Indians of North America; Indians of North America -- Folklore
There had been much rain, and the river was wide and deep. Ampata put
her two children into a canoe, and taking the paddle got in herself and
pushed far out into the river. The women called to her to come back,
but she pushed away faster toward the falls. The canoe leaped over the
falls, and Ampata and her two children passed to the Happy Hunting
Ground of the other world.
Every spring the Indians say that on moonlit nights they can see the
shadow canoe of Ampata leaping over the falls. They say white elk and
white deer watch it from the shore.
XXII. AN INDIAN TEMPERANCE SPEECH
Yannahar, the brave chief, stood up in his wigwam before his fellow
chiefs and spoke these words:
“Brothers, hear! and with the heart keep my words. My father,
Kimanchee, was a noble chief. He was light of foot; the wind only was
quicker. His strong arm was as a branch of the mountain oak. Joy was
with him when he came from hunting. His arrow never came back without
meat. The eye of my father never grew dim; his strength grew with the
days.
“Kimanchee came to the council fires. He and his brother chiefs smoked
the pipe of peace. Then the warpath was overgrown with grass. Peace
came like the Father of Waters; joy like the leaping waters on the
mountain. These were the blessings of Kimanchee and his brothers. They
drank at the spring in the forest and grew strong.
“But where is Kimanchee, Swift-foot-of-the-prairie? The Fire Spirit
came like the clouds of the north. Fire and death were on his wings.
The shadows of darkness were before him, and the clouds and coldness of
the night fell upon his track.
“The red man fell before the Fire Spirit like the leaves of the forest
before the fierce wind. Kimanchee’s eyes grew dim, his arm fell. His
swift foot turned from the hunting trail. His arrow came back to him no
more. His step was like the buffalo that has been shot.
“He slept with his dog in the sun; when he stood up, his strength was
gone. Kimanchee fell. The joy that stood by the door of his wigwam
stands there no more.
“He fell like a tree in summer. He fell like a tree torn by lightning,
with its green leaves withered on its branches. The red man fell before
the fire-water like the green leaves of the forest before the storm
wind.
“This is the curse of the fire-water. Kimanchee,
Swift-foot-of-the-prairie, is no more. The Fire Spirit has taken my
father. His heart is drowned in the fire-water.”
XXIII. THE GIRL WHO BECAME A PINE TREE
(Ojibway)
On the shores of Gitchee Gumee, the Big Sea Water, were many forests.
Manitouwah was a sacred grove of great trees by the water. Many
pukwudjinnies, or little people, lived among these trees.
Near by was an Indian village of many teepees; in one teepee lived
Leelinaw with her father and mother. She loved the great trees. She
came very often to sit in their dark shadows and hear their leaves
whisper to the blue water.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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