Good stories for great birthdays: arranged for story-telling and reading aloud and for the children's own readingOlcott, Frances Jenkins
History
Good stories for great birthdays: arranged for story-telling and reading aloud and for the children's own reading
Olcott, Frances Jenkins
Birthdays; Children's literature; South America -- History -- Anecdotes; United States -- History -- Anecdotes
Among the Chiefs, was the Great Sachem Taminend, revered for his wisdom
and beloved for his goodness. He sat in the middle of the half moon,
with his council, the aged and wise, on either hand.
They waited.
Then, lo! a barge approached. At its masthead flew the broad pennant of
Governor William Penn. The oars were plied with measured strokes,
guiding the barge to land. And near the helm sat William Penn attended
by his council.
He landed with his people, and advanced toward the Council-fire. A
handsome man he was, only thirty-eight years old, athletic, and
graceful. His manners were courteous, his blue eyes were friendly. He
was plainly dressed, with a scarf of sky-blue network bound about his
waist.
Some of his people preceded him. They carried presents for the Indians,
which they laid on the ground before them.
Then William Penn approached the Council-fire.
Thereupon the Great Sachem, Taminend, put on a chaplet surmounted by a
horn, the emblem of his power, and through an interpreter announced that
the Nations were ready to hear William Penn.
Thus being called upon, William Penn began his speech:--
“The Great Spirit,” he said, “who made me and you, who rules the heavens
and the earth, and who knows the innermost thoughts of men, knows that I
and my friends have a hearty desire to live in peace and friendship with
you, and to serve you to the utmost of our power.
“It is not our custom to use hostile weapons against our
fellow-creatures, for which reason we have come unarmed. Our object is
not to do injury, and thus provoke the Great Spirit, but to do good.
“We are met on the broad pathway of good faith and good will, so that no
advantage is to be taken on either side, but all to be openness,
brotherhood, and love.”
Here William Penn unrolled a parchment on which was inscribed an
agreement for trading, and promises of friendship. He explained the
agreement article by article. Then laying the parchment on the ground,
he said that that spot should ever more be common to both
Peoples,--Pale-face and Red Skin.
The Indians listened to his speech in perfect silence, and with deep
gravity. And when he was finished speaking, they deliberated together,
for some time. Then the Great Sachem ordered one of his Chiefs to
address William Penn.
The Chief advanced, and in the Sachem’s name saluted him, and taking
William Penn by the hand, made a speech pledging kindness and
neighbourliness, saying that the English and the Lenni Lenapé should
live together in love, so long as the sun and the moon should endure.
_Samuel M. Janney_ (_Retold_)
ONAS
After the Treaty was made at the Place of Kings, the Lenni Lenapé, for
many years enjoyed the mild and just rule of their “elder brother Onas.”
He met them often around the Council-fire, hearing and rectifying their
wrongs, adjusting trade matters, and smoking with them the Pipe of
Peace.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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