 | Dahcotah, or, Life and legends of the Sioux around Fort Snelling |  |
WABASHAW.
1. CHAPTER I.
Wabashaw, (or The Leaf,) is the name of one of the
Dahcotah Chiefs. His village is on the Mississippi river,
1,800 miles from its mouth.
The teepees are pitched quite near the shore, and the
many bluffs that rise behind them seem to be their perpetual
guards.
The present chief is about thirty-five years old—as yet
he has done not much to give him a reputation above the
Dahcotahs about him. But his father was a man whose
life and character were such as to influence his people to a
great degree.
Wabashaw the elder, (for the son inherits his father's
name,) is said by the Dahcotahs to have been the first chief
in their tribe.
Many years ago the English claimed authority over the
Dahcotahs, and an English traveller having been murdered
by some Dahcotahs of the band of which Wabashaw was a
warrior, the English claimed hostages to be given up until
the murderer could be found.
The affairs of the nation were settled then by men who,
having more mind than the others, naturally influenced their
exercised a control over the rest.
Wabashaw was one of the hostages given up in consequence
of the murder, and the Governor of Canada required
that these Dahcotahs should leave the forests of the west,
and remain for a time as prisoners in Canada. Little as is
the regard for the feelings of the savage now, there was still
less then.
Wabashaw often spoke of the ill treatment he received
on his journey. It was bad enough to be a prisoner, and
to be leaving home; it was far worse to be struck, for the
amusement of idle men and children—to have the war
eagle's feather rudely torn from his head to be trampled
upon—to have the ornaments, even the pipes of the nation,
taken away, and destroyed before his eyes.
But such insults often occurred during their journey,
and the prisoners were even fettered when at last they
reached Quebec.
Here for a long time they sighed to breathe the invigorating
air of the prairies; to chase the buffalo; to celebrate
the war dance. But when should they join again in the
ceremonies of their tribe? When? Alas! they could
not even ask their jailer when; or if they had, he would
only have laughed at the strange dialect that he could not
comprehend. But the Dahcotahs bore with patience their
unmerited confinement, and Wabashaw excelled them all.
His eye was not as bright as when he left home, and there
was an unusual weakness in his limbs—but never should
his enemies know that he suffered. And when those high
in authority visited the prisoners, the haughty dignity of
a man to be respected.
But freedom came at last. The murderers were given
up; and an interpreter in the prison told Wabashaw that
he was no longer a prisoner; that he would soon again
see the Father of many waters; and that more, he had
been made by the English a chief, the first chief of the
Dahcotahs.
It was well nigh too late for Wabashaw. His limbs
were thin, and his strength had failed for want of the fresh
air of his native hills.
Little did the prisoners care to look around as they retraced
their steps. They knew they were going home.
But when the waters of the Mississippi again shone before
them, when the well-known bluffs met their eager gaze;
when the bending river gave to view their native village,
then, indeed, did the new-made chief cast around him the
“quiet of a loving eye.” Then, too, did he realize what he
had suffered.
He strained his sight—for perhaps his wife might have
wearied of waiting for him—perhaps she had gone to the
Land of spirits, hoping to meet him there.
His children too—the young warriors, who were wont to
follow him and listen to his voice, would they welcome him
home?
As he approached the village a cloud had come between
him and the sun. He could see many upon the shore, but
who were they? The canoe swept over the waters, keeping
time to the thoughts of those who were wanderers no
longer.
As they neared the shore, the cloud passed away and the
friends; their cries of joy rent the air—to the husband, the
son, the brother, they spoke a welcome home!
Wabashaw, by the command of the English Governor,
was acknowledged by the Dahcotahs their first chief; and
his influence was unbounded. Every band has a chief,
and the honor descends from father to son; but there has
never been one more honored and respected than Wabashaw.
2. CHAPTER II.
Wabashaw's village is sometimes called Keusca. This
word signifies to break through, or set aside; it was given
in consequence of an incident which occurred some time
ago, in the village.
“Sacred Wind” was a daughter of one of the most powerful
families among the Dahcotahs; for although a chief lives
as the meanest of his band, still there is a great difference
among the families. The number of a family constitutes
its importance; where a family is small, a member of it can
be injured with little fear of retaliation; but in a large
family there are sure to be found some who will not let an
insult pass without revenge. Sacred Wind's father was living;
a stalwart old warrior, slightly bent with the weight
of years. Though his face was literally seamed with
wrinkles, he could endure fatigue, or face danger, with the
youngest and hardiest of the band.
