by E. Pauline Johnson (1861 - 1913)
The cattle thief
Language: English
They were coming across the prairie. They were galloping hard and fast for the eyes of those desperate riders had sighted their man at last. Sighted him off to the eastward where the Cree encampment lay, Where the cottonwood fringed the river Miles and miles away. Mistake him? Never! Mistake him that famous Eagle Chief. That terror to all the settlers, that desperate cattle thief. That monstrous fearless Indian who lorded it over the plain Who thieved and raided and scouted who rode like a hurricane. Up they wheeled to the tepees All their British blood aflame, Bent on bullets and bloodshed Bent on bringing down their game. But they searched in vain for the cattle thief that lion had left his lair. And they cursed like a pack of demons for the women alone were there. "That sneaking Indian coward," they hissed. "He hides while yet he can. He'll come in the night for cattle, but he's scared to face a man." "Never!" Then up from the cottonwood rang the voice of Eagle Chief. And right into the open, stepped unarmed the cattle thief. A dozen hands responded and a shower of metal rain whizzed through the air and the Cattle Thief fell dead on the open plain. "Stand back, back you white skins Touch that dead man to your shame. You have stolen my father's spirit, but his body I only claim." And that cursing band of settlers dropped backward one by one for they knew that an Indian woman roused was a woman to let alone. And then she raved in a frenzy that they scarcely understood. Raved of the wrongs she had suffered from her earliest babyhood. "You have robbed him and robbed my people. Look there at that shrunken face. Starved with a hollow hunger We owe to you and your race. "Give back our land and our country. Give back our herds of game. Give back the furs and the forests that were ours before you came. "Give back the peace and the plenty Then come with your new belief. And blame if you dare the hunger that drove him to be a thief."
Authorship:
- by E. Pauline Johnson (1861 - 1913) [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by David Mills (b. 1939), "The cattle thief" [text verified 1 time]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 60
Word count: 360