LESSON 44 THE AFRICAN CHIEF

THE AFRICAN CHIEF

CHAINED in the market-place he stood,

A man of giant frame,

Amid the gathering multitude,

That shrank to hear his name.

All stern of look and strong of limb,

His dark eyes on the ground;

And silently they gazed on him,

As on a lion bound.

Vainly but well that chief had fought,

He was a captive now,

Yet pride, that fortune humbles not,

Was written on his brow.

The scars his dark broad bosom wore,

Showed warrior true and brave;

A prince among his tribe before,

He could not be a slave.

Then, to his conqueror he spake:

My brother is a king; Undo this necklace from my neck, And take this bracelet ring, And send me where my brother reigns. And I will fill thy hands, With store of ivory from the plains, And gold-dust from the sands.

Not for thy ivory nor thy gold Will I unbind thy chain; That bloody hand shall never hold That battle-spear again. A price that nation never gave Shall yet be paid for thee; For thou shalt be the Christian's slave In lands beyond the sea.

Then wept the warrior chief, and bade

To shred his locks away;

And, one by one, each heavy braid ［1］

Before the victor lay.

Thick were the plaited locks, and long,

And closely hidden there

Shone many a wedge of gold among

The dark and crisped hair.

Look, feast thy greedy eye with gold, Long kept for secret need; Take it—thou asketh sums untold— And say that I am freed. Take it—my wife the long, long day Weeps by the cocoa tree, And my young children leave their play And ask in vain for me.

I take thy gold, but I have made Thy fetters ［2］ fast and strong, And ween that by the cocoa-shade Thy wife will wait thee long.

Strong was the agony ［3］ that shook

The captive's frame to hear,

And the proud meaning of his look

Was changed to mortal fear ［4］ .

His heart was broken—crazed his brain,

At once his eyes grew wild;

He struggled fiercely with his chain,

Whispered, and wept, and smiled;

Yet wore not long those fatal bands,

And once, at shut of day

They drew him forth upon the sands

The foul hyena's ［5］ prey.

—WM . CULLEN BRYANT

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［1 ］ braid: Hair woven together.

［2 ］ fetters: Chains for the feet.

［3 ］ agony: Extreme pain.

［4 ］ mortal fear: Fear of death.

［5 ］ hyena: A wild animal of Africa and Asia, which feeds on dead bodies.