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[Illustration: (cover)]
[Illustration: MINNEHAHA. (_Frontispiece._)]
INDIAN LEGENDS OF
MINNESOTA
COMPILED BY
MRS. CORDENIO A. SEVERANCE
"Then a darker, drearier vision
Passed before me vague and cloudlike;
I beheld our nation scattered,
All forgetful of my council,
Weakened, warring with each other:
Saw the remnant of our people
Sweeping westward, wild and woful,
Like the cloud rack of a tempest,
Like the withered leaves of Autumn!"
D. D. MERRILL COMPANY
NEW YORK AND SAINT PAUL
COPYRIGHTED, 1893,
D. D. MERRILL CO.
Dedication,
TO
MRS. FRANCIS B. CLARKE
AND
MR. DELOS A. MONTFORT,
UNDER WHOSE INSPIRATION AND THROUGH WHOSE
ASSISTANCE THIS UNDERTAKING HAS BEEN
MADE POSSIBLE, THIS VOLUME IS
RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
THE LONE WAR-PATH. Elaine Goodale Eastman, 9
FOND HEARTS OF THE FOREST, 22
ANPETUSAPA, 32
WINONA, 48
THE PEACE-PIPE QUARRY. Adelaide George Bennett, 77
THE SONG OF HIAWATHA. Henry W. Longfellow, 86
HIAWATHA'S WOOING. Henry W. Longfellow, 91
THE RIVER-LAKE. E. L. Fales, 95
SONG OF A NADOWESSEE CHIEF. Sir E. L. Bulwer, 97
"MAHNUSATIA." Fannie L. Stone, 99
THE DESCENDING STAR. Ida Sexton Searls, 126
THE TRAILING ARBUTUS. Adelaide George Bennett, 132
NOPA. Ida Sexton Searls, 136
THE SEA-GULL, 139
SWEET WATER, 162
DEATH OF WINONA. H. L. Gordon, 171
THE LEGEND OF THE MOCCASIN FLOWER. Ida Sexton Searls, 175
NOTES, 179
PREFACE.
In presenting to the public this volume the compiler wishes to disown
any attempt at a complete collection of Indian legends; both her
knowledge of archaeology, and the time allowed for the completion of
the work are inadequate to such an achievement. She has attempted to
gather the more noticeable legends already in verse in order to
stimulate interest in the scenery and romance of her State. From its
name--Minnesota--to its floral emblem--the moccasin flower--the State
everywhere bears the impress of former occupation. About every lake,
forest, and valley clings the aroma of romance in the form of name or
legend of the vanished Red Man.
The indistinct memory of his loves, wars, and adventures is growing
rapidly fainter, until even the story-teller himself is confused as to
the relation between event and locality. It has therefore seemed wise
to link indissolubly scene and incident, that the poetry of those who
have here lived and loved may not be completely displaced by the
prosaic commerce of the white man.
The compiler wishes also to express her thanks to the writers who have
allowed their works to reappear in this volume: To Rev. E. D. Neill,
D.D., for much valuable counsel, and to Houghton, Mifflin & Co., for
permission to make extracts from Hiawatha.
INDIAN LEGENDS.
* * * * *
The Lone War-Path.
A STORY OF SIOUX AND BLACKFOOT.
O'er a vast prairie stoops the sultry night;
The moon in her broad kingdom wanders white;
High hung in space, she swims the murky blue.
Low lies yon village of the roaming Sioux--
Its smoke-stained lodges, moving toward the west,
By conquering Sleep invaded and possessed.
All there, save one, own his benign command;
Their chief has lately left this little band,
And up the glittering path of spirits fled;
Thus his young widow, not a twelvemonth wed,
In yonder solitary tent conceals
The aching hope, the trembling pangs she feels.
How breathless is the night! None saw it rise--
That black cloud stealing up the glassy skies--
Till threatening murmurs, loud and louder grown,
Burst from its swelling bosom, and the moon
Slips into brief oblivion, while a glare
As of far, flickering torches, seems to bear
The challenge of the gods. Awake, awake!
Make ready for the tempest, ere it break!
Drive tent-pins deeper, stretch the covering tight--
Hobble the ponies, scattering in affright
Before the thunder-peals. When all is fast,
Keep vigil, then, till the gods' wrath be past!
A sudden fury sweeps the somber plain,
In dizzy slant descends the sheeted rain;
Sharp lightnings rend in twain the sable gloom,
While, cannon-like, the unchained thunders boom!
On this wild tumult of the angry skies
No ear discerns a woman's thrilling cries;
Yet, ere its sullen echoes die away
In caverns where the mocking spirits play,
Faint, but rejoicing, on a couch of skins,
A new-made mother lays her lusty twins!
The wise men of the tribe strange signs relate--
This stormy birth portends a stormy fate--
And since the warring heavens, that should affright,
Called forth these daring boys on such a night,
Their names must own the event that marked their birth--
The elder, "As-he-walks-he-shakes-the-earth,"
The younger twin, "Coming-his-voice-is-heard"--
Thus saith the oracle.
This mighty word
Darkens the mother's heart with nameless dread,
But casts no shadow on the unconscious head
Of either sturdy twin. Their mutual play
With joyous echoes fills the livelong day!
From helpless infancy to boyhood grown,
One brother never had been seen alone,
Till sudden sorrow bowed the mother's pride--
The elder sickened and untimely died.
The gossips point to him that's left alone--
"He, too, will die, for half himself is gone!"
At first, distraught he seemed--unlike a child;
He ate not, slept not, neither spoke nor smiled.
Then sought the forest--wandered there alone
For days--his tender mother frantic grown--
Till he returned to her, and smiling, said,
"My spirit meets and talks with him that's dead!"
Thenceforth he seemed as one who, hand-in-hand,
Walks with a brother in the spirit land.
Among the Sioux, in those heroic days,
When certain valor gained the meed of praise,
The seasoned warrior, old and full of scars,
Counted the hero of a hundred wars,
Yet craving higher honor, went alone,
On foot, to meet the enemy, and won
(If he returned victorious), on that day
A proud distinction.
Fancy her dismay,--
The mother of a tender youth untried,--
When he, the twin we know of, seeks her side
And murmurs in her ear, who loves him so,--
"Mother, my elder brother bids me go
On a lone war-path." Knowing well 'twere vain
To plead with him, her tears must fall like rain
On 'broidered moccasins for those dear feet;
His pouch, her choicest store of pounded meat
Must fill before the dawn, which sends him forth
On foot, alone, to pierce the savage north.
(DAKOTA WAR SONG.)
_I hear them coming who made thee weep![A]
Leap on thy father's steed
And urge him to his utmost speed,
And rush to meet the warlike host,
And meet them first, who hurt thee most.
