hus unto the good Great Spirit,
Made her lowly lamentation:
"Wahonowin!--Wahonowin![30]
Gitchee Manito, bena-nin!
Nah, Ba-ba showain nemeshin!
Wahonowin!--Wahonowin!"
Ka-be-bon-ik-ka,[26] the mighty,
He that sends the cruel winter,
From the distant Thunder-mountain
On the shore of Gitchee Gumee,
On the rugged northern border,
Sent his solemn, final warning,
Sent the white wolves of the Nor'land.[31]
Like the dust of stars in ether--
In the Pathway of the Spirits,[32]
Like the sparkling dust of diamonds,
Fell the frost upon the forest,
On the mountains and the meadows,
On the wilderness of woodland,
On the wilderness of waters.
All the lingering fowls departed--
All that seek the South in winter,
All but Shingebis, the diver;[33]
He defies the Winter-maker,
Sits and laughs at Winter-maker.
Ka-be-bon-ik-ka, the mighty,
From his wigwam called Kewaydin--
From his home among the icebergs,
From the sea of frozen waters,
Called the swift and hungry North-wind,
Then he spread his mighty pinions
Over all the land and shook them.
Like the white down of Waubese[34]
Fell the feathery snow and covered
All the marshes and the meadows,
All the hill-tops and the highlands.
Then old Peboean[35]--the winter--
Laughed along the stormy waters,
Danced upon the windy headlands,
On the storm his white hair streaming,
And his steaming breath, ascending,
On the pine-tops and the cedars
Fell in frosty mists of silver,
Sprinkling spruce and fir with silver,
Sprinkling all the woods with silver.
By the lodge-fire all the winter
Sat the Sea-Gull and the Red Fox,
Sat and kindly spoke and chatted,
Till the twain seemed friends together.
Friends they seemed in word and action,
But within the breast of either
Smoldered still the baneful embers--
Fires of jealousy and hatred--
Like a camp-fire in the forest
Left by hunters and deserted;
Only seems a bed of ashes,
But the East wind, Wabun-noodin,
Scatters through the woods the ashes,
Fans to flame the sleeping embers,
And the wild-fire roars and rages,
Roars and rages through the forest.
So the baneful embers smoldered,
Smoldered in the breast of either.
From the far-off Sunny Islands,
From the pleasant land of Summer,
Where the spirits of the blessed
Feel no more the fangs of hunger,
Or the cold breath of Kewaydin,
Came a stately youth and handsome,
Came Segun,[36] the foe of Winter.
Like the rising sun his face was,
Like the shining stars his eyes were,
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