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.
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