Legends of The Kaw Part 11

"Don't be afraid; you are now my son--my Chinwa. Here, take his bow and arrows; here are his gun and knapsack. Some day you will be a great chief."

Henry was adopted into the tribe, and forgetting his former home, learned to be content with the wild life of the Shawnees. A fine horse and saddle were a constant source of pleasure, and persistent practice made the boy expert in the use of bow and arrows.

As he grew older, Chinwa became a successful hunter, and was looked upon with pride and admiration by his sisters. The youngest of these, pretty little Chelatha, was sought in marriage by many braves; but old Black Fish, waiting for the day when Chinwa should declare his love, repulsed their advances with disdain. At length the young chief could no longer conceal his regard from the object of his affection, and implored her to become his bride. She replied with indignation:

"You are my brother. I could not be my brother's wife."

After a long conference with Watmeme, the mother, in which the entire circ.u.mstances were explained, Chelatha said:

"If father says so, I will marry Chinwa."

Amid great rejoicing, the pale-face took her to his habitation, and the tribe celebrated the event with feasting and strange ceremonies.

Excitement prevailed in the Rogers household when Henry was captured, and a search had been prosecuted wherever a clue could be obtained. Long years after the disappearance of her younger son, sorrow still reigned in the heart of the bereaved mother; and it was with fear and trembling at last, that the older brother, receiving tidings of the lost one, traced him over the mountain ranges, into the beautiful blue-gra.s.s country, to the land of Daniel Boone.

The meeting was a happy one, though marked by some constraint--the result of years of separation and widely different surroundings. Henry was persuaded to leave his western home and repair to the aged mother, now prostrated by severe illness. Once more within the confines of civilization, he abandoned the insignia of savage life, and adopted the garb of his own people. Unusual festivities followed; the mother, recovering strength, employed every art to retain him, but without success. In vain the pretty maidens of the village exerted all their power to please. Memories of a happy life in the wilderness were always present, and he said:

"Mother, I have learned to love the Indians; there I am free. I love my two children and my dark-haired wife."

The next morning the colored servant was commanded to bring his horse, and Chinwa, the warrior, in all the splendor of beads and buckskin, bade farewell to the home of his infancy. How fresh and sweet was the breath of the woods, as he dashed into her depths! The delicate blossoms of spring lifted their dainty heads and scattered perfume along the narrow trail. The cloudless sky and the distant mountains seemed to beckon him on to the loved ones who at that moment were waiting, longing for the wanderer's return.

Time sped by on rapid wings, and soon Chelatha--sitting lonely in her doorway, said to her little ones:

"Listen, I hear the voice of your father."

Again the faint call was borne through the distance and reverberated in her anxious heart. Then its beatings responded to the sound of horse's hoofs, and the next moment, Chinwa, the brave, sprang to the ground and caught her in his arms, saying:

"I have come home--home to my Chelatha, never to leave her more."

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHE-LA-THA.]

All the pleasures, all the riches which the world can give are as nothing when weighed in the balance against the sincere love of one devoted heart.

The Shawnees, like other Indian tribes, were firm believers in evil spirits; and when it was thought that one had become possessed of a demon, did not hesitate to employ heroic measures to drive it out. To such superst.i.tions may be ascribed

THE TRAGIC DEATH OF THE SON OF CHIEF LAY-LAW-SHE-KAW.

When the present site of the city of Topeka was the hunting-ground of the Shawnee Indians there was a fierce war with the p.a.w.nees.

Chief Lay-law-she-kaw (He Who Goes Up the River) had been successful in many battles and pursued the enemy far into their own territory. At length, in desperation, the p.a.w.nees gathered strength, and making a final effort for the preservation of their homes, surprised the victorious Shawnees while encamped among the hills along the river.

In the thick of the fight, Pa-che-ta, the son of Lay-law-she-kaw, sprang to the side of the old chief, just as a powerful warrior raised his tomahawk to cleave his skull. In another moment the leader would have fallen, had not the young brave, with the utmost coolness, lifted his rifle, taken quick aim and fired. With a horrible yell, the p.a.w.nee sank to the ground. Attracted by his cry, three others appeared. Again the rifle did sudden duty, while Lay-law-she-kaw engaged the nearest enemy.

