The Eternal Maiden

"Spirits of the clouds," he wailed, "_Ioh--ioh--ioh-h_! Ye that wander to the south! Ye that fly to the north! Ye that struggle hither and yon, from the east to the west. Bear m...

In a lake of lapping black water, about five hundred feet from the open sea, a small herd rose to the surface intermittently for breath. In the deep gloom the hunters saw founta...

"I am afraid, Ootah," she said presently, in a trembling voice . . . "Afraid . . . my head burns--the igloo is black . . . Dost thou remember what the women told their dead? . ....

_Long ages ago, darkness brooded over the frozen world and held in its thrall the unreleased waters of the glacial seas. There was no animal life upon the land, and in the depth...

The chasms twisted with lifelike motion all around him. Behind, as in a dream, Ootah heard the whip of Koolotah, and the barking of Koolotah's dogs. For hours his feet moved swi...

Although they suddenly ceased their reviling, hearing outside the barking of dogs, the women thereafter in secret often assembled together; there were ominous whisperings; and e...

By all the immemorial customs of their people, because of the established pre-eminence of his prowess, Ootah should now find favor in the eyes of Annadoah. Scarce seventeen summ...

Annadoah, sad and lonely, sat by her lamp. Her igloo was like that of all the others. Inside, so as to retain the heat and carry off the water which dripped from the melting dom...

Those mystic words, believed to give magic speed to the one who utters them, came in the well known tones of Ootah. A joyous cry went up from the women.

"Ootah! Ootah! May his _kaneg_ (head) swell with the great fire! May he see horrors that do not exist--what the wicked dead dream in their frigid hell! May the wrath of the spir...

Grasping hold of two of the men, she piteously begged them to give her the child. She made frantic promises. She pleaded, she sobbed, she raved incoherently. Holding to the men...