the strange events of which i write, took place in the summer of 1840, when i, then a man in the full vigor of my early forties, chanced to be in charge of a museum expedition sent to explore an ancient lenape burial site situated on a hilltop in the northwestern part of the state of new jersey.
on the tenth day of june we encountered an unusually deep grave of circular form, some six feet in diameter, in which, at a distance from the surface of perhaps seven feet, we encountered a number of slabs of stone piled up in the form of a cairn.
removing these with care, we found beneath them a skeleton, which, when carefully uncovered and brushed off, proved to be of a full-grown man, lying on his right side, with his knees drawn up at right angles to his body and his hands near his face. beside his crumbling breastbone lay a tiny mask of stone, bearing two little perforations which showed the wear of a suspending cord, and near it a knife blade of purple argillite and a small pipe of baked clay, bearing a very neat pattern, drawn into its surface with a sharp point while the material was still soft. at each side of the skull were the chalky remains of some shell beads, rather larger and coarser than wampum, but similar in form; while near the feet a little pile of neatly-made flint arrow points told of the one-time presence of a sheaf or quiver of arrows.
what arch?ologist has not sat upon the brink of a newly uncovered, ancient grave and wished that the fleshless jaws before him could speak and tell their story? or wished that he himself could be transported backward in time for a brief space to learn something of the life of a bygone day? so i sat and so i wished; and then we photographed our find as it lay, and removed the specimens for safe keeping.
as the hour was late, we did not touch the bones, however, intending to remove them upon the morrow, and so we left them for the night, still surrounded by some of the stone slabs.
after dark i bethought myself that i had forgotten to bring in 108 my notebook, and recalled that i had left it on the pile of dirt beside the grave, and so, guiding my steps by the flickering flashes of lightning from an approaching thunder-shower, i made my way thither. i remember that i had found the book and had just turned back toward the camp, holding out my hand to feel the first splashes of rain, when a blinding flash and a violent concussion sent me reeling, reeling, down,—into darkness....
when i came to myself i could see nothing, but i knew it was raining steadily; i could hear the drops patter on the leaves; i could feel them on my body.
on my body? i must be naked! i felt my chest, it was bare and wet, my arms likewise. what had become of my clothes? i felt at my waist; it was belted, and in front hung something like a little apron, wet and slimy. my legs? i felt, and found them encased in long stockings of some sort, reaching nearly to the hips, and i could feel that some sort of supporters ran from them to the belt. my feet seemed covered with the same soft stockings which, like the apron, felt wet and slimy to the touch.
as i bent over to feel of my feet, something brushed against my cheek, something hard and cold, yet light and almost clinging. i put up my hand and felt; it seemed to be a string or rather loop of little beads.
then i followed up with my fingers and found that the loop, with a number of other loops were, somehow or other, firmly attached to my ear in several different places from the lobe upward. i felt around and discovered there were so many of them that the top of the ear was bent over by their weight, and the lobe was somewhat stretched. i felt of each separate loop; each was firmly attached; and the other ear was in similar shape. i shook my head and could feel the swinging weight of them.
puzzled, i started to run my fingers through my hair—a favorite habit of mine, and found that i had none! that is none to speak of—it was very short indeed, almost as if shaven, except for a bristly crest like a mule’s mane, which ran from front to back over the top of my head, and ended in a little pigtail or queue in the back.
something moving against my breast as i moved, i felt it and found a little hard, cold, oval object slung from a string about my neck; near it on another string hung a wet and slimy bag, and what felt like a small knife in a sheath.
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i was puzzled indeed—i could not make out what had happened to me. as i sat thinking, i must have dropped off into a doze in spite of the rain, for when i opened my eyes again it was daylight.
i looked about me; it was still raining and a brisk wind stirred the tree tops; but i seemed to be in a strange, wild country for, although to my left i could look off over a valley, my eye met no houses, roads, or clearings, just a waste of tossing tree tops, in fact no sign of man except a distant blur of smoke, rising apparently from among the trees. i looked behind me; there stood a great tree, its wood showing white, its bark practically stripped off, while broken branches littered the ground. it had been struck by lightning.
i looked at my hands; they were lean, and tawny in color instead of fat and freckled as i knew them; i looked at my legs; they were encased in soiled and worn buckskin leggings; upon my feet were moccasins puckered to a single seam down the front, near which were traces of colored patterns now nearly worn away—and still i did not understand.
