THE BEAUTIFUL BRIDE IN the ancient times there lived in the forest an old Indian and his wife, with their only son. One day, in the winter, the son was out hunting, and he shot a crow with his arrow. The snow was stained and reddened with the blood, and as the young man stood looking at the bright colours he thought: "Would that I could find a maiden, whose hair is as black and glossy as this crow's wing; whose skin is as white as the pure snow, and whose cheeks are as crimson as the blood that stains the snow! I would marry such a maiden, could I find one." When he reached home, he told his mother all that had been passing through his mind. "I know that there is such a maiden," said the mother, "but her home is very far away; it is too far for a winter's travel, but when summer comes you may seek her for your wife." The son resolved to do this, as soon as the winter should have passed; but he became so busy with his hunting, and with affairs at home, that when winter was over he had forgotten about his wish for a beautiful bride. 34