Strike one among ten thousand,
And make but one to bleed!
So shall thy name be known,
Through all the world be known,
If one is made to bleed!
Heh-eh-eh-eh! Heh!_
Now to the journey gallantly addressed,
(Still at his twin's mysterious behest),
He kills a buck with branching horns, and takes
The tongue and heart for food--then straightway makes
A sacrifice to that stern deity--
The thunder-god--who rules his destiny.
On a fair, level spot, encompassed round
With trees, he pins the carcass to the ground;
Prays for success, his burning heart's desire,--
Then sleeps beside the embers of his fire.
How wearisome, how long the painful days
That follow, as he treads by unknown ways
A mazy wilderness, where lurk unseen
All perils challenging his eye-sight keen.
Yet on--with tattered shoes and blistering feet--
To find the savage foe he longs to meet!
At last, to wearied eyes that search in vain,
The far-off meeting-place of sky and plain,
A fleck of dazzling whiteness doth appear.
The youth exclaims, "My enemy is near!"
Toward that white gleam his cautious steps are bent,
Surely some roving Blackfoot's lonely tent.
Nearer and nearer creeps, with cat-like tread,
The watchful Sioux. Above his lowered head
The plumy grasses rear a swaying crest;
His sinuous motion ripples the broad breast
Of this ripe prairie, like a playful wind
That leaves its shining, silver track behind.
A tent of skins--that piercing eye saw true--
Wondrously white and beautifully new;
In all the colors known to savage art,
A life-size figure with a blood-red heart
Guards the low door. But who shall more divine,
Since not a thread of smoke, nor sound, nor sign
Of human presence makes the story clear,
Save yonder dappled ponies grazing near?
Crouched in deep grass the wily Indian lies,
Ambitious that lone hunter to surprise--
His gaze the wide horizon ranges low
For the first glimpse of his returning foe;
The painted lodge full many a glance doth win--
Each moment may reveal who lurks within!
At last it moves--that swinging oval door--
At last she steps upon the prairie floor,
Shading her dark eyes from the dazzling ray--
A dusky princess, lovelier than the day!
No matron, to her hidden foeman's sight,
Has ever seemed so radiantly bright.
Her dress is rich, in style unlike the Sioux.
(These belles in doe-skin have their fashions, too!)
On either shoulder lies a jetty braid;
Her slender form, most delicately made,
Her deep, black eyes and winsome features miss
Naught of proportion. What a conquest this!
To such an enemy who would not bow?
Truly our warrior is a captive now!
Vainly she gazes--turns and disappears,
His beating heart our youthful hero hears!
Rashly he thinks to follow and surprise
This charming stranger--carry off the prize
Before her lord's return. By impulse led,
To the low door he stoops his stately head,
Flings a last hurried glance to left and right,
Then enters, and beholds this beauty bright
Seated upon a pile of costly skins,
Embroidering her hunter's moccasins!
He stands abashed--she glances up to greet
His hasty entrance with a smile so sweet,
Then drops her lashes with such coquetry.
Amazed, he thinks, "No mortal woman she,
Who does not fear a stranger entering so!
Rather some teasing fairy, or a doe
In woman's form."
Abruptly he exclaims
"What are you--a Dakota?" As he names
That warlike tribe, at last she starts, and shakes
Her head; then with her slender fingers makes,
Slowly, the signs all tribes of Indians know--
"I do not speak your language."
"Is it so?
Where is your husband?" asks our hero young,
In this same silent, yet most graphic tongue.
"I am the daughter of a Blackfoot chief,
Whose home is three days' journey north. In brief,
My brother is a hunter. I am here
To keep his lodge, while he pursues the deer."
"Then I will leave you," he replies, "and when
Your brother comes, I shall return again!"
Thus saying, takes his leave; but, ere he goes,
One longing, lingering, backward glance he throws,
Which tells the maid how straight her arrow sped
To pierce the heart of him she else must dread.
(DAKOTA LOVE SONG.)
_My heart is heavy--my heart is sore--
I heard you were going away!
I wept all night--I wept all day--
I wept till I could weep no more
When I heard you were going away
Far, far away!
O my heart! O my poor heart!
Heh-eh-eh-eh! Ho-o-o!_
Concealing in the grass his eagle plumes,
The patient Sioux his lonely watch resumes.
The reddening sun is low, when, far away,
He sees a moving speck. With its last ray
A handsome youth dismounts before the door.
His sister, as the custom was of yore,
Removes the body of the doe with speed,
Unsaddles, waters, pickets out his steed,
Leaving the wearied hunter to repose.
A film of smoke, dissolving as it goes,
Curls upward from the Blackfoot's lodge.
At last,
The youthful pair have ended their repast,
And reappear without, to taste the cool
Of evening. All their sportive converse, full
Of meaning gestures, doth right well supply
Its story to their unseen watcher's eye,
Who through the night his tireless vigil keeps,
While, wrapt in dreams, the unconscious Blackfoot sleeps.
At earliest dawn, in the chill morning gray,
Again the youthful hunter rides away;
And, when the sun mounts half way up the sky,
Her lover meets the Blackfoot maiden's eye.
Archly she greets him--"Laggard! why so late?
He whom you seek is gone--he could not wait!"
"But you--you told him not," the youth replies,
"Of my first visit!" In each other's eyes
They look and laugh; and in that laughter free
Dissolves the ancient, tribal enmity!
The wooing of an Indian is but brief.
He tells his tale, "My father was a chief--
These eighteen years in yonder heaven he dwells."
The maiden's heart with awe and wonder swells
On hearing that mysterious name and birth
Which mark him as a being scarce of earth.
Then, too, his gallant height and handsome face,
Equipment strange, and bearing full of grace
Ensnare her fancy.
When the bold demand
Comes from this hero for her heart and hand,
In blush and smile her answer may be guessed;
Yet, womanlike, she puts him to the test!
"Ere I consent, you must return with me
Unto my father's lodge. And first--but see
This raw-hide trunk. I pray you, creep inside--"
(All this by signs); "then you can safely hide!
I dread my brother's anger, when he hears
Our foeman asks me for a wife."
Such fears
(Prettily figured, it may be), win with ease
The youth's consent to any scheme you please;
Danger, discomfort, ridicule--all three
This gallant wooer scorns, and smilingly
Consents to crowd his noble length of limb
Within the narrow space allotted him.
Captive he lies, and, all defenseless, hears
The brother's late return. His jealous ears
Miss no least accent in the voice of each,
Yet glean so little from their foreign speech
That, spite of passion (knowing woman's art),
A spasm of dread contracts the hero's heart.
Suppose, while thus in helpless case he lay,
The maid his place of hiding should betray!