i pulled the queue around and looked at it; the hair was black and neatly braided, whereas my own, in those days, was red; i pulled around the beads attached to my ears; they were white and apparently made of shell, but were too close to my eyes to see plainly.
then i investigated the things hung about my neck, and noted, with a start, that the oval, hard object was the little stone mask we had found in the grave. i pulled the knife from its sheath; it was of stone—argillite—not purple from age, but black, fresh-looking, sharp. and when i looked in the bag, i found what i had come to expect, the little, decorated pipe of clay, and with it some damp, shriveled leaves which must have been some sort of tobacco.
i could not avoid the conclusion; i was somehow transported back into prehistoric times, and had assumed the body and belongings of the indian whose skeleton we had unearthed.
if this were true, i must have some weapons, i thought, and soon i found them—a five-foot, straight bow, lying beneath the broken branches that had fallen from the lightning-blasted tree, and a buckskin quiver. i pulled out the arrows; their points were of flint. i noticed that the sinew filaments that fastened them to the shafts were loosening from the dampness, and i found myself instinctively twirling each one between my fingers until the sinew was tight again. 110 the carcass of a deer lay also among the fallen branches, evidently a victim of the bow.
i noticed that i was feeling hungry so i slung my quiver, picked up my bow, and then, after a moment’s hesitation, shouldered the deer and started down the hill toward the smoke.
after a while i found a trail leading in the right direction; this i followed until i reached the brink of a bluff from which i could plainly see the roofs of a number of bark houses above which rose the naked limbs of dead trees, making a strong contrast to the living, green forest all about them.
as i looked, i heard voices of people ascending the hill. i slipped into the bushes with my burden, out of sight but where i could peer out. the voices belonged to a number of men, apparently setting forth upon the hunt, armed with bows like mine. i noticed most of them wore leggings and moccasins of more or less the same shape as my own; that their hair with a few exceptions was cut like mine, and that they wore in their ears either strings of beads like mine, or tufts of downy feathers. and i noticed with surprise that i could understand, perfectly, their language.
from all this i judged that they must belong to the same tribe as myself and that it must be safe to proceed, so, after they had passed, i stepped from my hiding-place and went on down the hill and into the village.
the first thing to strike my eye was a big, rectangular, barn-like wigwam which stood near the middle of a large open square or plaza, the roof made of sheets of bark held in place with poles, and pinned at the ridge with two smoke holes. the sides were of logs; the door, which occupied the middle of the end facing me, was closed with some sort of curtain.
about the plaza stood fifteen or twenty smaller houses of similar form, but from a half to a quarter the size; these had but one smoke hole in the roof; and the sides, like the roofs, were of bark.
some of these roofs were extended forward to form a sort of porch in front of the wigwam; in other cases a separate little shed stood in front, provided with a bark roof of its own, but open on all sides. from these sheds and porches rose a haze of blue smoke wafting a savory smell.
beside me, at the edge of the plaza, stood one of the dead trees, the bark of which had been girdled round; and i could see blackened 111 stumps where others had stood; while many such dead trees rose stark and naked from the garden patches about the village. i found out later that, in clearing land for village or garden, the custom was to chop the bark around the trees so that they died, to let them stand until thoroughly dry, then to fell them with the aid of fire and, splitting them up with wedges, use them for wood as needed.
seeing some women standing beneath a shed from which came a hollow, thumping sound i made my way thither. suddenly one of the group darted out from under the shed and came running toward me with a glad cry. “oh flying-wolf! so you have come back safe to me after all!” she exclaimed, grasping me affectionately by the arm and leading me toward one of the wigwams. “so the mengwe did not get you after all! i am so happy!”
thinking that this must be the wife of the man whose body i had taken, and that i must say something, i remarked, “yes, i have really come.”
“ah!” she said with concern, looking up into my face, “how hungry you must be! i cooked your favorite stew against your return last night, but you did not appear, and the boy and i never touched it; i can warm it for you in just a little while. hang the deer on the tree in the old place and go to your bed and rest until i have it ready; you must be tired. or wait,” she added, “i will spread a fresh mat i finished yesterday.”
she passed into the wigwam and i followed, to find myself in a dwelling, the most noticeable feature of which was a pair of wide platforms or benches, one along the wall on each side, raised some two or three feet above the floor and covered with mats. back of these benches or bunks, the wall was lined with colored mats; and the space beneath them was filled with assorted bags, baskets and bundles, while from the roof hung other bags and bundles, and a string or two of corn, the ears braided together by the husk. behind the poles supporting the roof, was thrust a half-finished bow; near it hung a bundle of sprouts intended, probably, for arrows.
