STORY OF THE LOST WIFE

A Dakota girl married a man who promised to treat her kindly, but

he did not keep his word. He was unreasonable, fault-finding, and

often beat her. Frantic with his cruelty, she ran away. The whole

village turned out to search for her, but no trace of the missing

wife was to be found.

Meanwhile, the fleeing woman had wandered about all that day and

the next night. The next day she met a man, who asked her who she

was. She did not know it, but he was not really a man, but the

chief of the wolves.

"Come with me," he said, and he led her to a large village. She

was amazed to see here many wolves--gray and black, timber wolves

and coyotes. It seemed as if all the wolves in the world were

there.

The wolf chief led the young woman to a great tepee and invited her

in. He asked her what she ate for food.

"Buffalo meat," she answered.

He called two coyotes and bade them bring what the young woman

wanted. They bounded away and soon returned with the shoulder of

a fresh-killed buffalo calf.

"How do you prepare it for eating?" asked the wolf chief.

"By boiling," answered the young woman.

Again he called the two coyotes. Away they bounded and soon

brought into the tent a small bundle. In it were punk, flint and

steel--stolen, it may be, from some camp of men.

"How do you make the meat ready?" asked the wolf chief.

"I cut it into slices," answered the young woman.

The coyotes were called and in a short time fetched in a knife in

its sheath. The young woman cut up the calf's shoulder into slices

and ate it.

Thus she lived for a year, all the wolves being very kind to her.

At the end of that time the wolf chief said to her:

"Your people are going off on a buffalo hunt. Tomorrow at noon

they will be here. You must then go out and meet them or they will

fall on us and kill us."

The next day at about noon the young woman went to the top of a

neighboring knoll. Coming toward her were some young men riding on

their ponies. She stood up and held her hands so that they could

see her. They wondered who she was, and when they were close by

gazed at her closely.

"A year ago we lost a young woman; if you are she, where have you

been," they asked.

"I have been in the wolves' village. Do not harm them," she

answered.

"We will ride back and tell the people," they said. "Tomorrow

again at noon, we shall meet you."

The young woman went back to the wolf village, and the next day

went again to a neighboring knoll, though to a different one. Soon

she saw the camp coming in a long line over the prairie. First

were the warriors, then the women and tents.

The young woman's father and mother were overjoyed to see her. But

when they came near her the young woman fainted, for she could not

now bear the smell of human kind. When she came to herself she

said:

"You must go on a buffalo hunt, my father and all the hunters.

Tomorrow you must come again, bringing with you the tongues and

choice pieces of the kill."

This he promised to do; and all the men of the camp mounted their

ponies and they had a great hunt. The next day they returned with

their ponies laden with the buffalo meat. The young woman bade

them pile the meat in a great heap between two hills which she

pointed out to them. There was so much meat that the tops of the

two hills were bridged level between by the meat pile. In the

center of the pile the young woman planted a pole with a red flag.

She then began to howl like a wolf, loudly.

In a moment the earth seemed covered with wolves. They fell

greedily on the meat pile and in a short time had eaten the last

scrap.

The young woman then joined her own people.

Her husband wanted her to come and live with him again. For a long

time she refused. However, at last they became reconciled.