His injuries meant that Radisson could hardly help with the preparations. Even had he wanted to, he lacked the Iroquois’ expertise and had first to watch them closely if he were to learn. Not being able to make himself more useful made him anxious and impatient. He was eager to prove his worth to his parents. But he kept his head down, asked nothing of anyone, and thanked them profusely every time his mother and sisters tended his wounds or Ganaha taught him about hunting, fishing, and the rudiments of war. Radisson’s only goal in life was to learn how to become a good Iroquois but, like a child taking baby steps, he wanted to progress much faster. Changing cultures was no mean feat.
One day, Katari decided that her son had fully recovered and encouraged him to take part in the clan’s activities. For the first time, she gave him permission to go hunting with Ganaha. Radisson felt great relief: at last, his real life as an Iroquois was beginning. It would be up to him now, up to him to show what he could do, to prove himself worthy of his pardon.
And so, one fine, crisp day in November 1652, Ganaha took him hunting with Gerontatié, a cousin from the Bear clan. After half a day’s walk to the south, all three lay in wait. There wasn’t much game so close to the village, but Ganaha wanted to go easy on his brother’s foot. Despite their patience and vigilance and a few encouraging signs of big game, the three companions only managed to kill a hare on the first two days of the expedition. But hope kept them going, perseverance being the most important quality of any hunter. On the evening of the second day, faced with such a disappointing haul, Ganaha stood at some distance from the campfire for a long while and consulted with his guardian spirit, the spirit he had chosen when he became an adult, the spirit that watched over him. He returned to his companions with a broad grin: “Tomorrow we will find what we are looking for,” he said. “Now I know where to go. But we must remain on our guard because the signs the spirit sent me say there will be danger.”
The next day, all three got up early and made their way stealthily to the south, eyes peeled for the slightest trace of game. Curiously, Ganaha did not examine the ground as he had on previous days. He was waiting for an animal to leap out at them without warning. And that was exactly what happened: just as they reached the top of a low hill, they found themselves face to face with a huge bear. “There it is! Shoot!” cried Ganaha, opening fire on the animal with his musket. Gerontatié fired an arrow, then another, then another with impressive speed. But the bear was charging at them as though nothing had happened. Radisson took aim, waited for the bear to draw closer, and hit it right between the eyes— just as it was about to leap at them! Ganaha had already raised his tomahawk to fight the animal, but it fell at their feet, struck down by the musket ball Radisson had lodged in its brain.
The three men stood rooted to the spot for a moment, stunned but happy to have escaped the fury of this king of the woods. Then, they started to stamp their feet with joy, dancing all around their extraordinary catch. It was the biggest bear Ganaha and Gerontatié had ever seen. That evening, they stuffed themselves with the delicious meat and sang merrily, long into the night. Once he had bedded down, Radisson could not sleep from his excitement. “It’s a good omen,” he repeated to himself again and again. “It’s a good omen. I am Orinha, brother to Ganaha, son of Garagonké and Katari. I am a good hunter. I am Orinha. May the Iroquois spirits always be with me!”
The next morning at sunrise the three men cut the enormous animal up into three chunks and hauled it back to the village, dragging the pieces of meat behind them with ropes. When they arrived, as was the custom, they offered the meat to Katari and to Gerontatié’s mother. But the mother of the Bear clan, grandmother to all the mothers in their longhouse, decided otherwise for it was she who ultimately determined where food for her clan ended up. Since the bear was an exceptional catch and there seemed to be plenty of it to go around, she wanted the meat to be shared among all clan members in a feast. Her decision was inspired by a dream she had had the night before the three hunters returned, which revealed to her that the enormous bear was a sign from the spirits. The meat would keep the whole clan strong, a clan that had once again been struck down by strange and devastating illnesses, as with every season when they traded with the Dutch. And so Radisson’s first hunting expedition ended with a huge celebration and hope for the whole community. Outwardly, he appeared modestly pleased, but inside he was ecstatic.
WINTER HAD COME. Snow was building up on the bark roofs between the village dwellings, and in the forest. Soon, a few experienced groups of Iroquois hunters would leave to hunt moose for several weeks, far to the north and the east of the village. But for the time being, the men spent almost all their time around the fire, smoking and recalling war expeditions from the summer and previous years. Radisson could see how much their military exploits meant to the men in his community. Their talents and skills as hunters did not count for much in these endless discussions. The highest honour went to the victors; those who killed foes or brought prisoners back to the village. Others made much of the difficulties they overcame on their travels or laid out in great detail their battles against countless, hard-as-nails enemies to explain why they had no sought-after victories to their name. Always seated a little bit behind the others, because he had no such tales of his own to tell, Radisson listened closely to the stories. He was still too young to be a true warrior. In any case, hardly anyone showed the slightest interest in him, apart from Ganaha, who one day used him as an example as he recounted his expedition to Trois-Rivières. He told of how the two young Frenchmen accompanying Radisson were killed by warriors from the Bear clan, as he and his brother followed Radisson for an entire day, before capturing him and taking him back to the village to adopt him.