Clutching with iron grasp his trusty gun,
Scarce breathing, he awaits the morrow's sun.
Meanwhile, she prattles of adventures gay--
Tells how a handsome stranger called that day,
Describes his splendid dress,--the arms he bore,
Such as no Blackfoot ever saw before;
But not a word her cunning lips let fall
Of love and courtship as the sum of all!
At daybreak forth again the hunter fares,
But with his artful sister first prepares
A fresh surprise. When scarcely out of sight,
She hastens to relieve her captive knight;
And while he gladly tastes the savory fare
Which presently her willing hands prepare,
Stretches his cramped limbs to the grateful sun,
And drinks the favoring smiles so hardly won,
A sudden shadow falls athwart his feet--
At last the war-like Sioux and Blackfoot meet.
Surely the boy his sister's secret guessed,
Since only kindness dwells within his breast
Toward his ancestral foe. By friendly signs,
Each comely youth the other's thought divines;
Then suddenly exclaims the dauntless Sioux,
"Listen, my friend! I must return with you
To ask and win this maiden for my wife!"
"Return with us! not if you prize your life--"
The startled Blackfoot answers. "You must know
That all our tribe regard you as a foe;
My sister's suitors are as many now
As yonder leaves that twinkle on the bough.
Should a Dakota venture such a plea,
Our jealous youth would slay him instantly!"
The youthful warrior merely smiles, and lays
His hand upon his gun, as one who says
"I can defend myself!" "Do you so prize
This thing?" demands the other in surprise.
"Set up a mark, and you shall shortly see
What sort of weapon 'tis I bear with me!"
"Take my white pony!" "No," his friend replies,
"Set up a willow wand."
The bullet flies
Straight to its mark, and cleaves the target quite,
While youth and maiden, starting in affright,
Believe some heavenly wight this deed hath done--
Doubtless the thunder's veritable son!
Convinced at last, the Blackfoot yields assent,
And leads the stranger to his father's tent.
On the third evening, as the shadows fall,
The hospitable chief receives them all
In his great lodge, and listens to their tale
Of the brave Sioux, whose weapon cannot fail,
But, like the thunder, with mysterious roar,
Strikes enemies unseen. Well pleased before
With this fair stranger-youth's ingenuous face,
He bids him welcome with a courtly grace,
And on the morn proclaims to all his band
This warrior shall receive his daughter's hand.
The fiery Blackfeet, when this word they know,
Dart glances of dire hatred at their foe;
But, hold! the criers once again appear--
"This foreign bridegroom hath a magic here!
Weapon like his no Blackfoot ever saw!
Bring forth a mark and then prepare with awe
To witness its destruction!"
Scoffingly
Each brave presents his finest horse, while he
Accepts of one, and fires before them all.
Ah, pity! see the noble creature fall!
Hear its death-scream!
Some trembled, others fled,
But all declared so fair a maid should wed
No less a brave than this. All cavil ceased;
And now began with joy the marriage feast.
(LOVE SONG.)
_One day you will remember me--
One day--one day!
You will at last remember me,
And say,
"I was so dear to her--so dear to her!"
Yeh-eh-eh-eh--;
You will remember me
One day!
Yeh-eh-eh-eh--!_
When the young hero carried home his bride,
He rode a pacing pony at her side;
Twelve others followed--costly loads they bore,
Rich robes and gifts--the Blackfoot maiden's dower.
On a lone war-path finding such a fate,
His triumph all the village celebrate;
Peace is declared between the tribes; and soon--
Before the waxing of another moon--
Guns, knives and blankets, prized past all belief,
Are sent as presents to the Blackfoot chief.
Such is the tale by Indian camp-fires told--
The old, old story that grows never old!
ELAINE GOODALE EASTMAN.
[Footnote A: _I. e._, who slew thy father.]
[Illustration]
Fond Hearts of the Forest.
A LEGEND OF FOUNTAIN CAVE, NEAR ST. PAUL.
The hazy gloaming gathers round,
The silence mellows every sound,
The gentle wind, through foliage nigh,
Begins to breathe its plaintive sigh;
While o'er the hill creeps silver light,
Where calm and chaste the queen of night,
Awaking from her daily trance,
Doth charm all nature with her glance.
Her virgin train sweeps down the glade,
Kissing the cavern's mouth of shade;
She smiles upon the singing brook,
With sparkles filling every nook
That lurks about its dimpled face,
Giving its deepest shadows grace,
And breathing on its grassy mane
A gloss it ne'er can hope to gain
Beneath the sun's more kingly ray.
Weirdly the purling waters play
In her embrace; then break away
To vanish under bending boughs,
But giving voice to gurgling vows
[Illustration: FOUNTAIN CAVE.]
Of future tryst, of love again
Where meet the river banks and glen.
The moonlight vaults beyond the trees
To gain the river side, and sees
A dusky maiden sitting there,
Who twines her lovely raven hair,
And frequent lifts her melting eyes
To where the flashing ripple flies
Across the bosom of that glass
Where dancing stars nocturnal pass.
A princess of the wildwood she,
And graceful as the deer that flee
Till stricken by the light-winged shaft
So deadly from the hunter's craft.
The river sings beneath her feet;
It finds an echo in the sweet
And tender thought that throbs behind
The starry curtains of her mind.
And when the thrills that sweep her heart
Now from her tongue in music start,
The wavelets beating on the strand,
The murmuring leaves by zephyrs fanned,
The minor rhythms that wake the bowers
Of this fair glen when evening lowers,
And warbling birds' melodious throng,
All mingle with her low love song.
Her voice is all that's wild and sweet,
And slow must be that warrior's feet
Who would not speed with all his heart
To see her red lips meet and part.
Love moves her with his golden sway--
A young and stalwart Chippewa
Has gained her heart, and kindred ties
And tribal feuds her love defies.
What cares she that her people hate
And his give back without abate?
What cares she that he is not Sioux?
If he but keep his promise true!
She sings an old song, passion-laden
By many a dead Dahkota maiden:
_O where is my lodge--my love?
O where is the lord of my breast?
Reveal me, Great Spirit above,
The arms where my passion may rest!
Brave warriors are thick as the leaves
That follow the wind in the fall;
Each maiden may think she receives
The smile of the noblest of all;
But I know a chief who can slay
The panther and bear with his hand,--
As warm and as proud as the day,
And braver than all in his band.
In his sinewy arms I shall rest,
And hear his voice call me "sweet dove!"
O he is the lord of my breast!
With him is my lodge and my love!_
She stops! She turns with sudden start,
With troubled eyes and beating heart,
To the frowning bluffs, where warlike cries
And sound of savage revel rise.
The warriors of her tribe are there,
All dancing in the firelight glare.