Two more were despatched, and now Pa-che-ta turned to face the remaining p.a.w.nee, who had approached too near for rifles, and endeavored to use the tomahawk. This was dashed from his hand. The two grappled fiercely, each striving to get the knife out of his belt. At last Pa-che-ta succeeded in holding down his adversary, and plunged the knife deep into his heart. Blinded by the blood, which spurted up into his face, the Shawnee staggered to his feet and ran forward a short distance, only to find himself in the midst of the attacking Indians.

Desperately he fought his way out, striking right and left, wounded and faint. Then, seeing a gulley surrounded with bushes, he rolled into it, and creeping painfully to the edge of a pond, waded into the water.

The p.a.w.nees lost the trail. They looked here and there while the main body pursued old Lay-law-she-kaw and his braves to the country of the Kaws. Night fell; and still Pa-che-ta lay concealed in the lake among the tall gra.s.s. At the end of the second day the search was abandoned.

Then the prisoner, half starved and half demented, dragged himself slowly homeward. A few berries and roots had been his sole food, and the burning rays of the sun had beaten down upon his head, until reason tottered.

The people went wild with enthusiasm when their hero, emaciated but triumphant, appeared in the village. He was taken to Lay-law-she-kaw's habitation and provided with nourishment, but sank into a stupor from which the medicine men, with all their skill, could not arouse him.

After many days he awakened; great was the rejoicing. His father appointed a day of feasting; and the tribe gathered to do honor to him who had fought so bravely in the face of defeat. Cattle were slaughtered, fires were kindled, and strange dances were in progress when Pa-che-ta approached. Demonstrations of joy greeted his appearance.

Among the children on the outer edge of the circle, stood little N-tha-thah, gazing proudly at the big brother who would one day be his chief. As the excitement increased, his heart swelled with pride, and the next moment found him, bow and arrows in hand, the center of the charmed circle.

Pa-che-ta gazed at the child with a strange look in his piercing black eyes. Then, with a stealthy movement, he turned and slowly reached for the rifle which rested against the stump of a tree.

Lay-law-she-kaw, keen witted and alert, noticed the sudden change that came over the face of his eldest son. What was the cause of that cruel, crafty expression? Had bad spirits entered the brain of Pa-che-ta, whose n.o.ble deeds would ever after be celebrated by the nation? Now the brave was creeping cautiously toward the little one, who stood motionless, in round-eyed wonder. Deliberately he placed the weapon to his shoulder and took aim--but the crack of another rifle broke the awful hush which had fallen upon the people, and when the smoke cleared away, Pa-che-ta lay in a pool of blood. The father had fired in time to preserve his young child.

For many years the old women of the tribe told, in accents of awe, how evil spirits had gone into the brain of their n.o.blest warrior and looked out of his eyes with terrible glances of murderous hatred, in the moment of his greatest triumph. How they had been driven out with a rifle ball, and Lay-law-she-kaw, _O-kee-nah_ (the chief), sorrowing for his first born, had that day been called by the Great Spirit to enter the Happy Hunting Grounds.

The North American Indian was of a strange, somewhat contradictory character: in war, daring, cunning, boastful, ruthless; in peace, cheerful, dignified, superst.i.tious, revengeful; clinging as far as possible, to the customs of his forefathers. Civilization came almost as a destroyer. Future generations will know him only as a dim, historic figure, around which cl.u.s.ters the mythology of ancient America.

Whence came these legends and traditions? The children of Nature read them in the leafy woodlands, on the broad prairie, in the blue vault of heaven, the crimson sunset, the dark storm-threatening clouds, in every gentle breeze or sweeping hurricane. Each story lived in the hearts of the people, and here and there a mighty forest tree bore a quaint inscription

"Full of hope and yet of heart-break, Full of all the tender pathos Of the Here and the Hereafter."

"The stars, and hills and storms are with us now, as they were with others of old; and it only needs that we look at them with the earnestness of those childish eyes, to understand the first words spoken of them by the children of men, and then, in all the most beautiful and enduring myths, we shall find, not only a literal story of a real person, not only a parallel imagery of moral principle, but an underlying worship of natural phenomena, out of which both have sprung, and in which both forever remain rooted."

_Ruskin._