Profilo di Aimé JrKARAKEN'KOWÀ OKWAHÓ TEHO...FotoBlogElenchiAltro  |  Strumenti Guida |
Being Native is...Being Indian is...
Being Indian is hard... Being Indian is pride and forever... It is an Indian thing that some may not understand.
Pouring Rain
POURING RAIN
There's pouring rain on my window,
So many times I enjoyed your eyes,
Despite the hours of day or night,
Creative hands drew the first word,
Day by day we came to be closer,
Don't best stories have sad end no?
Incredible display of logic!Here's the incredible and humorous answer to a Chemistry bonus test question asked in a well known university. An answer given by a student was so humorous and was so clarified by its logic that his teacher shared that answer with all his collegues.
Bonus Question > Is Hell exothermic (expels heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat) ?
Most students, basing their beliefs by using the Boyle's Law: "If a gas is expanding, it is cooling, otherwise, if compressed, it warms up." or something approaching but one student had a very interesting approach of the question as it is described below...
Primarely, we need to know how the mass of Hell varies with time. We need also to know at what rate souls enter or exit Hell. I think we may assume without risk that once getting in Hell, souls usually don't ever get out again. The same applies as for the number of souls entering Hell; we must examine the ways of the different religions existing thorough the World of today. All of them tending to affirm that if you are not an adept of their principles, you will eventually go to Hell. As there are more than one religion expressing commonly this rule, we certainly may project that all souls will without doubt go to Hell...
Now, lets look at the speed Hell changes its volume implementing Boyle's Law principles: "In order to keep temperature and pressure identical in Hell, the volume of Hell must be expanding proportionally to the ratio of souls entering". In that consequence, this gives two clear possibilities:
Wich to choose?
If we agree on the postulate of my classmate Jessica who affirmed on my first year here: "Hell will be icy before I will sleep with you!" and, accounting that I slept with her last night so, the hypothesis must be true... I am then sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen. The corollary of this theory is... as Hell has already frozed, it seems that it can't accept more souls and, in the same time, it ceased to exist leaving Paradise standing alone and, proving that a supreme being exists which explains why, last night, Jessica didn't stop shouting: "Oh... my God!"
(This student was the only one getting an A+)
L'enfant qui vécût avec l'ours.
L’enfant qui vécût avec l’ours.
Une femme avait appuyé son enfant contre un arbre. Pendant que celui-ci dormait, la mère en profita pour aller cueillir des bleuets. Ainsi, elle s’éloigna de son enfant. Plus tard, l'enfant s'éveilla et se mit à pleurer. Mais sa mère ne l'entendait pas, elle continuait à ramasser des bleuets. Près de lui se trouvait un ours. L'animal entendit ses pleurs et s'approcha. Ils laissent mon petit-fils dans un état pitoyable, pensa-t-il. L'ours l'emporta avec lui sans que personne s'en aperçoive.
Lorsque la mère eut terminé sa cueillette, elle voulut reprendre son enfant, mais il n'était plus là. Elle le chercha partout mais en vain. Triste de l'avoir perdu, elle rentra chez-elle accablée d'une grande tristesse. L'ours promena l'enfant; et celui-ci le suivait partout. L'ours mangeait des bleuets, l'enfant aussi. Ils faisaient toujours les mêmes choses. L'enfant était bien et en bonne santé.
L'hiver s'annonçait et l'ours amena l'enfant avec lui dans la forêt pour lui trouver un gîte. Il l'installa sur un matelas pour qu'il n'ait pas froid; et alors lui dit: «Un jour de printemps, lorsque le soleil aura réchauffé la terre, ton père viendra et nous tuera. Si nous avons connaissance de son arrivée, toi, tu sortiras en courant.»
En effet au début du printemps, un homme arriva et l'enfant sortit de l'abri en courant. L'homme tua l'ours et reparti avec l'enfant qu'il avait reconnu. L'enfant raconta à sa mère que sa grand-mère l'avait bien traité. Jamais il n'avait souffert de la faim. «J'ai mangé des bleuets durant tout l'hiver», dit-il. C'est ce que l'enfant pensait. Il comparait l'ours à sa grand-mère. En réalité, ce n'est que l'ours qui avait mangé.
L'enfant a toujours dit que c'était avec sa grand-mère qu'il avait vécue pendant toute une année, mais en réalité c'est avec l'ours qu'il a vécu un an !