the woman spread a fresh mat on one of the platforms. “lie here,” she said, “i will build the fire inside here instead of out in the shed; our house feels damp after the rain.”
i watched her as she went out, and saw her taking down some large object from a shelf in the shed, and by the time i had stretched myself on the mat she returned with a large, egg-shaped, earthen pot, 112 and set its pointed end between three stones placed for the purpose in the fireplace in the center of the wigwam, and began to stir the ashes with a long stick. finally she uncovered some live coals, left from the night before, and gathering them in a heap with her stick, she placed some fibrous stuff, which looked like shredded cedar bark, upon them and began to blow into it. soon she had a lively blaze, which she fed with small sticks until it was well started.
pulling the fire about the base of the pot, she soon had it bubbling, and, before long, set before me a wooden bowl of steaming, savory stew of meat, corn and beans. beside the first bowl she placed another, containing flat dumplings, which proved to be made of crushed, hulled corn flavored with berries, rather heavy but delicious.
on the edge of the stew bowl hung a short, wide, wooden spoon. as i ate, she sat on the edge of the bench just opposite me and chatted happily of this and that, rarely pausing for an answer—for which i was thankful.
between mouthfuls, i looked her over. she was a comely young woman of twenty-five or thirty, ever showing her even, white teeth in a smile, her kindly face as yet but little weather-beaten. her black hair was neatly parted in the middle and brought back and fastened at the nape of her neck with a sort of long, cylindrical knot which was wrapped in beads; several short loops of beads hung from the rims of her ears where there were evidently, as in my own case, a number of small perforations, while each lobe showed a hole perhaps a quarter of an inch in diameter. about her neck were many strings of beads of different sorts; some looked to be of dried berries or seeds; others of bone, while some were certainly of shell, and one string looked like copper.
the upper part of her plump body was naked but for these beads; from her waist hung a skirt of buckskin reaching below the knees, neatly fringed and bearing a wide, embroidered border with an intricate design in colors; it was evidently a flat, robe-like piece wrapped about her waist, belted taut, and the top edge folded down over the belt. her legs were covered by leggings, her little feet in moccasins, both leggings and moccasins being of deerskin and embroidered with what i afterwards found to be dyed deer hair and porcupine quills. both wrists were wound with strings of beads.
as i ate, she talked on: “your mother was over yesterday from 113 the pulling-corn village. she says she is making you a fine robe of four soft, dressed deerskins, and is decorating the back with a large picture of your guardian spirit, the mask being done in the little shells she bought from those southern tribesmen who came up the river in that big canoe—you remember. she gave them in exchange her whole stock of healing herbs, and had to work like a beaver to dig another lot of the little roots before winter set in.
“she says she is going to sew each little shell on separately—you know each has a little hole rubbed into it—so that even if one breaks loose the others will not come off. talking of trading, when are you going to get me that pair of cherokee shell ear-pins you promised me? that old shawnee woman in possum-ground village has some and there is not another pair in lenape land. see, i have stretched the holes in my ears on purpose for them.
“and speaking of making things, when are you going to finish that big, wooden bowl for me? you brought the maple burl home long ago, yet you only have it partly burned out, and there it lies beneath the sleeping birch, and right by it is a whole basket full of little slabs and pieces of sandstone for grinding it smooth.
“i know you have no flint scrapers, but don’t you remember you buried a lot of half-finished arrow points and little blocks of flint to keep them fresh, just outside one corner of the shed? they ought to be moist enough to work easily and you could make all the scrapers you want in a little while.
“the reason i need it now is because our son took the big old feast bowl out to play canoe with, the other day when i was not looking. it was all right until three or four other little boys tried to stand in it, too, all at the same time, then it split and is ruined. it made me feel sad because that was the bowl that grandfather made for mother when she and father built their first wigwam. i shall have to borrow another bowl for to-night.”
during all this i had said as little as possible, for i did not want to show my ignorance of all these things. i could not bear to spoil her happiness and let her discover that i was not really her husband. now, however, i ventured to inquire, “what is going to happen to-night?”
“i forgot to tell you,” she replied, “last night when you were away, our war chief came to see you with a number of the elders from here, and other villages. they are going to get up a big war party 114 to punish the mengwe who, you know, are getting too bold. you remember how one of their scalping parties killed my poor brother last year when they caught him alone out hunting; and how they killed your friend breaker but a few moons ago. last night when you did not come home i feared they had got you.
