The son of Chief Wazi-Kute guides
the White Chief afar on his journey;
Nor long on the _Tanka Mede_[AM]--
on the breast of the blue, bounding billows--
Shall the bark of the Frenchman delay,
but his pathway shall kindle behind him."
[AL] Mendota--properly Mdo-te--meaning the out-let of a lake or river
into another, commonly applied to the region about Fort Snelling.
[AM] _Tanka-Mede_--Great Lake, i.e. Lake Superior. The Dakotas seem to
have had no other name for it. They generally referred to it as
_Mini-ya-ta--There at the water_.
She was pale, and her hurried voice
swelled with alarm as she questioned replying--
"Tamdoka thy guide?--I beheld
thy death in his face at the races.
He covers his heart with a smile,
but revenge never sleeps in his bosom;
His tongue--it is soft to beguile;
but beware of the pur of the panther!
For death, like a shadow, will walk
by thy side in the midst of the forest,
Or follow thy path like a hawk
on the trail of a wounded _Mastinca_.[AN]
A son of _Unktehee_ is he,--
the Chief of the crafty magicians;
They have plotted thy death;
I can see thy trail--it is red in the forest;
Beware of Tamdoka,--beware.
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