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.
THE SIMPLETON'S WISDOM
There was a man and his wife who had one daughter. Mother and
daughter were deeply attached to one another, and when the latter
died the mother was disconsolate.
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