Algonquin Spring

by Rick Revelle

  Jilte’g asked me to follow him and we carefully made our way through the hidden danger. Ta’s’ji’jg lay moaning in a pool of blood. I reached down and gently lifted him. Cradling his limp, bleeding body, I followed Jilte’g’s lead to safety.

  Laying the young warrior on the ground, Apistanéwj approached with a pot of water to wash the wounds. Looking up from the bloodied warrior, he said, “I need bark from the basswood tree for his wounds, tree resin to glue them, and plantain if any can be found. I have some yarrow in my medicine bag. If someone can find a beehive, I can use the honey.”

  E’s, Jilte’g, and Matues left to try to find what he needed in the woods. I went for more water.

  The small one worked fervently to stem Ta’s’ji’jg’s bleeding. E’s returned with the bark and Matues was able to obtain pine resin.

  Matues started a fire and heated the resin just enough that Apistanéwj could work it over the wounds to seal the skin and halt the bleeding. The resin would be warm when it was applied, soothing the wound while sealing it. The yarrow he had applied before the resin. After sealing the cuts with the pine resin, Apistanéwj laid the bark over the lesions. After cutting pieces of leather from our clothing to wrap around the bark, the task was complete.

  “Glooscap, I need some cedar tea made. We have to get him to drink as much as we can force down him to help soothe his pain and heal him from the inside. The boy may soon pass out from the pain and shock.”

  During all the confusion, we had failed to notice that Jilte’g had not yet returned. I turned to E’s and asked, “Have you seen Jilte’g?”

  “No,” he answered in puzzlement.

  The black dog Tepgig then rose with upright ears and looked to the south. There was the scarred one with two women and three children in tow.

  “How is Ta’s’ji’jg?” he inquired.

  Matues answered, “The little one laboured over him painstakingly. I hope that his efforts have not been in vain. Thunder Sky’s son has lost a lot of blood, and some of the wounds were deep. His well-being is not good. The spirit world is much closer to him than the real world at this time.”

  E’s interrupted, “Where did you find Musigisg E’pit (Sky Woman) and Saqpigu’niei (I Am Shedding Tears) and the children?”

  “I found them in the safe place that our people have always used in the time of danger. The women told me that they had promised the children the night before the attack that they would take them out in the early morning and set snares for rabbits. They had not gone far before they heard war cries and the camp dogs barking. Saqpigu’niei took the children to the safe place. Musigisg E’pit watched the carnage from a well-hidden vantage point and saw most of the warriors slain. The women and a few men who did not die in defence of the village became captives, along with Nukumi, who had gathered all the children in the initial attack and shielded them with her body.”

  I spoke up. “I will not let Nukumi become a slave of these aggressors. I am going after them, alone or with the warriors that stand here. Either way, it does not matter to me!”

  In unison the four of them said, “We will follow you!

  “Grandmother did say in time of peril, we should look to you!” Matues added.

  “Musigisg E’pit,” I said, “who were they and how many are there?”

  She answered, “They were Stadaconas, Haudenosaunee, and a couple of Maliseet. I counted maybe fifteen of them after the battle. When they left, they were carrying three of their dead to bury. Of the remaining fifteen I could only notice three men who had suffered wounds.”

  E’s walked up to one of the dogs and clubbed it to death. He turned to me and said, “In times of grief, we slay a dog and eat it. Tomorrow we leave on a Mourning War.”

  That night Jilte’g came to me and said, “I and the others will follow your lead to bring back our stolen women and children. Nukumi spoke of this! The two women will look after Ta’s’ji’jg until he is well enough to travel or until he dies. We will leave them enough mui’n meat for them and the children to survive. If he heals, they will go to the coast, where all our people come together in the summer.”

  I awoke the next morning to the smell of roasting bear meat and cedar tea. Crawling out of the shelter I had erected for Apistanéwj and myself, my eyes took awhile to adjust to the bright early morning sun. I squatted near the fire and dipped my birch bark drinking vessel into the steaming tea container. Taking my knife, I sliced off a chunk of bear meat from the spit. The juice ran between my fingers and I tried to lick the liquid before it dripped to the ground. The fire was crackling and spitting, fuelled by the fluid dripping from the spit. The pungent odour of the meat and boiling tea flared my nostrils and cleared my early morning head.