Tharonhiawà:kon - Celui qui retient les cieux - The one who holds the heavenTharonhiawà:kon - Warisó:se Kaieríthon Tharonhiawà:kon, ne kén:ton', ráhawè tsi karonhiá:tè ronónhà raotinì:io ne rononkwehón:we. Shakònikón:rarè tánon' shakoia'tanonstá:ton. Karonhiá:ke nithawé:non otsható:kon, watshatará:ken, è thó wahoké:thotè. Washakona'tón:hahsè tánon' tahshakó:ion' ne rononkwehón:we nattokháhtshera, nahontó:ratè, nahontátenontè, tánon'tsi nahatì:ierè nahatiwatá:kòne raonatsherónnià. Washakonàtón:hahsè ononhkwàshón:à, tánon' ohtehràshón:à, nahotìtsenhtè. Wahshakohsatsténhseron' tánon' rotirihwakwarìhsion tsi rón:nès. Tahshakó:ion' ne ó:nenhstè washakona'tón:hahsè kà nón nahatitshén:ri' ne onatsakén:ra, òniónkseri, osahé:tà, tánon' onono'ónserà. Raònikón:rà thatenniéhthà tsi nì tsi ronatétshens thó nì tsi rotitokenhsehátiè tsi neniawénhsheron. Khwató:ken nàtekónteron' tsi ronwá:kens enhshkorihónnien' nahó:ten' ioiánerès ahonnón:nì. Kwáh skenén:à tahshakowihátiè kaia'torehtatsherí:ìo. Ronaterì:iohkwè ó:nen ronwatishennionhátiè, thontaiawénhstsì kén' nahatì:ierè, Tharonhiawatá:kon wahoké:tohtè... Wahén:ron', "Tóhsà! Tesewànikonhrhá:ren!". Aktè nonsakaié:ràtè tsi ronaterì:io, wahontkwé:ni'. Tharonhiawà:kon, wahshako'nikonhrátà neTekanawì:ta, tánon' Aié:watè nahianiriohkón:nì ne Kaianerè'kó:wa. Kì:ken Tekanawì:ta, tánon' Aié:watè, kwáh ì:ken tsi nihsennowanén:nè, Wentaht (Huron) thohténtion ne Tekawì:ta, ok ne Aié:watè, Kanien'kehró:non'. E:sò wahianonhtonnión:kò tsi nahnì:ierè nahianitiokón:nì. E:sò iohserá:ke wahotiió'ten' tsi wahianitiohkwahserón:ni, Tharonhiawà:kon é:sò ahshakònikón:ron' tsi nahonníerè ne tóhsà aonterìhsì ne Kaianere'kó:wa né:ne tsi nén:wè enkatátiè. Wahnì:ron', tsi nikarì:wes enkahwatsiratátiè tánon' entkarahkwinekénhsekè, óhentè entkahnióhsekè tánon' ohné:kanos kón:nès é:thó nikarì:wes enkatàtiè ne Kaianere'kó:wa. Aié:watè, wahakwé:nì wahonàtón:hahsè ne atotárho, onontàkehró:non' nahaiàtó:ten, né:ne aonhá:à thronkwètáksen, wahohró:rì tókà enháhserè ne Kaianerèkó:wa tsi tenkaté:nì tsi rónnhè, è thó ki nàá:wen'nè. Wahaié:nà ne Kaianerè:kó:wa wàthatté:nì. Iáh teshronkwètáksen, wahotinenhrá:kò ne onontàkehrón:non` tsi ní tsi tehotté:nion ne Roiá:ner Atotárho, akwé:kon wahonnní:ron`, "Teionkwatonhwentsó:ni aiakwáhserè ne Kaianerè:kó:wa." Aié:watè akwé nontá:rehtè ne wísk nihononhwentsá:ke, Kanien:kehá:kà, Onieniothá:kà, Ononta:kehá:kà, Kaio:konhá:kà, tánon` Shotinontowanèhá:kà, wahshakohró:rì tsi niioiánerè ne akwé skén:nen` ahón:ton` ne onkwehón:we. Kwáh ionehrákwa tsi niioiánerè tsi ní tsi wahnikwatá:kò notióhkwà, iáh ne té:ken ne iohsnó:rè aonnitiohkwarìhsì nok né:ne tsi nén:wè. Akwé wahatirihwanón:wènènahatíhserè ne Kaianere:kó:wa. Wísk-niwáhsen nihá:ti Rotiiá:ner wahontkennìsà katsénhakon. Wìsk nàthatì:nerenkè ne kaién:kwirè, ne ke'n:ton` tsi ó:nen wìsk nihononhwentsá:ke iàthóntiestè, enhatìshátsten'nè skáthne enthontihénthò skén:nen' enhón:ton', kaié:ri-iawén:rè tewen'niáwè tánon' wísk-niwáhsen shiiohseró:ten nihonatitiohkón:ni. Oh nàkénhkhà ne Tuscaroras ronatiá:tarè. Iá:iàk nihononhwentsá:ke wahón:ton'. Enska ne tsóhsera ronnitiohkwaró:rokswè ne wìsk-niwáhsen nihá:ti Rotiiá:ner, katsénhakon enhontkennìsà nek ratihá:wì ne raoneriáhsakon ne skén:nen' tánon' ne kariwí:io nek enhonnonhtonnión:kò ne akwé ahotiliáneren'nè ne raononkwètàshón:à. Wahatiweientéhtànè tahotìnikonhraién:tànè, iáh nì ó:nen thàtehshontatetshá:nis. On:wà wenhnisera':tè tewehiá:ràs né:ne Iá:iàk Nihononhwentsá:ke, tsi ronónhà tonanitsohkwí:son ne Kaianere:kó:wa. Kahnawá:ke iá:ken' nohná:ken' Tharonhiawà:kon shonwá:ken, áktà ne Tiohtiá:ke. Thó nì tsi shohténtion tsi ní tsi thawé:non otsható:kon tsi karonhiá:ke nionsá:rè. Tharonhiawatá:kon, "Celui qui retient les Cieux" - Traduit de l'anglais par Aimé Auger Jr. "Okwahó" Tharonhiawatá:kon signifie "Celui qui retient les Cieux". Il était le grand Dieu du vrai peuple des Haudenosonees, les Iroquois, lequel présidait le vrai peuple,leurs terres de chasses et aussi les protégeait. Il est venu du Ciel dans un nuage blanc afin d'aider le vrai peuple. Il montra au vrai peuple la sagesse et aussi les talents nécessaires pour chasser, se nourrir et aussi la manière de coudre des vêtements pour lui-même. Le vrai peuple était soutenu par la grande plénitude de la terre, la rivière et la forêt. Tharonhiawatá:kon leur enseigna les plantes et racines qui guériraient leurs