Traditions of the North American Indians, Vol. 1Jones, James Athearn
History
Traditions of the North American Indians, Vol. 1
Jones, James Athearn
Indians of North America -- Folklore
"Men of the Shawanos nation, I love you, and have always loved you. I
bade you conquer your enemies, I gave your foes into your hands. I sent
great herds of fat deer, and many bears and mooses, to your
hunting-grounds, and made my suns so shine upon your fields, that your
corn grew up like trees. Who lived so well, who fought so bravely, as
the Shawanos? Whose women bore so many sons as yours? Is not the Suwany
a lovely river? Are not the young sprouts of the oak, and the heart of
the ash which grow upon its banks, the stoutest and the toughest in all
the land for bows? The grass grows high, the water is cold and sweet, is
it not a pleasant land? It is, and the Shawanos have been a favoured,
and a happy people.
"Why did you disturb the sacrifice which the Walkullas were offering to
me at the feast of green corn? Why did you fall upon them when they had
laid down their weapons, and wiped off their paints to dance in my name?
You even slew the priest who offered me the offering. I was angry, and
gave your warriors into the hands of their enemies, only I let the head
warrior escape to tell you the fate of your young men.
"Men of the Shawanos nation! The strange people, who came over the Salt
Lake on the great bird, are your brothers. Though they are white, and
you are red, though their hair is of the colour of the setting sun, and
yours is as black as charred wood, yet you are brothers. I made you all,
and I made you all alike. The Shawanos are red, because fear never
enters their hearts to scare the blood from their cheeks: the heart of
the white man is the heart of a bird; it is chilled with fear, therefore
he is pale. I brought the Shawanos from the land of white men; then he
was white, but living among bears, and snakes, and tigers, and
bloody-minded warriors, has made him strong in heart, and he has lost
his paleness.
"My good Shawanos! The Walkullas and their allies, from over the Great
Lake, killed many of your warriors, and have thinned your nation, but I
will give you other and stronger men. You have now but three
tribes--soon there shall be four, and the fourth shall be great and
powerful beyond all other Indians.
"Shawanos, hear my words and forget them not; do as I bid you, and you
shall see my power and my goodness. Offer no further violence to the
white maiden, but treat her very kindly. If you do not so, then shall my
anger be upon your nation, and you shall fall by the hands of women, and
wild beasts, and the lightnings of my breath.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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