Their spears with reeking scalps are clad,
Their thoughts are blood, their brains are mad;
Each yelling brave now only knows
Fierce hatred for his ancient foes.
They boast of all their deeds of might,
Of secret slaughter, deadly fight,
And woe to him who comes to meet
The lonely maid, Wenonah sweet,
If they his paddle's dip shall hear
Or after learn his presence near.
When their wild revel, to her fright,
Rose wilder with the fall of night,
She stole away and gained this place
To see again her lover's face.
She gazes on the distant shore,
But all is quiet as before.
Again she sings, her flute-like tones
So low that were the very stones
On which she rests her feet possessed
With sense to hear, what she confessed
In tuneful cadence would be lost
To them, for well she knows the cost
For him who loves her, if her thought
Be told aloud, and so there naught
Breaks on the air but melody.
If sung in words, her song would be:
_My love is strong, my love is brave,
His heart is warm and true;
He soon will come across the wave
And bear me in his light canoe,
To be his queen and slave._
_To me he bowed his eagle plume,
He tamed his eagle eye,
And vowed his love would life consume
If I refused with him to fly,
His teepee to illume.
O come, my chief! I watch--I wait!
I give up all for thee;
If thou wilt have an alien mate,
Wenonah longs that one to be,
That she may share thy fate.
Come quickly, love, but make no sound,
My people are thy foes,
If thou shouldst here by them be found
A warrior's death thy life would close,
Thy soul be skyward bound.
What then would poor Wenonah do
If she were left alone?
She scarce would see the hand that slew
Ere she would raise her death-chant tone,
And with thee perish too!_
She scans the echoing cliff once more,
Then turns to view the farther shore,
And bending low she strives to hear
Some sound to tell her he is near.
O'er all there seems to fall a hush
As tender as her cheek's warm blush.
So firmly rooted to the spot--
As if she had all things forgot--
She looks like some wild, charm-bound elf,
As lifeless as the moon itself.
But no! the parted lip and eye
Of flashing fire such thoughts belie,
And well and eloquent avow
The soul beneath that rigid brow.
O virgin heart! O passion bright!
That fills a glance with beauty's light.
O Wenijishid, happy thou,
Who surely will not tarry now!
A moment thus--then up she springs,
And now the song she softly sings
Floats o'er the water from her lip
To meet the constant, noiseless dip
Of Wenijishid's paddle blade.
How swift to greet the faithful maid
He comes! She waits, 'tween joy and fear,
While on he glides, each stroke more near.
Love gives him more than wonted strength,
And on the beach he leaps at length.
With trembling joy, with artless grace,
She springs into his glad embrace.
Within her brave young hero's arms
Forgot are all her past alarms.
One rapturous kiss with quick impress,--
His burning hands her locks caress,--
And then they gaze, at love's sweet will,
Eye into eye with answering thrill!
"Wenonah, darling, since we met,
Not once could I that smile forget
Which told me (more than words could tell)
The hopes that made this bosom swell
Were fair in our great Spirit's sight.
He, ere another moon's swift flight,
Shall bid me take thee to my home
And joy in thee, no more to roam."
Her trustful voice is low and clear,
And sweetest music in his ear:
"No chief is braver, none more bold
Than he whose neck my arms enfold.
He dares the light the moonbeams make
And danger courts for my poor sake.
Hark! Wenijishid, hearest thou not
Those yells of warning? Though this spot
Rests now beneath a peaceful spell,
How long 'twill so we cannot tell.
Thy heart is big, and like a rock
Will meet the blood-storm's awful shock;
But I am weaker--and I fear
For thee each moment thou art here.
Behold how now the moonlight meets
And with a kiss each ripple greets;
Wenonah's heart, o'erflowed with bliss,
Is wholly thine, and thine her kiss."
The radiance mingled with the shade--
The murmur low by night winds made--
The rune, harmonious and complete,
Of wavelets in their ceaseless beat--
The fragrance given of sleeping flower--
The brooding hush that fits the hour,--
With this fair scene all these are met
To make the scene more lovely yet.
Wenonah's kiss would all confess,
It gives to beauty holiness;
The moments passing seem to be
Endowed with all eternity,
And in this lonely spot, love found
Brings the whole universe in bound!
But, hark! what sound the breezes bear
Turning her gladness to despair?
Wenonah trembles like a reed,
With hunted look she turns to plead:
"O Wenijishid, leave me, quick!
For dangers gather round thee thick.
We are discovered, and thy death
May hang upon each wasted breath.
Fly for thy life! Too late! too late!
Together we must meet our fate."
He smiles, and there with dauntless front
Would meet the coming foemen's brunt;
But she who will not leave his side
Bears in her hand his warrior pride,
And hopes of joyous life with her
Are sweeter than the battle's stir.
His war-whoop's taunt rings through the glen,
While answering come the cries of ten.
Wenonah clasps his brawny arm,
And lest his love might come to harm
He turns to where his birchen boat
Seems chafing to be set afloat;
And, ere their foes have gained the strand,
The light canoe beneath his hand
Leaps off before a foaming track.
He flings a yell of triumph back,
And grimly smiles as on he flies
To hear their disappointed cries;
Yet lest they may too soon pursue,
He urges on the flight anew.
He plies the paddle with a will,
They skim the waves,--but swifter still
A vengeful arrow cleaves the air,
To sink between his shoulders bare.
The shock is cruel, and the blade
Falls from his hand; his powers all fade
Like thought, and plunging on his face,
Deathlike he lies. Now to his place
Wenonah springs; with bloodless lip,
With gleaming eye and nervous grip,
She works the paddle with a force
Of which but love could be the source.
Beyond the range of bow, she flings
The blade aside and fiercely brings
Her wounded hero to her breast.
Now sadly called, now wildly pressed,
He breathes at last a feeble sigh,
And, feeling sure he will not die,
She labors strongly, full of hope
And nerved with any fate to cope.
She gains the shore, and stoutly bears
Her chief through brush and wild beast lairs.
All through the night she speeds her flight.
To where his people's fires burn bright.
When friendly, helping hands are found,
And she has given him to their care,
She sinks upon the leafy ground,
Panting like a hunted hare.
Her faithful powers have filled their task,
Their sacred trust no more need ask,
And now the goal is gained, they bind
Oblivion's charm around her mind.
* * * * *
Young life is pliant, love will give
A mighty motive still to live.
And when he wakes, with deep surprise
He meets the dark and glorious eyes
Of dear Wenonah on him bent
In passion's hope absorbed, content.
* * * * *
Since this took place it is not known
How many changing moons have flown;
Yet still, when Luna's rapiers bright
Pierce through the tenuous robe of Night,
And shining on the stilly shore
Create again that scene of yore,
Wenonah and her lover true
Pass over in their white canoe;
Their spirit forms unshadowed glide
Across the rapid, glistening tide.
