The Buckskin Skirt Oar Traveler's counterpart Fringe Water Many Bosom

...and the five muskrat lodges
the French drained and burned
in the French and Indian assaults,
trying to sweep the red race from
their hunting grounds, fighting
over hide territory, a curse of
the fur trade.

Joe Cloud takes good measure
into the forest with a measuring
stick he made from a yard of
willow branch he took from one
of the five muskrat lodges just
before the conflict had come
full circle.  One day in the forest
he pointed to the full length of
the stick and said, "This is how
much life you have left, Daughter."
Then he indicated one inch and
said, "I have only this much left.
I know you will carry on."

"How do you know this, father?"
Fringe Water Many Bosom asks.
"How do you know that I will not
drown in the river where otter
and beaver wrestle muskrat?"

"I had a vision while on the river
coming home from the Great Lakes
fur trade.  In this vision, you collected
many loon feathers in my slumber. 
White loon will teach you how to be a
good swimmer.  You will meet a husband
and he will keep you safe from the
enemy," Joe Cloud says.  "A good
father knows this of his daughter."

Copyright 2006 firebrand lesbian novelist, brainchild of Sage Sweetwater Creative Properties, flagship of Stone Creek Woman