“I saw his courage when he went on alone,” said Ganaha, in a loud voice. “I saw his skill when he killed ten geese with two shots of his musket. I saw his cunning when he tried to give us the slip by hiding in the woods. Despite the long journey and despite the danger he sensed, I admired his determination as he hauled all the game he killed right back to the gates of Trois-Rivières. Ongienda and I were watching him all that time and he suspected as much.”
The fifteen men around the fire listened attentively to Ganaha’s story. Radisson was amazed to discover that he’d been right to feel as though someone had been watching him that day. He was surprised to hear the account of that fateful day, the day his whole life changed, without feelings of regret or remorse. He had changed so much since then.
“On the way back here, I could see his desire to be at one with us. I saw he was a skilled fisherman and I saw his joy at sharing his catch with us. I saw his strength when he got the better of that arrogant Tangouen from the village of Sacandaga, who thought he was going to teach us a thing or two. And you all know how brave he was under torture. Not a peep out of him. Not a moan or a groan. He proved he was one of us. I’m telling you, my brother Orinha will be a great warrior. Give him time and we will all see his worth. Our family found solace in him when we lost our beloved brothers Orinha and Ongienda in combat. Long live Orinha!”
“Ho!” shouted the men to show their approval and give encouragement to Orinha, whom they now knew and were accepting more and more each day.
A little surprised at how he wanted to become a warrior, in line with Ganaha’s plans for him, Radisson simply nodded his head in thanks. Now, such was his wish. If he had to become a warrior to earn the esteem of the Iroquois, to be loved and appreciated, then so be it. As for the two friends whose death he had just been reminded of, it all seemed so long ago that it was almost as if it had happened in a different life, as if someone else had ventured outside the stockade with François and Mathurin that day. Since then, the Iroquois had almost killed him and his life had taken a new turn. He had become Orinha and he couldn’t have been happier. He had been given a second chance.
KATARI OFTEN VISITED a man from the Bear clan who seemed highly respected by his own. He lived apart from the others and rarely parti
cipated in the gatherings where everyone so enjoyed recounting their exploits. He lived at the entrance to the longhouse and spent hours on end meditating in the area set aside for his family. Radisson was curious to learn who he was and asked his mother about him.
“He is our peace chief,” Katari replied. “Teharongara is the best negotiator in the Bear clan. He is the best at finding compromises and brokering alliances. He lives by the entrance to our longhouse so that each visitor may be welcomed in peace. But nobody listens to him any more. Nobody turns to him now. Since we wiped out the Hurons and the Dutch started giving us all those thunderbolts that kill, our men think only of war. But Teharongara knows a day will come when we will again have to turn to him. Even the fiercest warriors know that too.”
Radisson knew that his mother was an advocate of peace. He owed his life to her. But Teharongara was a man and, judging by what he had seen, Iroquois men went to war, not least of whom his father, a respected war chief. The more Radisson learned about Garagonké, the more he admired him, the more he wanted to please him and be like him, a man who had stood up to countless foes and won many remarkable battles, the scars of which covered his whole body.
“See this scar?” Garagonké asked him one day, as he was regaling him with tales of heroic deeds. “It’s round because a musket ball passed right through my arm, years ago, when I was fighting the French. And this one, this one, and this one? They are the marks of arrows that pierced my chest and thigh. I was young back then and they healed in no time. But this one on my shoulder, this long scar comes from a lance a Susquehannock warrior planted in my body. I was weak and in pain, but I still managed to kill him. I could have died right there and then. But, as you can see, I survived all these injuries, and others too that never left a mark. And each time, I would pick up my weapons again with even more courage and determination. Each time, the spirits continued to support me in combat and I vanquished my enemies. Look at the nineteen marks on my thigh. I cut them myself with my knife, one for each of the men I killed with my own hands. Your father is a courageous warrior, Orinha. You can be proud of me, just as one day I hope to be proud of you for your victories in battle. Just as I was proud of Orinha, the eldest son whose place you are taking in my heart.”
Teharongara looked sad and lonely whenever Radisson saw him. His father, on the other hand, was happy and influential. He preferred to follow in the footsteps of his father, a wise, powerful, and courageous man.
IN THE HEART OF WINTER, feasts abounded in the Bear clan longhouse, as in the other village longhouses. Most paid tribute to the warriors who were making preparations for new offensives as soon as spring arrived. At these feasts, shouts, cries, dancing, and the incredible sound of drums shook the great bark structures to their foundations. The men acted out the battles they would have, leaping fearlessly over the fires that burned in the centre of the longhouses. On such occasions, Garagonké would brandish his war tomahawk, encouraging all the young men present to sow terror to the ends of the earth.
“We’ll attack the Algonquins who betrayed the Iroquois!” he roared. “We’ll decimate them, like we annihilated the Hurons! Both deserve the same fate for turning against our prophet Deganawida. They must perish for refusing to become one people with us, together beneath the tree of peace!”
At one such feast, after repeating his usual eloquent speech, Garagonké turned to Ganaha and said, solemnly:
“My son, the time has come for you to go to war without your father. You will go south, and I will go north. Have courage, because your honour is my honour, the honour of our family, the honour of all our clan. The whole nation is counting on us. You will sow terror among the nations to the south while I sow terror among the nations to the north. I will go and destroy the Algonquins and the French. You will go and strike fear into the lands of the Erie and the Susquehannocks. You will shake the ground to its core and save our people! Because time is of the essence, my son! Take your tomahawk and go to war! Avenge the deaths of your brothers and sisters! And avenge my own if I do not return alive from the land of the French!”
Radisson listened with fascination to his father’s impassioned speech. At once moved and troubled by the calls to destroy his former people and their allies, his heart nevertheless leaned in favour of the Iroquois. This was now his family, his people, his way. But he did not really know who Deganawida was or why time was short. These questions spun around and around in his head for days, until he summoned up the courage to ask Garagonké. As though struck by his son’s ignorance, his father sat up, put down the pipe he had been smoking by the fire and, after a long pause, replied:
“My son, you who have chosen to be an Iroquois, are asking essential questions. Listen well. Deganawida is our prophet. It is he who guided us along the path to union. Before Deganawida, the five Iroquois nations were at war and threatening to destroy each other. Deganawida had a vision of a tree of peace under which all the nations must come together. He advocated reconciliation and managed to bring an end to our fratricidal wars. He united our five nations and made us stronger. He also gave us the rules that govern our confederacy, the Iroquois League, bringing together the Mohawks, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca. Since he handed down these sacred rules, we settle our disputes through words and negotiation, according to his teachings, which make us more powerful every day. It is here that we Iroquois draw the strength that makes us superior to other nations.
“That’s why our confederacy must now expand to take in all the nations of the earth, as Deganawida predicted. The Iroquois have opened their arms to many peoples, but some of them have pushed us away,” continued Garagonké. “Several nations have refused to come together and follow the path traced by our prophet. They have chosen to become our enemies rather than sit with us beneath the big tree of peace. Our duty is to fight these nations and overcome them.
“Orinha, my son, time is short: the invaders from across the salty sea are decimating our people with their strange illnesses. The misfortune they bring with them is sowing devastation among our people and among other nations that live far from here. We must carry out our mission as soon as we can, before the evil spirits destroy us all. The Iroquois alone can overcome this terrible threat, thanks to the rules that have had us live in peace and harmony for generations. It is up to us to struggle to the very end to impose these worthy rules while there is still time. You too, my son, you can help us with our mission. I am counting on you.”
The conversation filled Radisson with inspiration. From then on, every night, he dreamed of accompanying his brother Ganaha to war. He saw himself fighting and conquering enemy nations. But when he awoke, doubt again undermined his confidence and conviction. He looked at Katari and wondered who was right. She or his father? Peace or war? He feared that his mother would stand in his way and force him to stay in the village. Perhaps his father would think him too young; perhaps he would ask him to wait until he had become battle-hardened. After all, he still wasn’t even allowed to go trade with the Dutch alongside the other members of his clan. What’s more, he realized he would never be able to fight the French. He simply could not do it. But, night after night, his dream came back to him so powerfully and consistently that all his doubts gradually faded away. The Iroquois put great stock in dreams and now he too was set on fulfilling his destiny, his dream, his obsession. He wanted to go off to fight the Erie alongside Ganaha. He devised a plan to convince his mother and father to let him go.
ON A RADIANT day in February, Garagonké returned happy as could be from the Dutch with a couple of tomahawks, a beautiful musket, and abundant ball and powder. Radisson took advantage of his good humour to put his plan into action.
“Father, you know I am an Iroquois. You know that I love my father, my mother, and all my family. So please let me go and avenge the people of my nation. Please let me go to war with Ganaha! I want to risk my life by his side out of love for the people who have adopted me. I will fight the nations of the south with Ganaha. The ene
mies I kill will make my father proud. The prisoners I bring back will make my mother happy. I will prove to you that I am the equal of the son Orinha that you lost. I will be as courageous, as brave, as valiant as he. You will see; I am worthy of the name you have given me. I am ready to die for my family and my nation! I beg you, father, let me go to war with Ganaha!”
Upon hearing these words, Garagonké jumped to his feet and cried out with joy.
“Orinha, you have returned, my son! Take courage, for the man you are replacing in my heart died in battle and not at home like a woman. Orinha was brave and daring. He died in combat outnumbered ten to one. So, yes, since that is what you desire, you too may go off to war. Go with Ganaha! You will avenge my two sons who fell in combat, and make me happy! Rejoice, my son, because the time has come for you to prove what you are made of.”
LESS THAN ONE MOON later, the Bear clan held a feast to mark the departure of the first war party of the year. Katari tried to keep her son at home, on the pretext that he was too young to undertake such a perilous journey, but in vain. Garagonké decided such matters and Radisson had convinced him he was ready.
Adventures of Radisson Page 8