maladies et leurs plaies. Il leur donna le maïs, le riz sauvage, les oignons et les pastèques. Il leur donna la force et l'intégrité. Tharonhiawatá:kon leur déclarait ses volontés à travers leurs rêves; de même manière il révélait les événements futurs. Ce fut lui qui guida le vrai peuple dans ses premières explorations. Il les visitait de temps à autre en personne afin de les protéger de leurs ennemis et pour leur enseigner des arts utilitaires. Lentement, il leur induisait et encourageait leur bon jugement. Il apparut lors d'une de leurs batailles au moment où tout laissait croire à leur défaite. Tharonhiawatá:kon les rassura, leur disant qu'ils devaient persévérer et que tout irait bien, et, encouragés, la bataille retourna à leur avantage et ils furent victorieux. Tharonhiawà:kon leur inspira le Tekanawì:ta, ce qui est le fondement même de la Grande Ligue de la Paix. Hiawatha fût son porte-parole officiel. Son nom vînt des fameux Hurons Wyanndots parce qu'il était l'envoyé du Tekanawì:ta et qu'il était un Agnier (Mohawk) de bonne foi. Durant des années, le Tekanawì:ta médita et, puisant son inspiration en Tharonhiawà:kon, il élabora le plan d'une vaste et puissante Confédération, laquelle assurerait une paix universelle. Ce nouveau système n'opérerait pas sur un court terme mais longtemps, en permanence. Il expliquât que cette Confédération devrait durer d'une génération à l'autre, aussi longtemps que le soleil brillerait, que les herbes pousseraient et que, les eaux s'écouleraient. Tekanawì:ta envoya Hiawatha rencontrer le malicieux Chef Atotarho, des Onondagas, afin de lui expliquer que son plan de paix pourrait bien changer toute sa vie pour le mieux et Atotarho, impressionné, accepta ce plan. Les autres Onondagas virent aussi comment cet enseignement avaient changé leur Chef et d'emblée, voulurent aussi participer à ce plan de Paix. Hiawatha alla aussi vers les autres quatre Nations pour les informer de ce plan qui leur permettrait de les faire vivre tous en paix. Finalement, Les Agniers, les Sénécas, les Onondagas, les Oneida et les Cayugas... tous furent ravis de participer à ce plan de paix. Cinquante Chefs attitrés se rassemblèrent autour du premier Feu du Conseil. Tekanawí:ta parla: "Nous allons maintenant combiner nos pouvoirs en un seul pouvoir qui sera celui de la Confédération; dorénavent, nous symboliserons cette union de pouvoirs par une flèche fournie par chacune des nations et qui seront attachées ensembles par des raies de babiche de daim, qui sont solides. Cela signifiera qu'ensembles, tout comme pour ces flèches liées que personne ne peut plier ni briser, nous aurons la même endurance à travers cette Confédération." Cinq flèches furent alors liées ensembles pour signifier que les cinq Nations Iroquoises s'étaient dès lors liées en une pacifique Ligue des Cinq-Nations, et ce geste fut répété chaque années subséquentes. Cette Ligue des Cinq-Nations fut fondée en l'an 1450. Plus tard, quand les Tuscaroras acceptèrent de se joindre à la Ligue, elle devint la Ligue des Six-Nations. Chaque années, les 50 Chefs attitrés s'assoyèrent à cette assemblée autour du Feu du Grand Conseil. Les Chefs qui vinrent à cette assemblée se devaient d'avoir un coeur pur, en paix, de bonne foi, patience, amour, honneur et aussi de cultiver l'amitié. Ils étaient là pour réfléchir sur ce qui serait bon pour tous les Iroquois, non seulement pour le bien-être de leur propre peuple. Ils apprirent à s'entendre et se comprendre les uns et les autres et ne furent désormais plus effrayés par leurs voisins. Voilà comment débuta la Ligue des Six-Nations. Aujourd'hui, les Iroquois sont reconnus pour leur création de la Ligue des Six-Nations. Tharonhiawà:kon fut vu pour la dernière fois à Kahnawá:ke, en face de Lachine à Montréal. Il s'en retourna comme il vint, dans un grand nuage blanc. Cette histoire me fut contée par mon grand-père et ses amis. Tharonhiawatá:kon, The One who holds the heaven - English Version. Tharonhiawatá:kon means "The Holder of the Heavens". He was the great God of the true people, the Haudenosonees or Iroquois, who presided over them and their hunting grounds and protected them. He came down from Heaven in a white cloud to help the true people. He showed and gave the true people wisdom and the skills to hunt, feed themselves and how to sew clothings for himself. The true people