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 * "Tahoma"—thus the native Indian legends run—
 * "A god magnificent and pure of soul, dwelt in a grove
 * Of giant trees where stands this mountain now. None came to share
 * His meditations, or his loneliness,
 * 'Till form empyreal, of loveliness
 * And grace and majesty and holiness
 * Coequal with his own, swept through the vault—a goddess fair,
 * On errand from the stars. 'Twas Red Tamahnous, queen of love!
 * Tahoma saw; she smiled, and passed beyond the sun.


 * Aflame with strange, ecstatic fire, the fervent god,
 * In sleepless vigil, waited through the years for her return—
 * Ten hundred years. She came at last, at rising of the sun.
 * Exalting all his form Tahoma rose
 * To greet his queen; in maidenly repose
 * She lingered in the west; upon her brows
 * A wreathed effulgence flamed. In form the lovers were as one,
 * Their ornaments the same. Each learned that fires celestial burn
 * Where love is pure. Thus, near opposed, they willing stood.


 * Foredoomed to earthly home, Tahoma sued her dear
 * Companionship—that she, with silver hair untressed and spread
 * In beauty through the skies, no more from stars to sun should roam.
 * An errant messenger. She gave consent;