ADVENTURES OF THE HUNTER HO-CHA-GAH.
Ho-cha-gah was a hunter of great renown. His wife had plenty of venison. In his tent were many furs and nice skins, and the story of his adventures has come down through many generations.
He built him a little hut beside a lake, where the dark forest came down to its silvery border, and stretched far away over the mountain. Every day he took his bow and quiver of arrows, and went forth to find the deer or the wolf, and trap the beaver or the otter, but this time he was not successful. Many months he lingered in hopes to find something to reward his labors, but in vain. The spring came and he must return home. But he thought at least he would have something new to relate, so he resolved to launch upon the water a new-fashioned boat, and see whither it would conduct him. The food [[117]]which he had not consumed he encased in bags of slippery elm and sank them in the water, that they might be preserved should he return again to hunt beside the lake. Himself he inclosed in a bottle of the same material and set out on his floating expedition.
For a long time he glided smoothly over the surface, but at length he experienced a strange sensation as if he were sailing through the air. Then he struck a rock, and then another, bounding along like a billow, till he was again upon the placid stream. The noise was like thunder, and he knew he must have descended from a great height with the foam of waters.
Soon he was cast upon the beach, and now wished to come out of his hiding place, for he was faint for want of food. But he could not open his prison, and feared he must die without relating his adventures. But he was awakened one morning by a noise like the beak of a bird, against the side of the bottle which was now dry and hard, and soon the light entered, and he saw a crow picking its way to him in hopes of finding food.
Now he was able to extricate himself and came forth, and saw that he had come safely over the cataract of Niagara!
With this he went home and astonished his friends, who looked upon him as almost a superior being, and believed he was miraculously preserved by the Great Spirit.
His love of adventures was not satisfied, and in a little time he went again to the forest and made his camp by the lake, where he had been before so unsuccessful in hunting. Now he found plenty of game, and when spring came, he thought he would try still another mode of voyaging—he would like to fly through the air. Seeing a flock of geese upon the waters, he thought if he were secured to their feet he might rise with them and be carried along through the aerial regions, and look down upon the [[118]]valleys beneath. So he took strips of bark and stealthily crept into the water, and swimming along, suddenly encircled them with his string, and tied himself to their feet, when with a great screaming they rose and he was borne along over mountains, and rivers, and valleys, where he saw strange people, and plains, and heard strange and beautiful music. After awhile he was borne so far aloft, that he could scarcely breathe; then he severed the string and descended again to earth. On alighting, he found himself snugly settled in a hollow tree. He received no harm, but could see no way of escape. For several days he was a prisoner, and again in danger of starving, when he heard voices and endeavored to speak. The noise he made attracted the attention of those who passed by, and thinking it some animal, they felled the tree, and lo! to their astonishment, it was a man.
As soon as he was set free, he proceeded on his way and came to a large stream, the color of which was bright crimson. Never before had he seen any thing so beautiful. He drank of it and the taste was like a ripe strawberry. He followed it to its source, and found it issued from one of these berries, the size of which was marvellous, and gave rise to a never failing rivulet, to refresh the hunter when he was weary and found no food.
Again he pursued his way, and whilst wandering in the forest he saw something that looked like a great cloud. Slowly it sailed to and fro, and when it descended he saw that it was an army of grasshoppers each as large as a canoe. They were frightful to behold.
Again he thought he would spend the winter in hunting, and plunged into the thick forest where the bear and buffalo made their haunts. But in vain he bent his bow and set his trap. They all eluded his vigilance. Then in a dream was suggested to him the hunter’s charm. [[119]]He used it, and there came flocking to him from all the country every animal of the forest, so near that he could touch them, and so tame that he could sleep in the midst of them unharmed. Then he built him a hut to dry his venison, and though he had enough, he was still surrounded. Every four-footed and creeping thing infested his dwelling till he was obliged to flee.
Again he returned hence and related his marvellous adventures, which now none believed, yet he was not satisfied. His thirst for fame was insatiable, and his egotism inexhaustible. Absenting himself another long period, he returned with still greater beasts.
He crossed a stream of a rich golden hue, and being thirsty drank of its waters, and was astonished at the delicious flavor. On tracing it, he found it to issue from a mandrake which was an inexhaustible fountain, and sent forth its juices to refresh the wayfarer, lest he faint in the wilderness.
Pursuing his way he saw a duck sailing upon a dimpling pool, and bent his bow for its destruction; the arrow passed through the duck, and glancing upon the waters, pierced a deer that was slaking her thirst at the fountain; not having spent its force, the arrow glided on and entered a tree, making an opening from which issued a stream of richest honey. Here he rested and enjoyed a feast. Again when sitting beneath a spreading walnut-tree, he saw a nut rolling over and over upon the ground; on striking it with his tomahawk, a seam was made in the shell, through which came forth a bear; and then another and another, till six monsters of the forest were reclining around him, whose home was the walnut-shell!
The bears in the walnut-shell remind us of the fairies in a hazel-nut shell, as sung by Drayton, our old [[120]]English poet, in the “Court of Fairy.” In fear of falling into the hands of a hobgoblin the fairies,
“Hop, and Mop, and Drop, so clear,
Pip, and Trip, and Skip, that were
To Mab, their sovereign dear,
Her special maids of honor;
Fib, and Tib, and Prick, and Pin,
Tick, and Quick, and Jill, and Jin,
Sit, and Nit, and Wap, and Win,
The train that wait upon her.
“Upon a Grasshopper they got,
And what with awhile and with trot,
For hedge nor ditch they spared not;
But after her they hie them.
A Cob-web over them they throw
To shield the wind if it should blow,
Themselves they wisely could bestow,
Lest any should espy them.
“At length one chanced to find a nut,
In the end of which a hole was cut,
Which lay upon a hazel-root,
There scattered by a Squirrel,
Which out the kernel gotten had;
When quoth this fay, ‘Dear queen, be glad,
Let Oberon be ne’er so mad,
I’ll set you safe from peril.
“‘Come all into this nut,’ quoth she,
‘Come closely in, be ruled by me,
Each one may here a chooser be,
For room ye need not wrestle,
Nor need ye be together heapt,’
So one by one therein they crept,
And lying down they soundly slept
As safe as in a Castle!”
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