A Guide to MythologyClarke, Helen A. (Helen Archibald)
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A Guide to Mythology
Clarke, Helen A. (Helen Archibald)
Mythology -- Juvenile literature
Osseo immediately joined her, and with looks of fondness and the
tenderest regard, bestowed on her every endearing attention, and
constantly addressed her by the term of ne-ne-moosh-a, or my sweetheart.
As they walked along, whenever they were not gazing fondly in each
other’s face, they bent their looks on heaven, and a light, as if of
far-off stars, was in their eyes.
On arriving at the lodge of the hunter with whom they were to feast, they
found the banquet ready, and as soon as their entertainer had finished
his harangue—in which he told them his feasting was in honor of the
Evening or Woman’s Star—they began to partake of the portion dealt out,
according to age and character, to each one of the guests. The food was
very delicious, and they were all happy but Osseo, who looked at his
wife, and then gazed upward, as if he was looking into the substance of
the sky. Sounds were soon heard, as if from far-off voices in the air,
and they became plainer and plainer, till he could clearly distinguish
some of the words.
“My son, my son,” said the voice, “I have seen your afflictions, and
pity your wants. I come to call you away from a scene that is stained
with blood and tears. The earth is full of sorrows. Wicked spirits, the
enemies of mankind, walk abroad, and lie in wait to ensnare the children
of the sky. Every night they are lifting their voices to the Power of
Evil, and every day they make themselves busy in casting mischief in the
hunter’s path. You have long been their victim, but you shall be their
victim no more. The spell you were under is broken. Your evil genius is
overcome. I have cast him down by my superior strength, and it is this
strength I now exert for your happiness. Ascend, my son; ascend into the
skies, and partake of the feast I have prepared for you in the stars, and
bring with you those you love.
“The food set before you is enchanted and blessed. Fear not to partake
of it. It is endowed with magic power to give immortality to mortals,
and to change men to spirits. Your bowls and kettles shall no longer be
wood and earth. The one shall become silver and the other pure gold. They
shall shine like fire, and glisten like the most beautiful scarlet. Every
female shall also change her state and looks, and no longer be doomed to
laborious tasks. She shall put on the beauty of the starlight, and become
a shining bird of the air. She shall dance, and not work. She shall sing,
and not cry.
“My beams,” continued the voice, “shine faintly on your lodge, but they
have power to transform it into the lightness of the skies, and decorate
it with the colors of the clouds. Come, Osseo, my son, and dwell no
longer on earth. Think strongly on my words, and look steadfastly at my
beams. My power is now at its height. Doubt not, delay not. It is the
voice of the Spirit of the Stars that calls you away to happiness and
celestial rest.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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