Then this young man brought surprised smiles from the people when he sang in the language of the Odawa as he told of the many villages he passed during his journey to this place.
Then he finished his song in Owasco, the father of all Iroquois languages, and sang of the greatness of this city where he had met so many wise elders, where he had seen so many wonders and delights, and that he knew as soon as he met the chief of this village that he was the greatest chief of all the people.
The people turned to the great chief and nodded their approval.
Then it came time for Anung to sing his song.
But he could not sing. The joy he felt in hearing the others sing left him and his throat was tightening again. He could not even stand for his legs were weak.
The elder sitting next to Anung picked up his drum and handed it to him, and nodded to him, that he should play it for them. Anung stayed sitting, set his father’s drum in place, and with his beater stick he struck his drum so softly only those close to him could hear it. Then he felt the heartbeat of his Mother from his winter dream and he followed that beat, and when that beat was steady it grew louder and when it was true he began to sing his song.
He sang of the people of his village. To the beat of his Mother’s love filled heart he sang of all of his mothers who never let their children eat the last portion of a meal until they knew Anung had been fed. He beat the drum a little faster as he sang of all his fathers of his village who taught him how to honor the spirit of the deer he killed with his arrow. And who showed him how to respect Nokomis.
He beat the drum slowly again when he sang of how tired and hungry he had been when the winter’s cold and snow were more than he could survive, then a faster drum beat accompanied the song of Windigo chasing him through the snow and of his narrow escape and of his long winter nap with Mother Bear who nursed him until he regained his strength to continue his journey.
He ended his song as a lament, confessing his fear of traveling alone over the great salt lake that stretches the sky to an island no one has seen. He sang as he told them he has felt this loneliness many times before, whenever he was sad that he never knew his mother or his father.
The people of the city answered with their own soft crying songs, for as Anung finished singing he continued to drum and other men began to drum with him.
Some of the gathered people began dancing to the beat of many drums. The truth of Anung’s song was still heard in the drums and the people dancing made spirits shout.
As more of the people got up to dance, the great chief placed his hand on Anung’s shoulder and said here was the chosen one. The people sang his name and asked him to tell them more of his journey. As he told them his story many of the people came up to him to give him their gifts.
Anung Crosses
the First Waters
The next morning the city prepared Anung’s canoe for him. The craftsmen of this Owasco city had learned the best way to manage the slowest burn to hollow out a great tree trunk to make the largest canoe with sides so light and strong the canoe could handle the roughest weather.
Each of the tribes gathered at the great city smoked or dried their meats and fish and they prepared their best for Anung. Along with breads and squash and corn they collected enough food for Anung to last a long journey to the island of the first sun. The lightest and strongest baskets using the best methods and materials of the gathered people were woven to store the food.
The best bladders of hides were used to store water, for skins were much lighter than even the finest clay pots.
They loaded Anung’s canoe with as much food and water as the canoe would hold.
The canoe was narrow, to cut through the waves cleanly. An outrigger was mounted on its side to keep it stable. They studied the construction of the best snowshoes and the most flexible and durable lacrosse sticks to build the framework for the canoe’s sail, then sewed a sail of the finest buckskin that was scrapped many times to make it the lightest buckskin they had ever made.
A great red sun was painted on the sail, but there was still room for all of the symbols of the gathered tribes. Each took their turn and decorated the sail with signs and images so every tribe would be known to the greatest chief when Anung found him across the great salt lake that stretches the sky.
When Turtle learned that Anung’s journey would take them to a distant island he did not want to leave Turtle Island so he decided to stay. His gift for Anung was to teach him the chant that would call on the Great Sea Turtle to bring him help should he need it, and then they said goodbye.
All the people of the city and all of the travelers gathered on the beach as a procession of singers led the warriors chosen to launch Anung’s canoe from the beach and out into the water, pushing it past the waves. They had been singing songs of this Anishinaabe boy and of his people in his village as they walked across the sands with him. As he headed off shore they sang to him that he was now the son of each of the tribes and of the brother of all of the people.
Anung liked this song, and he sang it as he shot down the back side of the waves. When the wind caught the sail he was excited to feel the power. He set the tiller to sail to the East, and for this moment he forgot he was afraid.
When the sail caught the first wind and the canoe leapt forward over the waves like a deer jumping over a brush pile the people stopped singing. They stood together and watched silently all day until the canoe and then the great red sun painted on the sail disappeared in the dusk where the new sun would rise the next morning. Then they went back to the city and continued their celebration.
The winds filled Anung’s sail and pushed him along his true course, to the East and the island of the greatest chief of all the people. He looked back to see how quickly these winds were driving him away from Turtle Island and when the people became so small he could only see them as small dark shapes on a beach his fear of being all alone out on this great body of water returned. He studied the many symbols and images that had been painted on the sail and that comforted him.
