"The Beautiful Girl" from

The Hunting of the Monster Bear by Catherine Mintz

couple had only one child, a daughter, born when they were already growing old.  The girl was very beautiful and very fond of her parents.  Many young men came to court her and the same number of young men was rejected.

It happened that she fell ill and died.  Her parents saw to it that the platform upon which her body, enfolded in rich robes and blankets, was laid was properly made.  It was the height of a man from the ground, built strong, and at the distance of some miles from their home camp.

As was the custom of her people, after they laid the beautiful girl upon the platform and went home, her parents gave away everything of value that she and they owned.  They cut their hair short, donned the oldest clothes anyone would give them, and grieved.

They spent a year this way, and their friends came to them and said it was time for the period of mourning to end and the couple should enjoy the good things of life while they could for the end would come to them also.

The old pair shook their heads and refused, for there was nothing that they wanted but their daughter and she was gone.  They mourned on, alone, and no one could see any end to it but the deaths of beautiful girl’s parents.

So everyone let them live out their lives as they wished.

Now, two years after the girl died, a hunter and his wife were returning to camp, heavily loaded with game.  They decided to stop and spend one last night at a spring a little distance from the place where the old peoples’ daughter had been placed upon her platform.

They set their horses grazing, put up the small camp tent, and the wife set about cooking.  Presently they heard their hunting dogs howling and whining.  The wife looked out and said, “There is a figure coming from the direction of that burial platform.”

“It may be the dead girl, “ said her husband.  “I will speak for both of us.”  Footsteps came to the door, and the man looked at the ground, but no higher, and saw a small pair of beautiful moccasins.  “Whoever you may be, be welcome, come in, and have something to eat.”

Invited, the figure entered, and sat down just by the door, robe drawn about it so that nothing could be seen.  The wife served generously from the simple meal and set the bowl down before the figure when the guest did not reach for it.

The figure did not uncover any part of itself but sat waiting.

“Wife,” said the hunter, “let us turn about, that our guest may eat.”  Dutifully, she made herself busy, cleaned tendons for thread and bones for needles.  He smoked a pipe and listened, for he had a power that he used for hunting, and that was to hear well.  It seemed to him that their visitor ate but did not breathe.

Presently the empty dish was pushed toward the woman, who waited a moment to be sure the robe was wrapped tight again, then took it without comment, cleaned it, and put it away.

Then man asked, “Are you the girl who was placed on her burial platform two years ago?”

The figure nodded, Yes.

That is the end of this excerpt, but the story, "The Beautiful Girl," based on a legend of the Sioux peoples, continues.  The Copper Penny Press edition of The Hunting of the Monster Bear is ISBN 978-0615162751.   Go to BookFinder4u to see where the Copper Penny Press edition of The Hunting of the Monster Bear is sold and what the best deals are.  Illustrated in color.

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