[Illustration]
Anpetusapa.
A LEGEND OF ST. ANTHONY FALLS.
'Tis autumn, and the breezes lift
Their melancholy tones;
'Tis evening: through each passing rift
The stars, like precious stones
In lustrous beauty (clouded soon),
Sweet incense to the sight,
Attend their white-robed mistress moon,
Queen of romantic night.
Anon, as the cloud hosts fly
Before the wind across the sky,
The court of the queen is suddenly seen,
With its pomp sublime and array
Of sparkling and glittering sheen,
More lovely than the light of day,
More glorious than the twilight gleam
That mingles with the sun's last beam
Where the waves of ocean play.
By the river's bank a wandering band
Have reared their teepee walls,
Here where the warriors all may stand
And view the mighty falls.
The ivory moon is mounting high,
The lodge fires flicker low,
And slumbering forms are visible by
The embers' last faint glow,
When lightly steps a youthful brave
Out from the forest ways
Into the star-roofed nave,
Out from the shadowing trees
(Leaves fluttering slow in the slow night breeze)
Into the broad, revealing rays,
Into the silvery glow.
With step as buoyant as the air
He glides above the glistening sward;
The largest, whitest teepee there
Doth seem to center his regard,
For there his unmarked path doth end,
And there his burning glances send
Their passionate lightnings, wild, yet all
Made reverent by the spot on which they fall.
This lodge doth tower
Above the poles on every hand
Like some strange chieftain o'er his band.
Why comes he at this hour?
Hath dark revenge a purpose here?
Shall bloody strife appear
On such a scene? Ah, no! the power
That spurs him hath a softer spell;
For here the tribe's most cherished flower,
The daughter of the chief, doth dwell.
His deep, rich voice floats down the glade,
In soft, unwonted tones
Like gentle winds through pine-tree cones;
He sings the Warrior's Serenade;
While at the end of every strain--
With more effect his cause to plead--
He plays a wild and shrill refrain
Upon a flute of rude-cut reed.
_Lonely warbling bird of night!
Leave thy bough and perch above
The silent, dewy folds of white
That screen my sleeping love.
Drink the moonlight rays that fall
Pure and mellow, like the beams
Of starry eyes beyond my call,
Far in the land of dreams.
Tell her I am brave and strong;
Tell her I have loved her long;
Singing softly, like a dove,
Tell her all you know of love
I cannot tell in song.
Tell her I am waiting here
At the threshold of her bower;
Winds are lifting far and near
The sweets of every flower,
All the stars are out in state,
Music breathes in every stir,
All of nature seems to wait
For a glimpse of her.
Tell her I am brave and strong;
Tell her I have loved her long;
Singing softly like a dove,
Tell her all you know of love
I cannot tell in song._
Is it the wind that swings apart
The deerskin door from the lodge away?
Is it a sudden leap of his heart
That makes too vivid fancy play?
Or is it a nut-brown arm that holds
The trembling folds,
And are those liquid eyes that shine
Like diamonds fine?
Sing on, sing on, bold youth,
And hope shall lead thee to the truth!
_She is lovelier than the sky,
Sweeter than the freshest bud,
I can no longer wait and sigh
Here in the moonlight flood;
All my heart is at her feet,
All my strength at her behest;
O sing, and bid her come to greet
The one who loves her best!
Tell her I am brave and strong;
Tell her I have loved her long;
Singing softly, like a dove,
Tell her all you know of love
I cannot tell in song._
His manly voice entreating calls
As softly as the dewdrop falls.
He ceases, and the night winds hush
As if they too had waited long;
The organ river's chanting rush
Seems but an echo of his song.
And shall he wait and plead in vain?
Ah, no! love is not always pain;
For see, the folds are drawn aside,
And dimly there may be descried
A shadowy form of shadowy grace,
That halts while still in gloom arrayed,
With eyes that light the tawny face
And tresses darker than the shade.
O spell of song! O power and thrill
Of love! O dream that sways
The blood of youth, that feels no chill
Till love betrays!
O hark! ye sprites that haunt this time,--
This quiet moon-lit hour,
When Cupid weaves, in every clime,
His web of subtlest power,--
O, can ye hear, and not rejoice,
The music of a maiden's voice?
"Anpetusapa's glance would meet
The night bird that can sing so sweet."
With what a bounding stride he goes!
With what a light his dark eye glows!
With what a look he seeks to fire
Those gentle eyes with his desire!
"O multiply what voice reveals;
The bird can sing not half it feels!
Too deep, too deep, to tell in words,
And even too sweet for song of birds,
Is passion like this heart of mine
Doth feel for thine!"
She lightly steps into the light,
She gently lifts her gentle eyes,
She flies not, though her heart takes flight
And soars without disguise.
"I know thee; thou art strong and tall,
Thy fearless deeds are known to all.
O may this eve be not more fair
Than life to thee, is all my prayer."
His mighty sinews, sternly trained,
Are now with manly grace restrained,
And the fortunate touch of a fairy's wand
Far ruder would seem than the touch of his hand;
And the light of his eye like a streamlet doth flow
Where passion and tenderness mingle and flash
On the dancing ripples, whose murmuring low
From his lips seem to dash
A faithful, harmonious echo:
"Of happiness all my life will tell
If thou in my lodge doth dwell.
Oh! couldst thou but know
The new, the glad, the tender glow
That warms my heart, so fiercely brave
When breasting battle's fiercest wave--
Couldst thou but feel it pulse and bound
Whene'er my ear is charmed to hear
Thy gentle tongue's melodious sound--
Couldst thou but see how these fond eyes
Rejoice to look upon thy face
When like a dream before them rise
Thy matchless form and wondrous grace--
How deeply, thirstily they drink
Thy dew-bright eyes, whose flashing glance
Doth like a luring firefly dance
(Along an island's shadowy brink
Where rippling waters, restless waters,
Sing their low, unchanging song
Upon the pebbles all night long).
Thou art a flower whose smile hath made
A sunbeam pierce the forest shade;
Thou art a rose that fragrant grows
To beautify the darksome glade
And sweeten every breeze that blows.
Anpetusapa! wilt thou give
The promise that shall make me live
As I have never lived before?
I love thee, and the powers divine
Shall teach thy heart to pulse with mine,
And bless our union evermore
While moons shall pass or starlight shine."
The guardian bosom of her lover
Serves well her modest blush to cover;
Her willowy arms about him twine
As closely as the greenwood vine
Doth hang upon the towering oak,
That holds it safe from every stroke
And proudly shelters the delicate form
From all the buffets of the storm.
The moon and every heavenly gem
Now seem to shine alone for them.
O Time! why must thou speed away?
