Chapter VIII: How the Master Found the Summer

[_Passamaquoddy_]

_Piche pamaosoinnoak wiwikitopʾnik
Mequatoekak ospassio._[43]

In the long time ago,
When people ever lived
In the red morning light
Or ever the day of man had come;
Before the sun had risen
And ere the Eastern land
Was peopled as to-day,
Kulóskap, the great lord,
Went far into the North
Where all was snow and ice.

He came to a great lodge
Wherein he found a giant,
Truly a wondrous one
The greatest of his race,
For he was Winter. When
The Indian god came in,
He sat in silence down;
Then gave as welcoming
A pipe unto his guest;
And as they smoked, the host
Told stories to the chief--
Tales of the olden time,
In the old giant tongue.
A charm was in the words,
The enchantment of the frost,
And so the giant talked on,
Freezing with every word,
Until Kulóskap fell
Into a sleep like death.
Six months he silent lay,
Even as the bear or toad
Lies quietly till spring:

Then, when the charm was gone,
The Indian god awoke,
Woke with his might renewed.
Homeward he turned his way
Unto the glowing South.
At every step his foot
Met with the growing grass,
Warm breezes greeted him,
And many a forest flower
Rose up and talked in song.

He came into a dell
Deep in the greenwood shade,
Where many little fays,
Fair little sun-ray elves,
Were dancing in their joy.
And their sweet fairy queen,
Bright Summer, led the round--
Summer most beautiful
Of beings ever born.
He caught fair Summer up,
And, by a crafty trick,
He kept her as his own;
For, as he fled away,
And as the elves pursued,
He let behind him trail
A long and slender cord
Cut from a moose-hide. All
Pulled gayly at the end;
But as he ran, he let
The cord run out, and they
Were ever left behind,
Because by magic power
The moose-cord had no end!
Even so the Lord escaped
The Fairies of the Light,
The Ladies of the Dawn!

Again as he returned
He came unto the lodge
Where grim old Winter lay,
Who gayly welcomed him,
Hoping to freeze the god
Again into sleep, and hold
Him very sternly there,
Forever in his power.
But hidden in his breast
Kulóskap held the charm
Of a great victory,
For he had Summer there;
Even as now to you
I sing the summer song!

They sat them down and smoked.
This time the Master told
Tales of the ancient time
In the old giant tongue
Once spoken by the gods--
Magic and wonder tales.
This time he had the power;
His spell was mightiest,
And his strange wizardry
The stronger of the two.
Ere long the hut grew warm
And then down Winter’s cheeks,
His cheeks of hard gray stone,
The melting ice-drops ran,
Till he and all his home
Fell down, and in a flood
As water rushed away
Adown between the rocks
Into the roaring sea!

Then everything awoke.
The seeds and wildflowers grew.
The snow in rivers ran
Bearing away the leaves
Left from the Fall before;
The fairies all came out
And then Kulóskap turned
Again unto the South,
Leaving his captive there;
Summer was in the land. L.

FOOTNOTES:

[43] Long ago people used to live in the red light of morning.