  I was lost in my thoughts but the sounds of the four remaining dogs raising the alarm of approaching intruders brought me quickly back to the present. I jumped up, rushing into the lean-to for my weapons.

  E’s met me as I exited and said, “Do not worry, my friend, long before you awoke a runner came into the camp and announced that Migjigi’s people were coming from the south. We are safe.”

  I looked to the south and watched as an old man led a group of about thirty-five people into the burned out village.

  Jilte’g approached the old warrior and held out his hands in welcome. They embraced as the women who followed him started to wail and cry at the devastation of what they saw. Many of these visitors would have lost friends and family.

  Jilte’g wasted no time in telling the old chief that we were leaving immediately to follow the raiding party. He said, “We need warriors to follow with us!”

  Migjigi answered, “I have none to spare. This winter, three of my young men drowned when they ventured onto a lake to chase a deer. The ice gave way and took them. With only nine warriors left and twenty-four women and children, I cannot spare any men. I need all that I have to get my group to the coast.”

  A warrior stepped out of the group and said, “Turtle does not speak for me! I will go with you.”

  He was taller than everyone but me. His head was shaved except for a topknot decorated with feathers. The man carried a staff with a bone spike on the end. Surrounding the top third of the staff were bear and cougar fangs embedded into the shaft, point side out. The fangs were forced through a hole and out the other side, then resin had been used to fill in the hole around the teeth to keep them in place. This weapon doubled as a spear and a lethal four-sided club. There was a knife hanging with a leather strap around his neck, another knife sheathed into his knee high right mg’sn (shoe), and a club in his belt, along with two round rocks tethered together with a leather strap. On his back hung the largest bow I had ever seen and a quiver full of arrows. His face had tattoos with black streaks shaped like lightning bolts. The left eye was scarred and closed. His right eye was a crystal blue that seemed to look right through you. However, the strangest thing of all was on his shoulder sat a ga’qaquis (crow), quietly preening itself. When I looked into the bird’s eyes, I distinguished an intelligence I had never seen before in an animal. I felt that the bird could understand everything that was transpiring at this time.

  “Elue’wiet Ga’qaquis (Crazy Crow), we would be honoured to have such a warrior as you to favour us!” replied Matues.

  “Migjigi, we need you to take Thunder Sky’s son, Ta’s’ji’jg, who is in a bad way, plus two women and three children who were able to survive the battle, to the seaside with you,” said Jilte’g.

  “I will do that,” he replied.

  Elue’wiet Ga’qaquis then walked up to me, smiled and said, “You and I, my friend, are going to slay many enemies!”

  He then looked down at Apistanéwj and said, “Who is this little man?”

  Before I could answer, the crow said, “It is Apistanéwj, the Marten, friend of Glooscap.”

  I stood and stared at the bird, and Crazy Crow just laughed.

  13

  THE PLAN

  Corn Dog led his group from the Hochelagan
camp to his village of Ossernenon, home of the A’no:wara (Turtle) Clan. Here he spent the rest of the late winter and spring petitioning his Clan Mother to appoint him war chief. Ossernenon was a village of twenty kanonhsehs (longhouses), each of them 140 feet long by 20 feet wide. Longhouses on average held fifty residents. There were 941 people in the community, of which 283 were warriors. A wall made of posts embedded in the ground to protect the longhouses and the people inside encircled the village.

  Outside the walls, as far as the eye could see, were fields of corn, beans, and squash, which made up most of their diet. Just beyond the fields flowed the Te-non-an-at-che (River Flowing through Mountains) (Mohawk River).

  Hunters went out each day searching for game in the surrounding forest and fish from the Te-non-an-at-che to supplement their diet.

