Lest the Nazarene's holy commands
by his tongue should be marred in translation;
And oft with his beads in his hands,
or the cross and the crucified Jesus,
He knelt by himself on the sands,
and his dim eyes uplifted to heaven.
But the braves bade him look to the East--
to the silvery lodge of _Han-nan-na_;[N]
And to dance with the chiefs at the feast--
at the feast of the Giant _Heyo-ka._[16]
They frowned when the good father spurned
the flesh of the dog in the kettle,
And laughed when his fingers were burned
in the hot, boiling pot of the giant.
"The Black-robe" they called the poor priest,
from the hue of his robe and his girdle;
And never a game or a feast
but the father must grace with his presence.
His prayer-book the hunters revered,--
they deemed it a marvelous spirit;
It spoke and the white father heard,--
it interpreted visions and omens.
And often they bade him to pray
this marvelous spirit to answer,
And tell where the sly Chippewa
might be ambushed and slain in his forest.
For Menard was the first in the land,
proclaiming, like John in the desert,
"The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand;
repent ye, and turn from your idols."
The first of the brave brotherhood that,
threading the fens and the forest,
Stood afar by the turbulent flood
at the falls of the Father of Waters.

[Illustration: FATHER RENE MENARD]

[M] It is wonderful!

[N] The morning.

In the lodge of the Stranger[O] he sat,
awaiting the crown of a martyr;
His sad face compassion begat
in the heart of the dark-eyed Winona.
Oft she came to the _teepee_ and spoke;
she brought him the tongue of the bison,
Sweet nuts from the hazel and oak,
and flesh of the fawn and the mallard.
Soft _hanpa_[P] she made for his feet
and leggins of velvety fawn-skin,
A blanket of beaver complete,
and a hood of the hide of the otter.
And oft at his feet on the mat,
deftly braiding the flags and the rushes,
Till the sun sought his _teepee_
she sat, enchanted with what he related
Of the white-winged ships on the sea
and the _teepees_ far over the ocean,
Of the love and the sweet charity of the Christ
and the beautiful Virgin.

[O] A lodge set apart for guests of the village.

[P] Mocca