Poem: "In Any Great Undertaking"

[ysabetwordsmith]

This poem is spillover from the September 7, 2021 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from ng_moonmoth and rix_scaedu. It also fills the "Organizing" square in my 9-1-21 card for the Platonic Love Fest Bingo. This poem has been sponsored by Anthony & Shirley Barrette. It belongs to the Bear Tunnels series. It follows "The Hobbomak," "Hickory Lives," "Seeds of Civilization," "Beads and Mirrors," "The Eyes of All People," "Just Starting Down This Path, " and "The Pequot War."


"In Any Great Undertaking"

[1636]

Jesse and Emma spent
a great deal of time organizing,
but tried avoid becoming
the center of attention.

This would be easier
if not for the fact that
tribal societies tended
to respect humility.

The more they tried
to step back, the more
people looked up to them.

"I wanted to save people,
not wind up leading them,"
Emma muttered to Jesse.

"Nature abhors a vacuum,"
Jesse said. "We can't just
tell people we're unimportant;
we have to give them others
to consider more important."

"Well, Red Plum has become
a great medicine woman,
so that helps," Emma said.
"Trigger is a famous trader
all up and down the coast."

"He married that Mohegan girl,
Long Legs," said Jesse. "She's
just as good a trader, and they
have a baby on the way. They're
making a lot of good alliances."

"We're going to need allies,
if we want to stomp out
what's left of the invasion,"
Emma agreed. "We have
to expand our influence
in order to accomplish that."

When they'd first arrived
in historic Massachusetts,
Plymouth had been founded,
but they managed to destroy it
with the help of a hurricane.

Few Europeans remained in
the area, and those had either
been absorbed into local tribes
or formed their own settlements
away from outside influences.

Surprisingly few of the "colonists"
seemed to like their own cultures.

Emma and Jesse were pretty sure
they could repel future attempts.

Over half of the eastern colonies
either had not been settled yet
(Vermont, New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, the Carolinas, and
Georgia) or had been thwarted
(Connecticut and Rhode Island).

That left Maine, New Hampshire,
Delaware, Virginia, and Maryland
with active European settlements.

Maine only had a couple trading posts,
one French and the other English.

New Hampshire had a bit more;
the Upper Plantation had become
Dover, Durham, and Stratham
in Emma and Jesse's timeline.

Delaware had already lost one
of its first three settlements,
leaving only Fort Wilhelmus
and Fort Nassau, which were
actually closer to New Jersey.

Maryland had only St. Mary's,
which was new and still fragile.

Virginia was a more serious threat,
with Jamestown and its surroundings
already well entrenched. Better
to leave that until the tribal alliance
was strong enough to overrun it.

Then there was Canada, of course,
which had flopped from French to
Scottish and back to French again.

The French town of Port Royal
dated from 1605 and was stable.

Most of the Scottish efforts from
1622 through 1629 had failed,
except for a few scattered fishers.

The French town of Trois-Rivières
was new and vulnerable, if they
could just get someone up there
to rouse the local tribes and oust it.

Distances were a lot more daunting
in the 1600s than they had been in
Emma and Jesse's home time.

Even with the hobbomak closed,
though, they knew enough about
the past and the future that they
could still make a difference.

"Let's tackle New Hampshire
next," Jesse suggested. "From
there we can work up to Maine
and then into Nova Scotia."

"That builds good momentum
for blocking French expansion
into Canada," Emma agreed.
"We should look for apprentices
with good diplomatic skills."

Jesse shook his head. "You
can do that, but I've got
my eye on One Eagle."

"The Mahican kid that
nobody likes?" said Emma.
"Neither the leaders nor
followers want him around."

"That's because he's too much
of an introvert for teamwork,"
said Jesse. "He understands
machines just fine, though."

"Engineer?" Emma guessed.

"Yeah, I think so," said Jesse.
"I don't really have what it takes
to teach an engineer, but I can
teach him English and then he
can teach himself from the books.
We brought plenty, and that'll make
a good start on Turtle Island innovation."

Emma chuckled. The local tribes had
taken their input just fine, but they often
did unexpected things with the information.

Instead of recapitulating the rise of
the horse clans from the Great Plains,
who had only ridden on horses instead
of using them to pull vehicles, a band of
enterprising kids had invented a chariot --
entirely without help from Emma or Jesse --
and hitched up their Painted Travelers
to go explore the rest of Turtle Island.

"Well, I'm thinking about Highrock,"
said Emma. "She's got the potential
to become a great leader, but she's
the youngest of five kids, so right now
nobody's listening to her. That's why
she keeps running off to the cliffs."

