“How! how!” nodded the kind-faced chieftain, listening to the queer story. Then rising, he took the infant in his strong arms; gently he laid the black-eyed babe in his daughter's lap. “This is to be your little son!” said he, smiling.
“Yes, father,” she replied. Pleased with the child, she smoothed the long black hair fringing his round brown face.
“Tell the people that I give a feast and dance this day for the naming of my daughter's little son,” bade the chieftain.
In the meanwhile among the men waiting by the entrance way, one said in a low voice: “I have heard that bad spirits come as little children into a camp which they mean to destroy.”
“No! no! Let us not be overcautious. It would be cowardly to leave a baby in the wild wood where prowl the hungry wolves!” answered an elderly man.
The tall man now came out of the chieftain's teepee. With a word he sent them to their dwellings half running with joy.
“A feast! a dance for the naming of the chieftain's grandchild!” cried he in a loud voice to the village people.
“What? what?” asked they in great surprise, holding a hand to the ear to catch the words of the crier.
There was a momentary silence among the people while they listened to the ringing voice of the man walking in the center ground. Then broke forth a rippling, laughing babble among the cone-shaped teepees. All were glad to hear of the chieftain's grandson. They were happy to attend the feast and dance for its naming. With excited fingers they twisted their hair into glossy braids and painted their cheeks with bright red paint. To and fro hurried the women, handsome in their gala-day dress. Men in loose deerskins, with long tinkling metal fringes, strode in small numbers toward the center of the round camp ground.
Here underneath a temporary shade-house of green leaves they were to dance and feast. The children in deerskins and paints, just like their elders, were jolly little men and women. Beside their eager parents they skipped along toward the green dance house.