For knowest thou not that present joy
Bears no increase for such as they,
For whom all change must bring alloy?
And thou, young Love! canst thou not make
A lonely Eden for their sake?
'Tis better that but two should find
Gladness of heart and peace of mind,
Than all the greater sum of life--
With burning hearts that fates unbind
And crowding thoughts that gender strife.
But no, the gift of life is one
Of strangest form, of blended tints
And crossing lines, with mingled hints
Of glory from an unseen sun;
And shades that hourly darker grow
For those who seek that sun to know;--
And they must take the whole or none.
So they must wake to memory
Of other things, so they must be
Reminded of the powers that hold
Their future lives, to rule and mold.
"Anpetusapa need not name
The glory of her father's fame;
He is a mighty chief, and none
Too quickly will he choose a son."
"O fear not, my blossom,
For he shall not see
The flower of his bosom
Mismated with me.
Where war-whoops are sounding
Their blood-stirring call,
There I shall go bounding
The foremost of all.
When foemen shall fly me
And chiefs call me brave,
He will not deny me
The boon I shall crave."
"Yes, thou art brave for one so young;
This voice of mine thy feats hath sung
When from the war-path thou returned
On which thy first renown was earned.
If my poor love can make thy bliss,
My service give the happier life,
All hope shall dwell in one kind kiss
For thine eternal-loving wife."
"O blessed promise! future bright!
This feeble tongue of mine can never
Reveal how dear thou art to-night,
How cherished thou shalt be forever!"
* * * * *
The chief approved the suitor bold,
And for rich goods his daughter sold.
She thought not of the trade, but went
To her young lord with true content,
And while she dreamed of joy to come
Her heart was full, her lips were dumb;
And day by day her task was wrought,
Each hour with self-denial fraught;
His wants were met, his lodge was trim,
Her patient thoughts were all for him.
The powers divine did seem to bless
The promise of his wild caress;
And so the happy moons flew by,
Till new refulgence filled her sky
When there appeared a baby boy,
Whose laugh o'erflowed her cup of joy;
For this must prove, she could but feel,
A bond between them strong as steel.
Alas, thou too confiding wife,
What clouds were gathering o'er thy life!
For vanity alone will stay
With human nature to the last;
Each happy day will slip away
Into the valleys of the past,
Returning but a ghostly thing
When the spirit drinks at Memory's spring.
Why did he vow to cherish ever?
Or why allow his heart to change?
What maid was she who came to sever
Thy love and thee? What magic strange
Had she to work her strange endeavor?
What mind shall solve the mystery
Of loves that come and loves that flee?
Why should Anpetusapa give
Her heart's whole life, her richest treasure,
To one whose boasted flame could live
Through but a dozen moons' small measure;
Whose passion was for selfish pleasure?
Yet so it was; another came
Her heart to cloud, her place to claim.
Her lodge became another's nest;
The first wife, she was second now;
'Neath custom's yoke compelled to bow
And see her rival fondly pressed.
The death gloom settled on her brow,
Day brought no sun, the night no rest.
The beam of sadness lit her eye,
And memories that could never die
Until her body, void of breath,
Became the precious spoil of Death.
Morn after morn beheld her still
Slow sinking, like a mountain rill
Whose fountain-head, once bubbling bright,
Hath dried away, and left the white
And pulseless sand to mark where long
Began the sparkle and the song.
One joy alone was left to bring
The heart-swept thrill of other days,
When to her baby she would sing
Her lullaby of love and praise;
And this, even this, renewed the thought
Of joyous hopes that came to naught.
Betrayed by faith, yet faithful to the last,
She murmured not; but patiently she passed
Each day in kindly service, given
As if her heart were all unriven,
Until at length heroic strength
Could bear no more.
Upon the shore
Of wild Messipi's plunging flood,
Where they were camped so long before,
They camped again; again their blood
Marched to the music of its roar.
* * * * *
'Tis morning: every bird its matin sings
And beats the air with throbbing wings,
The air so sweet and quick; the glistening dew
Hangs crystal beauty on all verdant things,--
Each trembling drop reflecting true
The overspread, unclouded blue;
While from the east the cohorts of the sun
With dazzling spears begin to strew
The morning vapors, damp and dun,
Whose melting ranks are closed anew
To vanish where the rapid waters run.
Anpetusapa hides her woe
Until her husband and her foe
Have left the lodge and gone from sight.
Then with a tearless eye and bright,
She gazes madly round the place
Where every comfort bears the trace
Of wifely labor wrought with pain,
Of woman's love that lives in vain.
Here moccasins lie with bead-work gay;
Here on the wall the breezes sway
The music-breathing flute,
Whose lips are dry and mute,
While she who once inspired its tone
Now sits despairing and alone.
The very curls of smoke that rise
And mingle with the morning skies,
Are tokens of the duties done
Beneath the red eye of the rising sun.
Awhile she sits in cruel thought,
Till, with her anguish overwrought,
She flies to him who sweetly bears
The image of her faithless god,
And on each infant feature wears
The smiling hopes on which he trod.
Convulsively she clasps her child,
Whose love, alone left undefiled,
Is not enough to nerve her soul
Beneath its crushing weight of dole.
She listens to the roaring water,
Whose voice she heard in music grand
When she was but the old chief's daughter,
When love such wondrous fortunes planned;
And ruthless phantoms of the past
Across her mind are flitting fast,
Each with a keen, envenomed dart
That poisons brain and tortures heart.
With breath too quick to lift a sigh,
With marble firmness on her brow,
With glassy wildness in her eye,
She seeks the river's margin now.
She springs into a birch canoe,
All beaded with the morning dew,
And clasping close her mother's pride,
Soon gains the middle of the tide.
O hark! thou selfish one who gave
Embrace more treacherous than the wave:
Does not her song which mounts the air
Reproach thee with its grand despair?
Why dost thou hurry to the river?
Why dost thou call, why dost thou shiver,
While she whom thou hast driven away
Is bold amidst the chilly spray?
What good is all thy vain remorse?
Thinkst thou from jaws of death to force
A sacrifice so lightly thrust
Upon the altar of thy lust?
A host like thee could nothing urge
To meet one tone of her sad dirge:
_My heart cannot live without loving;
My heart cannot give up its own;
No more will I linger with sorrow,
But follow the joys that have flown;
With Death I will rest me to-morrow
On a kind, dreamless bed of stone.
I fear not the rush of the water,
For me all its terrors are vain;
It cannot bring less than gladness,
For it banishes all my pain;
I will sink with my burden of sadness
And mix with the earth again.
My baby, my darling, my blossom,
Nor anguish nor falsehood shall know;
Together we cleave the wild billow--
Unfaltering together we go
To rest on the same rocky pillow,
To slumber and mingle below._
Plunging on the sunlit stream,
The frail canoe, with trembling leaps,
Hurries toward the mists that gleam
To veil the awful steeps.
