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Four Tall Trees

from Angel with a Sword by Leslie Fish

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about

This is based on a story that my old college chum Mary Frohman told me about a weird experience she had while camping out in Upper Michigan, where the legendary Wendigo is said to roam. She was given to a wee bit of exaggeration, but she certainly saw something in those trees.

lyrics

Mary went out hunting in the woods of Keewenaw,
The wilds up Upper Michigan, a long way from the law,
And as the night grew closer her feet began to tire.
She set her lean-to shelter and she set her cooking-fire, between—

(CHORUS)
Four tall trees, growing in a square.
Twenty feet apart and a hundred in the air.

And as her stew was boiling she heard a rushing sound
As if the winds were running hard, far above the ground:
Winds told of in legends no one wished to know.
Memory came unbidden of the tale of Wendigo, in the—

The Chippewa told White Men that many years ago
A renegade turned cannibal became the Wendigo.
But Chippewa told Meti a very different tale
Of sorcery mistaken that turns red faces pale, in the—

In centuries forgotten the ancient people found
The uses of pure copper, and built the sacred mound.
They hammered copper vessels. They hammered copper knives.
They offered to the spirits there corn and blood and lives, in the—

In one hard winter’s hunger they made a sacrifice
To spirits of the forest, of wind and fire and ice.
They sacrificed a prisoner. His blood spilled on the corn.
And when they cast it in the fire, the Wendigo was born, in the—

They called the beast Windwalker. They called it Voice of Flame.
It calls men to destruction. It calls each one by name.
It stalks the deepest forest. It walks the lightest breeze.
And when it lacks the souls of men, it eats the moss from trees, like the—

It took the Chippewa hunters, the Meti trappers too,
And left scorched footprints in the snow, such as no man knew.
For this they left the forest. They left the sacred mound.
They left the knives and vessels there, abandoned on the ground, in the—

As Mary sat remembering and banked the fire high,
From out the distant forest there came an eerie cry,
She looked up to the heavens, and something there looked down:
A silhouette against the stars, one foot on every crown of the—

Its outline was not human, nor any beast men know.
And where its bulging head looked down she saw two embers glow.
It stood upon the treetops, its wings stretched out beside-
They faded out to nothing twelve yards to either side of the—

Its voice was rushing windsong. Its voice was roaring flame.
It whispered half-heard promises. It clearly called her name
It promised: “Come and fly with me, and we will soar away
And fly above this dreary world forever and a day, from these—"

Mary grasped the nearest tree, and gripped the nearest stone.
She cried: “Begone, you liar, and leave me here alone.
I am no lonely trapper nor wandering clanless brave,
But I have friends and family here, and a life that I would save, in these—" (Cho.)

By word and will they battled, and neither would give Way
Until the moon rose up the sky and washed it pale as day.
The Wendigo gave over, and turned away again,
Let go the trees and soared away — straight against the wind, from the— (Cho.)

Perhaps it wasn’t hungry. Perhaps her will was strong.
Perhaps the ties of Earth and kin had bound her well and long.
She could not tell what held her against Windwalker’s call.
But she fed the fire until the dawn and did not sleep at all, in those— (Cho.)

© Leslie Fish, 11/12/1998

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from Angel with a Sword, released September 2, 2022

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Leslie Fish Phoenix, Arizona

If there's one name that's practically synonymous with filk (Science Fiction folk music), it's Leslie Fish. Leslie has written literally hundreds of songs covering almost every subject, from the space program ("Hope Eyrie"), to Star Trek ("Banned From Argo") to urban life, history, and space fantasy ("Carmen Miranda's Ghost"). ... more

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