James fenimore cooper (1789—1851)

James Fenimore Cooper was born in New Jersey, but then he was brought to the State of New York. His father was a rich landowner. When James was only thirteen years old, he en­tered Yale University. In his third year he failed in his examina­tions and had to leave the University. In 1806 his father sent him to sea, he served on a merchant ship. He spent 6 years as sailor and later on as officer. He loved the sea and was ready to spend all his life at sea. When he married in 1811 he left the ship.

After the death of his father Cooper became a country gen­tleman in Cooperstown, devoting himself to his family of seven children and to social interests. Cooper began writing at the age of thirty. His first novel was about an English family living in England. It was not a great novel, but it was good enough to be published. His second novel "The Spy" (1821) was a historical novel about the days of the War of American Independence. Its hero is a common soldier who loved America. The book was successful. Cooper wrote six novels over a period of five years, and they were translated into other languages.

In 1826 Fenimore Cooper went to Europe. He wanted to give his children a good European education and he placed them in foreign schools. For seven years Cooper travelled throughout various European countries together with his large family. He worked without interruption all the time. He wrote many books about his travels.

When Fenimore Cooper returned to the United States, he began writing his famous "Leather Stocking" novels: "The Pio­neers" (1823), "The Last of the Mohicans" (1826), "The Prai­rie" (1827), "The Pathfinder" (1840) and "The Deerslayer" (1841). These are his best works, all exciting stories about of settlers and American Indians.

The main character in all these novels is Leather Stocking, as he was called by the Indians. He was a white man, a hunter, named Natty Bumppo. He was just and kind, and though he was an ordinary man with little education, he knew much about forest life. He also said that all men, white, black, yellow or red, were brothers. He was against civilization because he thought it spoilt nature and people. But he brought the Indians knives of English make. He himself preferred to live in the woods far from cities. The Indians, with whom he was very friendly, were closer to him than the white civilized Americans. When he be­came old, he joined one of the Indian tribes and died there.

James Fenimore Cooper died at Cooperstown on Septem­ber 14, 1851, the day before his sixty-second birthday.

The last of the mohicans

"The Last of the Mohicans" is the second of Fenimore Cooper's books about Leather Stocking. It describes North America of the 18th cen­tury when it was colonized by Europeans, who came to live in the best parts of the North-East and drove the Indians, the first inhabitants of the country, from their land. The book tells much about the life and traditions of the Indians. The author shows that Indians, like white men, could be both good and bad. The title of the novel gives the readers quite a definite understanding about the fate of the North-American Indians. The coming of the white men brought death to them. The main character of the novel is a young Indian, Uncas. It is he that is the last of his tribe, the Mohicans. Natty Bumppo is given here under the name of Hawk-eye.

On that day, two men were sitting on the bank of a small river. Woods came up to the bank of the river. The sun was not so hot now and the air near the river had become much cooler.

One of the men had the red skin and the equipment of an Indian, the other man, though sunburnt, had the white skin of a European. The Indian was seated on the end of a fallen tree. His body was painted white and black. On his head there was the well-known scalping tuft and the eagle's plume, the mark of an Indian chief. A tomahawk and scalping-knife were on his gir­dle, while a short military rifle of the kind which the whites gave to friendly Indians lay near him.

The Indian was of middle age, but looked a strong and healthy man. The white man's body, though also strong, was very thin. He wore a dark green hunting shirt and a summer cap of skins. He also had a knife on his girdle but no tomahawk. On his feet he had moccasins. A pouch and horn were a part of his equip­ment, and a long hunting rifle stood near him against a young tree. The eyes of the hunter were small and quick, all the time moving while he spoke, and looking on every side of him as if he was afraid of an attack of the enemy. But his face was kind and open.

"Listen to me, Chingachgook," he said to the Indian. He spoke one of the languages which was known to all the Indians that had lived in the country between the Hudson and the Potomac

"Your fathers came from the setting sun, crossed the big riv­er, fought the people of the country, and took the land; and mine came from the red sky of the morning, over the salt lake, also fought the people of the country and took the land."

"My fathers fought with the red men!" answered the Indian in the same language. "Is there no difference, Hawk-eye, between the stone-headed arrows of our men and the leaden bullets with which you kill?"

"The Indian is wise though nature has made him with a red skin!" said the white man. "From what I have seen of hunting, I think a rifle in the hands of the white men was not so dangerous as a bow and a good stone-headed arrow sent by an Indian hand."

"You have the story told by your fathers," said the other cold­ly. "What say your old men? Do they tell the young warriors, that the pale-faces met the red men, painted for war, and armed with stone-headed arrows or rifles?"

"Though I am white," said the hunter, "I can say that my peo­ple often do things with which, as an honest man, I cannot agree. So I ask you, Chingachgook, what happened when our fathers first met?"

For some minutes the Indian did not speak. Then he began his story.

"Listen, Hawk-eye, and you will understand. It's what my fathers have said, and what the Mohicans have done.

"We came from the place where the sun sets at night, over great plains where the buffaloes live, until we reached the big river. There we fought the Alligewi, till the ground was red with their blood. From the banks of the big river we went to the salt lake. There were none to meet us. The Maquas followed us at a distance. We said the country should be ours. The land we had taken from the enemy we kept like men. We drove the Maquas into the woods with the animals. They could not get fish from the big salt lake, we threw them bones to eat."

"All this I have heard and knew," said the white man when the Indian had stopped; "but it was long before the English came into the country."

"A big tree grew then where another tree now stands. The first pale-faces who came spoke no English. They came in a large canoe, when my fathers had buried the tomahawk with the other red men around us. Then, Hawk-eye," he continued with great feeling, "then, Hawk-eye, we were one people, and we were hap­py. The salt lake gave us its fish, the wood—its animals and the air—its birds. We took wives and they had children. We kept the Maquas far from our lands."

"Do you know anything of your own family at that time?" asked the white man. "You are a wise man for an Indian! And I suppose your fathers were brave warriors and wise men."

"My people are the grandfathers of Indian nations. The blood of chiefs runs in my body, where it must stay for ever. The white men landed and gave my people the fire-water, and they drank until the sky and earth seemed to meet, and they thought they were happy. Then they gave their land to the pale-faces. Step by step they were driven back from the big salt lake and have never visited the land where their fathers were buried. All my family is dead, they have gone to the land of the spirits. I am on the mountain-top now and soon must go to the spirits too, and when my son Uncas follows in my steps, there will no longer be any men of the blood of the chiefs, for my boy is the last of the Mohicans."

Questions and tasks

1. When was Cooper born?

2. What education did he get?

3. Where did Cooper live after leaving his ship?

4. When did he travel in Europe?

5. What people did Cooper describe in his novels?

6. Speak about Cooper’s best novels.

7. Who is the main character of Cooper's novels? What can you say about him?

8. Describe the Indian.

9. What happened when the Indians and the Hawk-eye's fathers met?

10. Was the white hunter interested in the history of the Mohicans? Prove that.