and the birds answer me. The trees put on their leaves, and the grass grows thick like the fur of the bear. The summer sky is my teepee. Menabozho has said that the time has come for you to go.”
Peboan’s head bent over on his shoulder. The sun melted the snow on the pine trees; it melted the snow on the teepee. Segun waved her hands over Peboan, and a strange thing happened.
Peboan grew smaller and smaller. His deerskin clothes turned to leaves and covered Peboan on the ground.
Segun looked, but Peboan was gone. She took some flowers from her hair and hid them under the leaves on the ground. There was ice on the leaves, but it did not hurt the pink flowers. Segun breathed on the flowers, and they became sweet. [[256]]
She said: “I go, but the flowers shall stay to tell of Segun’s visit to Peboan. The children shall find them and know that Segun has sent Peboan away. It shall be so each time the snows melt and the rivers begin to run. This flower shall tell that spring has come.”