were sustained by the bounty of the earth, river and forest. Tharonhiawatá:kon showed them the herbs and roots that would deal their sickness and wounds. He gave them the corn, wild rice, onions and squash. He gave strenght and integrity. Tharonhiawatá:kon declared his will to them in dreams; in like manner he disclosed of future events. It was he who guided the true people in their early wanderings. He visited them from time to time in person to protect them from their enemies and to instruct them in useful arts. Slowly, he gave them a better judgement. He appeared in one of their battles when it looked like they were going to be defeated. Tharonhiawatá:kon assured them all would be well if they persevered, and the battle turned and they were victorious. Tharonhiawà:kon inspired them the Tekanawì:ta, who was the foundation of the Great League of Peace. Hiawatha was his spokesman. His name, came from the great Hurons as he was sent by Tekanawì:ta and he was a truthful Mohawk. For years Tekanawì:ta meditated and, with inspiration from Tharonhiawà:kon, had elaborated in his mind the plan of a vast Confederation which would ensure universal Peace. The system which he devised was not to be for a short time but a lasting one. He said that this Confederacy would last from a generation onto generation, as long as the Sun shines, grass grows and, the waters run. Tekanawì:ta sent Hiawatha to the wicked Chief Atotarho of the Onondagas, to show him that his plan for peace would change his whole life for the best and Atotarho accepted this plan. When the Onondagas saw how it had changed their Chief, they all wanted to participate to the plan. Hiawatha then went to each of the other four nations to tell them about this new way of living together in peace. Finally the Mohawks, the Senecas, the Onondagas, the Oneidas, and the Cayugas... all said they would become part of the peace plan. Fifty Chiefs gathered around the Council fire. Tekanawí:ta said, "We shall now combine our power into one great power which is the Confederacy; we shall therefore symbolise the union of these powers by each nation contributing one arrow each, to be tied up together in a bundle with deer's sinews, which are strong. When they are tied together, no one can bend or break them and that is how much endurance the Confederation will be able to have." Five arrows were then bound together to show that the five Iroquois Nations were now jointed into a peaceful League of Five Nations. The League of Five Nations was formed in the year 1450. Later, when the Tuscaroras came into the league, it became the League of the Six Nations. Once each year the fifty Chiefs met around the Great Council Fire. The Chiefs who came to this meeting were supposed to have hearts full of peace and good will, patience, love, honor and to cultivate friendship. They were to think of what would be good for all the Iroquois, not for just the people of their own tribe. They learned to understand one another and they were no longer afraid of each other. That is how the League of Six Nations began. Today, the Iroquois are remembered because of the League of the Six Nations. Tharonhiawà:kon was last seen at Caughnawaga (Kahnawá:ke), near Montreal. He left the same way he came, in a white cloud. This story was told to me by my grandfather and his friends. Warisó:se Kaieríthon - Josephine Horne THE LIGHT-HAIRED BOY - History of Crazy Horse.It was in the year 1841 and at the period of the Moon of Falling Leaves. There, in the heart of the Paha Sapa, the sacred Black Hills, a boy was born. His father was Tashunka Witco, a holy man of the Oglala, one of the bands of the Làkotà nation. His mother was a member of the Brule Nation. Because this boy's hair was sandy brown, lighter, thinner and curlier than any other Lakota boy's, he was soon given the nickname Curly. As the seasons passed the light-haired boy named Curly grew but he did not grow as quickly as the other boys his age. He was strong and wiry but he would never be tall. His hair and skin remained lighter than those of the other boys. They were so light that some of the Wasichu, those pale new people who liked the best of everything, sometimes thought he was one of them, a white boy who had been taken captive and adopted. By the time Curly reached his thirteenth year, no one questioned that he was a real Làkotà. He