Her mother, a fearfully ugly old creature, still mended
mocassins and scolded; bidding fair to keep up both trades
for years to come. Then there were tall brothers, braving
hardships and danger, as if a Dahcotah was only born to be
scalped, or to scalp; uncles, cousins, too, there were, in
abundance, so that Sacred Wind did belong to a powerful
family.
Now, among the Dahcotahs, a cousin is looked upon as a
brother; a girl would as soon think of marrying her grandfather,
as a cousin. I mean an ordinary girl, but Sacred
Wind was not of that stamp; she was destined to be a
heroine. She had many lovers, who wore themselves out
playing the flute, to as little purpose as they braided their
hair, and painted their faces. Sacred Wind did not love
one of them.
Her mother, was always trying to induce her to accept
some one of her lovers, urging the advantages of each
match; but it would not do. The girl was eighteen years
old, and not yet a wife; though most of the Dahcotah
women are mothers long before that.
Her friends could not imagine why she did not marry.
They were wearied with arguing with her; but not one of
them ever suspected the cause of her seeming coldness of
heart.
Her grandmother was particularly officious. She could
not do as Sacred Wind wished her,—attend to her own
affairs, for she had none to attend to; and grandmothers,
among the Sioux, are as loving and devoted as they are
among white people; consequently, the old lady beset the
unfortunate girl, day and night, about her obstinacy.
“Why are you not now the mother of warriors,” she said,
The “Bear,” has been to the traders; he has bought many
things, which he offers your parents for you; marry him
and then you will make your old grandmother happy.”
“I will kill myself,” she replied, “if you ask me to
marry the Bear. Have you forgotten the Maiden's rock?
There are more high rocks than one on the banks of the
Mississippi, and my heart is as strong as Wenona's. If you
torment me so, to marry the Bear, I will do as she did—in
the house of spirits I shall have no more trouble.”
This threat silenced the grandmother for the time. But
a young girl who had been sitting with them, and listening
to the conversation, rose to go out; and as she passed Sacred
Wind, she whispered in her ear, “Tell her why you will
not marry the Bear; tell her that Sacred Wind loves her
cousin; and that last night she promised him she never
would marry any one but him.”
Had she been struck to the earth she could not have been
paler. She thought her secret was hid in her own heart. She
had tried to cease thinking of “The Shield;” keeping away
from him, dreading to find true what she only suspected.
She did not dare acknowledge even to herself that she loved
a cousin.
But when the Shield gave her his handsomest trinkets;
when he followed her when she left her laughing and noisy
companions to sit beside the still waters—when he told her
that she was the most beautiful girl among the Dahcotahs—
when he whispered her that he loved her dearly; and would
marry her in spite of mothers, grandmothers, customs and
religion too—then she found that her cousin was dearer to
him—she could never live without him.
But still, she would not promise to marry him. What
would her friends say? and the spirits of the dead would
torment her, for infringing upon the sacred customs of her
tribe. The Shield used many arguments, but all in vain.
She told him she was afraid to marry him, but that she
would never marry any one else. Sooner should the waves
cease to beat against the shores of the spirit lakes, than she
forget to think of him.
But this did not satisfy her cousin. He was determined
she should be his wife; he trusted to time and his irresistible
person to overcome her fears.
The Shield's name was given to him by his father's friends.
Shields were formerly used by the Sioux; and the Eyanktons
and Sissetons still use them. They are made of buffalo
skin, of a circular form; and are used as a protection
against the arrows of their enemies.
“You need not fear your family, Sacred Wind,” said her
cousin, “nor the medicine men, nor the spirits of the dead.
We will go to one of the villages, and when we are married,
we will come back. Let them be angry, I will stand
between you and them, even as my father's shield did between
him and the foe that sought his life.”
But she was firm, and promised nothing more than that
she would not marry the Bear, or any one else; and they
returned to her father's teepee, little thinking that any one
had overheard their conversation. But the “Swan” had
heard every word of it.
She loved the Shield, and she had seen him follow his
cousin. After hearing enough to know that her case was a
pay dearly for the love which she herself could not obtain.
She did not at once tell the news. She wanted to
amuse herself with her victim before she destroyed her;
and she had hardly yet made up her mind as to the way
which she would take to inform the family of Sacred Wind
of the secret she had found out.
