Classic Poem

SCENE FIFTH — A N OPEN SPACE IN THE FOREST NEAR THE P ROPHET'S Town . A FIRE OF BILLETS BURNING . W AR-CRIES ARE HEARD FROM THE TOWN .

Enter the P ROPHET .

P ROPHET . My spells do work apace! Shout yourselves hoarse,
Ye howling ministers by whom I climb!
For this I've wrought until my weary tongue,
Blistered with incantation, flags in speech,
And half declines its office. Every brave,
Inflamed by charms and oracles, is now
A vengeful serpent, who will glide ere morn
To sting the Long-Knife's sleeping camp to death.
Why should I hesitate? My promises!
My duty to Tecumseh! What are these
Compared with duty here? Where I perceive
A near advantage, there my duty lies;
Consideration strong which overweighs
All other reason. Here is Harrison —
Trapanned to dangerous lodgment for the night —
Each deep ravine which grooves the prairie's breast
A channel of approach; each winding creek
A screen for creeping death. Revenge is sick
To think of such advantage flung aside.
For what? To let Tecumseh's greatness grow,
Who gathers his rich harvest of renown
Out of the very fields that I have sown!
By Manitou, I will endure no more!
Nor, in the rising flood of our affairs,
Fish like an osprey for this eagle longer.
But, soft!
It is the midnight hour when comes
Tarhay to claim his bride, ( calls ) Tarhay! Tarhay!

Enter T ARHAY with several braves .

T ARHAY . Tarhay is here!
P ROPHET . The Long-Knives die to-night.
The spirits which do minister to me
Have breathed this utterance within my ear.
You know my sacred office cuts me off
From the immediate leadership in fight.
My nobler work is in the spirit-world,
And thence come promises which make us strong.
Near to the foe I'll keep the Magic Bowl,
Whilst you, Tarhay, shall lead our warriors on.
T ARHAY . I'll lead them; they are wild with eagerness.
But fill my cold and empty cabin first
With light and heat! You know I love your niece,
And have the promise of her hand to-night.
P ROPHET . She shall be yours!
Go bring her here at once —
But, look! Fulfilment of my promise comes
In her own person.

Enter I ENA and M AMATEE .

Welcome, my sweet niece!
You have forestalled my message by these braves,
And come unbidden to your wedding place.
I ENA . Uncle! you know my heart is far away —
P ROPHET . But still your hand is here! this little hand!
I ENA . Dare you enforce a weak and helpless girl,
Who thought to move you by her misery?
Stand back! I have a message for you too.
What means the war-like song, the dance of braves,
And bustle in our town?
P ROPHET . It means that we
Attack the foe to-night.
I ENA . And risk our all?
O that Tecumseh knew! his soul would rush
In arms to intercept you. What! break faith,
And on the hazard of a doubtful strife
Stake his great enterprise and all our lives!
The dying curses of a ruined race
Will wither up your wicked heart for this!
P ROPHET . False girl! your heart is with our foes;
Your hand I mean to turn to better use.
I ENA . Oh, could it turn you from your mad intent
How freely would I give it! Drop this scheme,
Dismiss your frenzied warriors to their beds;
And, if contented with my hand, Tarhay
Can have it here.
T ARHAY . I love you, Iena!
I ENA . Then must you love what I do! Love our race!
'Tis this love nerves Tecumseh to unite
Its scattered tribes — his fruit of noble toil,
Which you would snatch unripened from his hand
And feed to sour ambition. Touch it not —
Oh, touch it not, Tarhay! and though my heart
Breaks for it, I am yours.
P ROPHET . His anyway,
Or I am not the Prophet!
T ARHAY . For my part
I have no leaning to this rash attempt,
Since Iena consents to be my wife.
P ROPHET . Shall I be thwarted by a yearning fool!
This soft, sleek girl, to outward seeming good,
I know to be a very fiend beneath —
Whose sly affections centre on herself,
And feed the gliding snake within her heart.
T ARHAY . I cannot think her so —
M AMATEE . She is not so!
There is the snake that creeps among our race,
Whose venomed fangs would bite into our lives,
And poison all our hopes.
P ROPHET . She is the head —
The very neck of danger to me here,
Which I must break at once! ( Aside .) Tarhay — attend!
I can see dreadful visions in the air;
I can dream awful dreams of life and fate;
I can bring darkness on the heavy earth;
I can fetch shadows from our fathers' graves,
And spectres from the sepulchres of hell.
Who dares dispute with me disputes with death!
Dost hear, Tarhay?
T ARHAY . I hear, and will obey.
Spare me! Spare me!
P ROPHET . As for this foolish girl,
The hand she offers you on one condition,
I give to you upon a better one;
And, since she has no mind to give her heart —
Which, rest assured, is in her body still —
There, — take it at my hands!
( To T ARHAY .) Go bring the braves to view the Mystic Torch
And belt of Sacred Beans grown from my flesh —
One touch of it makes them invulnerable —
Then creep, like stealthy panthers, on the foe!