Of the old squaw, Winganameo, who to Matoax
From her childhood oft had taught the folklore,
Tales of olden days beside the roaring ocean
Where the White Man's ships were wrecked beside the beach,
Where through pine woods roamed at will the stalwart Red Men--
Accomacks and Chesapeacks and Potomekes,
Tappahannocks, Wangoags, Payankatankas,
And the giants of the North, Sasquesahannocks,
And the Roanoaks from the magnolia Southlands.
How they fought and how they were united,
How the Powhatan his mighty rule extended--
All these things the old squaw told the maiden.

Under the mimosa sat Matoax often,
While she listened to the old squaw's wondrous tales,
learned from her to trace the beadwork patterns deftly
On the moccasins or on the women's mantles;
But of all the stories Winganameo told her,
None the maiden loved to hear so oft repeated
As the legend of the lost ones of Croatan,[FN#8]
And the island where the blue-eyed children lived.
Thus it was that Pocahontas heard of English
Long before she looked upon the strange Pale Faces,
Dreamed of them as little lower than the angels,
With the wisdom of the ages blessed.



[FN#8] Refers to the "Lost Colony of Roanoke, 1587,"
(see Hawk's History of North Carolina).