human
To-morrow, Li Wan, we shall feast. He sucked a marrow-bone clean and threw it to the dogs.
gpt
We shall have _flapjacks_ fried in _bacon grease_, and _sugar_, which is more toothsome--
human
Ay, Canim answered with superiority;
gpt
--he straightened himself and looked at her pridefully,--
human
I am a great traveller, and have been all places, even among the white people, and I am versed in their ways, and in the ways of many peoples. I am not a tree, born to stand in one place always and know not what there be over the next hill; for I am Canim, the Canoe, made to go here and there and to journey and quest up and down the length and breadth of the world.
gpt
It is true. I have eaten fish and meat and berries all my days and lived in a little corner of the earth. Nor did I dream the world was so large until you stole me from my people and I cooked and carried for you on the endless trails. She looked up at him suddenly.
human
Tell me, Canim, does this trail ever end?
gpt
Nay, he answered.
human
My trail is like the world; it never ends. My trail _is_ the world, and I have travelled it since the time my legs could carry me, and I shall travel it until I die. My father and my mother may be dead, but it is long since I looked upon them, and I do not care. My tribe is like your tribe. It stays in the one place--which is far from here,--but I care naught for my tribe, for I am Canim, the Canoe!
gpt
And must I, Li Wan, who am weary, travel always your trail until I die?
human
You, Li Wan, are my wife, and the wife travels the husband's trail wheresoever it goes. It is the law. And were it not the law, yet would it be the law of Canim, who is lawgiver unto himself and his.
gpt
Be not in haste, Canim cautioned her, as she began to strap the meagre camp outfit to her pack.
human
The sun is yet hot, and the trail leads down and the footing is good.
gpt
You do not squat on your hams like other women,
human
No, she answered.
gpt
It never came easy. It tires me, and I cannot take my rest that way.
human
And why is it your feet point not straight before you?
gpt
I do not know, save that they are unlike the feet of other women.
human
Like other women, your hair is black; but have you ever noticed that it is soft and fine, softer and finer than the hair of other women?
gpt
I have noticed,
human
It is a year, now, since I took you from your people, he went on,
gpt
I am afraid of you, Canim, you are so big and strange. And further, before you looked upon me even, I was afraid of all the young men. I do not know ... I cannot say ... only it seemed, somehow, as though I should not be for them, as though ...
human
Ay,
gpt
As though they were not my kind.
human
Not your kind? he demanded slowly.
gpt
Then what is your kind?
human
I do not know, I ... She shook her head in a bewildered manner.
gpt
I cannot put into words the way I felt. It was strangeness in me. I was unlike other maidens, who sought the young men slyly. I could not care for the young men that way. It would have been a great wrong, it seemed, and an ill deed.
human
What is the first thing you remember?
gpt
Pow-Wah-Kaan, my mother.
human
And naught else before Pow-Wah-Kaan?
gpt
Naught else.
human
Think, and think hard, Li Wan!
gpt
But it was only dreams, Canim, ill dreams of childhood, shadows of things not real, visions such as the dogs, sleeping in the sun-warmth, behold and whine out against.
human
Tell me, he commanded,
gpt
They are forgotten memories, she protested.
human
As a child I dreamed awake, with my eyes open to the day, and when I spoke of the strange things I saw I was laughed at, and the other children were afraid and drew away from me. And when I spoke of the things I saw to Pow-Wah-Kaan, she chided me and said they were evil; also she beat me. It was a sickness, I believe, like the falling-sickness that comes to old men; and in time I grew better and dreamed no more. And now ... I cannot remember --she brought her hand in a confused manner to her forehead--
gpt
Only,
human
Only one thing. But you will laugh at its foolishness, it is so unreal.
gpt
Nay, Li Wan. Dreams are dreams. They may be memories of other lives we have lived. I was once a moose. I firmly believe I was once a moose, what of the things I have seen in dreams, and heard.
human
I see a snow-tramped space among the trees, she began,
gpt
Ay, Canim whispered hoarsely.
human
You feel--?
gpt
No! no! she cried in haste.
human
I feel nothing. Did I say 'feel'? I did not mean it. It could not be that I should mean it. I see, and I see only, and that is all I see--a man in the snow, with eyes like the sky, and hair like the weasel. I have seen it many times, and always it is the same--a man in the snow--
gpt
And do you see yourself? he asked, leaning forward and regarding her intently.
human
Do you ever see yourself and the man in the snow?
gpt
Why should I see myself? Am I not real?
human
I will tell you, Li Wan, he spoke decisively;
gpt
Come, let us begone. The sun is yet hot, but it will get no cooler.
human
And these white people, what are they like?
gpt
Like you and me, he answered,
human
Did I not say he was once a very great warrior?
gpt
These furs will bring a price, he remarked as he adjusted his head-strap and lifted his pack clear of the ground.
human
A big price. The white men pay well for such goods, for they have no time to hunt and are soft to the cold. Soon shall we feast, Li Wan, as you have feasted never in all the lives you have lived before.
gpt
The next time I am born, I would be born a white man,