The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-10-22
LEGEND OF THE WILD GEESE.

The legend OF the wild geese runs back
many years. even TO the time when aborig-
ines OF the north country listened with in
creduous ears to the stories about the ma
tivcs OF the south country. Had an
broken prairie been the only barrier of dis
lance IL would have taken the feetest
horses OF the plains many moons to go
from the fur wearers OF the north to the
swamp jewellers fa- down on the gulf
Tapped coast. But no horse short OF a
winged steed could have carried mes
senger from: nation to distant nation. for
there were the densest forests. fever-breed-
ing morasses and broad winding rivers
deceiving the eye as TO direction. The sun
and the stars, to De sure, were unfailing
guides. but the breadth of the south and
north countries was so great and the
knowledge of exact locality 50 slight, that
the far north and the fer south tribes were
to each other "a gems buried in the sands
OF different rivers There were intervening
tribes. wandering and scattered-small ma
tons that seldom came together in friendly
powwow around some immense council
fire; rather they were constantly at war.
neglecting the fields OF maize, and living.
when not attired In the paint of battle
days, on the spoil of the chase. Such ma
ti0ns were little given TO the carrying OF
news, and when a story might have been
relay ed from nation to nation it was lost
before it had been long gone from the teller
OF the story. Sometimes a ravaging dis
ease deciTGated the tribes. scattering the
war bundles Of eagle feathers TO the lodge
floors.
At one autumn time, far in the north
country the women began with early zeal
TO prepare the deer-hide thongs that were
TO Sasten the fiints for the winters hunt.
Patient, accomplishing pappooses were
bundled on the ground and little attention
did they receive from their stole mothers
during this busy season. Caribou bones
had to be scraped well ard ground to the
sharpness of hunting knives. There was
a cold winter ahead, so indicated the signs
I'm the skies from whence the fierce winds
blew, and this foreboded many ills, for
famine had been known in the season just
past. The chase was to furnish the tribes
with subsistence for the coming winter
The scrapings from the skins OF moose
would make many pot mess.
Gloosa, an idle son of the medicine man
Chenoos, was tramping through the woods
that ran by the little river. 1t was on this
day of this autumn time the squaws were
sharpening the caribou bones. Chenoos
thought no more of his lazy son than he
did OF the Oldest of his mental daughters.
the daughter who had not been asked in
all her life to sit in the wigwam of young
warrior. There were none in the tribe so
slow in the chase as Galoosa, and while
he had slain one enemy In combat yet in
war, he was always far away from the
long dead-dress of the chief. The youths
father had no hope even that Galoosa
would succeed him as the medicine man of
the tribe when Chenoos should go the way
Of all his fathers. Chenoos himself de-
sceaded from the cannibal Chenoos of the
north bay, but the day when the Chenoos
were powerful as tribe was long ago
that their history had merged into legend.
Gloosa, he wandered through the woods,
thought OF many things and wondered at
the stories he had heard. His father had
told him of the Chenoos and their mys
terious power which seemed to have de-
parted with the breaking of the tribe; his
mother, who had in her infancy been
stolen from the south. repeated to him the
strange stories Of her land and of her ma
ton. Towards the asky from whence the
warm breezes blew were people savage
in war, but generous and hospitable in
peace. Gloosa's mother had not come from
the far south, but she had heard all she
told her son, for her nation was
only in short remove from the
country of which she spoke. There was
nation of the Chickasaws who lived
the high grounds overlooking the
mighty river that sweeps down the land,
and Of this nation was the medicine mans
spised, and she wished the son was with
the nation of her fathers GlooSa dreamed
of the lovely maicens whom ms mother DE-
Scrfbed, and at this autumn time he could
sec their faces In the golden boughs OF the
forest trees; their forms seemed to be bend
ing In the tall grasses OF the river that ran
the tree tops when the winds blew from the
south. Nearing the village toward sunset,
the medicine mans son fell in with small
party that had been down on the marshes
after wild geese. Two men carried pole
from which hung by long necks string OF
the migratory birds. Wrapped around the
neck OF one of the geese was thong to
which was fastened shell, oddly engraVen.
face was traced on tne sh Ell t IN i sane
were lines OF dropping curves. This was
symbol whose meaning was not apparently
shell. Such variety OF shell might be
found in any OF the rivers. Interpreted, the
face meant that some one In Iar away
land was in love with an unknown ideal,
and this was the fanciful way of making
the love known. That Is what Gloosa
thought when he was shown the smell. me me
I'm the summer and even now they were
finding their way back, retreating from the
awake a long time that night, watching the
stars through the top of his fathers wig
wan. The next morning he put on the new
moccasins his mother had made him, stole
down his bow and culver, and went into
the woods toward the south. NO more was
he known in the land of the Wicmacs
Below the bluffs on the broad river. at the
point where a Spaniard and his small
troop of soldiers first saw the expanse of
swift waters many years afterward, lived
a tribe OF the Chickasaw nation. On the
rich alluvial bottoms they raised small
crops of maize. They fished with success
In the spring and In the winter hunted the
otter and beaver for furs. One winter
strange malady brought a waiting i'm the
villages. but In the autumn the medicine
mans incantations had effect, or else the
spirits OF the air gave heed to the mes
sages which the tribe sent aloft. Another
winter passed, and when the buds began
TO appear on the willows. the chief was
seized with the fatal malady that had pre-
vailed over twelve moons before The med
feline man lost his power, and ne, too, be-
came i'll unto death. Strong warriors fell
prone TO the ground at dusk and were on
their Journey to the happy hunting
grounds when the dew fell at early MORN
ing. The chiefs daughter was a good
spirit, as the tribe called her. for she