THE APPEAL TO THE GREAT SPIRIT
Owaissa, the Indian Squaw, sat before the tepee watching little Litahniplay with the colored stones. The child was the idol of the tribe, for wasnot her father the great chief Black Hawk who had done so much for hispeople? So, lest anything should happen to the little one, Owaissa made ither chief task to be where the child was and to teach her the things shewanted her to know.
Three years before, the good missionary who was leaving the encampment hadsaid to Owaissa, "Soon there will come to your tepee a little child.Should it be a little girl, teach her to see herself in the things abouther, so that the birds, and the trees, and the flowers, and the winds mayall help her to grow true and fine, even as they help the young braves togrow brave and strong. The girls of your Indian tribes are not given halfa chance to see the helpers all about them. Teach her to see, as I havetaught you to see, what a woman can do."
And the words of the missionary had burned into the very soul of Owaissa.Her child should have a chance. So when the little girl had come to herwigwam, she had named her Litahni--a little light--and she had sought forways to help her to see what nature meant that man should see.
"Catch a little raindrop," she said to the little girl as she played nearthe wigwam. "Every raindrop helps some plant, even though it is so little.You are tiny, too, but you can help every day just as the raindrop does."
"See the beautiful sunset," she said to the older girl, as they trampedhome from gathering the wood for the fire. "The colors are creeping allover the sky. We see the sunset here and we are happy because it is sobeautiful, but away over the mountains in the far away the sunset is justas beautiful and they are happy there as they see it. You can bringhappiness, too, both here and far away, if your life is beautiful.
"Listen to the wind in the trees," she said to the girl of fourteen whowas eager to do that which father wanted her to leave undone. "You cannotsee the wind, yet it sways the great trees and sometimes fells them. Youcan bend the will of the strong men of the tribe but you cannot do it bytalk and by ugly words. Learn to bend by gentleness and quietly. Learn tosteal into their lives as the wind steals through the trees."
When the girl was sixteen, the young men of the tribe were beginning tolove her and to want to take her to their wigwams. Then the mother knewshe must show her how to choose. So she sought for ways to help her asthey hunted the mountains for the wild berries. Often they sat by thelakeside for their midday meal. Sometimes it was rough and sometimescalm.
"See, daughter," said Owaissa. "The little lake is very rough to-day.Sometimes our lives are like the little lake. Not always are they calm.Storms sweep over the life. But take the lesson from the lake. Bebeautiful through it all. Down beneath the surface, the water is calm anduntroubled even though the white caps are above."
Once they were caught in the mountains in a terrific storm. Litahni creptclose to the mother when the thunder rolled loud and long, but she lovedto see the long streaks of lightning flash across the sky.
Then Owaissa said, "The thunder cannot hurt you, dear. Seldom does thatwhich comes with a big noise do the harm, for one can run from it and besafe. Fear that which comes silently and swiftly and which strikes at theheart. The lightning yonder is far from us but it may strike at the heartof a giant pine and fell it to the ground. That which should have stoodlong and sturdy is then rendered useless and laid low."
With the coming of the winter the good squaw died and there were evil daysahead for the Black Hawk tribe. They were having quarrels with the whitemen, and the chief was very busy. So Litahni was left much alone and thedays were long and lonely. Now she was glad for all that her mother hadtaught her, for the birds, and the flowers, and the trees, and the animalsall helped her to pass the days and they spoke to her of the things thather mother had taught her. She tried hard to help her father, and oftenshe knew that she had helped him, but she longed to do more.
"No squaw has ever done it, but I believe I can. I shall teach my peopleto love the white man's God, for then we should not have wars andquarrels," said the girl.
So she taught the little children; she told stories to the squaws and shewon the confidence of the young men of the tribe who would soon be in thecouncil fires. And all the tribe loved Litahni, the beautiful daughter ofBlack Hawk and Owaissa.
One day, across the plain, there came a white man. He was tall and darkand sturdy-looking. He had education and he could talk well. Litahni sawmuch of him for a few days and she came to honor the white man as shelistened to him drive the bargains for the furs and the blankets and thebaskets.
Now, as the white man watched the little Indian teacher, he saw how farabove the tribe she was. He loved her pretty face, her sweet way and hergentle spirit. Then the white man wanted to win the Indian girl. In thefar East, he had left a girl who loved him but he wanted the Indiangirl,--so he began silently to make love to her. Of course he knew thather father would never consent. He knew that he would be driven from theencampment if ever they found what he was doing, so hastily and quietly heworked to win her.
He told her of the wonderful land from which he had come; of the beautifulhouses in which his friends lived; of the lives of ease which they lived;then he told her of his love for her and begged her to flee with him tohis land and his people. To Litahni, it was all so wonderful that shelistened happily. How she would love to see it all! If she went there, shecould see again the missionary of whom the mother had told her so often.
