THE TALKING DOLL 221

not far from the encampment, a Haida girl, accom-
panied by several attendants, left the camp-fire and
came slowly down the beach. As she drew near,
Oala observed the well-made clothes of finely dressed
skins and the mantle of marten and ermine, and
knew that this maiden was the princess, the very
one whom, above all others, she had hoped to find!
Surely that was a good omen!

The chief’s daughter saw Oala standing there and
approached curiously, for the slave girl was very
handsome in spite of her tattered clothing, and the
princess wondered what she could be doing there so
far from any other encampment. Then she saw the
Talking Doll which Oala held in her hands, and
her eyes opened wide with astonishment when it be-
gan to make strange cooing baby sounds, such as
no other doll had ever made since the world began.

From that moment everything worked out as Oala
had planned, for the Haida princess was enchanted
with the doll and insisted upon playing with it for
a long time. Again and again she changed the doll
masks and clothes; again and again she hugged the
doll and talked to it and listened to the queer baby
sounds. And when Oala told her the story of Thaim-
shim’s gift to that other princess so long ago, and
she realized that this was the very doll that had
been brought in Thaimshim’s basket from a far-off
country across the sea, she was determined to pos-
sess it, even though, as Oala had explained, it was

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