They tarried a time on the shore of _Remnica_--
the Lake of the Mountains.[BU]
There the fleet hunters followed the deer,
and the thorny pahin[BV] for the women
From the tees rose the smoke of good cheer,
curling blue through the tops of the maples,
Near the foot of a cliff that arose,
like the battle-scarred walls of a castle,
Up-towering, in rugged repose,
to a dizzy height over the waters.
[BS] The Dakota name for the Mississippi, see note 76 in Appendix.
[BT] Wild Geese.
[BU] Lake Pepin, by Hennepin called Lake of Tears--Called by the Dakotas
_Remnee-chah-Mday_--Lake of the Mountains.
[BV] Pah-hin--the porcupine--the quills of which are greatly prized for
ornamental work.
But the man-wolf still followed his prey,
and the step-mother ruled in the teepee;
Her will must Winona obey,
by the custom and law of Dakotas.
The gifts to the teepee were brought--
the blankets and beads of the White men,
And Winona, the orphaned, was bought
by the crafty, relentless Tamdoka.
In the Spring-time of life, in the flush
of the gladsome mid-May days of Summer,
When the bobolink sang and the thrush,
and the red robin chirped in the branches,
To the tent of the brave must she go;
she must kindle the fire in his _teepee_;
She must sit in the lodge of her foe,
as a slave at the feet of her master.
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