قراءة كتاب Legends of The Kaw: The Folk-Lore of the Indians of the Kansas River Valley

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Legends of The Kaw: The Folk-Lore of the Indians of the Kansas River Valley

Legends of The Kaw: The Folk-Lore of the Indians of the Kansas River Valley

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دار النشر: Project Gutenberg
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href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@36559@[email protected]#VII" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">VII.
THE POTTAWATOMIES.

Descent.—Alliances.—Branches.—Location.—Part in War of 1812.—Suna-we-wone.—Treaty of peace.— Cessions.—Emigration to Kansas.—Present location.—Belief in Kitchenonedo and Matchemondo.—First inhabitants of the earth.—Submersion.—New World.—Legend of the five young men.—Menweshma.—Encounter with the Pawnees.—Wa-baun-see.—Story of the Flat-Boat.—Defeat by the Osages.—Revenge upon the Osage chief.—Wa-baun-see's journey to Washington.—Death.

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VIII.
THE SHAWNEES.

First emigrant tribe in Kansas.—Ancient home of the nation.—Defeat by the Iroquois.—Flight southward.—Return.—Settlement near Cape Girardeau.—Removal to Kansas.—Removal to the Indian Territory.—Shawnees of Algonquin stock.—Gypsies of the wilderness.—Creation theory.—Doctrine of pre-natal existence.—An incident of war with the Pawnees.—Belief in descent from one of the lost tribes of Israel.—Holy of Holies.—Language.—Adventures of a trader.—Mauné, the Chippewa Girl.—A Fragment of History from the War of the Races.—Chinwa, the White Warrior.—The Tragic Death of the Son of Chief Lay-law-she-kaw.

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.




"Ye whose hearts are fresh and simple,
Who have faith in God and Nature,
Who believe, that in all ages,
Every human heart is human,
That in even savage bosoms,
There are longings, yearnings, strivings,
For the good they comprehend not,
That the feeble hands and helpless,
Groping blindly in the darkness,
Touch God's right hand in that darkness,
And are lifted up and strengthened;—
Listen to this simple story."

Longfellow.


INTRODUCTION.

A legend, according to Webster, is any story, be it truth or fiction, which dates back to early days. In this connection, it may be of interest to the reader to know that the stories of adventure in this volume are founded upon real events; but, wherever it has seemed best, names have been changed. In committing to paper the histories of Maune´, the Chippewa girl, and Henry Rogers, there has been practically no deviation from the facts as related by their descendants.

The incidents described in the last story were narrated by the daughter of an Indian agent, who lived many years with the Shawnees. The writer has spent a portion of her life in the West, and having been located for a number of years in an old mission town, has witnessed the bean dance, the corn dance and the war dance. Her small strength has been exerted, more than once, to assist in beating back the edges of a great fire, which threatened to creep over the narrow strip of plowed ground outside the fences enclosing a prairie home. Reliable information has been obtained through conversation with old settlers and their families. An army officer, whose long life in the Indian country renders his statements of great value, detailed many facts concerning the Sioux. Interviews with the natives and their descendants have brought out strange traditions and superstitions. The works of Henry R. Schoolcraft—regarding the habits, customs and languages of the aborigines,—the writings of George Bird Grinnell and Daniel G. Brinton have proved exceedingly helpful.

Although statistics show, within the last few years, an apparent increase of the Indian population of the United States, comparatively few included therein, are of purely Indian extraction. The red race, as a separate people, is fading from the earth; and there will come a time when the mythology of America will be almost as eagerly studied as that of Greece and Rome.

The general public has an erroneous idea of the Indian of the present time. He has passed through the first period—that of wildness and barbaric splendor,—and, emerging from the second epoch—the state of drunken semi-civilization,—has entered upon a career of greater mental activity. With the exception of a few strong inherited tendencies, he now differs but little from his paler-faced brother. The prevailing notion concerning the natives has been formed from the worst class—the idle, uncleanly beggars. It is unjust to judge a whole people by the most degraded specimens. Through intermarriage, the remnants of the aborigines are rapidly becoming a part of the white race and engrafting upon it, not only their peculiarities of temperament but also their strength and determination.

It is a source of regret to those who are awake to the knowledge that there is a valuable field of literature in Indian folklore, that so little has been recorded. Even the best libraries contain few works upon the subject.

Inspired with a desire to contribute an atom to this slowly accumulating literature; to preserve the stories which herein appear in print for the first time; and to awaken a deeper interest in the old, oft-recounted

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