“the war chief says you know more about those trails to the north than any other lenape—that is of our unami tribe—and they want you to lead the party. everybody said they had full confidence in your judgment and your bravery.
“i hate to have you go because it is so dangerous, and our son and i need our hunter yet a while, yet,” she smiled sadly, “i am proud of my warrior too; the tribe needs you, and the ghost of my poor brother cries for vengeance.
“i told them to come again to-night and so they will be here i suppose. they spoke of bringing our tribal head chief, too. i was looking for women to help me cook for them, among that party pounding corn in that arbor, when you came into the village.”
as she finished, i realized that the crisis had come; i could keep my secret no longer. i had not enough knowledge of tribal affairs to talk with the delegation, let alone lead a war party. i must tell her the truth, or at least that part of it i felt she could understand.
so i said to her. “listen, my mate. you have been so glad to see me come home that i have hated to spoil your joy. but something happened to me last night—i know not what—and when i awoke this morning i found i had forgotten everything i ever knew. i did not even recognize my own clothing and body; i did not know myself to be flying-wolf until you named me. i found my way to this village by accident, and know you to be my wife only by your actions; and at this minute i do not remember your name. of our life i remember only the language; as for leading a war party, making a wooden bowl, or even hunting meat for you, all are equally impossible. i could no more do these things than a blind puppy, not because i do not want to do them, but because i have forgotten how.”
she slid off the bench and coming straight across the wigwam grasped me by the shoulders with her two hands and looked full into my eyes. “is this true, flying-wolf?” she asked.
“yes,” i choked.
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she stepped to the door and looked out for a while in silence; when she turned to me again her cheeks were wet. “perhaps,” she said, “if you should see your son whom you always loved so, your memory would come back.”
she went out. shortly she returned with a bright-looking little lad about eight years old, his long, black hair hanging loose, his lithe body naked except for a little string about his neck where hung some little bones which my experienced eye recognized as those of a turtle.
“father,” he cried, “why did you send mother after me? i was having such a good time down at the creek with the boys—we were playing thunder-beings hunting for horned water-serpents.”
i laid my hand on his head and said, “all right, son, then run right back there and play.” i met his mother’s questioning eyes, and shook my head.
after sitting in a miserable silence a while, she asked: “where did you awake this morning?”
“on that hill over yonder,” i replied, pointing, “under a tree. i would know the place again because the wood of that tree shows naked and white, half the bark has been torn off by lightning. it must have been struck lately because the broken limbs lying about it are still green.”
“now i know what the matter is,” she cried, springing to her feet. “you have been struck by one of the thunder’s arrows. and i know who can help you.” she darted out.
she returned with a fine-looking elderly man whose long, iron-gray hair hung loose upon his shoulders, except for one little braid at the back, to which were tied several fine, large, eagle feathers, white with black tips. from the outer corner of each eye a blue line, apparently tattooed, ran zigzag down across his cheeks to his chin; on his naked breast was tattooed a rude but striking figure of a bird with wings spread, surrounded by many other zigzag lines. here hung suspended from a string that passed around his neck, a tiny model of a war club, its ball-like head painted red.
“this is rumbling-wings,” said my wife. “if any one can help you, he can.” and so i told him my story as i had told it to her.
he pondered for a while, then turned to my wife. “run down to the spring, whispering-leaves,” he said, “and get us some fresh water.” when she had disappeared with the bark bucket, he said, 116 “i think i understand what the matter is. flying-wolf, whose body you occupy, must have been killed or stunned by the thunder arrow, and your spirit, which must have been floating near, took possession of his body. where you come from i know not, but you must have been thinking of us and our time, when your spirit was driven from its body by another thunder arrow. whispering-leaves must not know this—that her real husband may be dead.
