Aggodagauda And His Daughter Or The Man With His Leg Tied Up
:
The Myth Of Hiawatha
The prairie and forest tribes were once at war, and it required the
keenest eyes to keep out of the way of danger. Aggodagauda lived on the
borders, in the forests, but he was in a by-place not easy to find. He
was a successful hunter and fisher, although he had, by some mischance,
lost the use of one of his legs. So he had it tied, and looped up, and
got over the ground by hopping.
Use had given him grea
power in the sound leg, and he could hop to a
distance, which was surprising. There was nobody in the country who
could outgo him on a hunt. Even Paup-Puk-keewiss, in his best days,
could hardly excel him. But he had a great enemy in the chief or king
of the buffaloes, who frequently passed over the plains with the force
of a tempest. It was a peculiarity of Aggodagauda, that he had an only
child, a daughter, who was very beautiful, whom it was the aim of this
enemy to carry off, and he had to exert his skill to guard her from the
inroad of his great and wily opponent. To protect her the better, he
had built a log house, and it was only on the roof of this that he
could permit his daughter to take the open air, and disport herself.
Now her hair was so long, that when she untied it, the raven locks hung
down to the ground.
One fine morning, the father had prepared himself to go out a fishing,
but before leaving the lodge put her on her guard against their arch
enemy. "The sun shines," said he, "and the buffalo chief will be apt to
move this way before the sun gets to the middle point, and you must be
careful not to pass out of the house, for there is no knowing but he is
always narrowly watching. If you go out, at all, let it be on the roof,
and even there keep a sharp lookout, lest he sweep by and catch you
with his long horns." With this advice he left his lodge. But he had
scarcely got seated in his canoe, on his favorite fishing-ground, when
his ear caught opprobrious strains from his enemy. He listened again,
and the sound was now clearer than before--
"Aggodagauda--one legged man,
Man with his leg tied up;
What is he but a rapakena,[92]
Hipped, and legged?"
He immediately paddled his canoe ashore, and took his way home--hopping
a hundred rods at a leap. But when he reached his house his daughter
was gone. She had gone out on the top of the house, and sat combing her
long and beautiful hair, on the eaves of the lodge, when the buffalo
king, coming suddenly by, caught her glossy hair, and winding it about
his horns, tossed her on to his shoulders, swept off in an opposite
direction to his village. He was followed by his whole troop, who made
the plains shake under their tread. They soon reached, and dashed
across a river, and pursued their course to the chief's village, where
she was received by all with great attention. His other wives did all
they could to put the lodge in order, and the buffalo king himself was
unremitting in his kindness and attention. He took down from the walls
his pibbegwun, and began to play the softest strains, to please her
ear. Ever and anon, as the chorus paused, could be heard the words--
"Ne ne mo sha makow,
Aghi saw ge naun.
My sweetheart--my bosom is true,
You only--it is you that I love."
They brought her cold water, in bark dishes from the spring. They set
before her the choicest food. The king handed her nuts from the
pecan-tree, then he went out hunting to get her the finest meats and
water fowl. But she remained pensive, and sat fasting in her lodge day
after day, and gave him no hopes of forgiveness for his treachery.
In the mean time, Aggodagauda came home, and finding his daughter had
been stolen, determined to get her back. For this purpose he
immediately set out. He could easily track the king, until he came to
the banks of the river, and saw that he had plunged in and swam over.
But there had been a frosty night or two since, and the water was
covered with thin ice, so that he could not walk on it. He determined
to encamp till it became solid, and then crossed over and pursued the
trail. As he went along he saw branches broken off and strewed behind,
for these had been purposely cast along by the daughter, that the way
might be found. And the manner in which she had accomplished it was
this. Her hair was all untied when she was caught up, and being very
long, it caught on the branches as they darted along, and it was these
twigs that she broke off for signs to her father. When he came to the
king's lodge it was evening. Carefully approaching it, he peeped
through the sides and saw his daughter sitting disconsolately. She
immediately caught his eye, and knowing that it was her father come for
her, she all at once appeared to relent in her heart, and asking for
the dipper, said to the king, "I will go and get you a drink of water."
This token of submission delighted him, and he waited with impatience
for her return. At last he went out with his followers, but nothing
could be seen or heard of the captive daughter. They sallied out in the
plains, but had not gone far, by the light of the moon, when a party of
hunters, headed by the father-in-law of Aggodagauda, set up their yells
in their rear, and a shower of arrows was poured in upon them. Many of
their numbers fell, but the king being stronger and swifter than the
rest, fled toward the west, and never again appeared in that part of
the country.
While all this was passing, Aggodagauda, who had met his daughter the
moment she came out of the lodge, and being helped by his guardian
spirit, took her on his shoulders and hopped off, a hundred steps in
one, till he reached the stream, crossed it, and brought back his
daughter in triumph to his lodge.