LEGEND OF THE VIOLET
(Iroquois)
Many Moons before the white man came to the land of
the Red
Indian, there lived a young warrior who was the pride of his
tribe; for dangerous deeds had he accomplished for the good of
his people. He had slain the Great Heron that destroyed their
children, and he had brought back from the Mountain of the
Witches the healing roots that cured the plague.
Once when he led a band of warriors against another tribe,
he saw in the lodge of one of his enemies a maiden so gentle and
lovely that he longed to have her for his wigwam. But because of
the strife between the two tribes, he could not buy her with quills
of the Wampum Bird.
So after he had returned victorious with his warriors to his
own village, he often thought of the maiden, and how, unless he
could light his wigwam with the brightness of her eyes, he
would no longer lead out his young men to battle.
At last he went forth alone, and hid in the woods near the
village of his enemies. There he watched patiently for the maiden
whose eyes had softened his heart.
He sang her praises so often that the little birds took up his
song and carried it in their flight, over valley and meadow. The
Bear, the Fox, and the Beaver heard him murmur her name in his
sleep, and thought that a bright new flower had been born in the
woodland.
With the calls of the song birds, he wooed the maiden from
her lodge, and lifting her, bore her away toward the hunting-
grounds of his people.
But, alas! a suitor of the maiden saw her carried swiftly off
upon the shoulder of the dreaded warrior. He dared not follow,
but fled to the village and gave the alarm. The braves left him—a
coward—in the hands of the women, and hastened in pursuit of
the maiden and her lover.
They followed them over mountains and plains all through
the dark night. And as the morning dawned, they found them in
the forest. And when the braves saw the maiden, they were filled
with anger, for she had plaited her hair about the neck of the
young man, to show that she was a willing captive and had
given him her heart.
Then her people, enraged at their foe for his daring, and at
the maiden because she had deserted her tribe, killed them both,
and left their bodies lying where they fell.
And from this spot in the forest sprang up the first blue
violets. And the winds and the birds carried the seeds of the
flowers and scattered them over all the Earth. So they did, that in
the springtime youths and maidens might pluck the little blue
flower that breathes of constant love.
GLOSSARY:
warrior = soldat
pride = stolthed
tribe= stamme
deed = gerning
accomplish = opnå
slain = slået
witch = heks
plague = pest
lodge = lille hus
maiden = jomfru
strife = strid
quill = svingfjer
wampum = perler
victorious = sejrrig
valley = dal
meadow = eng
murmur = mumle
wooed = friet til
hunting-ground = jagtområde
suitor = frier
dreaded = angst
pursuit= forfølgelse
plait = flette
captive = fange
enraged = oprørt over
foe = fjende
desert = stikke af fra
scattered = spredt
EXERCISES:
Make sentences with the following words:
pride _______________________________________________
tribe ______________________________________________
plague _____________________________________________
lodge ______________________________________________
victorious __________________________________________
valley ______________________________________________
meadow ____________________________________________
murmur ____________________________________________
Legend of the Violet (gammelt indiansk sagn)
Engelsk for 8.-10. klasse
Skole-forum.dk
