--- title: The Feast of the Virgins., part 7 — Legends of the Northwest · full text with trees description: The Feast of the Virgins., part 7, «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: [a] My Daughter! --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/14/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Legends of the Northwest](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/) / The Feast of the Virgins., part 7 # The Feast of the Virgins., part 7 The Feast of the Virgins., part 7 of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon: the whole text, 139 sentences and 2649 words. The small number after every sentence leads to its own page with its syntax tree and pragmatics, parsed by Mova itself. **1** [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/14/page/2/) \[a\] My Daughter\![1](1/ "tree and pragmatics") My Daughter\![2](2/ "tree and pragmatics") \[b\] Alas\![3](3/ "tree and pragmatics") O My Daughter,--My Daughter\![4](4/ "tree and pragmatics") Wazíya came down from the North --from his land of perpetual winter.[5](5/ "tree and pragmatics") From his frost-covered beard issued forth the sharp-biting, shrill-whistling North-wind; At the touch of his breath the wide earth turned to stone, and the lakes and the rivers; From his nostrils the white vapors rose, and they covered the sky like a blanket.[6](6/ "tree and pragmatics") Like the down of Magá \[a\] fell the snows, tossed and whirled into heaps by the North-wind.[7](7/ "tree and pragmatics") Then the blinding storms roared on the plains, like the simoons on sandy Sahara; From the fangs of the fierce hurricanes fled the elk and the deer and the bison.[8](8/ "tree and pragmatics") Ever colder and colder it grew, till the frozen earth cracked and split open; And harder and harder it blew, till the prairies were bare as the boulders.[9](9/ "tree and pragmatics") To the southward the buffaloes fled, and the white rabbits hid in their burrows; On the bare sacred mounds of the dead howled the gaunt, hungry wolves in the night-time.[10](10/ "tree and pragmatics") The strong hunters crouched in their tees; by the lodge-fires the little ones shivered; And the Magic Men \[b\] danced to appease, in their teepee, the wrath of Wazíya; But famine and fatal disease, like phantoms, crept into the village.[11](11/ "tree and pragmatics") The Hard Moon \[c\] was past, but the moon when the coons make their trails in the forest \[d\] Grew colder and colder.[12](12/ "tree and pragmatics") The coon or the bear, ventured not from his cover; For the cold, cruel Arctic Simoon swept the earth like the breath of a furnace.[13](13/ "tree and pragmatics") In the tee of Ta-té-psin the store of wild-rice and dried meat was exhausted; And Famine crept in at the door, and sat crouching and gaunt by the lodge-fire.[14](14/ "tree and pragmatics") But now with the saddle of deer, and the gifts, came the crafty Tamdóka; And he said, "Lo I bring you good cheer, for I love the blind Chief and his daughter.[15](15/ "tree and pragmatics") Take the gifts of Tamdóka, for dear to his heart is the dark-eyed Winona."[16](16/ "tree and pragmatics") The aged chief opened his ears; in his heart he already consented; But the moans of his child and her tears touched the age-softened heart of the father, And he said, "I am burdened with years, --I am bent by the snows of my winters; Ta-té-psin will die in his tee; let him pass to the Land of the Spirits; But Winona is young; she is free, and her own heart shall choose her a husband."[17](17/ "tree and pragmatics") The dark warrior strode from the tee; low-muttering and grim he departed. "[18](18/ "tree and pragmatics") Let him die in his lodge," muttered he, "but Winona shall kindle my lodge-fire."[19](19/ "tree and pragmatics") \[a\] Wild goose.[20](20/ "tree and pragmatics") \[b\] Medicine men.[21](21/ "tree and pragmatics") \[c\] January.[22](22/ "tree and pragmatics") \[d\] February.[23](23/ "tree and pragmatics") Then forth went Winona.[24](24/ "tree and pragmatics") The bow of Ta-té-psin she took and his arrows, And afar o'er the deep, drifted snow, through the forest, she sped on her snow-shoes.[25](25/ "tree and pragmatics") Over meadow and ice-covered mere, through the thickets of red oak and hazel, She followed the tracks of the deer, but like phantoms they fled from her vision.[26](26/ "tree and pragmatics") From sunrise till sunset she sped; half-famished she camped in the thicket; In the cold snow she made her lone bed; on the buds of the birch \[a\] made her supper.[27](27/ "tree and pragmatics") To the dim moon the gray owl preferred, from the tree top, his shrill lamentation, And around her at midnight she heard the dread famine-cries of the gray wolves.[28](28/ "tree and pragmatics") In the gloam of the morning again on the trail of the red-deer she followed-- All day long through the thickets in vain, for the gray wolves were chasing the roebucks; And the cold, hungry winds from the plain chased the wolves and the deer and Winona.[29](29/ "tree and pragmatics") \[a\] The pheasant feeds on birch-buds in winter.[30](30/ "tree and pragmatics") Indians eat them when very hungry.[31](31/ "tree and pragmatics") In the twilight of sundown she sat, in the forest, all weak and despairing; Ta-té-psin's bow lay at her feet, and his otter skin quiver of arrows. "[32](32/ "tree and pragmatics") He promised,--he promised," she said --half-dreamily uttered and mournful,-- "And why comes he not?