Birch Bark Legends of Niagara

by Owahyah

"The hunters will be back here before the wish-ton-wish sings, if the chiefs are gone the hunters will follow," said Black Snake, as himself and about twenty dusky boys, flourishing their bows and arrows, leaped along the skirt of the forest and soon disappeared. They wound their way towards the east, where the deer frequented a marshy tract of land, Black Snake now assuming all the superiority of a chief and leader, his boasting, haughty manner returning, as he related what great deeds he could do, and his name would make his enemies tremble. Having excited sufficient awe and veneration among those artless Indian boys, he pointed to fresh tracks, and waving his hand to the north, said:

"The deer have gone to the clear water to drink; the young-brave who kills the first deer shall follow in the steps of Black Snake on the war-path. Black Snake will go prepare for the feast and dance, and the evening fire for the great chiefs; the young braves follow with their venison the back trail; they will not go before the old chiefs."

This sudden and unexpected announcement was received with a joyous shout by the aspiring young braves, who, thus stimulated, quickly disappeared, leaving Black Snake alone.

A hasty glance at the sky showed him the Manitou's eye had moved but little since he left the chiefs, and had some ways yet to travel before disappearing for the night, and his satisfied look said, "'Tis well," for Black Snake had much to do and much to bring about before the fiery eye would again throw his searching rays upon this wild and wayward child of the forest.

A fierce and fixed expression settled on his swarthy features, contradicting all that assumed humility while in the presence of the chiefs.

Following a direct path to the south-west, with his fast Indian lope, crossing the creeks on the well-known beaver bridges, nothing impeded his speed, and in an incredibly short time he found himself on the brow of the great stony hill, where his path soon struck the river trail, leaving the council of chiefs many miles behind him to the north. He gave a peculiar whoop, composed, of a quick succession of notes terminating in a prolonged sound, which made the forest ring till it died away in the distance, silencing terrified bird and squirrel and making the stillness that followed doubly still. Speeding on toward the lodge, as he neared the great water-fall, he again repeated the shrill call; this time faint answers reached him from different directions.

Then a sharp, solitary note, repeated at short intervals, and answered, in the same, manner, and with the exclamation "Hugh!" in a satisfied tone, the tired warrior seated himself for the first time since morning at the root of a large tree, holding his head in his dark sinewy hands, as if that was more weary even than his' over-exercised limbs. Soon there appeared several Indian boys and old women from different sides of the trail. He held a hasty confidential talk with them. That he did not truthfully explain anything, in fact, misrepresented the whole, was only too natural for Black Snake. But in his own way he revealed the final decision, making a double sacrifice of the human offering—both body and soul; he told them their spirits would be given to the evil one and sent to the turbulent waters, there to be whirled forever in sight of the bright path they never could follow.

This story, as calculated, struck terror to the hearts of his awe-stricken hearers, and had the desired effect. Instantly the dense foliage hid their frightened faces as they fled from the river trail, and only the mimic cry of bird or animal known as a warning of danger to all within hearing, the leaping or plunging through the underbrush was all the eye or ear could detect after Black Snake's communication, which sent the berry pickers and cone gatherers back with the fleetness of the deer to hide themselves in their lodges. Black Snake was again following with his greatest speed the river trail, not pausing till near the Great Oak's lodge, where, assuming the position and actions of the reptile whose name he bore, he crawled to the side of the wigwam, where, unobserved, he watched for a few moments its solitary occupant. Seated on a robe of the soft furs of the beaver, weaving the plaits on her how highly prized wampum, while the prolonged gaze, interrupted with restless flashing from the dark eyes of the Fawn, bespoke the anxiety, with which she had waited the result of that long, long day, which would also decide her fate. Wearied with picturing the future in its brilliant lights and dark shades, as Grey Eagle and Black Snake alternately figured in her thoughts, and wearied with waiting for the song of the evening birds, she is suddenly startled from her meditation as a shadow falls across the lodge, and Black Snake stands before her.

Springing to her feet and spasmodically grasping the wampum, fearing
Black Snake had been victorious and had come for his reward, was the
impulse of the moment; but the subdued and brotherly manner assumed by
Black Snake reassured as he gently addressed her.

"The Grey Eagle is a great chief, and Black Snake is his brother. Grey Eagle looks as he rises on the stony-hill for his wampum, that he may sit in the circle, of chiefs. Shall the Swaying Reed meet Grey Eagle with her wampum? Is the Fawn too timid to go? Black Snake will stay with the Fawn and let Swaying Reed fly on the trail towards the stony hill."