Waheela

Some years ago a man had left his home
To go hunting in the Northwest Territory
And on his desk he had left a note,
"I´m going to where the lonesome eagle flies,
I´m going to where the lonesome eagle flies."

He left his car on a small side road
And walked on a path untrodden
Until he reached a clearing where above him in the sky
Big white birds did wheel and cry
White birds sang, "Tekeli-li".

And when the rain came down he fell on his knees
And gave a kiss to Mother Earth
With his mud covered face something he tried to tell
But all that you could hear was a thunder yell
All you heard was a mighty thunder yell.

Next day he spied a cavern beside a river bank
He collected some flints for a fire
He looked out for sharp stones and strong sticks to make a spear
He made himself a place to hide
He made himself a place to lurk and hide.

How long he´d stay there? The days he didn´t count
His hair grew long, his clothes grew tattered
Just when on his spear he had fixed the sharpest stone
Then the great white birds did leave the scene
Suddenly all birds had left the scene.

Where the woods grow dense he did find the trace
That he had been looking for
He threw away his gun, he took his spear and ran
And when a new day rose up to a blood red sun
The Stone Age just had begun.

It´s been last summer that a group gathered round
To explore parts of Nahanni Valley
There were rangers, zoologists and scientists as well
To explain local legends and mysterious deaths
Local legends and mysterious deaths.

They found the cavern and took a look inside
The fireplace remained of a human dwelling
A lot of bones from small animals were spread around
Some looked like they´d never seen before
Such bones they had never seen before.

They rose up their tents, lit a fire for the night
And slept under the boreal sky
One woke up before dawn `cause he had dreamt no good
And there he saw an ancient shape
A monstrous shape
Rambling through the woods
He swore he saw some ancient shape
Some monstrous shape
Disappearing in the woods.

The Indians say its front legs are longer than its hinds
And it´s almost four feet to the shoulder
Its fur is wide and it always hunts alone
In the valley where the evil spirits dwell
The valley where the evil spirits dwell.

© 2011 Sheesong Publishing