had killed a buffalo from horseback with his bow and arrows. He had been the first to ride a wild horse caught by his father. In fact, since he had ridden and been given that horse, his father and his father's best friend, a warrior named High Backbone, had a different name for the boy. They called him: "His Horse on Sight". But Curly was still the name spoken most often in camp. Around the time Curly first learned to ride the wild horse a meeting was held that would change the lives of many Làkotàs forever. It was August of 1854, in the Moon of Wild Plums. There was trouble between the Wasichus and the Làkotàs. A cow belonging to a settler had wandered into a Làkotà camp circle. When it ran into his teepee a man named High Forehead shot that cow. Then he butchered it and shared it with the people. After all, the promised government food rations were long overdue. It was only fair they should eat a cow that had volunteered itself in this way. The matter should have been easy to solve, for though they joked about it, the Làkotàs were ready to pay for the cow. But that was not enough for the young warrior chief at the fort. He demanded of the Minneconjou band that Conquering Bear, one of the twenty-four chiefs of the Làkotà Nation, meet with the white soldiers who were coming to the chief's village, and Conquering Bear must have High Forehead ready to be handed over for punishment. Conquering Bear agreed to the meeting. When the soldiers arrived at the Minneconjou village, not far from the Oglala camp where Curly lived, they were heavily armed. They were led by Lieutenant John H. Gratton. "Give me a handful of men and three cannons...", Gratton had once said, "...and I'll defeat the whole Sioux nation." Seeing this man at the head of the soldiers worried Conquering Bear even more, for they had brought the big guns carried in wagons. He had asked that no wagon guns be brought. Without wagon guns they might be able to parley peacefully. Gratton, however, was spoiling for a fight. He ordered his thirty troopers to aim their carabines and the cannons at the lodge of Conquering Bear where the chief stood with his other chiefs about him. To make matters even worse, the Wasichu's interpreter, Wyuse, was known to be a man who spoke the truth only when it would benefit him. "Minneconjou," Wyuse said, "you are dogs. You are cowards, men afraid to fight." The Lieutenant Gratton began to speak. His words were angry. It was possible that Wyuse interpreted them truthfully to Conquering Bear. But Conquering Bear's words were twisted like aspen leaves in the wind. "We will give you five good horses for that one cow." Conquering Bear said in Làkotà. "The chief will not give you anything." Wyuse said in English. "We do not wish to fight. We only want peace!" Conquering Bear pleaded in Làkotà. "The chief says you are all afraid to shoot!" Wyuse said in English, sneering. As Wyuse spoke those words Gratton barked an order. The thirty troopers fired a salvo. The men must have been nervous for most of them failed to hit anything. But Conquering Bear's brother, who stood beside the chief, was struck in the chest by a bullet. Blood came from his mouth and he fell to the ground. Some of the Làkotàs began to run. Conquering Bear stood his ground and held up his empty hands. "Do not fight!" he shouted to his people: "Now that the Wasichu have shot a good man they will go away." Even as Conquering Bear spoke Gratton ordered another volley. The soldiers fired again and three bullets struck Conquering Bear. He fell beside his brother. It seemed as if the Wasichu soldiers meant to wipe out the whole village. High Forehead grabbed a rifle and fired. His bullet hit and killed Lieutenant Gratton. Then the Làkotàs began to fight in earnest. Spotted Tail, another Làkotà chief and the brother of Curly's mother, had been waiting with a group of his own men in a nearby ravine in case of trouble. At the sound of the shots they came running. Arrows rained down on the thirty soldiers. When it was over, all of the Wasichu were wiped out. So, too, was Wyuse whose crooked words had made the trouble worse. His Làkotà brother-in-law pierced the interpreter's ears with a lance. "Now," he said: "your ears are open. Next time they will not be closed when we speak to you." That day Curly was in the Minneconjou camp. From the other side, where