When the elders showed Anung how to control the sail they told him to take it down at night so shifting night winds would not blow him off course while he slept. As it grew dark the first night he released the bindings that held the sail in place. He draped the hide over the rigging and folded it into a shelter, and sat under it to rest.
He looked up at the stars. Far off he heard a splash, and then another, and later another, but all else was quiet. He played the drum softly so he wouldn’t disturb the silence, just calling to those spirits of the night close to him, asking them to comfort him, and he fell asleep dreaming of his village.
For many days the winds carried Anung’s canoe to the East. His sailing was fast so he traveled far. The elders showed him how trailing a long rope behind the canoe will help him keep his bearings. Once he was on the true course, all he had to do was steer the canoe so the rope behind him was always straight.
When another great distance was passed he would lean forward in the canoe to search the far horizons for land but saw none in any direction, and that would bring back his fear. But the winds continued, day after day, and because he had traveled great distances he hoped to find the island soon.
Then one morning as he raised his sail he found the winds had shifted so he lowered it again for it would have taken him off his course. Anung picked up his paddle and continued on his way to the island of the first sun. He paddled all that day, checking that the rope was always straight. Because he worked so hard that day he drank much more water and ate much more food than he had the days the winds had powered him along.
That night when he folded the sail for his shelter he was too tired to play the drum and he fell fast asleep.
The next day the winds did not blow at all and he had to paddle his course for the whole day. He was more frightened than ever, to be all alone in the middle of this great water, and now he was afraid that if the winds didn’t return he would run out of food and wat
er before he found the island of the first sun.
Before he slept he played the drum and called on the spirits of Ninggabi’ anong to send his wind. For many days after that the West winds came and again he traveled great distances on his true course, his rope straight.
He played the drum every night.
During the first days of travel rain refreshed him, and washed him clean. Then came a time when there were many rain storms day and night. The wind tossed the waters back and forth and the waves crashed over the sides of canoes and he was always wet and cold and some of the food would be destroyed in each storm.
Each time the lightning and thunder approached with the dark clouds gathering, Anung lowered his sail and covered his food and his water with it. Before he tied this bundle to the mast he wrapped his drum in his shirt and tied it to the mast, under the bundle.
When he had to paddle his canoe over waves nearly as tall as the trees of his forest he would tie himself to the canoe as well, for many times the waves nearly washed him away.
After every storm Anung knew to wait until dark for the stars to appear to regain his bearing, to mark East.
The last storm was the biggest. He was paddling across a mountain of a wave when it crashed down on top of him. The rope holding him to the canoe came undone and Anung was thrown from the canoe. As the water rushed over him he was confused and frightened. Then another great wave drove him down deeper and deeper into the water and he remembered the chant Turtle had taught him. He could not say it aloud but in his heart he sang it over and over.
It was dark and Anung was very afraid and when he swam he did not even know for certain if he was swimming to the surface.
Soon Anung’s lungs began to ache. But he kept singing the chant in his heart.
It was getting colder and darker and he realized he had not been swimming to the surface but deeper into the water. He was out of breath.
Soon he was so close to death he thought he saw the glimmering lights of the Path of Souls to the next world. That was when the Great Sea Turtle swam into view. Anung grabbed on to the edge of its massive shell and the Great Sea Turtle swam back to the surface with Anung holding tight.
When they surfaced Anung gulped a big breath of air. Then he saw the storm had passed.
The Land
of the First Sun
Anung did not know how long he slept on the Great Sea Turtle’s shell, but when he awoke it was a new morning. Anung saw the sun rise over a distant horizon of land.
He rode on the back of the Great Sea Turtle’s shell until they got close to shore. Anung slipped from its back and stepped from the waves onto shore.
He gave thanks to the Great Sea Turtle, for with its help Anung’s journey had taken him to the land of the first sun. And as Anung rested on the shore and considered what he would do next, the Great Sea Turtle returned, with Anung’s canoe balanced across his back.
When it washed to shore Anung discovered his belongings were lost except the small bundle of his shirt tied to the mast. Inside was his father’s drum. Anung picked it up and sang a song of thanks to the Great Creator and to the Spirit of Turtle.
He pulled the canoe well up on shore, and when his clothes were dried in the sun he left the beach and headed East.
It was a strange land he discovered. He walked all day under a bright sun for there were very few trees growing at this place and none as beautiful as the trees in the forests that cover Turtle Island.
In many places the earth was as much sand as soil. In other places it was rocky.
There were strange looking birds singing the wrong songs. He was very hungry and the berries he found had the wrong taste. The winds were filled with strange smells.
On the second day Anung saw people gathered together along a hillside. Many were sitting around a cook fire. Those standing held long staffs and watched a flock of crying animals grazing on the sparse grass around them.
