She only ate berries and
crushed corn.
One day, while the young man's wife was embroidering feather stars on
a dancing-cloth, and his mother was gossiping in a tent at the end
of the village, a little yellow bird flew in and perched on
High-feather's shoulder, and whispered in his ear:
"There is a great flock of wild red swans just over on Loon Lake. If
you come quickly and quietly you can catch them before they fly away;
but do not tell your wife, for red swans cannot bear the sight of a
woman, and they can tell if one comes within a mile of them."
High-feather had never seen or heard of a red swan before; all the red
feathers he wore he had had to paint. He looked at his wife, and as
she was sewing busily and looking down at her star embroidering he
thought he could slip away and get back before she knew he had gone.
But as soon as he was out of sight the little yellow bird flew in and
perched on her shoulder, and sang her such a beautiful song about her
sisters in the sky that she forgot everything else and slipped out
and ran like the wind, and got to the dancing ring just as her sisters
came down in their basket. Then they all gathered round her, and
begged her to go home with them.
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