In red swan-down he made it for me;
In red swan-down he made it for me;
He of the water--he of the mysterious face--
Gave it to me;
Sacred Father--Grandfather!
Grandfather made me magical medicine
That is true!
Being of mystery,--grown in the water--
He gave it to me!
To the face of our Grandfather stretch out your hand;
Holding a quadruped, stretch out your hand!
Till high o'er the hills of the east
Anpétuwee walked on his journey,
In secret they danced at the feast,
and communed with the mighty Unktéhee.
Then opened the door of the tee
to the eyes of the day and the people,
And the sons of Unktéhee, to be,
were endowed with the sacred Ozúha [82]
By the son of tall Wazí-kuté, Tamdóka,
the chief of the Magi.
And thus since the birth-day of man
--since he sprang from the heart of the mountains, [69]
Has the sacred "Wacépee Wakán"
by the warlike Dakotas been honored,
And the god-favored sons of the clan
work their will with the help of the spirits.
'Twas sunrise; the spirits of mist
trailed their white robes on dewy savannas,
And the flowers raised their heads to be kissed
by the first golden beams of the morning.
The breeze was abroad with the breath
of the rose of the Isles of the Summer,
And the humming-bird hummed on the heath
from his home in the land of the rain-bow. [a]
'Twas the morn of departure.
Duluth stood alone by the roar of the Ha-ha;
Tall and fair in the strength of his youth
stood the blue-eyed and fair-bearded Frenchman.
A rustle of robes on the grass broke his dream
as he mused by the waters,
And, turning, he looked on the face of Winona,
wild rose of the prairies,
Half hid in her forest of hair,
like the round, golden moon in the pine tops.
Admiring he gazed--she was fair
as his own blooming Flore in her orchards,
With her golden locks loose on the air,
like the gleam of the sun through the olives,
Far away on the vine-covered shore,
in the sun-favored land of his fathers.
"Lists the chief to the cataract's roar
for the mournful lament of the Spirit?" [b]
Said Winona,--"The wail of the sprite
for her babe and its father unfaithful,
Is heard in the midst of the night,
when the moon wanders dim in the heavens."
[a] The Dakotas say the humming-bird comes from the "land of the
rain-bow."
[b] See Legend of the Falls or Note 28--Appendix.
"Wild-Rose of the Prairies," he said,
"DuLuth listens not to the Ha-ha,
For the wail of the ghost of the dead,
for her babe and its father unfaithful;
But he lists to a voice in his heart
that is heard by the ear of no other,
And to-day will the White Chief depart
--he returns to the land of the sunrise."
"Let Winona depart with the chief,
--she will kindle the fire in his teepee;
For long are the days of her grief,
if she stay in the tee of Ta-té-psin,"
She replied and her cheeks were aflame
with the bloom of the wild prairie lilies.
"Tanké, [a] is the White Chief to blame?"
said DuLuth to the blushing Winona.
"The White Chief is blameless," she said,
"but the heart of Winona will follow
Wherever thy footsteps may lead,
O blue-eyed brave Chief of the white men.
For her mother sleeps long in the mound,
and a step-mother rules in the teepee.
And her father, once strong and renowned,
is bent with the weight of his winters.
No longer he handles the spear,
--no longer his swift, humming arrows
Overtake the fleet feet of the deer,
or the bear of the woods, or the bison;
But he bends as he walks, and the wind
shakes his white hair and hinders his footsteps;
And soon will he leave me behind,
without brother or sister or kindred.
The doe scents the wolf in the wind,
and a wolf walks the path of Winona.
Three times have the gifts for the bride [25]
to the lodge of Ta-té-psin been carried.
But the voice of Winona replied
that she liked not the haughty Tamdóka.
And thrice were the gifts sent away,
but the tongue of the mother protested,
And the were wolf [52] still follows his prey,
abides but the death of my father."
[a] My Sister.
"I pity Winona," he said,
"but my path is a pathway of danger,
And long is the trail for the maid
to the far-away land of the sunrise;
And few are the braves of my band,
and the braves of Tamdóka are many;
But soon I return to the land,
and a cloud of my hunters will follow.
When the cold winds of winter return,
and toss the white robes of the prairies,
The fire of the White Chief will burn
in his lodge at the Meeting-of-Waters; [a]
And when from the Sunrise again
comes the chief of the suns of the Morning,
Many moons will his hunters remain
in the land of the friendly Dakotas.