He had never seen animals like these on Turtle Island. They looked like milkweed seed pods just beginning to burst.
When he approached these people they looked very different from any of the people he saw during his journey across Turtle Island. They wore long robes with hoods over their heads. The men grew hair on their faces, and on some it was long.
These people had stopped for a meal when Anung found them. When they offered Anung water and food he could not understand the words they spoke but he knew their meaning.
After he ate and drank he sang a song of thanks with the drum’s beat.
When he drummed his thanks he also called for any spirits who might be looking for him, to see him in this strange land. The spirits who came to Anung showed him that he should travel with these people, so that is what he did.
When it was night the travelers camped at the edge of a small grove of trees that grew around a spring at the base of a hill. Other bands of travelers were already there and others arrived after them. Some shared their food with Anung. When he played his drum to the spirits that lived in that grove they all drew close to listen to the singing of this young man from far away who appeared no more than a boy to some of them.
The spirits of the grove heard Anung’s song and gave all these travelers the gift of understanding each other’s words as long as they were under the canopy of its trees. A member of each traveling band told Anung of their destination and its purpose.
Anung told them of his journey from Turtle Island and of the winds and storms that carried him across the great salt lake that stretches the sky. He told him he was looking for the greatest chief of all his people, for when he found him his journey would come to an end and he could return home. When he found him he would sing the song of his village and he would sing a song that would tell this great chief about all the people of Turtle Island.
One of the travelers told Anung that he had once sailed far out into these great waters. He sailed so far that land had vanished. He had heard many tales of the magical land to be found across the waters where Anung had come from, but he had never met anyone who had journeyed across.
Another traveler told Anung that they were also looking for the greatest chief of all their tribes. They travel to him to pay him honor. They had heard that the greatest chief was in a village not so very far off. They would arrive there the next day. They asked Anung if he would travel with them the rest of the way for it seemed they must be searching for the same chief.
They traveled all day. As the sun drew close to rest Anung saw the village, across a great plain, atop a low hill.
They approached the village as night settled around them. Anung saw this village was as strange as the people he was traveling with, for the shelters were all made out of clay like the pots his people made.
As they approached the village a small band of people came from the village and they spoke with great excitement but Anung could no longer understand them. Most of the travelers in Anung’s band continued on. Others seemed angry and headed back. Anung followed those who entered the village.
The clay shelters were small. They passed many of them until they came to the far side of the village where the strange animals the villagers kept were in their own clay shelters that were even smaller.
There was a gathering of people there among the animals. Some were quiet. Some were singing songs of praise. Others were dancing to the songs.
Anung followed his new friends to a small room behind the last animal shelter, where the glow of a lantern bathed all in a soft gold.
First Anung saw the mother, shining in the light, sitting in a dry corner. A new born baby was wrapped in cloth and lying in a basket on the ground in front of her. Behind her stood the father, acting like the fathers of Anung’s village. The father knew a new baby was the mother’s to care for, and it was his job to care for the mother. The time for the father to teach his son would come later.
When the travelers approached them the mother looked at Anung and he felt as if all of his mothers from his village were looking at him wi
th their deepest affection.
The father did not appear to be a chief, nor even a warrior or medicine man. He seemed like all the other men Anung was traveling with, and Anung wondered what made this man the greatest chief. Then he saw those he had been traveling with were laying down their gifts for the baby.
Anung approached the baby in his basket laying at his mother’s feet. As he came near he turned his face to the sky above them to see the shimmering lights dancing across the Northern sky.
The lights he saw were the lights he saw in the night sky over his village. When the people of Anung’s village saw Wawasayg, the Northern Lights, they knew their ancestors were dancing and singing in the Land of Souls.
That these lights appeared at that moment, just over the baby, told Anung it was this new born child who was the greatest chief of all the people.
It was here at the end of his long journey that Anung hesitated. The others he was traveling with had gifts for this baby. He was afraid he would be dishonoring Gitche Manitou and shaming his village and all the people of Turtle Island because he had no gift to place before this baby, the greatest chief.
The people who had traveled with Anung gestured to his drum, and showed him that he should stand before the baby and play his drum for him, and sing for him. And that is what Anung did.
Under the shimmering lights he played his father’s drum for the baby. He played while he sang of the mothers of his village and he sang of the fathers. More of the people danced as Anung sang of all of the wonderful gifts of Gitche Manitou that he had seen and enjoyed during his long journey. He sang about all the people he had met from the many tribes of Turtle Island.
Then Anung asked for the greatest chief’s blessing for these people, and for his safe return home.
The mother smiled at him and though he did not understand her, Anung knew she was blessing his voyage. Then the father put his hand on Anung’s shoulder and spoke his peace.
Anung's Journey Page 6