The Feast of the Virgins and Other Poems | Page 5

white cloud drifts?From the Council-lodge to the welkin starry,?Like a fog at morn on the fir-clad hill,?When the meadows are damp and the winds are still.
They dance to the tune of their wild "_H��-h��_"?A warrior's shout and a raven's caw--?Circling the pot and the blazing fire?To the tom-tom's bray and the rude bassoon;?Round and round to their heart's desire,?And ever the same wild chant and tune--?A warrior's shout and a raven's caw--?"_H��-h��,--h��-h��,--h��-h��,--h��!_"?They crouch, they leap, and their burning eyes?Flash fierce in the light of the flaming fire,?As fiercer and fiercer and higher and higher?The rude, wild notes of their chant arise.?They cease, they sit, and the curling smoke?Ascends again from their polished pipes,?And upward curls from their swarthy lips?To the god whose favor their hearts invoke.
Then tall Wakawa arose and said:?"Brave warriors, listen, and give due heed.?Great is _Hey��ka_, the magical god;?He can walk on the air; he can float on the flood.?He's a worker of magic and wonderful wise;?He cries when he laughs and he laughs when he cries;?He sweats when he's cold, and he shivers when hot,?And the water is cold in his boiling pot.?He hides in the earth and he walks in disguise,?But he loves the brave and their sacrifice.?We are sons of _Hey��ka_. The Giant commands?In the boiling water to thrust our hands;?And the warrior that scorneth the foe and fire?_Hey��ka_ will crown with his heart's desire."
They thrust their hands in the boiling pot;?They swallow the bison-meat steaming hot;?Not a wince on their stoical faces bold,?For the meat and the water, they say, are cold:?And great is _Hey��ka_ and wonderful wise;?He floats on the flood and he walks on the skies,?And ever appears in a strange disguise;?But he loves the brave and their sacrifice,?And the warrior that scorneth the foe and fire?Hey��ka will crown with his heart's desire.
Proud was the chief of his warriors proud,?The sinewy sons of the Giant's race;?But the bravest of all was the tall Red Cloud;?The eyes of the panther were set in his face;?He strode like a stag and he stood like a pine;?Ten feathers he wore of the great _Wanmde��_,[13]?With crimsoned quills of the porcupine?His leggins were worked to his brawny knee.?Blood-red were the stripes on his swarthy cheek,?And the necklace that girdled his brawny neck?Was the polished claws of the great Mat��[14]?He grappled and slew in the northern snow.?Proud Red Cloud turned to the braves and said,?As he shook the plumes on his haughty head:?"Ho! the warrior that scorneth the foe and fire?_Hey��ka_ will crown with his heart's desire!"?He snatched from the embers a red-hot brand,?And held it aloft in his naked hand.?He stood like a statue in bronze or stone--?Not a muscle moved, and the braves looked on.?He turned to the chieftain--"I scorn the fire--?Ten feathers I wear of the great _Wanmde��_;?Then grant me, Wakawa, my heart's desire;?Let the sunlight shine in my lonely tee.[19]?I laugh at red death and I laugh at red fire;?Brave Red Cloud is only afraid of fear;?But Wiwast�� is fair to his heart and dear;?Then grant him, Wakawa, his heart's desire."?The warriors applauded with loud "Ho! Ho!"[24]?And he flung the brand to the drifting snow.?Three times Wakawa puffed forth the smoke?From his silent lips; then he slowly spoke:?"Mahp��ya is strong as the stout-armed oak?That stands on the bluff by the windy plain,?And laughs at the roar of the hurricane.?He has slain the foe and the great _Mat��_?With his hissing arrow and deadly stroke?My heart is swift but my tongue is slow.?Let the warrior come to my lodge and smoke;?He may bring the gifts;[25] but the timid doe?May fly from the hunter and say him no."
Wiwast�� sat late in the lodge alone,?Her dark eyes bent on the glowing fire:?She heard not the wild winds shrill and moan;?She heard not the tall elms toss and groan;?Her face was lit like the harvest moon;?For her thoughts flew far to her heart's desire.?Far away in the land of the _H��h��_[15] dwelt?The warrior she held in her secret heart;?But little he dreamed of the pain she felt,?For she hid her love with a maiden's art.?Not a tear she shed, not a word she said,?When the brave young chief from the lodge departed;?But she sat on the mound when the day was dead,?And gazed at the full moon mellow-hearted.?Fair was the chief as the morning-star;?His eyes were mild and his words were low,?But his heart was stouter than lance or bow;?And her young heart flew to her love afar?O'er his trail long covered with drifted snow.?She heard a warrior's stealthy tread,?And the tall Wakawa appeared, and said:?"Is Wiwast�� afraid of the spirit dread?That fires the sky in the fatal north?[26]?Behold the mysterious lights. Come forth:?Some evil threatens, some danger nears,?For the skies are pierced by the burning spears."
The warriors rally beneath the moon;?They shoot their shafts at the evil