What need has she for any veil?
Despairing eyes will never quail!
See, now upon the glowing crest,
Where clouds of spray beneath her lie,
She clasps her boy upon her breast,
She gazes on the cloudless sky,
And in its blue depth seems to see
Death, robed in peaceful purity;
Then down into the boiling tomb
That makes for her the happiest doom.
How strange that peace should thus be found
Amid such tumult-breathing sound!
To leap from life and light, and find
A darkness sweeter to the mind!
* * * * *
Long shall the mists of morning show
The spirit of her who long ago
Wrapped them round her wearily--
A victim of love and treachery.
Long shall her mournful death-song find
An echo in the moaning wind;
Long shall Dahkota legend bind
That echo with the roaring falls,
The ancient, foam-crowned, giant falls,
Whose voice so oft hath given
The welcome of its watery halls,
That lead the soul, when the Great Spirit calls,
To the hunting-grounds of heaven.
And though a child of the forest dark
Weary of life would here embark,
As to a portal hither comes,--
And yet who may not pass this way
Into eternal joy and day,--
The water hides and soon benumbs
The sorrow, and the cadence deep
Becomes a lullaby to hush
The spirit to its endless sleep
Beneath the surging rush,
Beneath the shrouding spray,
Where the tireless waters sweep
To their wild, unpausing leap--
Then fly to the South away!
The flood is cold, but the heart is bold
When the future that lives new sorrow gives;
And within the chamber halls
Of the grand and solemn falls
May be found a sleep so sweet and deep
That its darkness never palls,
While ages pass with silent creep.
Time hath no tooth to tear
The heart whose pulse is dead,
And sorrow may live in the air
But not in the river-bed!
I ween all peacefully there
Is pillowed forever the head
Of a woman whose heart was fair,
Though her cheeks were dusky red.
Winona.
PART I.
Winona,[1] first-born daughter, was the name
Of a Dakota girl who, long ago,
Dwelt with her people here unknown to fame.
Sweet word, Winona, how my heart and lips
Cling to that name (my mother's was the same
Ere her form faded into death's eclipse),
Cling lovingly, and loth to let it go.
All arts that unto savage life belong
She knew, made moccasins, and dressed the game.
From crippling fashions free, her well-knit frame
At fifteen summers was mature and strong.
She pitched the tipi,[2] dug the tipsin[3] roots,
Gathered wild rice and store of savage fruits.
Fearless and self-reliant, she could go
Across the prairie on a starless night;
She speared the fish while in his wildest flight,
And almost like a warrior drew the bow.
Yet she was not all hardness: the keen glance,
Lighting the darkness of her eyes, perchance
Betrayed no softness, but her voice, that rose
O'er the weird circle of the midnight dance,
Through all the gamut ran of human woes,
[Illustration: MAIDEN ROCK, LAKE PEPIN.]
Passion, and joy. A woman's love she had
For ornament; on gala days was clad
In garments of the softest doeskin fine,
With shells about her neck; moccasins neat
Were drawn, like gloves, upon her little feet,
Adorned with scarlet quills of porcupine.
Innocent of the niceties refined
That to the toilet her pale sisters bind,
Yet much the same beneath the outer rind,
She was, though all unskilled in bookish lore,
A sound, sweet woman to the very core.
Winona's uncle, and step-father too,
Was all the father that she ever knew;
By the Absarakas[4] her own was slain
Before her memory could his face retain.
Two bitter years his widow mourned him dead,
And then his elder brother she had wed.
None loved Winona's uncle; he was stern
And harsh in manner, cold and taciturn,
And none might see, without a secret fear,
Those thin lips ever curling to a sneer.
And yet he was of note and influence
Among the chieftains; true he rarely lent
More than his presence in the council tent,
And when he rose to speak disdained pretence
Of arts rhetoric, but his few words went
Straight and incisive to the question's core,
And rarely was his counsel overborne.
The Raven was the fitting name he bore;
And though his winters well-nigh reached three-score,
Few of his tribe excelled him in the chase.
A warrior of renown, but never wore
The dancing eagle plumes, and seemed to scorn
The vanities and follies of his race.
I said the Raven was beloved by none;
But no, among the elders there was one
Who often sought him, and the two would walk
Apart for hours, and converse alone.
The gossips, marveling much what this might mean,
Whispered that they at midnight had been seen
Far from the village, wrapped in secret talk.
They seemed in truth an ill-assorted brace,
But Nature oft in Siamese bond unites,
By some strange tie, the farthest opposites.
Gray Cloud was oily, plausible, and vain,
A conjurer with subtle scheming brain;
Too corpulent and clumsy for the chase,
His lodge was still provided with the best,
And though sometimes but a half welcome guest,
He took his dish and spoon to every feast.[5]
Priestcraft and leechcraft were combined in him,
Two trades occult upon which knaves have thriven,
Almost since man from Paradise was driven;
Padding with pompous phrases worn and old
Their scanty esoteric science dim,
And gravely selling, at their weight in gold,
Placebos colored to their patients' whim.
Man's noblest mission here too oft is made,
In heathen as in Christian lands, a trade.
Holy the task to comfort and console
The tortured body and the sin-sick soul,
But pain and sorrow, even prayer and creed,
Are turned too oft to instruments of greed.
The conjurer claimed to bear a mission high:
Mysterious omens of the earth and sky
He knew to read; his medicine could find
In time of need the buffalo, and bind
In sleep the senses of the enemy.
Perhaps not wholly a deliberate cheat,
And yet dissimulation and deceit
Oozed from his form obese at every pore.
Skilled by long practice in the priestly art,
To chill with superstitious fear the heart,
And versed in all the legendary lore,
He knew each herb and root that healing bore;
But lest his flock might grow as wise as he,
Disguised their use with solemn mummery.
When all the village wrapped in slumber lay,
His midnight incantations often fell,
His chant now weirdly rose, now sank away,
As o'er some dying child he cast his spell.
And sometimes through his frame strange tremors ran--
Magnetic waves, swept from the unknown pole
Linking the body to the wavering soul;
And swifter came his breath, as if to fan
The feeble life spark, and his finger tips
Were to the brow of pain like angel lips.
No wonder if in moments such as these
He half believed in his own deities,
And thought his sacred rattle could compel
The swarming powers unseen to serve him well.
The Raven lay one evening in his tent
With his accustomed crony at his side;
Around their heads a graceful aureole
Of smoke curled upward from the scarlet bowl
Of Gray Cloud's pipe with willow bark supplied.
Winona's thrifty mother came and went,
Her form with household cares and burdens bent,
Fresh fuel adds, and stirs the boiling pot.
