Note 84 — FICTION (continued 5)

As they went into the lodge the young man who was tied to the post smiled when he saw his brother. All who saw him wondered what the man was smiling at. Presently the chief gave orders to apply the firebrands. Thereupon they burned him on one side and then on the other; he cried bitterly, and as the tears fell they turned into wampum beads, falling in a shower. All the people ran to collect the wampum, and the old grandmother got some too. After the man had cried a while they rested and smoked.84 When the order was given to begin the torture a second time, the little brother gave one moccasin to his friend and kept the other himself. As they were about to begin the burning he said to the boy, “Now stick your foot into the fire.” When he did so, one of the sisters screamed, as though in the agony of death, and never stopped until the boy took out his foot. All the people wondered what was the matter, but she would not tell.