|WAUPEE, or the White Hawk, lived in a remote part of the forest, where
animals abounded. Every day he returned from the chase with a large
spoil, for he was one of the most skilful and lucky hunters of his
tribe. His form was like the cedar; the fire of youth beamed from his
eye; there was no forest too gloomy for him to penetrate, and no track
made by bird or beast of any kind which he could not readily follow.
One day he had gone beyond any point which he had ever before visited.
He traveled through an open wood, which enabled him to see a great
distance. At length he beheld a light breaking through the foliage of
the distant trees, which made him sure that he was on the borders of
a prairie. It was a wide plain, covered with long blue grass, and
enamelled with flowers of a thousand lovely tints.
After walking for some time without a path, musing upon the open country
and enjoying the fragrant breeze, he suddenly came to a ring worn among
the grass and the flowers, as if it had been made by footsteps moving
lightly round and round. But it was strange--so strange as to cause the
White Hawk to pause and gaze long and fixedly upon the ground--there was
no path which led to this flowery circle. There was not even a crushed
leaf or a broken twig, nor did he find the least trace of a footstep,
approaching or retiring. So wondering he thought he would hide himself
and lie in wait to discover, if he could, what this strange circle
meant.
Presently he heard faint sounds of music in the air. Looking up in the
direction they came from, he saw floating a small object, like a little
summer cloud that approaches down from above the earth. At first it was
very small, and seemed as if it could have been blown away by the first
breeze that came along; but it rapidly grew as he gazed upon it, and
the music every moment came clearer and more sweetly to his ear. As it
neared the earth it appeared as a basket, and it was filled with twelve
sisters, of the most lovely forms and enchanting beauty.
As soon as the basket touched the ground they leaped out, and began
straightway to dance around the magic ring, in the most joyous manner,
striking a shining ball, which uttered ravishing melodies, keeping time
as they danced.
[Illustration: 0095]
The White Hawk, from his concealment, gazed with delight upon their
graceful forms and movements. He admired them all, but he was most
pleased with the youngest. He longed to be at her side, to embrace her,
to call her his own; and unable to remain longer a silent admirer, he
rushed out and endeavored to seize this twelfth beauty who so enchanted
him. But the sisters, the moment they descried the form of a man, leaped
back into the basket with the swiftness of birds, and were drawn up into
the sky.
Lamenting his ill-luck, Waupee gazed longingly upon the fairy basket as
it ascended bearing the lovely sisters from his view.
"They are gone," he said, "and I shall see them no more."
He returned to his solitary lodge, but found no relief to his mind.
He walked abroad, but to look at the sky, which had withdrawn from his
sight the only being he had ever loved, was painful to him now.
The next day, selecting the same hour, the White Hawk went back to the
prairie, and took his station near the ring. But in order to deceive the
sisters, he assumed the form of an opossum, and sat among the grass as
if he were there engaged in chewing the cud. He had not waited long when
he saw the cloudy basket descend, and heard the same sweet music falling
as before. He crept slowly toward the ring; but the instant the sisters
caught sight of him they were startled, and sprang into their car. It
rose a short distance when one of the elder sisters spoke:
"Perhaps," she said, "it has come to show us how the game is played by
mortals."
"Oh, no," the youngest replied; "quick, let us ascend."
And all joining in a chant, they rose out of sight.
Then Waupee, casting off his disguise, walked sorrowfully back to his
lodge--but ah, the night seemed very long to lonely White Hawk! His
whole soul was filled with the thought of the beautiful sister.
Betimes, the next day, he returned to the haunted spot, hoping and
fearing, and sighing as though his very soul would leave his body in its
anguish. He reflected upon the plan he should follow to secure success.
He had already failed twice; to fail a third time would be fatal. By
searching he found nearby an old stump, much covered with moss, and just
then in use as the residence of a number of mice, who had stopped there
on a pilgrimage to some relatives on the other side of the prairie. The
White Hawk was so pleased with their tidy little forms that he
thought he, too, would be a mouse, especially as they were by no means
formidable to look at, and would not be at all likely to create alarm.
He accordingly brought the stump and set it near the ring. Then, without
further notice, he became a mouse, and peeped and sported, and kept his
sharp little eyes busy with the others; only he did not forget to keep
one eye up toward the sky, and one ear wide open in the same direction.
It was not long before the sisters, at their customary hour, came down
and resumed their sport.
"But see," cried the youngest sister, "that stump was not there before."