“what can you do? you can either make up your mind to live out your life among us and learn to be what she expects of her husband, or you can go to that same hilltop with me some day, and i will call back the thunders to set you free again. then maybe, if your own body has not been destroyed, you may return to it, and, perhaps, flying-wolf’s spirit, if it has not already gone to the land of ghosts, will come back to this body. it is all a chance. to-night when the elders and chiefs come, lie in your bed here as if sick in body and say nothing; i will explain to them. as to what you want to do, think about it as long as you wish and when you decide, let me know. in the meantime learn all you can and take care of your mate and the boy.”
just then whispering-leaves (i was glad to learn her name!) came in with the water, and the old man dipped a gourdful for me, then drank himself. “thanks, daughter,” he said to her, “your husband has been struck by lightning and his memory is very sick. be good to him, and little by little it will come back. but do not expect too much of him at first. if you run short of food let my wife know. and you, flying-wolf,” said he, “whenever you want to learn something come to my house. i am alone every night.” he went out.
i looked at whispering-leaves and she at me; hope shone in her face, she smiled. the more i looked at her, the better i liked her.
the first night i visited rumbling-wings, his wife, after spreading a mat for me, withdrew, murmuring something about visiting a neighbor for the evening. i had learned by this time the lenape amenities, and so i did not start boldly off with my questions, but chatted quietly of this and that for a while, finally winding up with, “why did my wife go to you when she heard i had been struck by a thunder arrow? why do you think you can call the thunders to set my spirit free?”
“you are asking a hard question, my friend,” said rumbling-wings after a moment’s cogitation, “and one which a lenape does 117 not like to discuss with another. but i realize that you have been cut off from the years of early training that most of our boys go through, and the only way i can make you understand is to tell you outright, and i feel that my guardian spirit will forgive me.
“in the first place, you know what the thunder-beings are—powerful spirits, helpers of the great spirit—in form at the same time man-like and bird-like. they bring the rain to water our crops and refresh the earth. you have often heard the rumbling of their wings in the storm, and have seen their arrows of flame shoot toward the earth as they hunt the great horned serpents and other man-destroying monsters which form their daily food. and it was one of those very arrows which, as you know, started you in life as a lenape.
“well, i suppose i must tell you, one of these thunder-beings is my guardian spirit and that is why people say that i am in league with the thunder, and have thunder power, and why they call on me in cases like yours.
“the thunders must have picked me out for their favor even before i was born, as you will realize when you hear how i come by my name of rumbling-wings.
“it appears that my mother confided to her brother, my uncle, that she was expecting me, and according to our custom she asked him to take particular notice of any dream he might have, in hopes of finding out the child’s name. not long after, he was overtaken at night, far from his village; it was black and stormy and he took refuge beneath an overhanging rock. he found a spot fairly dry, but rough and uncomfortable, and he fell into a troubled sleep. sometime in the night he was awakened by something, he knew not what, and found himself sitting up, listening. he heard a distant rumbling of thunder among the mountains which seemed at last to take the form of words: ‘rumbling-wings is coming, rumbling-wings is coming.’ ... all this he told my mother, and i was born shortly after.
“when the time came for our great autumn ceremony in the big house—that large wigwam in the square you passed, coming here to-night, is one of them—my uncle took me in his arms and, standing before the centre post with its great, carved face of ‘mising’ looking down upon me, he announced to the people that my name was rumbling-wings. even as he spoke there was a crash of thunder, 118 late as it was in the moon-of-falling-leaves, and a wind sighed through the trees about the big house, and they heard drops of rain patter upon the bark roof or fall hissing through the smoke holes into the two great fires below.
“perhaps whispering-leaves has told you how our people believe that after the birth of a child, its navel string has much to do with its disposition; so, if a girl, they take that string and bury it under the house or in the garden to make her fond of home duties; or, if a boy, they hide it out in the woods so he will like the hunt. well, my father, so he told me, took mine to the wood, and hid it in a hollow tree. he had hardly done this when a thunder-shower came up and drove him to shelter; coming back on his way home he found the tree, where he had hidden my navel string, burning. it had been struck by a thunder arrow.
“as a boy i knew nothing of the thunder power except that when the great, black clouds fringed with yellow, began to pile up in the west, and others, young and old, looked upon them with dread, i alone of the village felt no fear. in fact i used to go out naked into every storm; the crash of thunder was as music to me, the bright flashes were beautiful, the pelting rain refreshed me. and, in truth, i do this yet, always stretching out my arms to my guardian to thank him for having helped me thus far along the trail.
“but i did not know who my guardian spirit actually was until i had seen some twelve or fourteen snows. about this time my parents began to act strangely and to speak crossly to me. i did not understand why i deserved such a change in their feelings, and many a time i felt alone in the world. they even gave me the poorest part of the meat they had to eat, and scraps and leavings of corn bread, and stew that had begun to smell sour.