[33](33/ "tree and pragmatics") Is he dead?[34](34/ "tree and pragmatics") Was he slain by the crafty Tamdóka?[35](35/ "tree and pragmatics") Must Winona, alas, make her choice --make her choice between death and Tamdóka?[36](36/ "tree and pragmatics") She will die but her soul will rejoice in the far Summer-land of the spirits.[37](37/ "tree and pragmatics") Hark\![38](38/ "tree and pragmatics") I hear his low, musical voice\![39](39/ "tree and pragmatics") He is coming\![40](40/ "tree and pragmatics") My White Chief is coming\![41](41/ "tree and pragmatics") Ah, no; I am half in a dream! --'twas the mem'ry of days long departed; But the birds of the green Summer seem to be singing above in the branches."[42](42/ "tree and pragmatics") Then forth from her bosom she drew the crucified Jesus in silver.[43](43/ "tree and pragmatics") In her dark hair the cold north wind blew, as meekly she bent o'er the image. "[44](44/ "tree and pragmatics") O Christ of the White man," she prayed, "lead the feet of my brave to Kathága; Send a good spirit down to my aid, or the friend of the White Chief will perish."[45](45/ "tree and pragmatics") Then a smile on her wan features played, and she lifted her pale face and chanted:[46](46/ "tree and pragmatics") "E-ye-he-ktá\![47](47/ "tree and pragmatics") E-ye-he-ktá\![48](48/ "tree and pragmatics") Hé-kta-cè; é-ye-ce-quón.[49](49/ "tree and pragmatics") Mí-Wamdee-ská, he-he-ktá; He-kta-cè; é-ye-ce-quón, Mí-Wamdee-ská."[50](50/ "tree and pragmatics") \[TRANSLATION.\][51](51/ "tree and pragmatics") He will come; he will come; He will come, for he promised.[52](52/ "tree and pragmatics") My White Eagle, he will come; He will come, for he promised,-- My White Eagle.[53](53/ "tree and pragmatics") Thus sadly she chanted, and lo --allured by her sorrowful accents-- From the dark covert crept a red doe and wondrously gazed on Winona.[54](54/ "tree and pragmatics") Then swift caught the huntress her bow; from her trembling hand hummed the keen arrow.[55](55/ "tree and pragmatics") Up-leaped the red gazer and fled, but the white snow was sprinkled with scarlet, And she fell in the oak thicket dead.[56](56/ "tree and pragmatics") On the trail ran the eager Winona.[57](57/ "tree and pragmatics") Half-famished the raw flesh she ate.[58](58/ "tree and pragmatics") To the hungry maid sweet was her supper.[59](59/ "tree and pragmatics") Then swift through the night ran her feet, and she trailed the sleek red-deer behind her.[60](60/ "tree and pragmatics") And the guide of her steps was a star --the cold-glinting star of Wazíya--\[a\] Over meadow and hilltop afar, on the way to the lodge of her father.[61](61/ "tree and pragmatics") But hark! on the keen frosty air wind the shrill hunger-howls of the gray wolves\![62](62/ "tree and pragmatics") And nearer,--still nearer! --the blood of the doe have they scented and follow; Through the thicket, the meadow, the wood, dash the pack on the trail of Winona.[63](63/ "tree and pragmatics") Swift she speeds with her burden, but swift on her track fly the minions of famine; Now they yell on the view from the drift, in the reeds at the marge of the meadow; Red gleam their wild, ravenous eyes; for they see on the hill-side their supper; The dark forest echoes their cries; but her heart is the heart of a warrior.[64](64/ "tree and pragmatics") From its sheath snatched Winona her knife, and a leg from the red doe she severed; With the carcass she ran for her life, --to a low-branching oak ran the maiden; Round the deer's neck her head-strap \[b\] was tied; swiftly she sprang to the arms of the oak-tree; Quick her burden she drew to her side, and higher she clomb on the branches, While the maddened wolves battled and bled, dealing death o'er the leg to each other; Their keen fangs devouring the dead, --yea, devouring the flesh of the living, They raved and they gnashed and they growled, like the fiends in the regions infernal; The wide night re-echoing howled, and the hoarse North wind laughed o'er the slaughter.[65](65/ "tree and pragmatics") But their ravenous maws unappeased by the blood and the flesh of their fellows, To the cold wind their muzzles they raised, and the trail to the oak-tree they followed.[66](66/ "tree and pragmatics") Round and round it they howled for the prey, madly leaping and snarling and snapping; But the brave maiden's keen arrows slay, till the dead number more than the living.[67](67/ "tree and pragmatics") All the long, dreary night-time, at bay, in the oak sat the shivering Winona; But the sun gleamed at last, and away skulked the gray cowards \[c\] down through the forest.[68](68/ "tree and pragmatics") Then down dropped the doe and the maid.[69](69/ "tree and pragmatics") Ere the sun reached the midst of his journey, Her red, welcome burden she laid at the feet of her famishing father.[70](70/ "tree and pragmatics") **1** [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/14/page/2/) - ← previous: [The Feast of the Virgins., part 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/13/) - next →: [page 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/14/page/2/) - ↑ back to [Legends of the Northwest](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg8122/)