  Corn Dog

  That winter did not take many of our people. Food for once was plentiful. Only a few old people passed away and one woman died giving birth. No children passed on during the cold months. The village entered the spring healthy and strong. A good sign from Hahgwehdiyu (Mohawk Creator), I was sure.

  The Algonquin woman Wàbananang stayed in my lodge as my slave, along with her daughter. She never slept in my bed. This woman gave me a certain amount of anxiety. Her beauty was breathtaking, but I knew should any man touch her his life was in danger. I watched with amusement as she and her daughter ran around the stockade each day, singing. Knowing this woman, there was a plan to all this. Escape? Maybe. No, I think she had plans for something else.

  Only the Clan Mother of the A’no:wara (Turtle) Clan had the power to put the horns of leadership on the war chief of all the Mohawks. My Clan Mother would set out to Tionnontoguen, the capital, to counsel with her sisters of the Okwàho (Wolf) and Ohkwari’ (Bear) Clans, and there a decision would be made on the war chief.

  Winpe and I spent this time hunting for the village, making new arrowheads and arrow shafts and feathering them. During these periods, we were also planning our attack to the east to cut off the Bark Eaters from their allies.

  My Clan Mother left on a bright spring morning, accompanied by twenty warriors and a pack of dogs. They set out to the next village, Andagaron, a day’s walk away. There she will meet up with the Clan Mother of that village and continue on to the capital, Tionnontoguen, where the three of them would come to a judgment. However, after consultation it still came down to the A’no:wara Clan Mother’s decision. Even though she could make this selection herself, she always counselled with her sister Clan Mothers.

  Her only words to me the day she left were, “Come to Tionnontoguen in seven suns.”

  The next day I entered our sweat lodge and stayed until my head was clear. Three days later, purified, I made my exit. On the sixth day, Winpe and I left for Tionnontoguen.

  We stopped at Andagaron the first night and stayed with a family I knew. They fed us well, and we talked about past hunts and battles. That night, when Winpe and I went to bed, we spread fresh pine needles onto our sleeping platform to keep the lice away.

  The next morning, we left in a downpour. It was a warm, welcoming spring rain, enabling Winpe and I to strip down to our breechcloths, go barefoot, and let our bodies soak in the soothing effects of the droplets. We rolled up our clothes and moccasins and encased them in bark to keep them dry. The spring mud under my feet oozed through my toes, providing a pleasant sensation. After being in the sweat lodge, then experiencing this rain, I felt great relief. Another good omen from Hahgwehdiyu?

  Arriving at the capital just before sunset, Winpe and I were ushered into the council lodge. There the Clan Mothers sat with the antlers of the war chief.

  My Clan Mother of the A’no:wara Clan stood. “We have made our decision. However, it comes with one stipulation,” she advised. “You will only be allowed one hundred warriors total from the three villages and ten women for trail-camp duties. How you select them is your choice. We cannot spare any more of our warriors. The villages need warriors to protect us from our enemies that are forever threatening our borders. Your raiding to the west last year may yet cause problems.”

  She then stepped forward and put the antlers of the war chief on my head.

  Stepping out into the open air, I took a deep breath. The smell of a fresh rain and the longhouse fires filled my nostrils and heightened my senses. Then, at the top of my voice, I screamed. “Who will join me to kill our enemies in the east? I leave tomorrow morning for Andagaron and then Ossernenon, where I will select my warriors for the War Path! Who will follow me?”

  Men left their longhouses and raised their arms screaming the Mohawk War cry, “Cassee Kouee,” at the top of their lungs. I could feel the ground tremble underneath me from the noise. The camp dogs howled in the din. The women came out and sang their songs.

  Turning to Winpe, I shouted, “It has begun, yie, yie!”

  The total Kanien’kehá:ka Nation from the three villages numbered close to four thousand. Of that, there were maybe eleven hundred warriors. I hoped that my hundred would be the best of the best. Then again, I would have to depend on the luck of the draw. The Clan Mothers had made a decision on the selections from each village. Only half the warriors from each of the three camps would be allowed to go to vie for this honour. Even though it was each individual warrior’s decision as to whether he wanted to go on the warpath, the home villages still had to have protection and provisions.

