A Cycle of the West · Chapters

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Chapter companions for A Cycle of the West by John G. Neihardt.

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Chapter 1
The Song of Three Friends
The chapter introduces the legendary band of a hundred men who answered William Ashley's call in the spring of 1822, setting out from St. Louis up the Missouri River. It focuses on three friends—Will Carpenter, Mike Fink, and Frank Talbeau—who are among the strongest and most memorable of the group. After a quarrel over a woman leads to the accidental shooting of Carpenter, Fink and Talbeau bury him and then set out on a land journey to deliver a message to Ashley. Their ride is haunted by guilt and eerie visions, particularly a ghostly apparition of Carpenter with a tin cup on his head.
Chapter 2
To Hilda
This chapter presents a brief, poetic epigraph in ancient Greek, quoting Sappho's fragment about a sweet apple reddening at the top of a tree, forgotten by the pickers because they could not reach it. The excerpt evokes themes of unattainable beauty and longing.
Chapter 3
The Song of Three Friends
The chapter introduces the legendary band of a hundred men who answered William Ashley's call in the spring of 1822, setting out from St. Louis up the Missouri River. It focuses on three friends—Will Carpenter, Mike Fink, and Frank Talbeau—who are among the strongest and most memorable of the group. After a quarrel over a woman leads to the accidental shooting of Carpenter, Fink and Talbeau bury him and then set out on a land journey to deliver a message to Ashley. Their ride is haunted by guilt and eerie visions, particularly a ghostly apparition of Carpenter with a tin cup on his head.
Chapter 4
I: Ashley’s Hundred
The chapter introduces the hundred men who answered William Ashley's call in the spring of 1822, lured by tales of wealth and the allure of the unknown. It reflects on their youth and the fleeting nature of their lives, many lost to the westward expansion, and sets the stage for the stories of three notable men whose names endure.
Chapter 5
II: The Up-Stream Men
Major Henry leads Ashley's band of a hundred men up the Missouri River, facing harsh labor, changing seasons, and encounters with the Rees. The chapter introduces the three friends—Will Carpenter, Mike Fink, and Frank Talbeau—and describes their journey, a horse raid, a burial, a sudden storm, and the eventual construction of a fort at the river junction.

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The Song of Three Friends

To Hilda

The Song of Three Friends

I: Ashley’s Hundred

II: The Up-Stream Men