The son of Chief Wazí-kuté
guides the White Chief afar on his journey;
Nor long on the Tonka Medé [b]
--on the breast of the blue, bounding billows--
Shall the bark of the Frenchman delay,
but his pathway shall kindle behind him."
[a] Mendota, properly _Mdó-tè_--meaning the outlet of lake or river into
another,
commonly applied to the region about Fort Snelling.
[b] Tonka Mede--Great Lake, i.e. Lake Superior. The Dakotas seem to have
had no other name for it. They generally referred to it as
_Mini-ya-ta--There at the water._
She was pale, and her hurried voice swelled
with alarm as she questioned replying
"Tamdóka thy guide?
--I beheld thy death in his face at the races!
He covers his heart with a smile,
but revenge never sleeps in his bosom;
His tongue--it is soft to beguile;
but beware of the pur of the panther!
For death, like a shadow,
will walk by thy side in the midst of the forest,
Or follow thy path like a hawk
on the trail of a wounded Mastinca. [a]
A son of Unktéhee is he,
--the Chief of the crafty magicians;
They have plotted thy death; I foresee,
and thy trail, it is red in the forest;
Beware of Tamdóka,--beware.
Slumber not like the grouse of the woodlands,
With head under wing,
for the glare of the eyes that sleep not are upon thee."
[a] The rabbit. The Dakotas called the Crees "Mastincapi"--Rabbits.
"Winona, fear not," said Duluth,
"for I carry the fire of Wakínyan, [a]
And strong is the arm of my youth,
and stout are the hearts of my warriors;
But Winona has spoken the truth,
and the heart of the White Chief is thankful.
Hide this in thy bosom, dear maid,
--'tis the crucified Christ of the white men. [b]
Lift thy voice to his spirit in need,
and his spirit will hear thee and answer;
For often he comes to my aid;
he is stronger than all the Dakotas;
And the Spirits of evil, afraid,
hide away when he looks from the heavens."
In her swelling brown bosom
she hid the crucified Jesus in silver;
"Niwástè," [c] she sadly replied;
in her low voice the rising tears trembled;
Her dewy eyes turned she aside,
and she slowly returned to the teepees.
But still on the swift river's strand,
admiring the graceful Winona,
As she gathered, with brown, dimpled hand,
her hair from the wind, stood the Frenchman.
[a] i.e. a fire arm which the Dakotas compare to the roar of the wings of
the Thunder-bird and the fiery arrows he shoots.
[b] Duluth was a devout Catholic.
[c] Nee-wahshtay--Thou art good.
To bid the brave White Chief adieu,
on the shady shore gathered the warriors;
His glad boatmen manned the canoe,
and the oars in their hands were impatient.
Spake the Chief of Isántees,
--"A feast will await the return of my brother
In peace rose the sun in the East,
in peace in the West he descended.
May the feet of my brother be swift,
till they bring him again to our teepees;
The red pipe he takes as a gift,
may he smoke that red pipe many winters.
At my lodge-fire his pipe shall be lit,
when the White Chief returns to Kathága;
On the robes of my tee shall he sit,
he shall smoke with the chiefs of my people.
The brave love the brave;
and his son sends the Chief as a guide for his brother,
By the way of the Wákpa Wakán [a]
to the Chief at the Lake of the Spirits.
[a] Spirit River, now called _Rum_ River.
As light as the foot-steps of dawn
are the feet of the stealthy Tamdóka,
And he fears not the Máza Wakán; [a]
he is sly as the fox of the forest.
When he dances the dance of red war
all the hungry wolves howl by the Big Sea, [b]
For they scent on the south-wind
afar their feast on the bones of Ojibways."
Thrice the Chief puffed the red pipe of peace,
ere it passed to the lips of the Frenchman.
Spake DuLuth,--"May the Great Spirit
bless with abundance the Chief and his people;
May their sons and their daughters increase,
and the fire ever burn in their teepees."
Then he waved with a flag his adieu
to the Chief and the warriors assembled;
And away shot Tamdóka's canoe
to the strokes of ten sinewy hunters;
And a white path he clove up the blue,
bubbling stream of the swift Mississippi;
And away on his foaming trail flew,
like a Sea-Gull the bark of the Frenchman.
Then merrily rose the blithe song
of the _voyageurs_ homeward returning,
And thus, as they glided along,
sang the bugle-voiced boatmen in chorus: