“Brothers, our lives have been entwined in Grand Council affairs since we were entrusted by the People with our National Chief positions. Many of us have seen, because of our close personal contacts with each other, members of our families meet and develop intimate relationships. This has happened in the case of Lightning Bolt and me. My grandson had the good fortune to meet his daughter Snow Flake and win her hand in marriage about twenty Summers ago. This union has produced many fine great-granddaughters and great-grandsons for me, and grandchildren for him. But, the first time I met Lightning Bolt by far predates this happy event; our family contacts go back a few seasons after he was born. It happened around fifty-seven Springs ago when I came with my father to Kespukwitk to visit with his father Little Bear. He was then a lad of four or five Springs. Over the passage of the Seasons there were many other visits between our families and I watched as he grew into a fine young man.
“Even when he was very young, my brothers, he impressed me with his intelligence and command of matters far beyond his Springs. From talking to him and observing his behaviour my father would say in his wisdom, “Watch that boy; I predict he will lead us some Sunrise.” As a young warrior I somewhat agreed with my father’s observation about the boy. However, what really convinced me happened forty-one Autumns ago when he journeyed to Kespek as a young warrior to lend us a hand in repulsing the armies of the Western Nations.
“I knew at the time from our prior family associations that he was a young man who hated wars and believed they shouldn’t be fought just to win, but to stop them as soon as possible. This is what he did when he came to help us. War Chief Mighty Water told me afterwards that because of Lightning Bolt’s dedication to the goal of ending the war with all haste, he fought like a small army alone. You are all aware of his exploits in that war, and in the most recent one, and his accomplishments in other matters, so I won’t retell them here.
“Suffice it to say that over his Springs he has not only served his own country well, but has served us all well. If I thought it necessary, I could easily list a good example of his many outstanding accomplishments, but it would just eat into the fun times we’ll have after this meeting and we don’t want that do we?” A hearty laughter spread through the Chiefs as they looked at each other with a feeling of contentment and purpose. “Therefore, I will stop rambling and make my nomination with haste and few preliminaries. As Lightning Bolt has already stated, our alliance has served us well and has withstood the trials of time. With good will among us and devotion to its principles, the alliance will continue to serve us and our children’s children well for thousands of Moons to come. To assure that our children’s birthrights are protected, as our traditions demand, we must select the best man possible to fill the honourary position of Grand Chief.
“In this I completely agree. It is our responsibility, when selecting a successor for Grand Chief Big Elk, to weigh carefully all the good and bad qualities of the individuals we are considering for the position. Over the past several Moons, I have given much careful consideration to the matter and, after discussing it in-depth with the People, have settled upon a candidate. My brothers, there has been a great deal of gossip in the wigwams and councils of our countries in regards to whom our choice will be. In the case at hand, I sincerely hope that for once the gossips are right. My honoured colleagues, I respectfully place before you for consideration the name of a man who I believe has no equal when it comes to leadership: Lightning Bolt.”
In turn each Chief in the circle rose and spoke. They praised Lightning Bolt’s strengths and virtues and spoke in favour of his selection as Grand Chief. When the circle returned to Lightning Bolt, he responded, “Brothers, I’m sure that any one of you would make a better Grand Chief than I. When you speak you never talk of my failings in life, of which there have been many. Before making your final decision, I urge you to examine those.”
Big Beaver responded, “We, as fellow human beings, recognize that you like us have failings. Only the Great Spirit is beyond a fault. You may rest assured my son that I, and I assume my brothers, weighed all factors including your weaknesses when making our decisions. You’ve passed the test in all our minds, and if you’re willing, we will make you Grand Chief.”
“If this is your will, then I accept.”
The Chiefs responded in unison, “It is our will.”
“Brothers, in having the confidence to give me this honour, I have to say that your trust in my leadership abilities are far beyond what I think my actual limits are. However, in spite of my self-doubts, I swear before the Great Spirit and you that I shall fulfil the duties of Grand Chief with utmost diligence and devotion. I pray that I prove worthy of your trust.”
Thus, in the time-honoured tradition of the Mi’kmaq, Lightning Bolt became Grand Chief. Although the office had no powers attached to it other than ceremonial, it was very influential. The men who filled this role had great stature. The Chiefs smoked a pipe. Grand Chief Lightning Bolt, after making a short speech, ended the meeting and urged the celebrations to begin.
Lightning Bolt, taking leave from his colleagues after quickly explaining why, headed for his wigwam to enjoy in privacy the company of a very special person whom he had not talked to for many, many Moons, his precious Snow Flake. She had arrived late the Sunrise before, in the company of his beloved son-in-law and his darling grandchildren. Because of her late arrival and the excited confusion abounding, they had prior time only for a quick hello. Upon entering the wigwam, after much hugging and kissing, they both started talking at once, but Snow Flake deferred to her father, who put his love into it, “My baby, when we’re apart, I miss you with all my heart. To see your face again gives me so much pleasure that I don’t know if my old heart can withstand the joy it feels.”
Snow Flake reciprocated with words reflecting her devotion, “Dear Father, I feel the same. Our being here to visit with you and Mother for the next three Moons is something that I’ve been looking forward to for a long, long time. Although I rejoice in knowing the love of my husband, children and friends, there is no love that is the same as that of a loving mother and father, and I’ve missed it constantly. Oh Father, you and Mother look so well, it’s as if time has stood still for both of you.”
“My beloved daughter you still have it in you to flatter your old father. So tell me about your life.”
Snow Flake related the joys of her life with Eagle Feather and their children for the rest of the afternoon. When Spring Flower, her son-in-law and grandchildren returned for the evening meal they found a perfectly contented father and daughter filling in the gaps of their three Summers apart. After eating, Lightning Bolt retired to sit beside the shore of the village’s stream to enjoy in solitude a pipe and some pleasant reminiscing.
“Oh Great Spirit,” he said. “It’s so good to see my Snow Flake again. It gives me so much pleasure to know that she has made a wonderful life with Eagle Feather and the grandchildren they’ve given us are vibrant and loving.
“My Father, I want to share a little secret with you. It’s something I can never tell anyone else. Although I love all my grandchildren as dearly as life itself, I can’t help but have just a little extra regard for the boy named after me. He has passed his thirteenth Summer and even looks a lot like me. But, they are all wonderful children and your generosity in giving them to us is humbly appreciated.
“I also, my Father, enjoy recalling for the pleasure of it some of the funny mistakes I’ve made when helping raise our daughter. One incident in particular, related to her courtship, stands out above the rest. When I look back and relive the mess I made of a father’s traditional responsibilities when Eagle Feather was in the process of becoming part of her life, I still chuckle about it. Although it happened twenty-one Summers ago, after Big Timber’s Feast of the Dead, I remember it as if it happened last Sunrise. Eagle Feather had accompanied his grandfather to the funeral for the great Chief and afterwards c
ame to spend an extended visit with friends in our village. I must take the prize as the most naive person alive when it comes to matters of the heart, for it never crossed my mind that the real reason he was in our village was to try to capture the hand of our daughter in marriage. I still feel a little embarrassed when I think about how inept I was when Eagle Feather came to ask permission to court. To this Sunrise I don’t know whether it was he or I who was more surprised by the way I reacted when he arrived at our wigwam, bearing many gifts and shaking in his moccasins, asking if he could speak to me.
“Oh, my Father, how blind I was to what was in front of my nose. I didn’t even notice right away his nervousness. However, after we exchanged pleasantries, it finally did sink in that he was exceedingly nervous, but I just saw it as the nervousness of youth in the company of someone older. Then he asked me if I would hear a request he had to make. I told him by all means.
“These were his exact words: ‘Oh great Chief, my father, how does one as humble and as unworthy as I, begin to ask a person of your standing for such a great indulgence as I’m about to ask? Being a man of simplicity, there is no other way for me to do it than to just do it. Father, I’ve come to ask for your permission to court Snow Flake.’
“Without a thought to traditional practices in such matters I blurted out, ‘Why Eagle Feather, my son, if my daughter agrees I would be very pleased to see you two courting. I can’t imagine anything that would please both families more than to see the grandson of my beloved father Big Beaver and our daughter considering marriage. What a blessing!’
“Then I caught myself. But, by then it was out and I couldn’t retract it. Being the good man that he is, Eagle Feather agreed to pretend, for the sake of propriety, that I didn’t blurt out my assent. Knowing that he was a good sport I continued with the pretence of being less than enthusiastic about his proposal.”
Lightning Bolt watched the clouds and the forms of light upon the water. He sat with a blade of grass in the fingers of his right hand, while gently his mind wandered in contemplation of the Moons past. When Spring Flower came out later that dusk to keep him company, she found her husband sitting beside the stream with a look on his face of absolute contentment. It was obvious to her that he was lost in a world of pleasant dreams. He soon became aware of her presence and with a smile began to tell her about his thoughts. “My darling…”
CHAPTER EIGHT
While chatting with Spring Flower the evening before his sixty-fourth birth-Spring, Lightning Bolt noticed for the first time the lines age had etched into her beautiful face. It suddenly dawned on him that his Seasons had melted away like ice in hot water. They had passed so fast that it seemed as if he had gone from childhood to Elder status in a few Moons. This by no means depressed him, only intrigued.
As he contemplated how fast time now passed for him, he recalled what he had often heard Elders saying about the phenomena, “As one grows older, it passes at an ever increasing pace.” To his ears, especially in his younger Seasons, this had seemed incredible. Now, in his senior Seasons, he could empathize with what they had said. His Seasons over the last several Springs had passed so fast that four now seemed no longer than one. He thought, “Perhaps the demands of my position have something to do with the speed in which life seems to be trickling away from me?” In this he was right.
In fact, the duties of the office of Grand Chief had changed their lives completely, just as he and Spring Flower had predicted three Springs earlier. Right from the first Sunrise after he became Grand Chief, most of their Sunrises were filled with what seemed an endless stream of private citizens and leaders from Mi’kmaq and other countries seeking his advice and guidance.
This ever-increasing volume was caused largely by his remarkable ability to come up with fair and equitable solutions for seemingly insolvable disputes. Also contributing substantially to the length of the lineup of callers was the fact that the Grand Chief and wife were renowned throughout allied territory for being two of the most entertaining, delightful, genial and generous hosts a visitor could spend a few pleasant Sunrises with.
Never complaining about the imposition on their personal time, Spring Flower, true to her word, continued to give her husband her full and loving support. However, during one of the rare evenings they had alone, she was moved to say in a moment of nostalgia, “Lightning Bolt, my dear husband, I miss the very enjoyable times we were able to spend together travelling and visiting with friends and family. Seeing them again and the beauty of some of Mother Earth’s wonders at a leisurely pace would be wonderful. I can, by just thinking about it, feel the warmth of a campfire, under a moonlit sky, warming us against a cool breeze coming off the Bay of High Tides at Blomidon. Ah, my love, just the thought of it warms my soul.”
Her comments sparked a yearning in Lightning Bolt for the more leisurely times of the past. “My little flower, your talk also conjures up in my mind some of the wonderful memories we gathered in our younger Moons. Yes, my love, it would be wonderful to sit again before a campfire under the conditions you describe. The memories of those past cozy campfires are so clear I can almost smell the smoke. Are you, my precious wife, beginning to regret our decision to assume the time-consuming responsibilities of Grand Chief?”
“No, my dear husband, I have no regrets. However, I don’t have any desire to see you work yourself to death either, which you shall surely do if things don’t change quickly. What you need to do, my darling, is to accept that you, as a mortal, need to have time for rest and relaxation the same as other humans do. When I think of how your schedule has been all but continuous since you took office, I cringe. Even when you were much younger, such would have been a heavy burden. At your present age you can’t continue with such a pace without harming your health. To rectify this, I have a suggestion. Let’s send out runners to all the countries and tell them that we’ll be away in Kespek for the three Moons of Summer visiting Snow Flake and her family.”
“I hear you loud and clear my little flower. The truth and wisdom of your words are indisputable. Ah, to see our baby again. Yes, my precious wife, the time has come for us to relax and enjoy some of the simpler pleasures of life. A leisurely trip to Kespek, with many a romantic campsite in between, is one of the most enjoyable things I can think of doing. Already, besides the pleasure of visiting our family, I can envision the pleasure of sitting around a campfire after we get there and listening to the exciting stories my father Big Beaver will entertain us with.”
Spring Flower, in wonder at the easiness of his agreement and their new plans exclaimed, “May the Great Spirit help me, if I had thought for a moment it was going to be this easy to get you away for a short while I would have suggested it long ago! Now that it’s settled, I’ll send a message to Snow Flake with the next group of people travelling to Kespek, to advise her of our plans, and then start preparing for the trip. Oh, Lightning Bolt, I’m so happy I could cry, laugh, sing and dance all at the same time.”
“Well, my darling wife, I don’t feel like doing all those things at once but now that we’ve decided to go I look forward to it with great eagerness. I can envision it now, camping in scenic spots and snuggling up at night in our cozy furs like we did in those long ago Sunrises when we travelled to so many wonderful and interesting places. Ah, my darling, I often look around our wigwam and see the many relics we acquired during those Sunrises. They always bring back feelings of happy contentment.
“Oh, my little flower, it just occurred to me. Let’s bring some of the old furs we used to snuggle up in during those long-ago trips. They will help us recall and enjoy reliving those happy Sunrises. Their comforting memories will be music to the heart.
“My darling, my darling, I’m so excited, just thinking about the pleasures that await us during our vacation, that I am sure sleep will elude me tonight. However, I won’t waste it. While I lie wide awake, excited just like a little boy going on his first hunting trip, I’ll work out
the wording of the messages that I want runners to take to the Mi’kmaq National Chiefs, and the Chiefs of the Allied Nations. As the time before we depart is short, I want to get the messengers on their way at the first light of dawn. If anything urgent has to be taken care of before we depart the Chiefs will have ample time to get the information to me before we go. If not, it will have to keep until our return.
“But, my beloved wife, before we retire for the night, I want to apologize for only thinking of affairs of state for the past three Springs and not thinking of our personal needs. It’s unforgivable of me to have neglected them. Tell me my love why do you tolerate my inconsiderate nature? To have let all this time pass by without thinking of taking some time out for ourselves is completely selfish of me. After all, we are only human and as such we need time in our lives for family, friends, rest and tranquility.
“To assure I don’t neglect this necessity in future Seasons, I will include in the messages to our brothers that henceforth, we shall be taking the first twenty-eight Sunrises before the first full Moon of Summer as time for an annual vacation. Does that please you?”
Spring Flower in jubilation replied, “Nothing could please me more, my darling. The knowledge that you won’t make me a widow by working yourself to death makes me as happy as a robin with a nest full of eggs. To celebrate, my loving husband, let’s go snuggle in our bed and have one of our long talks.”
Chief Lightning Bolt Page 22