Lover's Leap

Centuries ago long before thepaleface came to the Ozark Mountains, there was a tribe of natives known as theOsage Indians who lived on the north shore of what is now known as Ha Ha TonkaState Park. A son of Chief Neongo of the Big Hills tribe, Conwee, was in lovewith Wasena, the daughter of Elkorn, Chief of the Little Hills. He desired thelovely maiden and wished to make her his wife…but she refused.
Not to be dissuaded, late onemoonlit night he and several other braves crossed the Osage River close to thejunction of the Niangua and snatched Wasena and her friend Irona from theirbeds. Fleeing the pursuit of the Big Hills tribe, Conwee, his braves, and hiscaptives took refuge within a beautiful, stalactite filled cave as the sunrose. Wasena managed to escape and fled upward to the edge of a towering cliffthat looms hundreds of feet above the Niangua River with Conwee closelypursuing. Eluding his grasp and without a backward glance, she ran forward andshot into the open air before plummeting to the valley below—death preferableto being with one she did not love. The cliff became known as Lover's Leap.
All or nothing…in love there are no half measures.