"They say she sees far, though;
she spotted a ship trying to land
here once," Jesse pointed out.

"That's another reason I want her,"
said Emma. "Highrock doesn't
just see things, she understands
the implications and acts on them."

"So that's a plan," Jesse said.
"One Eagle and Highrock next."

When Emma approached Highrock,
the girl instantly grasped the idea
of learning leadership skills, not
to mention the European threat.

"They're dangerous," Highrock said.
"I know some of the Gone Villages are
all right, but the Boat People are bad."

"Not all people of any given group are
good or bad, but yes, those from over
the water are a threat," said Emma.

Highrock tilted her head. "How can
we stop them?" she wondered.

"We need to make more alliances
with people farther away, so they'll
know to stop the Boat People instead
of trying to deal with them," said Emma.
"You're good with people; I think you
could be a great leader in this."

"Nobody listens to me, though,"
Highrock said with a frown.

"I can teach you things that
should change that," Emma said.

"Yes," Highrock said. "Teach me."

When Jessie approached One Eagle,
he was surprised by how receptive
the boy was to the idea of teamwork.

"Just because I'm not good at it
doesn't mean I'm unaware of
its importance," One Eagle said.

"That's very wise of you,"
Jesse said with a nod.

"I have seen that in
any great undertaking
it is not enough for a man
to depend simply upon himself,"
One Eagle said. "What can
you teach me about this?"

"I had actually planned
to teach you about building
things, since you seem to be
quite good at that," said Jesse.
"If you want to explore teamwork,
though, then we can do that too."

Some engineers liked think tanks,
after all. Maybe One Eagle just
hadn't found the right friends before.

Even though people kept treating
them like elders, Emma and Jesse
were pleased to find new apprentices
who could be trained to step up and
lead their people in the years ahead.

It was important to spread out
both knowledge and influence.

The more different people they had
developing the movement, the harder
it would be for anyone to disrupt.

You couldn't kill grassroots by
cutting off one person's head.

* * *

Notes:

"I have seen that in any great undertaking it is not enough for a man to depend simply upon himself."
-- Lone Man (Isna-la-wica), Teton Sioux


"Thirteen Colonies" is a misnomer, since there were multiple settlements some of which failed, merged, or divided. But here's a look at the East Coast of the 1600s ...

Not yet settled by Europeans, or thwarted. (N)
Settled by Europeans, but being pushed back. (P)
Actively settled by Europeans. (S)

Status of Bear Tunnels Colonies in 1636
Massachusetts (P)
* Plymouth -- destroyed in 1635.
* Scituate -- attempted settlement in 1636, thwarted.
Maine (S)
* Castine, a French trading post from 1613, active.
* Penobscot Bay, an English (Massachusetts) trading post from 1620s, active.
New Hampshire (S)
* the Upper Plantation comprised modern-day Dover, Durham, and Stratham by 1631; active.
Vermont (N) -- not yet settled by Europeans.
Connecticut (N) -- thwarted.
Rhode Island (N) -- thwarted.
Delaware (S)
* Fort Wilhelmus, opposite Burlington, New Jersey -- from 1624, active.
* Fort Nassau, near Gloucester City, New Jersey -- from 1626; active.
* Zwaanendael -- 1631-32, destroyed.
New York (N) -- not yet settled by Europeans.
New Jersey (N) -- not yet settled by Europeans.
Pennsylvania (N) -- not yet settled by Europeans.
Virginia (S)
* Jamestown and surroundings well entrenched.
Maryland (S)
* St. Mary's -- from 1634, active.
Carolina (N) -- not yet settled by Europeans.
Georgia (N) -- not yet settled by Europeans.

Status of Canada in 1636 (S)
* Port Royal, Nova Scotia -- from 1605 by France, active.
* various Nova Scotian settlements by Scotland -- from 1622-1629, failed.
* Trois-Rivières -- from 1634 by France, active.


Clan Mothers have great influence in Wampanoag culture.

Gone Villages -- separate settlements by Europeans who have abandoned their original towns and formed alliances with the local tribes. "Gone" is a shortened version of a native verb in a perfective tense, meaning "Gone And Not Coming Back."

Boat People -- an unflattering term for Europeans freshly coming to America with the intent to settle there.

Comments

[fyreharper]

“ Even though people kept treating
them like elders, Emma and Jesse
were pleased to find new apprentices
who could be trained to step up and
lead their people in the years ahead.”

Gee, and then they wonder why people are treating them like elders >_>

[readera]

💖💖