Under the Totem-Pole

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 546, 26 December 1928, Page 6

Under the Totem-Pole

Chiefs and Braves

Letters to rtedteather are answered as follow: Evening Gold: Your Christmas card with its cheery greetings reached me safely, Evening Gold. Many thanks for it. Redfeather wishes you all happiness for the coming year. Blue Moon: Many thanks for assisting with the Fresh Air Fund, Blue Moon. It was very thoughtful of you. You will probably see some of those little people enjoying themselves if you are camping at Waiheke this season. Every good wish to this faithful Brave. Helping Right Hand: Your contribution to the Fresh Air Fund will be a great help. Good hunting to this generous chief. Blue Fire: There was not sufficient space for a portion of the Totem Pole in the Wigwam Christmas page, Blue Fire, and that is the reason your letter was not acknowledged. Please congratulate Henry for me on his success. I shall be delighted to greet your Guide friend if she decides to join the Wigwam. Harvest Moon: Thank you for the Christmas card and your charming gift. Harvest Moon. What did you think of our Christmas page this time? Silver Wing: The arrow of the faithful one has sped in at the Wigwam. Thank you very much for your useful present and those good wishes. I hope that the little New Year holds much of happiness for Silver Wing. Rushing Torrent: Greetings and welcome to this new chief, who is going to be one of the "Wigwam artists. I shall be glad to see some of your poetry, too. My best wishes for the New Y'ear. Flying Cloud: Every scent from your garden has found its way to the Wigwam this week, Flying Cloud. Many thanks for that charming gift. Last week some of the messages had to be THE JOURNEY OF LIFE The journey through life may be roughly divided into three stages, each lasting about twenty-five years. The first stage, all uphill, consists of growth from one to twenty-five. During this time is being built the house which has to be lived in for seventy-five or eighty years, but unlike other houses, it is occupied while it is still under construction. During this time force is being stored up faster than it is being spent, despite the fact that the expenditure now i« so heavy. Not only are all movements active at this time, but the size of the body is continually increased. Still, it is mainly now that those reserves of force on which health depends are accumulated. The great essential during this time Is an abundance of . suitable food. Roughly speaking, the body at birth is a quarter of its full height; at two and a-half years it is one-half; at ten years it is three-quarters; while the full height is reached at about twenty. This shows the necessity for an abundance of the best building materials to construct it. The second stage in the journey lasts twenty-five to thirty years, and should be a period of steady good health, when the balance of life is preserved, as is not the case in the other two stages. In the first stage repair exceeds destruction; in the last stage destruction exceeds repair. In the second stage, however. the two should be balanced. So much food in proportion to the size of the body is not required now, as the body no longer grows. Moderation in all things is perhaps the best motto. The third stage is that of decline, and sets in at fifty or fifty-five. The change from perfect health is at first most gradual, and in some may not really begin till nearly sixty. The manner of life may accelerate or retard the change, which soon becomes more marked. It may generally be described, where healthy, as a shrinking, drying, and stiffening of the tissues. Less food is required as the lamp of life burns more dimly; and to those who die what may be called natural deaths the last change comes gradually and gently. When we speak of natural deaths we mean such as are the result of the running down of the clock of life, rather than those due to the premature stopping of the works through accident or disease, so largely the offspring of carelessness or ignorance. FOUND BY A SONG Richard the Lion-Hearted, who, at the death of Henry 11., succeeded his father’s throne, soon became the nation’s hero, being amazingly strong and valiant, and ever, in the wars, leading his men to victory. At that time, strolling minstrels sang the deeds of chivalry, accompanying their ballads with the harp. They were welcomed at every feast and in the camp. Richard was their patron and often joined with them in composing lays of martial exploits. When, during * his journey home across Europe from the Crusades, he fell into the hands of Leopold of Austria and his over-lord, the Emperor of Gemany, it was long before the English obtained news of their king’s imprisonment. Richard’s whereabouts was discovered by his devoted Norman minstrel, Blondel de Nesle, who went abroad playing one of his master’s favourite songs, and one day, by good fortune, stopped beneath the walls of his dungeon. The king replied by repeating the music on his own harp.

Soon the English harl collected the huge ransom demanded for their king’s freedom, gifts of gold and silver plate from churches and great houses being melted down. The Dowager Queen Eleanor travelled with the huge first instalment to Germany, and Richard, after being released with fhe at « * et 84111 at the mouth of the Schedlt for England. When he entered London, the splendour displayed by the citizens as a welcome made the German nobles who him wish their emperor had asked a greater price. THREE ROGUES In the grove of Gotama a Brahman who, having bought a sheep in another village, was carrying it home on his shoulder to sacrifice, was seen by three rogues, who resolved to take the animal from him. Having separated, they agreed to encounter the Brahman on his road as if coming from different parts. One of them called out: "Oh, Brahman why dost thou carry that dog on thy shoulder?” y •Tt is not a dog,” replied the BrahmE*:n ’ ls a shee P £°r sacrifice.” As he went on, the second knave whereZm‘ in fhe PU lt ”1? Same t vT. t P the Brah man, throwing the sheep on the ground, looked at it S

held over. .My besi wishes for my maid of the Great Out-doors 10 Little FeßtHsr: Princess Moon or th. t\ a ter has arrived at the Wigwam i Feather, and, when I saw her knew which Brave she had come from l My warmest good wishes and thank* Flowing Gold: All the winds of the morning will bear your kind wt*he. , the other members of the Wigwam '° ing Gold. I an, delighted receiving letters from Red Star .L Purple Valley. A happy New Year to t? Brave with the happy name th * Moon Dreamer: Thank you for vn„ dainty Christmas card. Moon Dre.kr. My wishes for you are just the slm e r ' Dew of Dawn: Yes, our Christmas m*. looked very attractive, I thought ihfw of Dawn, and I am glad you liked Good wishes to this busv member Dancing star: Many thanks, Dancit,.* btar. I our greeting card and the Tak, puna report have reached me safely' friends,* SeW Year to you aml >'°« &»!<£ Sun Cloud: Thank you for the attract ive card. Sun Cloud. I hope the outfit has reached you. It should hj useful to take to camp. Good camDitw to First Cambridge. Pin? Purple Valley: Thank you. faithful on. Your arrow of goodwill has reached ... safely. ™ Sighing Wind: Your article is very in teresting. Sighing Wind, and I hone use it soon. Redfeather speeds a V.. Year wish to Sighing Wind. * Silver Leaf: The First Grey Lvnn „ port has come to hand. Silver Leaf Mww thanks. Good wishes to all the'mem bers of your company. n ' Redfeather desires" to thank all oth.. members of the Wigwam who have aim Christmas cards and other fr iendi tokens, and to wish them Good Camnlnc and Good Hunting for 1929. pmg THE SINGING SHEPHERD In the mountains of Poland the shepherds look after their sheep and cattle all though the summer. I n the upland meadow's, in the clearings of the pine forests, the beasts graze. The shepherds and their boys live in rough log shelters, close to Nature, among the rocks, the mountains and the trees beside the tumbling rivers. A hundred years ago no one intruded on their solitude. The Highlanders were alone, unknown and undisturbed Wild beasts there were, wolf, boar, red deer, roe deer, chamois and bears. Among the Highlanders was a boy named Sabala. He had loved this life from babyhood, and since he was old enough he had been a shepherd All the winter he longed for the summer, with its long days of sunshine, to return.

Sabala’s soul was full of music and poetry. To him Nature was God. The rocks of the high mountains, the blusky, the wind wispering in the trees, the singing of the rushing water, the birds, the flowers, all were God, and in loving them Sabala loved his God. His soul overflowed with music. All daylong he sang, and when he was asked why he replied: “I must sing, God is always singing. I must sing too”’ He made himself a flute and a long, thin violin, and while he minded his sheep he played and sang. He soon tired of the songs and tunes he knew, and then he made others, many haunting melodies, with wild rhythms and quaint words. Only when he was hunting was Sabala silent. He was the finest hunter in the mountains. With his old flintlock muzzle-loader he would shoot bear, boar, or deer, and always he would creep as close as possible, to enjoy to the full the long, skilful stalk. No one knew the ways of the wild things so well as he. Many tales are told of his exploits and adventures. Sabala wandered about a great deal. From village to village, not only in the neighbourhood of his native Zakopane, but across the mountains and right down into Hungary as far as Kesmark he went, and everywhere he was welcomed eagerly. People gatheisd round to listen, spellbound, to his music, his songs, and his stories. He would invent a story on any subject that was given him, and his stories were so full of life and of humour that his audience was enraptured. Later he became a guide to the tourists and artists who flocked to the mountains.

Sabala died about thirty years ago, at the ripe age of 86. a guide to the very end, though past his best as singer and story-teller. Zakopane was then already well-known, and now thousands of people come from far and near. A statue of Sabala stands at the cross-roads of the town, looking toward the mountains he loved so well, perhaps watching the life about him which the charm of his genius did 88 mucll lo bring. For without Sabala the mountains would have only a part of their soul. THE TREASURE HUNT All the village considered Nicaise a simpleton. He let them think so and just followed his own sweet will, often finding himself much wiser than people imagined. So it was that, having decided to buy old Peter’s field, Nicaise did not worry any more about it. The neighbours might mock, his wife be angry, Nicaise paid for the land and took possession of it. v T P tell the truth, it was uncultivated land, covered with stones and weeds, but this did not prevent Nicaise from surrounding it with barbed wire. Are you afraid your stones will fly a way?” people asked him. Well, well!” he answered. “Who knows?”

XT .* hat a ni nny you are, my poor Nicaise!” said his wife. “Here we are, the laughing stock of everybody!” ... them laugh as much as they like, replied Nicaise. “Perhaps there is treasure in the field!” this a joke? Anyhow, coming rrom nobody knew where, a rumour spread that Nicaise was not quite so silly as he seemed, and that he well knew what he was doing in buying old Jreters field.

One morning Nicaise noticed that ha . d du& U P a corner of his ne i“* did not breathe a word. in ext day more of the field had been U P’ tiie s t°nes thrown to one side, an s* ”? e Weeds pulled up. Nicaise rubbed his hands, smiling to himself. *" a t he was convinced that „ X blt soil would be turned over ? ear chers; and so excellently as it done that by a certain day £icaise saw that he had nothing to do but sow his seed at leisure. u, O „. e set - to Work » but not without first Proclaimed in the village * gratefully thanked his neighPours ter having helped him so well m removing from his field all the stones and weeds that had encumbered t»L and he felt he possessed a real in - havin ? such kind friend®, head the Vlllage said about it he never