  The next morning the men lined up to draw lots. If they drew a dyed black pebble they won the right to follow me to Ossernenon to compete for the honour to make the hundred; otherwise they had to stay in Tionnontoguen to watch over it. The capital, which was the largest in population, would supply me with half the participants. The drawing of lots took up the early morning. Once it was completed, we left for Andagaron. Two hundred and twenty-one warriors left with us before noon. Along with them were about fifty young females who wanted to strive to become one of the ten trail women.

  The women selected would be an important addition to the group. They were to be responsible for helping the men with wounds, cuts, and scrapes they acquired on the trail or in battle, prepare meals, and aid the men in their preparation for battle. They would stay hidden during the raid and help with the wounded on the return trip.

  Winpe and I set a torrid pace, and we reached the middle village by dusk. When we left Andagaron the next day, we were over four hundred strong. Winpe and I discussed how we should select our raiders. When we reached Ossernenon, our plan was complete. The drawing of lots took place in the last village. We gathered all the lot winners and told them how we wanted to pick our raiders. They all shouted in agreement. Our people loved to compete, and we were giving them the ultimate contest.

  Community members that were not striving to obtain a place in the hundred would be there to cheer and wager on the competitors. The next three days would be packed full of action, feasting, storytelling, and dancing. Tonight the celebration would begin.

  That night Winpe and I drew into our confidence a group of boys and elders. We told them our plans for the three days and what we needed of them. The first day of the contest would not be starting until the midday sun. This would give them time to prepare for what we wanted. Then they would be able to start working on day two, and then day three.

  During the first two days there would be no contestants eliminated. On those days, selections would be determined by skill.

  The influx of competitors and visitors for the next three days produced many more mouths to feed. Some of the warriors of our village that were not participating, along with a selection of visiting warriors, were designated to provide game for the upcoming meals. That morning, five different hunting parties of ten or twelve hunters branched out toward the river and forest to seek out fish and animals for the cooking fires.

  After the morning meal, I gathered the warriors together to reveal what that day’s contest consisted of.

  “Each person will have targets to shoot at with bow and arrow. Eac
h man will carry ten arrows in battle conditions, loosing five arrows on the run and five from kneeling or upright positions. We will be using a fallow cornfield to compete. There are six lanes in each field with the same obstacles and targets. Elders will be making the decisions on targets hit. Young boys are controlling the targets. You start at the sound of the drums and will have one hundred drumbeats to complete the course. When the drums stop, you are done. Winpe and I will make known the winners during the evening fires. The drummers will call you to the field at high sun. In the meantime, ready your weapons and good luck. Heh, yi, ah!”

  Answered by a roar that made my skin rise, I smiled and left to check that all the preparations were in order where the forest and field came together.

  14

  THE HUNDRED AND TEN

  The beating of the drums called everyone to the field. There were 486 warriors trying to win one of the hundred coveted spots. Since there were six lanes, we had chosen six elders the previous day to be guides for each of the six groups. Each of the elders went through the crowd of warriors the night of the feast and touched eighty-one men on the shoulder. These men were to meet their elders the next day after their morning meal. The elders then had them all line up according to height and randomly walked along the line selecting the order of their entrance to the field from one to eighty-one. The first day’s order was reversed on the second day of competition.

  Standing in front of the six lines of warriors, I explained to them the targets. “You will have five targets to shoot at. The first five shots at each target must be done while running. After you make your first five shots, you will return to the start and go through the targets again, shooting from either a kneeling or standing position. You will start at the beginning of the drums and they will drum one hundred strokes and stop. You are done then. The targets are in the following order: a swinging log, a stationary post, a cornhusk man dropped from a tree on a rope, a full view of a stationary cornhusk man, and lastly, a cornhusk man half hidden behind a tree. All target lines will be marked with a charcoal-painted post driven into the field; you cannot pass the post. The object will be behind the post where the field ends and the forest begins. There will be a total of five elders in the competition row, one at each station to watch to make sure all conditions of the contest are completed according to the rules.”