“one morning i was awakened before dawn by some one punching me in the ribs with a stick—well i remember how it hurt—and i heard my father say, ‘we must drive this wretched boy away from here, i can not stand him any longer. get up from there, dog-like!’ and he punched me again. my mother who had always until lately taken my part in any dispute, took no notice, but bent over the fireplace, and soon a little fire began to flicker and finally filled our wigwam with light. she went to the water jar just inside the door, and i saw her dip into it our oldest, blackest, greasiest gourd cup. then she turned to me and her face, usually so kind, seemed hard 119 as flint. ‘drink, boy,’ she ordered, handing me that cup, and i wonderingly obeyed.
“then my father spoke, handing me a burnt and shriveled shred of meat no larger than his little finger—a piece full of dirt and grit where it had fallen to the floor. ‘eat this, miserable brat,’ he cried, ‘and get away out of my sight.’
“a sudden anger overcame me and i flung the morsel full in his face and darted for the door. ‘wait,’ i heard him say, ‘aren’t you going to blacken your face? and besides i was going to tell you the rest of it, that you must not come back until you bring with you something great, but you started out too quick!’ did i see a fleeting smile on his stern face? surely his eyes were twinkling!
“then it dawned upon me what the matter was; i was expected to fast for power, and all this seeming abuse was nothing but a sham to make those-above-us take pity on me as an outcast, suffering child, and grant me a vision from which i would gain a guardian spirit that would be my protector through life. often had i heard older boys speaking of such things, but i had never realized that i, rumbling-wings, was expected to go through the ordeal.
“then said my father, ‘it seems to me i have heard that some boys who were driven away from home, had to go up on wolf mountain to the east end where there is a little cave that was nice to lie in while they prayed, because they could look out over the tops of the trees to the river and the hills beyond. besides,’ he added, ‘i expect to go hunting up that way early to-morrow morning and i shall look into that cave to see if any one is hidden away there.’
“then indeed i understood, and so under his direction, with my mother looking on, i rubbed my face with charcoal and, throwing about my shoulders the oldest and raggedest robe i could find—the one the dog had been using for a bed beneath the sleeping bench—i set out.
“all day i lay hungry in that little cave while mosquitoes and deer-flies from the woods, and fleas from the dog’s robe bit me unmercifully. yet i looked out over the valley as calmly as i could, praying to those-above-us to take pity on me; yet nothing happened, except that when the day was nearly spent, a cloud came up behind me over wolf mountain and overspread the sky, then went away grumbling without letting fall a drop of rain. that night, still hungry, i slept a troubled sleep and next morning, before sun up, in 120 came my father with a little scrap of meat and a small gourd of water. as i drew out the cob stopper and drank, he asked me, ‘have you found anything yet?’ when i replied ‘no,’ he took the bottle and departed.
“the same things happened on the two following days, and i got weaker and weaker from hunger, yet saw nothing but the black cloud every afternoon.
“but on the afternoon of the fourth day when the cloud came again it brought rain, and heavy thunder, and this, strange as it may seem, lulled me to sleep. and in my sleep i dreamed that i stood naked and alone on the bare sand hills by the great-water-where-daylight-appears, with nothing but a wooden war club, with its round head painted red, in my hand. and as i stood arrows came flying through the air from every direction and whispering past my head, struck quivering into the ground about me. but not one touched me, and my heart was unafraid.
“at this point i was awakened by an unusually loud crash of thunder and i opened my eyes to see the shower moving off across the valley, carrying with it a bow of beautiful colors and followed by the rays of a lowering sun.
“somehow i felt satisfied then that i should go home; it was useless to linger longer in the cave. and so i started, staggering from weakness among the wet bushes on the mountain side.
“weak as i was i nearly lost my footing, crossing the swollen creek, but at last i reached our village. the people looked curiously at me as i entered and made my way toward our wigwam.
“my father was sitting in front, scraping the charcoal from the inside of a wooden bowl he had been burning out; some one called to him, or perhaps he heard my step, and he looked up.
“‘have you brought it with you, son?’ he asked. on my reply that i had a dream he seemed very well satisfied and called to my mother who was looking out of our door. ‘wife, sweep and fix a place for our son to sit—he is bringing it with him!’ mother bustled about then and swept, and smiling, spread a fresh mat for me; i was surprised at her air of deference. down i sat, and after the sun had gone beneath the edge of the world, she brought me a great bowl of stew, steaming and delicious, and a new, clean gourd of fresh water.
