Page:Iracéma, the honey-lips (1886).djvu/81

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IRAÇÉMA.
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the trees, nor the birds of the air, he said in his sadness, 'Ah! my bygone days!'"

"The people who heard him wept over the ruins of the Great Chief; and since then, whoever passes by that spot repeats his words, 'Ah! meus tempos passados;' for which reason the river and the prairie are called Quixeramobim.[1]

"Batuireté came from the 'Path of the Herons'[2] as far as that Serra which thou seest in the distance, and there he first lived. On the topmost peak the old warrior made his nest, as high as flies the hawk, to pass the remnant of his days speaking with Tupan. His son already sleeps under the earth, whilst he, even during the last moon, was thinking at his cabin door, to await the night which brings the Great Sleep. All the Pytiguára warriors, when the voice of war awakes them, visit and beg the old man that he will teach them to conquer; for no other warrior ever knew to fight as he did. Thus the tribes call him no more by his name, but know him as the Great Wise Man of War—Maranguab.[3]

"The chief Poty wants to visit the Serra to see his mighty Grandsire; but before day falls he will be back in the cabin of his brother. Has he any other wish?"

"The white warrior will accompany his brother. He wants to embrace the Great Chief of the Pytiguáras, Grandfather of Poty, and to tell the old man that he lives again in his grandson."

Martim called Iraçéma, and they both set out,

  1. ↑ Quixeramobim, translated into Portuguese, means, "Ah! meus outros tempos;" in English, "Ah! my other times."
  2. ↑ Caminho dos garças, or flight of the herons, in Tupy is Acarapé, a village in the parish of Batuireté, nine leagues from the capital of Ceará.
  3. ↑ Maranguab means "to war" and "wise man." Maranguape, five leagues՚ distant from the capital, is noted for its beauty and fertility.
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