John E. Maple

Before the White Man Came

Big Elk and Che-wee-na, both of the Great Bear tribe, are engaged to be married. White Wolf, the son of the chief of another tribe, offers to buy Che-wee-na; when her father refuses, Little Wolf challenges Big Elk to a physical contest that Big Elk wins. Embittered, Little Wolf provokes a war between the tribes, abducting Che-wee-na while Big Elk and the other Great Bear warriors are away from their camp. Che-wee-na feigns insanity among Little Wolf's people, who think that she is in communication with the great spirits. She wins the gratitude of the tribe when she nurses a sick child to health, but in so doing incurs the jealousy of the tribe's medicine man, who accuses her of poisoning the tribe's water supply.