🧚 The Feast of the Virgins., part 7 · page 2

[a] Wazíya's Star is the North Star.71

[b] A strap used in carrying burdens.72

[c] Wolves sometimes attack people at night but rarely if ever in the day time.73 If they have followed a hunter all night, or "treed" him they will skulk away as soon as the sun rises.74

Wazíya's wild wrath was appeased, and homeward he turned to his teepee, [3] O'er the plains and the forest-land breezed, from the Islands of Summer, the South wind.75 From their dens came the coon and the bear; o'er the snow through the woodlands they wandered; On her snow shoes with stout bow and spear on their trails ran the huntress Winona.76 The coon to his den in the tree, and the bear to his burrow she followed; A brave, skillful hunter was she, and Ta-té-psin's lodge laughed with abundance.77

The long winter wanes.78 On the wings of the spring come the geese and the mallards; On the bare oak the red-robin sings, and the crocuses peep on the prairies, And the bobolink pipes, but he brings, of the blue-eyed, brave White Chief, no tidings.79 With the waning of winter, alas, waned the life of the aged Tatépsin; Ere the blue pansies peeped from the grass, to the Land of the Spirits he journeyed; Like a babe in its slumber he passed, or the snow from the hill tops in April; And the dark-eyed Winona, at last, stood alone by the graves of her kindred.80 When their myriad mouths opened the trees to the sweet dew of heaven and the rain drops, And the April showers fell on the leas, on his mound fell the tears of Winona.81 Round her drooping form gathered the years and the spirits unseen of her kindred, As low, in the midst of her tears, at the grave of her father she chanted:82

E-yó-tan-han e-yáy-wah ké-yày!83 E-yó-tan-han e-yáy-wah ké-yày!84 E-yó-tan-han e-yáy-wah ké-yày!85 Ma-káh kin háy-chay-dan táy-han wan-kày.86 Tú-way ne ktáy snee e-yáy-chen e-wáh chày.87 E-yó-tan-han e-yáy-wah ké-yày!88 E-yó-tan-han e-yáy-wah ké-yày!89 Ma-káh kin háy-chay-dan táy-han wan-kày.90

[TRANSLATION]91

Sore is my sorrow!92 Sore is my sorrow!93 Sore is my sorrow!94 The earth alone lasts.95 I speak as one dying; Sore is my sorrow!96 Sore is my sorrow!97 The earth alone lasts.98

Still hope, like a star in the night gleaming oft through the broken clouds somber, Cheered the heart of Winona, and bright, on her dreams, beamed the face of the Frenchman.99 As the thought of a loved one and lost, sad and sweet were her thoughts of the White Chief; In the moon's mellow light, like a ghost, walked Winona alone by the Ha-ha, Ever wrapped in a dream.100 Far away --to the land of the sunrise--she wandered; On the blue rolling Tánka Medé, [a] in the midst of her dreams, she beheld him-- In his white-winged canoe, like a bird, to the land of Dakotas returning; And often in fancy she heard the dip of his oars on the river.101 On the dark waters glimmered the moon, but she saw not the boat of the Frenchman; On the somber night bugled the loon, but she heard not the song of the boatmen.102 The moon waxed and waned, but the star of her hope never waned to the setting; Through her tears she beheld it afar, like a torch on the eastern horizon. "103 He will come,--he is coming," she said; "he will come, for my White Eagle promised," And low to the bare earth the maid bent her ear for the sound of his footsteps. "104 He is gone, but his voice in my ear still remains like the voice of the robin; He is far, but his footsteps I hear; he is coming; my White Chief is coming!"105

[a] Lake Superior,--The _Gitchee Gumee_ of the Chippewas.106

But the moon waxed and waned.107 Nevermore will the eyes of Winona behold him.108 Far away on the dark, rugged shore of the blue Gitchee Gúmee he lingers.109 No tidings the rising sun brings; no tidings the star of the evening; But morning and evening she sings, like a turtle-doe widowed and waiting;110

Aké u, aké u, aké u; Ma cântè maséca.111 Aké u, aké u, aké u; Ma cântè maséca.112

Come again, come again, come again; For my heart is sad.113 Come again, come again, come again; For my heart is sad.114

Down the broad Gitchee Seebee [a] the band took their way to the Games at Keóza.115 While the swift-footed hunters by land ran the shores for the elk and the bison.116 Like magás [b] ride the birchen canoes on the breast of the dark Gitchee Seebee; By the willow-fringed islands they cruise by the grassy hills green to their summits; By the lofty bluffs hooded with oaks that darken the deep with their shadows; And bright in the sun gleam the strokes of the oars in the hands of the women.117 With the band went Winona.118 The oar plied the maid with the skill of a hunter.119 They loitered and camped on the shore of Remníca --the Lake of the Mountains.120 [c] There the fleet hunters followed the deer, and the thorny _pahin_ [d] for the women.121

[a] Chippewa name of the Mississippi122

[b] Wild Geese123

[c] Lake Pepin; by Hennepin called Lake of Tears--Called by the Dakotas Remnee-chah-Mday--Lake of the Mountains.124

[d] Pah hin--the porcupine--the quill of which are greatly prized for ornamental work.125

From the tees rose the smoke of good cheer, curling blue through the tops of the maples, Near the foot of a cliff that arose, like the battle-scarred walls of a castle.126 Up-towering, in rugged repose, to a dizzy height over the waters.127

But the man-wolf still followed his prey, and the step-mother ruled in the tepee; Her will must Winona obey, by the custom and law of Dakotas.128 The gifts to the teepee were brought --the blankets, and beads of the White men, And Winona, the orphaned, was bought by the crafty relentless Tamdóka.129 In the Spring-time of life, in the flush of the gladsome mid-May days of Summer, When the bobolink sang and the thrush, and the red robin chirped in the branches, To the tent of the brave must she go; she must kindle the fire in his tepee; She must sit in the lodge of her foe, as a slave at the feet of her master.130 Alas for her waiting! the wings of the East-wind have brought her no tidings; On the meadow the meadow-lark sings but sad is her song to Winona, For the glad warblers melody brings but the memory of voices departed.131

The Day-Spirit walked in the west to his lodge in the land of the shadows; His shining face gleamed on the crest of the oak-hooded hills and the mountains, And the meadow-lark hied to her nest, and the mottled owl peeped from her cover.132 But hark! from the teepees a cry!133 Hear the shouts of the hurrying warriors!134 Are the steps of the enemy nigh, --of the crafty and creeping Ojibways?135 Nay; look on the dizzy cliff high! --on the brink of the cliff stands Winona!136 Her sad face up-turned to the sky.137 Hark!138 I hear the wild chant of her death-song:139