HEWITT— REQUICKENING ADDRESS 



TENTH WAMPUM STRING 



"Now, another thing, (I say). That our grandsires who are now 

 dead and in whom our minds trusted, decreed, because they did not 

 know its face, the face, indeed, of that Being that abuses us every 

 day, that Being of Darkness lying hard by the lodges where it is 

 black night, yea, that Being which here, at the very top of our heads, 

 goes about with its couched weapon — with uplifted hatchet — eagerly 

 muttering its fell purpose, 'I, I will destroy the whole matter — the 

 Commonwealth,' they decreed, I say, that they would call it the 

 Great Destroyer, the Being Without a Face, the Being Malefic in 

 Itself [i.e., Death]. More than this it has done, putting forth its 

 power there in thy frail booth of boughs, this one [indicating], my 

 weanling, my offspring, thou noble one, and so snatched from there 

 one on whom thou didst trust for words of wisdom and kindly service. 

 And so now, at this very moment, there is in that booth a vacant mat 

 because of this stroke. And, in striking this blow, it scattered the fire- 

 brands widely asunder from the place where thou art wont to kindle 

 thy fire, and now more than this, the Great Destroyer has trampled 

 exultingly that place under foot. 



"Thou sittest there now with bowed head; thou dost not meditate 

 now on anything whatsoever of thy former affairs — wherein thou wast 

 laboring for the two persons, thy niece and thy nephew, i.e., the men 

 and the women of thy people, yea, for thy children; yea, for thy chil- 

 dren, for this file of warriors, and this rank of women, and also for 

 thy grandchildren, who run about at thy sides, and for these also who 

 are still bound to the cradle-boards, and also for those children who 

 are still unborn, whose faces, still under-ground, are coming towards 

 thee. That is, indeed, the extent of the cares which were in the hands 

 of him, thy mother's brother who has departed, as he labored for 

 their daily welfare, and who is at this moment floating away far 

 yonder, even as the crane flieth away. 1 



"So, now, do thou know it, this one, my weanling, my offspring, 

 thou noble one, that the Three Brothers have perfected their prepa- 

 rations, and now let them say it, 'Now, we gather together again the 

 scattered fire-brands, and now, indeed, we re-kindle the fire for thee. 

 And now, in fact, verily, the smoke shall again rise, and that smoke 

 shall be fine, and it will even pierce the sky. So now again the eyes 

 of the peoples — alien to us — shall again see the full number of our 

 council fires. Now, indeed, again we raise thee up to full stature, 



1 Reference is made to the crane's legs. 



[1751 



