Four Tall Trees Songtext
von Leslie Fish

Four tall trees, growing in a square
Twenty feet apart and a hundred in the air

Mary went out hunting in the woods of Keweenaw
The wilds of Upper Michigan a long way from the law
And as the night grew closer, her feet began to tire
She set her lean-to shelter and she set her cooking fire

Between four tall trees, growing in a square
Twenty feet apart and a hundred in the air

And as her stew was boiling, she heard a rushing sound
As if the winds were running hard far above the ground
Winds told of in legends no one wished to know
Memory came unbidden of the tale of wendigo

In the four tall trees, growing in a square
Twenty feet apart and a hundred in the air

The Chippewa told white men that many years ago
A renegade turned cannibal became the wendigo
But Chippewa told Meti a very different tale
Of sorcery mistaken that turns red faces pale


In the four tall trees, growing in a square
Twenty feet apart and a hundred in the air

In centuries forgotten, the ancient people found
The uses of pure copper and built a sacred mound
They hammered copper vessels, they hammered copper knives
They offered to the spirits there corn and blood and lives

In the four tall trees, growing in a square
Twenty feet apart and a hundred in the air

In one hard winter′s hunger, they made a sacrifice
To spirits of the forest of wind and fire and ice
They sacrificed a prisoner; his blood spilled on the corn
And when they cast it in the fire, the wendigo was born

In the four tall trees, growing in a square
Twenty feet apart and a hundred in the air

They called the beast Wind-Walker, they called it Voice of Flame
It calls men to destruction, it calls each one by name
It stalks the deepest forest, it walks the lightest breeze
And when it lacks the souls of men, it eats the moss from trees

Like the four tall trees, growing in a square
Twenty feet apart and a hundred in the air


It took the Chippewa hunters, the Meti trappers, too
And left scorched footprints in the snow such as no man knew
For this they left the forest, they left the sacred mound
They left the knives and vessels there abandoned on the ground

In the four tall trees, growing in a square
Twenty feet apart and a hundred in the air

As Mary sat remembering and banked the fire high
From out the distant forest, there came an eerie cry
She looked up to the heavens, and something there looked down
A silhouette against the stars, one foot on every crown

Of the four tall trees, growing in a square
Twenty feet apart and a hundred in the air

Its outline was not human nor any beast men know
And where its bulging head looked down, she saw two embers glow
It stood upon the treetops; its wings stretched out beside
They faded out to nothing twelve yards to either side

Of the four tall trees, growing in a square
Twenty feet apart and a hundred in the air

Its voice was rushing windsong, its voice was roaring flame
It whispered half-held promises, it clearly called her name
It primised, "Come and fly with me and we will soar away
"And fly above this dreary world forever and a day

"From these four tall trees, growing in a square
"Twenty feet apart and a hundred in the air"

Mary grasped the nearest tree and gripped the nearest stone
She cried, "Begone, ya liar, and leave me here alone
"I am no lonely trapper nor wandering clanless brave
"But I have friends and family here and a life that I would save

"In these four tall trees, growing in a square
"Twenty feet apart and a hundred in the air"

By word and will they battled, and neither would give way
Until the moon rose up the sky and washed it pale as day
The wendigo gave over and turned away again
Let go the trees and soared away, straight against the wind

In the four tall trees, growing in a square
Twenty feet apart and a hundred in the air

Perhaps it wasn't hungry, perhaps her will was strong
Perhaps the ties of earth and kin had bound her well and long
She could not say what held her against Wind-Walker′s call
But she fed the fire until the dawn and did not sleep at all

In those four tall trees, growing in a square
Twenty feet apart and a hundred in the air
Four tall trees, growing in a square
Twenty feet apart and a hundred in the air