THE MAIDEN WITH GOLDEN HAIR
(Chippewa)
Leelinau stood in the door of the lodge,
holding in her hand a bunch of dandelions
which had gone to seed. She blew upon them
softly, and the white-winged seeds went floating
into the air.
"Shawondasee's breath was mightier than thine," said a voice behind her. She turned to see her grandmother smiling upon her as she worked upon a deer-skin moccasin.
Leelinau sat down. "Tell me of Shawondasee," she said coaxingly. So the grandmother told her the story of the South Wind and the Dandelion:
Shawondasee lived far away in the South Land where it was always warm and bright. His father, Kabeyun, the father of the winds, had given him this part of the earth in which to dwell. The soft, warm winds of the South were given him.
But Shawondasee was not strong, and quick,