AHANU He Who Laughs

By L. J. Campbell

Life has its ineffable ways of tossing us trials that we must prevail. As for Ahanu, a

young boy of royalty destined to become a great man and continue his father's legacy of

being the next chief of their Indian tribe, life gave him a great ordeal even at a very young

age. He was born very weak, and growing up, he was maltreated by a shaman who

deceived his parents.

How will Ahanu escape this harrowing crisis? How will he face this problem and

become a great leader of the people of Menomin

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 24, 2015
• ISBN: 9781681390475

Book preview

Ahanu

He Who Laughs

L. J. Campbell

Copyright © 2015 L. J. Campbell

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING, INC.

New York, NY

First originally published by Page Publishing, Inc. 2015

ISBN 978-1-68139-046-8 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-68139-047-5 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

This book is dedicated to my granddaughter, Amanda Carabajal, whose beautiful imagination gave me insight, and my sister, Gay Racina, who has always encouraged me in all I attempted to do.

With the rise of anger in his chest, Ahanu balled his fist and, with a sob, hit the nearest target to him, a great white pine tree. His knuckles immediately began to bleed.

The rising sun glinted through dewy pine trees, forming bright designs on the soft needle blanket of the forest. The air was crisp, and as the warm sun lifted the morning fog, the forest came alive with birds singing and small animals scurrying about.

Fifteen Menominee braves silently gathered at the bottom of the mountain to form a hunting party. They were checking their arrows to make sure they were straight and sharp, and checking their horses to be sure they were rested and in good condition for the hunt.

No one noticed Ahanu halfway up the mountain, peering around the trunk of a large white pine, the one that now carried the blood from his fist. Taking in every move the hunting party made, a bitter tear escaped down his cheek. I should be riding with them today. I should be riding with honor to bring meat back to the tribe. I should be returning with pride to a feast prepared by the women and children to honor my fearless hunting skills. But no, I am still not allowed to be a man!

Ahanu watched as the other braves laughed and joked with his old friend Shine of the Moon. He felt a quick surge of jealousy. At the same time, a chipmunk darted out from behind a tree, causing Shine of the Moon to look toward the noise. Ahanu ducked back behind the tree, holding his breath apprehensively at the thought of being caught spying on the hunting party. As Shine of the Moon turned his attention back to his arrows, Ahanu slipped away around the curve of the mountain and headed for the lake for his morning bath.

The medium sized lake was two to three feet below normal at this time of the year. Gray-green rocks jutted out from the ground, and cattails were in full bloom in the boggy areas of the lake. Jumping off a rock, Ahanu dove into the south end of the water, an area deep enough to dive into while being protected from the weather by a thick sprinkling of willow trees at the water’s edge.

As he surfaced, sparkling water dripped off his slender, dark face, and his long, shiny black hair. He climbed upon a large boulder nestled in the shore of the lake and lay down on his stomach. Breathing the fresh mountain air deeply into his lungs, he rolled over on his back and lay spread eagled with eyes closed, while the warmth of the sun upon his body and the chirping of the early morning birds in the forest soothed his spirit, lulling him into yet another lazy, hazy daydream:

Now he is riding a giant ebony stallion, the tallest and strongest horse that the tribe has ever captured. He is leading the Menominee into battle, holding his bow high over his head so the rest of the tribe can see to follow. As he rides through canyons and over mountains, wild animals jump out of his way and the other warriors work to keep up with him. Turning to wait for them, his stallion rears up. Ahanu, holding tight to his horse, can see the others are quite far behind since they don’t have the riding prowess that he possesses. In another second, he turns his horse and continues on, eager to get to the scene of the battle where his valor and expertise will be displayed.

He slows his ebony horse, and dropping to the ground, he quickly climbs to the top of the mountain. He looks down on a field of covered wagons. There must be fifty of them, all parked in a circle, all close together. They will be hard to penetrate. Squinting in the bright sun, he looks closer. He sees—what!—bear skins and wolf skins! They are killing the animals of the reservation, leaving them to rot, taking only their skins. They are mercilessly breaking the treaty Chief Oshkosh signed in good faith with the white man!

Feeling more than seeing the other braves arrive, Ahanu begins the trek down the mountain toward the wagons.

Ahanu, Ahanu! As he hears his mother’s call, Ahanu is brought out of his reverie with a sigh.

I’m coming, Mother. We need to discuss my becoming a man, Mom, as I’m older than the others have been when they went on their vision quests.

Not now, Ahanu, not now! Anna turned and walked away, leaving Ahanu standing with arms out and legs apart, wondering why not now. However, he did not argue with his mother, as it would be disrespectful to do so. Correction never took any form of violence in the Menominee tribe, but rather the children were reared in an accepting, pure atmosphere of love and affection. Menominee children were protected as priceless treasures and were kept gently out of harm’s way. Any act of violence or disobedience was foreign to their nature.

