Wherever he wandered--
alone in the heart of the wild Huron forests,
Or cruising the rivers unknown
to the land of the Crees or Dakotas--
His heart lingered still on the Rhone,
'mid the mulberry trees and the vineyards,
Fast-fettered and bound by the zone
that girdled the robes of his darling.
Till the red Harvest Moon[71] he remained
in the vale of the swift Mississippi.
The esteem of the warriors he gained,
and the love of the dark-eyed Winona.
He joined in the sports and the chase;
with the hunters he followed the bison,
And swift were his feet in the race
when the red elk they ran on the prairies.
At the Game of the Plum-stones[77] he played,
and he won from the skillfulest players;
A feast to _Wa'tanka_[78] he made,
and he danced at the feast of _Heyoka_.[16]
With the flash and the roar of his gun
he astonished the fearless Dakotas;
They called it the "_Maza Wakan_"--
the mighty, mysterious metal.
"'Tis a brother," they said, "of the fire
in the talons of dreadful Wakinyan,'[32]
When he flaps his huge wings in his ire,
and shoots his red shafts at _Unktehee_.
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