AKOMEN

meant “to the other side.”

"Beaver" 

       may be a pictograph for "American pastor."

"Big Bird" 
       may be a pictograph for "Greenland Bishop."

Note the wild rice on the right.

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The other side of Davis Strait was four hundred and fifty miles away.  Starving to death at home or freezing to death on the ice were equally appealing. 

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But Big Bird and Head Beaver knew that, in order to survive, most of the Lenape in Greenland would have to walk across the ice.  To be safe on the ice, they would have to walk in the darkest time of the year.
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In the darkest time of the year, they would see the sun only two hours a day.  Still it would not be totally dark, the rays of the sun would light the sky all the time.  Most of the time they would be walking under a sky that looked the heavens just before dawn. If they walked to the west, they would be walking toward food.

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But Big Bird and Head Beaver also knew that women and children could not survive the flying pests during the summer on Ungava Peninsula.  Even the caribou run for the forests before the flying pest season.  Thinking about the children trapped in the mushy ground on Ungava Peninsula was a frightful thought.

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Maybe, just maybe, the women and children could live long enough to reach the open water marvels.  Then, maybe, they would be able to restore energy to move across frozen Ungava Peninsula. Then, if the ice was still solid, they go south to James Bay before the ice became mush.

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Big Bird and Head Beaver played chess.  They both knew the odds of either option: stay or cross the ice.  They decided.  “Let us go to Akomen.”

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The two men were the Bishop in Iceland and, possibly, the highest clergy in Wynland of West, but Lenape in both places believed in government by counsel and talking directly to the Great Spirit.  No Bishop or high clergy was going to a dictate to the Lenape. 

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The Lenape would rather freeze first than to have some high mucky muck tell them what they HAD to do.

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PARAPHRASING:

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The composer could paraphrase to make the alliteration and rhyme  of the Drottkvaett stanza work.  Names were not important to the composer.  A valid Drottkvaett stanza was required. So Bishop Arne became “Big Bird,” a name associated with the raven.  The heat shaman from Wynland of West became the Head Beaver. 

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CONNECTIONS

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In the vast region of North America the people had a culture of sea people.  Among sea people the captain of the boat or the village Chief was the ultimate authority for each small group.   Only the far flung connections of the Roman Catholic Church could have developed men with the sense of overall decision making responsibility for the people of that vast region.  That sense of duty would change the lives of thousands of people. 
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Was the Great Spirit watching over the Lenape in their darkest time of trial? 
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ALLTHING >
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