A Bashful Courtship
A young man lived with his grandmother. He was a good hunter and wished
to marry. He knew a girl who was a good moccasin maker, but she belonged
to a great family. He wondered how he could win her.
One day she passed the tent on her way to get water at the river. His
grandmother was at work in the tepee with a pair of old worn-out sloppy
moccasins. The young man sprang to his feet. "Quick, grandmother--let me
"My old moccasins, what do you want of them?" cried the astonished
woman.
"Never mind! Quick! I can't stop to talk," answered the grandson as he
caught up the old moccasins the old lady had doffed, and put them on. He
threw a robe over his shoulders, slipped through the door, and hastened
to the watering place. The girl had just arrived with her bucket.
"Let me fill your bucket for you," said the young man.
"Oh, no, I can do it."
"Oh, let me, I can go in the mud. You surely don't want to soil your
moccasins," and taking the bucket he slipped in the mud, taking care
to push his sloppy old moccasins out so the girl could see them. She
giggled outright.
"My, what old moccasins you have," she cried.
"Yes, I have nobody to make me a new pair," he answered.
"Why don't you get your grandmother to make you a new pair?"
"She's old and blind and can't make them any longer. That's why I want
you," he answered.
"Oh, you're fooling me. You aren't speaking the truth."
"Yes, I am. If you don't believe--come with me _now!_"
The girl looked down; so did the youth. At last he said softly:
"Well, which is it? Shall I take up your bucket, or will you go with
me?"
And she answered, still more softly: "I guess I'll go with you!"
The girl's aunt came down to the river, wondering what kept her niece so
long. In the mud she found two pairs of moccasin tracks close together;
at the edge of the water stood an empty keg.
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A Bashful Courtship
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