"She Waits in the Spirit Land": The Love between two Young Indians

In the story, sister describes the developing of the relationship between Wah-bu-nung-o and Ol-ge-bu-no-qua. They begin as children who play together, precisely quickly become inseparable as young adults, and oft go off to spend time alone together. The smell associated with this relationship in the story is one of understanding and acceptance, as if their intimacy were to be expected. This part of the story is made to search natural by the tolerance of their elders and their own lack of fault or shame about it. One can call up that in traditional Victorian society, teenagers would non be permitted to wear such private time, but Child explains that "Fortunately for the openhanded and beautiful growth of their love, they lived out of the pale of civilization. There was no Mrs. Smith to remark how they looked at each other, and no Mrs. brownness to question the propriety of their rambles in the wood" (165).

Wah-bu-nung-o and O-ge-bu-no-qua live in a culture that allows them to explore their feelings freely, even if that might need versed exploration. This is because "The simple philosophy of the Indians had never taught that nature was a sin, and accordingly nature was troubled with no sinful consciousness (165). Child's choice of the word "simple" for this sentence implies simple in the sense of innocen

t not knowing that there is anything wrong with sex, and therefore free to approve it without any kind of guilt or recrimination. The tone, therefore, gives no indication of condemnation, because condemnation requires that there be a rule, a principle, or a covenant to break. With no such restrictions, sexuality was unburdened by negative connotations or judgment. Child thus implies that sexual desire is as natural as the trees and vines that Wah-bu-nung-o and O-ge-bu-no-qua walk among, and therefore cannot be considered a sin.

Indeed, Wah-bu-nung-o and O-ge-bu-no-qua are depicted as cosmos extremely comfortable in expressing their emotions to one another, as it comes really naturally to them.

In describing their private time on the island, Child explains, "He spoke of love, of the new wigwam he would build for his bride, and the plot of ground he would bring down with his arrow" (169). Yet, there comes a point at which Wah-bu-nung-o and O-ge-bu-no-qua's closeness "roused emotions too strong for wrangle" (169), and they must find another agency to express their feeling. That they strike to do so in a physical way does not seem to shock Child, who declares "Stolid and imperturbable as the Indian race seem in the presence of spectators, in these lonely hours with the beloved one, they too love that love is the intent wine, the exhilarating 'fire-water' of the soul" (169). This seems to imply that although Wah-bu-nung-o and O-ge-bu-no-qua behave in as restrained a manner as the rest of their race, they are still passionate when alone together.

There is another place to the set, as well. The lushness of the vegetation on the island is reminiscent of turn and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were alike innocents. Although they were naked, they were not ashamed, and there was no restriction placed on their sexuality by God whatsoever; therefore, it was not sinful. The setting also recalls the romantic literature of the 18th century, particularly Rousseau's
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