Page 608 - THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS

The Last of the Mohicans

more reason to value themselves in their ancestors than the
natives of any other state, since no wrong was done the
original owners of the soil.
‘We follow none, we covet nothing,’ answered Cora.

‘Captives against our wills, have we been brought amongst
you; and we ask but permission to depart to our own in
peace. Art thou not Tamenund — the father, the judge, I
had almost said, the prophet — of this people?’
‘I am Tamenund of many days.’
‘‘Tis now some seven years that one of thy people was
at the mercy of a white chief on the borders of this
province. He claimed to be of the blood of the good and
just Tamenund. ‘Go’, said the white man, ‘for thy parent’s
sake thou art free.’ Dost thou remember the name of that
English warrior?’
‘I remember, that when a laughing boy,’ returned the
patriarch, with the peculiar recollection of vast age, ‘I
stood upon the sands of the sea shore, and saw a big
canoe, with wings whiter than the swan’s, and wider than
many eagles, come from the rising sun.’
‘Nay, nay; I speak not of a time so very distant, but of
favor shown to thy kindred by one of mine, within the
memory of thy youngest warrior.’

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