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“that evening they really treated me as a guest. father even filled a pipe for me, and then, when my mother’s deep breathing from her place on the sleeping bench told us that she slumbered, he asked me outright, ‘what animal spirit or other manitou has offered himself to be your helper?’ ‘i do not know,’ i answered, and then i told him my dream, fearing in my heart that he would think it meant nothing.
“‘son’, he said when i had finished, ‘you have done better than i dared to hope, you have indeed gained a powerful friend among those-above-us, no less a personage than one of the thunders!’ and when i asked him how he knew, he replied, ‘the wooden war club with a round head painted red is the emblem of the thunder-beings, and represents the fearful blows they strike. the fact that, while you held this club in your hand, the arrows did not wound you, means that your guardian spirit, the thunder, will protect you. don’t you understand?’
“all that night in my dreams i was struggling and fighting, with whom i know not, but through it all i heard myself singing,
in my trouble
in my trouble
i call upon my helper
and his answer
out of a dark sky
it comes rumbling,
it comes rumbling!
“and this ever since has been my war song, and the song i sing at our great autumn ceremony in the big house, where all who have been so blessed sing of their visions.”...
“so that,” i said, as rumbling-wings finished, “is why you wear that little, red, war club hanging about your neck! now tell me why i carry a little stone face in the same way. i have tried to take it off several times, but whispering-leaves will not let me.”
“that,” replied the old man, “represents misinghalikun, the living mask-being, and a powerful manitou he is, for the great spirit has given him control of all the wild animals of the forest. he is the guardian spirit of flying-wolf, whose body you occupy, but i cannot tell you the story of his vision. no one could tell you that story but flying-wolf himself. and where is he? you occupy 122 his body, but i doubt if misinghalikun will help you as he did him. i believe flying-wolf won his great fame as a hunter through the power of this guardian spirit, and without that, you may have a hard time to live up to his reputation.” and, i must say, so i found it.
another evening i asked rumbling-wings if his guardian spirit ever helped him in later years.
“many times, and i will tell you some instances. when i had seen about twenty snows, i went with some of our kinsfolk to visit the minsi, our allies living above us on lenape river and in the mountains to the north and east of us here. you may have heard that, although their language is quite a little different from our unami tongue, they too call themselves lenape and their customs are almost the same as ours. from there we went with some of these people eastward across the mountains to see the great river of the mahicans of which we had often heard. arriving at the river, we wished to cross to visit a mahican village just opposite, but, although we made a signal smoke, no one dared put out from the village with a canoe to get us because there was a high north wind and the wide river was very rough. so i burned tobacco and prayed to my helper, the thunder, and soon thunder-clouds arose in the west, and a west wind sprung up which killed the north wind and left the river smooth; and then the mahican canoes came for us. we spent many pleasant days in their village, feasting and dancing, and visiting from one wigwam to another. their language is very much like the minsi, and enough like ours so that we could understand almost everything.
“another time a war party of us lenape set forth against the susquehannocks, a tribe like the mengwe. they lived on muddy river in a big village circled about with a great stockade of sharpened logs, twice as high as a man, set on end almost touching one another. time and time again we attacked them, but could not break through this stockade, nor could we pile fire against it to destroy it, so well did their bowmen defend it.
“at last we withdrew a little way to counsel and our war chiefs said to me, ‘we must depend on you, rumbling-wings, to help us overthrow this people who have harassed us so long. call on your guardian spirit; help us to take this village!’
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“and so, as there were no thunder-clouds in sight, i drew from my medicine bag a few scales of the great horned serpent and laid them on a rock beside a little creek. you know how the thunders hate these great snakes, and always begin to gather, the instant one of them shows any part of himself above the water. well even these scales seem to attract them; i always use these scales to call the thunders when i need them.
“immediately the sky began to darken in the west—so i built a little fire, threw an offering of tobacco upon it, and prayed to my guardian.
“blacker and blacker grew the sky, nearly as dark as night. we could hardly see the yellow scud flying overhead beneath the mass of cloud. the air near the earth seemed hot, choking. all at once a few great drops of rain splattered down, and then we heard the roar of a mighty rain approaching across the forest. soon it was pouring down about us like a water-fall.
“how long this downpour lasted i know not, but it stopped as suddenly as it began, and a few large hailstones fell, so large that we could hear them rattle on the bark roofs of the village. then came a deeper roar out of the southwest, louder and louder, nearer and nearer. suddenly a great thing rushed past us in a cloud of flying leaves and broken branches, and struck the village with a crash, full in the middle, and in a moment was gone. as it passed on we saw it; it looked like a great, twisting strand of long hair hanging from the clouds and dragging along the earth, sweeping before it the trees and the wigwams.
