Then gave he man the swiftness of the deer, And armed his hands with arrows and the bow, XXII. "Then did he send Yotaanit on high, (For Gods he fashioned as he formed the land,) And bade him star with fires the azure sky, And kindle the round blaze of Keesuckquand; And then, to cheer by night the hunter's eye, Bright Nanapaushat sprung from Wamponand; Thus with his will the manittoos comply, And every region knows its deity.* XXIII. "All things thus were formed from what was good, And the foul refuse every evil had; But it had felt the influence of the God, (How should it not?) and a black demon, sad And stern and cruel, loving strife and blood, Filled with all malice, and with fury mad, Sprang into life: --such was fell Chepian's birth, The hate of gods, and terror of the earth. XXIV. "Then to the south-west the Great Spirit flew, Which never night nor clouds nor tempests gloom, And bade them shine with glory ever new. * See note † Sowaniu - here of three syllables - was written by Williams, "Sowwainiu." XXV. "When thus Cawtantowit had finished all, No more did he on eagle's pinions roam, There did he limits to his works install, And centre there his everlasting home; His pristine shape, and manit-man become; - yea, of creation's whole. XXVI. "All that is good does from Cawtantowit flow; Dwell they in mountain, flood, or lofty sky; XXVII. "And manittoos, that never death shall fear, Do likewise in this mortal form abide; What else, my brother, is there beating here? What heaves this breast- - what rolls its crimson tide? Whilst, like Cawtantowit, doth the soul appear To live through all and over all preside; And when her mortal mansion here decays, XXVIII. "There aye to joy; if, whilst she dwelt with men, Or watchful caught the beavers in the glen, But if a sluggard and a coward, then To rove all wretched in the glooms of night, Misled by Chepian, a poor wandering ghost, In swamps and sens and bogs and brambles lost. XXIX. "And now, my brother, rightly worship we, When to Cawtantowit we make our prayer? Or when for help to Chepian we flee, every And pray that us from harm he spare? For every harm is all his own, we see, And good Cawtantowit has ne'er a shareThen why should not I Chepian sue to be Much sparing of his harm to mine and me?" XXX. Williams made answer, "When red warriors brave XXXI. Strongly these words to Waban's pride appealed; Of by-gone ages, and of many a field Where fought his fathers, who with victory flush, Not to Cawtantowit, but to Chepian kneeled, And thanked his aid. They cowards! and the blush, That in their worship fear should seem revealed, Was scantly by his tawny hue concealed. XXXII. At last he said, "My brother doubtless knows With hope in Chepian, and his aid besought When forth they marched to shed the blood of foes; But maybe they, like Waban, never thought That they were cowards, when they fiercely prayed That Evil One to give their vengeance aid. XXXIII. "Waban will think, and should it seem like fear XXXIV. Thus in grave converse did they pass the day, Till night returning brought them slumbers sweet; And, with the morrow, shone the sun's broad ray Serenely down on Waban's lone retreat. Then Williams might have journeyed on his way, But doubt and darkness still restrained his feet; And so with Waban made he further stay To learn about the tribes that round him lay. XXXV. Hence may he secretly to Salem write, And friends approving, still his plans arrange; For Waban soon will bear his peltry light To Salem's mart, and there may interchange The mute epistles, meant for friendly sight, Lest rumor of them reach the bigot's ear, XXXVI. Among the several tribes around to go, And sound the feelings of each different clan, Seemed not unmeet; but little did he know How they might treat a pale-faced outlawed man, Friendless and homeless, wandering to and fro, And flying from his own white brethren's ban; XXXVII. Better it were, so deemed our Father well, (For such did seem high Heaven's all-wise decrees), the yell To found unarmed a State where rung Of barbarous nations on the midnight breeze; XXXVIII. With only this, his buckler and his brand- |