Margery is now my wife, I
suppose you know; and I thank you heartily, for helping me to get
married so much sooner than I expected to be."
Here Peter grasped Bourdon by the hand, and poured out his whole
soul, secret hopes, fears, and wishes. On this occasion he spoke in
the Indian dialect--one of those that he knew the bee-hunter
understood. And we translate what he said freely into English,
preserving as much of the original idiom as the change of language
will permit.
"Listen, hunter of the bee, the great medicine of the pale-faces,
and hear what a chief that knows the red men is about to tell you.
Let my words go into your ears; let them stay in your mind. They are
words that will do you good. It is not wise to let such words come
out again by the hole through which they have just entered.
"My young friend knows our traditions. They do not tell us that the
Injins were Jews; they tell us that the Manitou created them red
men. They tell us that our fathers used these hunting-grounds ever
since the earth was placed on the back of the big tortoise which
upholds it. The pale-faces say the earth moves. If this be true, it
moves as slowly as the tortoise walks.
Pages:
584
585
586
587
588
589
590
591
592
593
594
595
596
597
598
599
600
601
602
603
604
605
606
607
608