“the instant it passed, we saw that the log stockade was down and most of the houses of the village, but just then came another blinding flood of rain which held us back, and when we finally reached our goal we found a number of the susquehannocks lying dead amid the ruins of their houses; and of those who were left alive and able to run, all were in flight somewhere in that rain-swept forest.
“as to the wounded, we dispatched those too badly hurt to take with us, and seized the rest as captives, and then, with all the weapons, pipes, beautiful clothing and ornaments we could carry, we made our way homeward. thus the thunder, my guardian spirit, helped me, and helped me to raise my name to what it is to-day.
“what finally became of the captives, do you ask? a few we 124 killed by torture, in revenge for what their people had done to us; some died; some we let go free after a year or two; others finally intermarried with our people and cast their lot with us. you know traveling-everywhere’s wife? she was one of those captives, given as a servant to his parents. she was but a young girl, and traveling-everywhere, himself but little older, took pleasure in teaching her to speak our lenape language. they got to liking each other so well that they finally built a wigwam of their own. now you could hardly tell her from one of us.”
i found it much easier to assimilate these beliefs and stories than to learn the every-day, practical side of lenape life, at which i proved a tragic failure. although i studied the methods of experienced hunters i never could master the knack of effective shooting with the bow and arrow. and i tried my best. seldom could i bring down a deer. the neighbors grew tired of providing meat for me and my family.
whispering-leaves did her part to perfection; everything she made or produced was of the very best, which made me feel my shortcomings all the more. and she would not let me touch the garden—the only thing i knew anything about. “garden work is not manly,” she would say. “i will not endure hearing the neighbors talk about my mate doing woman’s work. how would you feel if you saw me going out of the village with a long bow on my shoulder? or burning out a log for a canoe? would you not feel shame to see your mate do an unwomanly thing? in our life, the man and woman must do each his or her part and neither is harder than the other. surely to hunt all day and every day, good weather and bad, is fully as hard as wielding the hoe! how would you like to hear the neighbors say, ‘whispering-leaves ought to give flying-wolf the skirt, and she put on his long leggings and breechclout?’”
i was even a failure at finishing her wooden bowl, although i had watched a number of men making such things and thought i had learned their method. i heaped hot coals on that maple burl, blew them until they burned deep, and scraped out the charcoal with shells and bits of flint again and again, until i thought i had it hollowed deep enough. then i ground it patiently with bits of gritty sandstone. when i had finished, i thought i had accomplished a very good piece of work for a beginner. but whispering-leaves,125 although she smiled and said sweet words when i laid it finished before her, and pretended to think it perfect, tucked it away after a few days, and when we had visitors and a big bowl was needed, she borrowed another bowl from the neighbors.
what hurt me worst was seeing her treasured finery disappear bit by bit, doubtless traded for meat and for skins to make our moccasins and every-day garments. first it was the seed beads, then those of bone, then one string of shell beads after another until only the copper beads were left. finally they too were missing when i came home one night. one day i had occasion to search beneath the sleeping benches for something and had to pull out the square basket in which she kept her treasures, her prettiest embroidered, festival attire. the basket felt so light that i looked into it—and found it empty.
often the boy came in crying and said that his little companions would not let him play with them because, they said, his father was “no good.”
and one night rumbling-wings told me that he had seen the spirit of flying-wolf in a dream the night before, and that he said he was living in a strange land and wanted to come back to his home.
but the crisis came when i returned one night, tired out from my fifteenth successive fruitless day’s hunting, and found my whispering-leaves crying bitterly. although i begged her to tell me what the trouble was she refused, but at last she broke down. “my dear mate,” she sobbed, “there is nothing to eat in this house, and there is no hope for anything, unless i sell that robe your mother made for you. all my pretty things are gone long ago, and all yours except that.”
i caught her to me and held her tight in my arms for a moment, then dashed out into the night straight to rumbling-wings’ wigwam. “i am ready,” i said....
when i came to myself i was lying beneath the lightning-riven tree.
it did not take me long to find my place again in the modern world; but always to this day, when the clouds pile up and the thunder begins to mutter in the west, i think sadly of my lost whispering-leaves and of my friend rumbling-wings and his thunder power.
m. r. harrington
