Lynne Tagawa: The Heart of Courage
The Heart of Courage
Lynne Tagawa
Greetings, readers. We’ve engaged a Shawnee interpreter to help us in our interview today.
Tell me, Red Hawk, how long have your people lived in this place?
Actually, not long. Over a year ago I spotted white men with chains [surveyors, the interpreter says] while I was hunting. The elders decided to move toward the setting sun.
What were your feelings about the surveyors?
Feelings? Well, I only know that they want this territory. But we live here. I am certain that Grayfeather’s words were good words, that peace is better than war. So I will not speak more. I am a young man, not an elder.
Does Grayfeather continue to promote peace?
Grayfeather is no more.
What happened?
I will not speak of it.
Are all the Shawnee agreed on peace?
No, Elk Tooth and Laughing Wolf… well, they can speak for themselves.
Tell us more about your village and family.
Grandmother is the head of the women’s council. She is my father Red Pipe’s mother. She is exceedingly wise, treats ailing folks with herbs, and she knows all the Shawnee stories. She even knows some of the knowledge of the Muskogee and Uchee. That is because years ago, many of the Shawnee were pushed south by the Iroquois, the Six Nations. It was a dispute over hunting territory when beaver became such a good trading skin. So now we live near the Muskogee, and even the Uchee traders visit from time to time.
Tell us about the Shawnee stories.
{chuckles} It would take too long. My greatest wish…
Yes?
My greatest wish is that I could record all the wisdom of the Shawnee people on leaves. Like the chain men did—I saw them, with little sticks. They made marks in a book. Grandmother says a book contains a code like the patterns of beads in her designs. I want to master this code for myself—wait, I think you had better leave.
[Interpreter: He says Laughing Wolf has come back from a raid, we need to hide.]
Excerpt from The Heart of Courage:
Father’s steps were slow and sure as he approached. He jerked his chin in command and ducked into their wigwam. Red Hawk followed, and Dark Water served them portions of thick stew.
When their bowls were finally empty, his father spoke. “Grayfeather will join the Ohio chiefs traveling to Penn’s village.”
Red Hawk nodded. At the Bread Dance, he’d heard rumors. The Catawba had formed a new treaty with the whites, a surprising development. But at the time, he’d been more interested in the archery contests and footraces. “Is the chief of the Virginia Long Knives in Penn’s village?” He had only a vague notion of the political boundaries of the whites.
His father tapped the ashes out of his pipe. “No. But the consensus is we should do as the Six Nations and deal as a unified people with all of the whites. Penn’s Forest comprises white men living to the north of Virginia, near the Six Nations. It is said the white men of Penn’s village are more equitable than the Virginia Long Knives. And they have influence with the rest of the whites.”
Red Hawk didn’t see how this was related to the scalps but waited for his father to continue.
“Even the Catawba have publicly aligned themselves with the British. Right now, the British see the French as their enemy, not the Shawnee.”
He wasn’t sure about that. As long as he could remember, there had been a cold hostility between white men and Shawnee. It had just never broken out into war.
Father wiped the bowl of his pipe and set it down. “If we present ourselves as peaceful, the actions of a few may not bring wrath upon us.”
Laughing Wolf.
“Stealing a horse is one thing. Killing and scalping is quite another.”
“Grayfeather is wise.”
Lynne Tagawa is an author, editor, educator, and best of all, grandma to four. She loves to write quality fiction with solid gospel content. Her debut novel, A Twisted Strand, is contemporary romantic suspense, but she thinks she’s found her true home in historical fiction.
The Shenandoah Road (print, kindle, or audiobook):
The Heart of Courage:
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