And when he had finished, she told him of her dreams--how she wanted tohelp the tribe to learn to love the great God, and to make the tribe ofBlack Hawk the finest tribe in all the land around.
But when she, too, had finished, he loved her all the more for herbeautiful wish, so he held her closely to him and said:
"But, Litahni, to love and to be loved is a far greater happiness than tolift, or to bend, or to lead the tribe. Leave that to your father. Allthese things you can do to me and to my people. Would you waste your lifehere on the plains? Think what I can give you. Your mother longed to gobeyond the mountains into the sunrise. Come with me and I will take youthere. To love and to be loved is the best that ever comes into a life.And I love you, Litahni! Why should you think of your father? He has manythings to think of and has little time for you. I will make you my queen.To-morrow I must go. So to-night, I shall come for my answer after thesun has set. Meet me, dear, by the giant tree near the spring and we willgo together. The train leaves not long after the sunset and I will have ahorse at the spring on which we can get to the train. Come with me, dear.Forget your people and be my Litahni."
There was a noise near by--and the white man was gone. But Litahni satdeep in thought. While he had been with her, she longed to go with him.But as she sat now and looked down into the valley at the encampment, shewas not so sure. Her mind was all awhirl. Was this the way to happiness?What would mother have said? She wanted her to have the best, but what wasthe best? It was only a few hours till the sunset and what should she do?Was there no one to help her?
Suddenly from the roadway below she heard a neigh. It was Fleetfoot, andhe was tired of being tied to a sapling. Now Litahni loved Fleetfoot, herhorse, for they had grown up together, so she hurried to the tree whereshe had left him, untied his bridle, jumped on his back and whispered,
"Fly, Fleetfoot! Fly into the sunset. Go fast and go far and let me thinkas we fly."
Then the horse sped away toward the north. As they passed the little lakein the valley it whispered, "Life is not always calm. There must betempests. But you can be calm in your inner life and you can be beautifulthrough it all."
Up the hill she went, and as the wind blew over her face it seemed to say,"Why be bent? Why not bend?" At the top, looking far across a distantplain, her mother's voice seemed to whisper, "Look far ahead, little girl.Look far ahead. What seems wonderful may prove to be only a shadow."
On they flew. The girl's face was flushed and thoughtful. Soon she mustturn if she would be at the meeting place. W
here was Fleetfoot taking her?Perhaps he knew best what she should do.
Suddenly at a bend in the road Fleetfoot gave a great leap, startling thegirl and almost making her lose her balance. Across the path, a giant treehad been felled by the lightning and there it lay, prone and helpless.
Then she shuddered. "Fear that which comes quickly and silently and whichstrikes at the heart." Only a week before she had not known the whiteman--even now her father did not know that she knew him. Ought she to beafraid? If she met him, it must be silently, in the cover of the dark.
At last Fleetfoot stood, panting and breathless, on the great rock thattopped the cliff. Often had he come here with his mistress, so he waitedfor her to dismount. The sky was aflame with color--all red and gold andyellow. Far to the North there were blues and pinks. What a wonderfulsunset it was! Surely it must be the home of a great, great God.
Litahni sat motionless for a time, drinking in all the glory of the scene.Then she threw her arms high over her head and, lifting her face into thesunset, she cried,
"Oh, thou Great Spirit to whom my people have always prayed, though theyknew thee not as the great God; oh thou to whom my mother taught me topray, show me the way to happiness. I would my life should be as my motherwished it to be--a little light. I would do my best in the right place. Islove for the white man the way to happiness? Is it the way in which Ishould go? Answer as by fire. I beg of thee. Answer me as by fire, oh,thou great God of the Indian."
Motionless the horse and his rider stood as the moments passed by, one,two, three. The red of the sunset enfolded them and God was very near.
Suddenly far to the south there rose a tiny black cloud. Very tiny it was,yet it grew and it grew. It blotted out the red and then the yellow andthen the gold, and then the whole sky was dark and the wind blew chill.
Slowly Litahni's arms relaxed and her head fell to the mane of the horse.When she lifted it, her face looked tired and worn, but over it there wasa look of peace. Patting the mane of the horse, she said:
"Thank you for bringing me here, Fleetfoot. The Great Spirit has answeredand I shall stay here with Father and with you. To love selfishly is toblot out all the beautiful. He who would be my chief must not want me torun away from helping and giving. He must help me to serve my people. TheGreat Spirit has answered by fire and I am content. I will stay here andserve my people in the way my mother taught me to do, and I will wait forthe one whom the Great Spirit will send to me some day to be my Chief."
Then slowly Fleetfoot picked his way over the narrow trail in thedarkness, and, because it was late, the white man had come and gone awayalone. But Litahni, bending low over the couch where her father shouldsleep, smiled as she stretched the skins in place for the night. Even asthe animals had given their skins that her father might be warm, so shewas ready to give her little light to make him happy and comfortable, evenas Owaissa, her noble mother, had done.
And Litahni was content.