She ran off, frightened, toward the basket. But her sisters only smiled,
and gathering round the old tree-stump, struck it, in jest, when out ran
the mice, and among them Waupee. This was sport for the sisters and they
chased and killed them all save one, which was pursued by the twelfth
sister, who had decided after all to join in the game. As she raised a
silver stick which she held in her hand to put an end to that, too, the
form of the White Hawk arose, and he clasped his prize in his arms. The
other eleven sprang to their basket, and were drawn up to the skies.
Delighted with his success, Waupee exerted all his skill to please
his bride and win her affections. He wiped the tears from her eyes; he
related his adventures in the chase; he dwelt upon the charms of life
on the earth. He was constant in his attentions, keeping fondly by
her side, and picking out the way for her to walk as he led her gently
toward his lodge. He felt his heart glow with joy as he entered it, and
from that moment he was one of the happiest of men.
Winter and summer passed rapidly away, and as spring drew near with its
balmy gales and its many-colored flowers, their happiness was increased
by the presence of a beautiful boy in their lodge, a son with both his
mother's beauty and his father's strength. What more of earthly blessing
was there for them to enjoy?
Waupee's wife, however, was a daughter of one of the stars; and as the
scenes of earth began to pall upon her sight, she sighed to revisit her
father. But she hid these feelings from her husband. She remembered the
charm that would carry her up, and while White Hawk was engaged in the
chase, she took occasion to construct a wicker basket, which she kept
concealed. In the meantime, she collected such rarities from the earth
as she thought would please her father, as well as the most dainty kinds
of food.
Then on a day when all was in readiness and Wau-pee absent, she went out
to the charmed ring, taking with her her little son. As they entered the
car she commenced her magical song, and the basket rose. The song was
sad, and of a lowly and mournful cadence, and as it was wafted far away
by the wind, it caught her husband's ear. It was a voice which he well
knew, and he instantly ran to the prairie. But though he made breathless
speed, he could not reach the ring before his wife and child had
ascended beyond his reach. He lifted up his voice in loud appeals, but
they were unavailing. The basket still went up. He watched it till it
became a small speck, and finally it vanished in the sky. He then bent
his head down to the ground and was miserable.
Through a long winter and a long summer Waupee bewailed his loss, but he
found no relief. The beautiful spirit had come and gone, and he should
see it no more!
In the meantime his wife had reached her home in the stars, and in the
blissful employments of her father's house she almost forgot that she
had left a husband upon the earth. But her son, as he grew up, resembled
his father more and more, and every day he was restless and anxious to
revisit the scene of his birth. His grandfather, perceiving this, said
to his daughter:
"Go, my child, take your son down to his father, and ask him to come up
and live with us. But tell him to bring along a specimen of each kind of
bird and animal he kills in the chase."
The mother accordingly took the boy and descended. And the White Hawk,
who was ever near the enchanted spot, heard her voice as she came down
the sky. His heart beat with impatience as he saw her form and that of
his son, and they were soon clasped in his arms.
He heard the message of the Star, and he began to hunt with the greatest
activity, that he might collect the present with all despatch. He
spent whole nights, as well as days, in searching for every curious and
beautiful animal and bird. But he only preserved a foot, a wing, or a
tail of each.
When all was ready, Waupee visited once more each favorite spot--the
hill-top whence he had been used to see the rising sun; the stream where
he had sported as a boy; the old lodge, which he was to sit in no more;
and last of all, he came to the magic circle, and gazed widely around
him with tearful eyes. Then taking his wife and child by the hand, he
entered the car, and they were drawn up--into a country far beyond the
flight of birds, or the power of mortal eye to pierce.
Great joy was manifested upon their arrival at the starry plains.
The Star Chief invited all his people to a feast; and when they had
assembled, he proclaimed aloud that each one might continue as he was,
an inhabitant of his own dominions, or select of the earthly gifts such
as he liked best. A very strange confusion immediately arose; not one
but sprang forward. Some chose a foot, some a wing, some a tail, and
some a claw. Those who selected tails or claws were changed into animals
and ran off; the others assumed the form of birds and flew away. Waupee
chose a white hawk's feather. His wife and son followed his example, and
each one became a white hawk. He spread his wings, and, followed by his
wife and son, descended with the other birds to the earth, where they
are still to be found, with the brightness of the starry plains in their
eyes and the freedom of the heavenly breezes in their wings.
[Illustration: 0101]