Birch Bark Legends of Niagara

by Owahyah

"No! No!" exclaimed the Fawn. "The Swaying Reed loves Black Snake; her feet would be slow on the trail to carry the wampum to Grey Eagle. The Fawn will go to meet her father and the tall chief, while Black Snake sings in the ear of Swaying Reed, who is never tired of the voice she loves so much."

"The Fawn has spoken well; but Grey Eagle must take the wampum from the one his eyes rest first upon as he rises on the stony hill. The Fawn saw the Indian women follow the trail towards the great flats to gather berries and pine cones; she must shame the moose in her flight, and hide under the bushes, if she would see Great Oak, and Grey Eagle first as they mount the hill. If the Fawn would fill the pipe and kindle the fire for Grey Eagle in his own wigwam, let him not know she is near until she stands before him. I have said."

"The Fawn's ears have been open; her feet will not be slow; she will follow the hidden path, until she reaches the great rocks of the hill. The Fawn will do as her brother tells her. The Swaying Reed is waiting for Black Snake."

And ere the day songsters had finished their sweet melody, or the wish-ton-wish [Footnote: Whippoorwill.] had yet commenced its evening song, the half frightened Indian maid had hid herself near the summit of the hill, under foliage so dense, she felt not the fast falling dew, as breathless she waited the coming steps. From her safe hiding place she saw the white plume of Grey Eagle waving over his happy, excited face, as with his light elastic step he appeared first; erect and tall like the cedars around him. Next came her father whose wrinkled countenance, softened with paternal care and watchfulness, had long lost the fierceness and native fire of his youth, followed closely by his chiefs. He passed slowly along the trail, hardly daring to raise his eyes, it being the death warrant to whomsoever they should fall upon. Suddenly the bushes parted and the Fawn bounded into her father's arms. To accurately describe the agony of this scene would be impossible; consternation for a moment held them spell-bound; horror was pictured in faces so long trained to conceal the workings of the mind, and for the first time the Fawn remained uncaressed in her father's arms. Astonished and grieved she turned to Grey Eagle; the light had fled from his face, and his soul apparently; he seemed petrified and lifeless as the rock he stood upon. Even the poor wolf, missing his usual attention, or from some inexplicable cause, commenced to howl pitifully as he leaped from one to another.

The spell was broken by a young chief not old enough yet to feel the responsibility of the customs of his fathers, from which life nor death would tempt older chief to deviate, hopefully exclaiming:

"It was the wolf the Sagamore's eyes fell upon first; it was the wolf the Manitou sent. He wants him to put into the far off hunting ground."

For an instant, only an instant, hope flitted across the face of the doting, and heart broken lover. With the stoicism so natural to these people, they attempted to hide their grief, but too plainly their ill concealed tears betrayed, while they unlocked the almost paralyzed tongue.

"Did my daughter find her lodge too warm, that she ventured so far away in the dew? Were her ears closed when her father bid her stay in the shadow of her lodge?"

"The Fawn was sent by Black Snake to meet her father," she replied. "Would Grey Eagle have the Fawn wait for the song of the wish-ton-wish, while the Black Snake sung in her ears; and the Swaying Reed carried her wampum to the chief with the white plume? The Swaying Reed loves Black Snake; and Black Snake sent the Fawn with her wampum, that the eyes of her father and the young chief might fall on her first as they rose the great hill."

Amazement and stupefaction sat for a moment on the features of the Indians during the delivery of this speech. Their swarthy countenances kindled with a fierce expression that told so well the dark thoughts that struggled in their hearts at the perfidy of Black Snake who had exercised his vengeance in so unmerciful a manner. The threatening tomahawks that filled the air at this convincing proof of his malicious designs, would have terrified any other than that sly, cunning chief. As villains of the present day so often protect themselves with the strong arm of the law intended for their suppression, so Black Snake knowing so well the customs of his people, used their own well meant laws to carry out his sinister plans, and protect himself in so doing. Again amidst the tumult the young chief insisted: