Chapter VIII

‘Great werowance, I come to bring
‘A greeting kind and true
‘From great King James beyond the sea,
‘Who sends good-will to you.
‘He is a king all terrible,
‘With ships and wealth and power,
‘Sufficient to o’erwhelm your tribes
‘And slay them in an hour.
‘Let Manahocks and Manakins
‘And Powhatans combine,
‘They could not stand one day before
‘This mighty king of mine.
‘But yet his love to Powhatan
‘Is brotherly and pure;
‘And as a token that it will
‘Forever warm endure,
‘He sends you rich and royal gifts,
‘A robe of scarlet red,
‘A sparkling crown thick-set with gems,
‘Fit for a monarch’s head,
‘And other presents rich and rare,
‘As you shall see and know,
‘When to be crown’d in solemn form
‘To Jamestown you shall go.
‘He sent them in a mighty ship
‘By a captain of the sea,
‘Who has commission from our king,
‘In company with me,
‘To place the crown upon your head,
‘A deed to great kings done
‘In all the lands beyond the sea
‘To the rising of the sun.
‘And Captain Newport waits to know
‘What day you will be there,
‘That all things for the solemn rite
‘We duly may prepare.’

IX.

Proudly the monarch raised his head,
And proudly turn’d his eye
Upon the spoils of many wars,
And scalps that hung on high;
And then his trusty bow and club
He haughtily survey’d,
And thus with stately air and tone
His brief reply he made.
‘If such rare presents have been sent
‘From your great king to me,
‘Remember too, _I am a king_,
‘And all this land you see,
‘And all these woods and groves are mine,
‘And the mighty rivers too,
‘That pour down from the mountain sides
‘And glide these valleys through.
‘And thirty tribes with all their chiefs
‘Their homage pay to me,
‘And fight my battles when I call--
‘Your captain of the sea
‘Should better know the place he fills:
‘His presents to bestow,
‘He may, when suits him, come to me;
‘_To him I shall not go._’

X.

Sir John knew well the monarch’s pride
And firm unbending will,
And well he knew ’twere vain to seek
His purpose to fulfil;
He therefore urged his suit no more,
But at the chief’s request,
Consented to abide till morn,
And in his lodge to rest.
And soundly slept Sir John that night
Upon his deer-skin bed,
With hand upon his broadsword hilt
And pistol by his head.
And the first red morning ray that came,
Bright gleaming o’er the plain,
Beheld him on the forest route
To Jamestown’s homes again.