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The Native American Cinderella

They clothed her in rags so she would look ugly, and they cut off her long black hair, and they burned her face with coals from the fire so that her skin would become scarred and disfigured. Elizabeth, age 7 And they lied to their father, the chief, telling him that she had done these things to herself. But the young girl was patient and kept her gentle heart and went about her work.

Like other girls, the chief's two eldest daughters wanted to marry Strong Wind. One evening, as the sun went down, the oldest daughter walked on the shore with Strong Wind's sister and waited for his coming. Soon he came home from his day's work, drawing his sled. His sister asked as usual, "Do you see him? Do you see my brother?" And the oldest daughter, lying, answered, "Yes." And she asked, "Of what is his shoulder strap made?" The girl, guessing, said, "Of rawhide." And Strong Wind knew that the oldest daughter had lied, and he kept himself from her sight, and she went home dismayed.

The second daughter, too, tried to win Strong Wind. She walked along the shore with Strong Wind's sister, and when the sister asked her if she saw Strong Wind she, too, lied, saying, "Yes". When she was asked of what his shoulder strap was made, she guessed, "Of woven grasses." And so she was also denied by Strong Wind.

One day the chief's youngest daughter with her rags and her burnt face resolved to seek Strong Wind. She patched her clothes with bits of birch bark from the trees as best she could, and put on the few little ornaments she possessed, and went forth to try to see the Invisible One as all the other girls of the village had done before. Her sisters laughed at her and called her a fool. As she passed along the road, all the people laughed because of her tattered frock and her burnt face, but silently she went her way.

Strong Wind's sister received the girl kindly, and at twilight she took her to the beach. Soon Strong Wind came home drawing his sled, though none could see him but his sister.

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