But she could not resist the temptation of whispering to
Sacred Wind her knowledge of the true reason why she
would not marry the Bear. This was the first blow, and
it struck to the heart; it made a wound which was long
kept open by the watchful eye of jealousy.
The grandmother, however, did not hear the remark; if
she had she would not have sat still smoking—not she! she
would have trembled with rage that a Dahcotah maiden,
and her grandchild, should be guilty of the enormous crime
of loving a cousin. An eruption of Vesuvius would have
given but a faint idea of her fury.
Most fortunately for herself, the venerable old medicine
woman died a few days after. Had she lived to know of
the fatal passion of her granddaughter, she would have
longed to seize the thunderbolts of Jupiter (if she had been
aware of their existence) to hurl at the offenders; or like
Niobe, have wept herself to stone.
Indeed the cause of her death showed that she could not
bear contradiction.
There was a war party formed to attack the Chippeways,
and the “Eagle that Screams as she Flies,” (for that was
the name of Sacred Wind's grandmother) wanted to go
along.
She wished to mutilate the bodies after they were scalped.
all the fatigues of a march of three hundred miles, and think
it nothing, if she could be repaid by tearing the heart from
one Chippeway child.
There were, however, two old squaws who had applied
first, and the Screaming Eagle was rejected.
There were no bounds to her passion. She attempted to
hang herself and was cut down; she made the village resound
with her lamentations; she called upon all the spirits
of the lakes, rivers, and prairies, to torment the war party;
nothing would pacify her. Two days after the war party
left, the Eagle that Screams as she Flies expired, in a fit of
rage!
When the war-party returned, the Shield was the observed
of all observers; he had taken two scalps.
Sacred Wind sighed to think he was her cousin. How
could she help loving the warrior who had returned the
bravest in the battle?
The Swan saw that she loved in vain. She knew that
she loved the Shield more in absence; why then hope that
he would forget Sacred Wind when he saw her no more?
When she saw him enter the village, her heart beat fast
with emotion; she pressed her hand upon it, but could not
still its tumult. “He has come,” she said to herself, “but
will his eye seek mine? will he tell me that the time has
been long since he saw the woman he loved?”
She follows his footsteps—she watches his every glance,
as he meets his relations. Alas! for the Swan, the wounded
bird feels not so acutely the arrow that pierces, as she
that look of recognition between the cousins!
But the unhappy girl was roused from a sense of her
of a loving heart, she thought she had a right to
the affections of the Shield. As the water reflected her
features, so should his heart give back the devoted love of
hers.
But while she lived, she was determined to bring sorrow
upon her rival; she would not “sing in dying.” That very
evening did she repeat to the family of Sacred Wind the
conversation she had overheard, adding that the love of the
cousins was the true cause of Sacred Wind's refusing to
marry.
Time would fail me to tell of the consequent sufferings
of Sacred Wind. She was scolded and watched, shamed,
and even beaten. The medicine men threatened her with
all their powers; no punishment was severe enough for the
Dahcotah who would thus transgress the laws of their
nation.
The Shield was proof against the machinations of his
enemies, for he was a medicine man, and could counteract
all the spells that were exerted against him. Sacred Wind
bore everything in patience but the sight of the Bear. She
had been bought and sold, over and over again; and the
fear of her killing herself was the only reason why her
friends did not force her to marry.
One evening she was missing, and the cries of her mother
broke upon the silence of night; canoes were flying across
the water; friends were wandering in the woods, all seeking
the body of the girl.
But she was not to be found in the river, or in the woods.
Sacred Wind was not dead, she was only married.
She was safe in the next village, telling the Shield how
and although she trembled when she spoke of the medicine
men, her husband only laughed at her fears, telling her, that
now that she was his wife, she need fear nothing.
But where was the Swan? Her friends were assisting
in the search for Sacred Wind. The father had forgotten
his child, the brother his sister. And the mother, who
would have first missed her, had gone long ago, to the land
of spirits.
The Swan had known of the flight of the lovers—she
watched them as their canoe passed away, until it became
a speck in the distance, and in another moment the waters
closed over her.
Thus were strangely blended marriage and death. The
Swan feared not to take her own life. Sacred Wind, with
a nobler courage, a more devoted love, broke through the
customs of her nation, laid aside the superstitions of the
tribe, and has thus identified her courage with the name of
her native village.
| Dahcotah, or, Life and legends of the Sioux around Fort Snelling | |