Anna quickly walked back to the Indian village, avoiding any further conversation with her young son. She would not, under any circumstances, even think of Ahanu going on a vision quest to become a man of the tribe. After all, she had been the one to bring him as far as he had come, so it was not the tribe’s place, Ahanu’s place, or even her husband’s place to decide when he would become a man.

Her strong belief was that Ahanu was not ready to go through such a trying custom, no matter if he was seventeen or fifty. She just did not believe that a young man of fifteen should have to become a man so quickly in his young life, as the rest of the tribe believed. Manhood could wait!

Anna’s thoughts drifted back to the time when Ahanu was born. Langundo, chief of the tribe, had been so happy that they would soon have a child, and for seven months out of the nine, all he could talk about was a boy to carry on his legacy. A strong son to follow in my footsteps! One I can teach all I know so he will be a better chief than I am!

Anna was hoping for a boy also, to carry on the chief’s work. The whole tribe would then follow Lagundo with even more respect than they already did. When the baby finally came, there were many complications. The midwife actually gasped as she looked down at the baby. His skin was wrinkled and chapped, he was very, very small, and he looked very yellow. He even had yellow eyes. She practically had to beat the poor thing, just to make him cry that first cry. She didn’t think he would last the day, and asked Anna if she wanted her to just take him up the mountain to the burial grounds and let him go. Then Anna’s mother stepped in with her opinions.

Just let him go, Anna, her mother softly spoke. He will be sickly and small all of his life if he even lives. He will shame Langundo as he will never be able to be a chief. She soothed the blanket around Anna with a look of pity in her eyes and covered the baby as best she could with a small blanket.

Where is Langundo? Is he on some mission? Is that why he has not come to see his new son? Anna’s heart ached for the man she had always loved to come to her side now. All the women around her had caused her feelings to plummet to the ground with their looks and their comments, and she desperately needed her husband’s strength now.

Then he was there. He entered the longhouse with a broad smile, his perfect white teeth standing out against his brown skin. The gleam in his caramel eyes and his shiny light brown hair caused Anna’s heart to leap, as it did every time she saw him.

As he looked at his son for the first time, Anna could not help but notice the disappointment in his face.

He is so small, Anna, do you think he will ever be a chief like me?

Don’t worry, my darling, he may be small, but I will give him all the care he will need to become a great chief and to walk in your footsteps.

And to Ahanu, she said, Don’t worry, my angel, I will help you to become all you can be! We will show them all what a strong, healthy boy you will be!

As she slept each night, the voices of ancestors came to her, promising her that if she did her best, in the end she would win the respect of the tribe and would give her husband the son he actually deserved in his eyes. The voices had always talked to her ever since she was just a very young girl. When she had told her mother that she heard voices, her mother had smiled and told her to always listen to the voices, they were there to help her solve problems. They would protect her from the bad spirits if she would listen.

From the day of his birth, Anna spent all her time taking care of her precious son. She went into the forest gathering special herbs for his health. She had her mother gather herbs, as well; as she was well versed on each one. She fed them to Ahanu with the food she prepared for him to eat, feeding him every few hours each day. She also spent hours teaching him to crawl, then to walk, then to run.

Anna, you are spending all your time with Ahanu! Langundo complained.

Well, maybe you should spend more time with him then. He needs someone to show him how to live!

If Langundo asked Anna to spend more time visiting the ailing people of the tribe, Anna would say she didn’t have time, she must spend her time with her son. If she didn’t have time to fix dinner for Langundo, so be it. She did not care. She put her son first in her life, before herself, before Langundo, before her family, before the tribe, and even before the gods. She became obsessed with the progress of her young son.

The village began to talk about Anna, about how she was obsessed with making the weak little boy into the biggest, strongest, bravest of the tribe. They whispered behind her back and secretly agreed that it might have been better if the child had died when he was born. Even the shaman, Achak, agreed that it might have been best because she was influencing the lives of the whole tribe. They were falling into despair as they watched Anna force the impossible upon her husband and her son.

Did you see the way Langundo had to go without dinner again last night? She doesn’t even care he being the chief and all, it’s a pity he doesn’t get rid of her!

Not only that, but I’m getting sick of the way he forgives her for every hurt she causes him! There are plenty of young women who would gladly take her place, and they could probably give him a healthy son as well!

All the chatter and all the dirty looks the tribe gave her, and all the criticism she had to endure, didn’t stop Anna, however. She just kept on making every effort to help her son grow and learn, and to protect him from the comments of the rest of the tribe.

The voices kept on talking to Anna in her sleep, encouraging her to continue on