Meanwhile the young Winona, half reclined,
Plies her swift needle, that resource refined
For woman's leisure, whatsoe'er her lot,
The kingly palace or the savage cot.
[Illustration]
The cronies smoked without a sign or word,
Passing the pipe sedately to and fro;
Only a distant wail of hopeless woe,
A mother mourning for her child, was heard,
And Gray Cloud moved, as though the sound had stirred
Some dusty memory; still that bitter wail,
Rachel's despairing cry without avail,
That beats the brazen firmament in vain,
Since the first mother wept o'er Abel slain.
At length the conjurer's lips the silence broke,
Softly at first as to himself he spoke,
Till warmed by his own swarming fancies' brood
He poured the strain almost in numbers rude.
[Illustration: "WHERE THROUGH A LAKE THE MISSISSIPPI FLOWS."]
THE COMBAT BETWEEN THE THUNDER-BIRDS
AND THE WATER-DEMONS.
Gray Cloud shall not be as other men,
Dull clods that move and breathe a day or two,
Ere other clods shall bury them from view.
Tempest and sky have been my home, and when
I pass from earth I shall find welcome there.
Sons of the Thunder-Bird my playmates were,
Ages ago[6] (the tallest oak to-day
In all the land was but a grass blade then).
Reared with such brethren, breathing such an air,
My spirit grew as tall and bold as they;
We tossed the ball and flushed the noble prey
O'er happy plains from human footsteps far;
And when our high chief's voice to arm for war
Rang out in tones that rent the morning sky,
None of the band exulted more than I.
A god might gaze and tremble at the sight
Of our array that turned the day to night;
With bow and shield and flame-tipped arrows all,
Rushing together at our leader's call,
Like storm clouds sweeping round a mountain height.
The lofty cliffs our warlike muster saw,
Hard by the village of great Wabashaw,[7]
Where through a lake the Mississippi flows;
Far o'er the dwelling of our ancient foes,
The hated Water-Demon[8] and his sons,
Cold, dark and deep the sluggish current runs.
Up from their caverns swarming, when they heard
The rolling signal of the Thunder-Bird,
The Water-Demon and his sons arose,
And answered back the challenge of their foes.
With horns tumultuous clashing like a herd
Of warring elks that struggle for the does,
They lashed the wave to clouds of spray and foam,
Through which their forms uncouth, like buffaloes
Seen dimly through a morning mist, did loom,
Or isles at twilight rising from the shore.
Though we were thirty, they at least fourscore,
We rushed upon them, and a midnight pall
Over the seething lake our pinions spread,
'Neath which our gleaming arrows thickly sped,
As shooting stars that in the rice-moon fall.
Rent by our beating wings the cloud-waves swung
In eddies round us, and our leader's roar
Smote peal on peal, and from their bases flung
The rocks that towered along the trembling shore.
A Thunder-Bird--alas, my chosen friend,
But even so a warrior's life should end,--
A Thunder-Bird was stricken; his bright beak,
Cleaving the tumult like a lightning streak,
Smote with a fiery hiss the watery plain;
His upturned breast, where gleamed one fleck of red,
His sable wings, one moment wide outspread,
Blackened the whirlpool o'er his sinking head.
The Water-Demon's sons by scores were slain
By our swift arrows falling like the rain;
With yells of rage they sank beneath the wave
That ran all redly now, but could not save.
We asked not mercy, mercy never gave;
Our flaming darts lit up the farthest cave,
Fathoms below the reach of deepest line;
Our cruel spears, taller than mountain pine,
Mingled their life blood with the ruddy wave.
The combat ceased, the Thunder-Birds had won.
The Water-Demon with one favorite son
Fled from the carnage and escaped our wrath.
The vapors, thinly curling from the shore,
Faint musky odors to our nostrils bore.
The air was stilled, the silence of the dead;
The sun, just starting on his downward path,
A rosy mantle o'er the prairie shed,
Save where, like vultures, ominous and still,
We clustered close, on sullen wings outspread;
And sometimes, with a momentary chill,
A giant shadow swept o'er plain and hill,--
A Thunder-Bird careering overhead,
Seeking the track by which the foe had fled.
While thus we hovered motionless, the sun
Adown the west his punctual course had run,
When lo, two shining points far up the stream
That split the prairie with a silver seam,--
The fleeing Water-Demon and his son;
Like icicles they glittered in the beam
Still struggling up from the horizon's rim.
His sleeping anger kindled at the sight,
Our leader's eyes glowed like a flaming brand.
Thrilled by one impulse, all our sable band
Dove through the gathering shadows of the night
On wings outshaken for a headlong flight.
Anger, revenge, but more than all the thirst,
The glorious emulation to be first,
Stung me like fire, and filled each quivering plume.
With tenfold speed our sharp beaks cleft the gloom,
A swarm of arrows singing to the mark,
We hissed to pierce the foe ere yet 'twas dark.
Still up the stream the Water-Demons fled,
Their bodies glowed like fox-fire far ahead;
But every moment saw the distance close
Between our thirsty spear-heads and our foes.
Louder the blast our buzzing pinions made
Than mighty forest in a whirlwind swayed;
The giant cliffs of Redwing speeding back,
Like specters melting from a cloudy wrack,
Melted from view in our dissolving track.
Kaposia's village, clustered on the shore,
With sound of snapping poles and tipis riven,
Vanished like swan's-down by a tempest driven.
Stung by our flight, the keen air smote us sore
As ragged hailstones; on, still on, we strained,
And fast and faster on the chase we gained,
But neck and neck the fierce pursuit remained,
Till close ahead we saw the rocky walls
O'er which the mighty river plunging falls,[9]
And at their base the Water-Demons lay:
The panting chase at last had turned to bay.
Then thrilled my nerves with more than mortal strength;
A breath of Deity was in the burst
That bore me out a goodly lance's length
To meet the Water-Demon's son accurst.
His evil horn clanged hollow on my shield
Just as my spear transfixed him through and through;
A moment towering o'er the foam he reeled,
Then sank beneath the roaring falls from view.
A dying yell that haunts me yet he gave,
And as he fell the crippled water coiled
About him like a wounded snake, and boiled,
Lashing itself to madness o'er his grave.
We knew not where the parent Demon fled;
None of our spears might pierce his ancient mail,
Welded with skill demoniac scale on scale.
Some watery realm he wanders, and 'tis said
That he is changed and bears a brighter form,
And goodly sons again about him swarm;
And peace, 'tis but a hollow truce I know,
Now reigns between him and his ancient foe.
He hates me still, and fain would do me harm,
But neither man nor demon dares offend,
Who hath the cruel Thunder-Bird for friend.
[Illustration]