he and a group of boys had been told to wait, he heard shots and came running. The battle was over by the time he arrived. He helped other Làkotà men and boys to overturn the wagon guns, pile brush over them and set them on fire. Then he helped the Minneconjou break camp and rode back to his own Oglala camp to help his own people do the same. They would move far away from the fort for more trouble would surely follow this. Curly had learned a lesson that day. Never again would he trust the Wasichu soldiers. How could anyone trust people who would come into a peaceful camp and shoot a man in front of his own lodge? For a few days it seemed as if the Làkotàs would have to go to war but people on both sides spoke for peace. Among them was Conquering Bear, gravely wounded but not dead. The talk of war began to die down and the soldiers at the fort did not retaliate. Gratton's actions had been provocative and war with the Làkotàs at this time was something no one wanted. The Oglalas and Minneconjous moved even deeper into the Black Hills, away from the Laramie River and the fort. There, in the heart of the Paha Sapa, wrapped in his robes, Conquering Bear waited for his death. High Backbone was one of Conquering Bear's most devoted warriors and kept vigil at the side of his dying chief. Because High Backbone, Curly was allowed into the lodge of Conquering Bear. The sight of that gentle old man's drawn yellow face deeply affected the boy. He took his horse and rode away from the camp knowing what he had to do. He rode along the bluffs above the river until he came to an eagle-catching pit dug into the soft earth. It was in such holes, concealed by branches placed on top with a freshly killed rabbit laid out for bait, that a man would wait for an eagle to land. Then he would grab the bird by its legs so that he could take some of its powerful feathers. Curly tied his hobbling rope between the legs of his pinto so it would not wander far as it grazed at the bottom of the hill. The horse was close to a stream and could drink. He climbed the hill, stripped off all his clothes except for a breechclout and stepped down into the uncovered pit. He sat back on the cold gravel, looked up at the sky and prayed for a vision. The first day passed and the night came. Curly did not leave the eagle-catching pit. He continued to pray for a vision, for strength to help his people in this hard time. The seasons to come would be even harder for the Làkotàs. He needed a vision to help them but the second day passed, and the second night, and no vision came. Without food or water, Curly continued to cry for a vision. "Wakan Tanka!", he called: "Great Mystery, I am small and pitiful. I want to help my people!" It was a strange thing that the boy was doing on that hilltop. To fast and pray for a vision was not strange in itself. But Hanblecheyapi, "Crying for a vision," was one of the seven sacred rites of the Làkotà people and it was always supposed to be done in the right way. He had not done a purifying sweat to prepare himself. His elders had not prepared him for his vigil. His father had not taken him to the hilltop and showed him where to wait. But Curly continued with his strange vision quest even after the dawn of the third day brought nothing to his eyes or ears. No spirit, no bird or animal, not even an insect came to him. All that he saw was the sky above and the earth and stones of the eagle-catching pit. At last, late in the afternoon of that third day, Curly climbed out of the eagle-catching pit. After going so long without food or drink he was barely able to stand. It seemed no vision would ever come to him and he wondered if he was not worthy. He felt weak and sick as he made his way slowly down the hill to the place where his pinto grazed near a cottonwood tree. When he reached that tree he could no longer stand. He slumped down against the tree and leaned his back against it. And then the rider came. The rider came toward him on the back of Curly's own pinto, yet the horse and the man were floating in the air as they rode. They were more in the spirit world than in this world where Curly sat leaning against a tree. Suddenly the pinto changed. It became a bay horse and then a spotted one. The man was close now and Curly saw that he wore blue leggings and had no paint on his face. His hair was long and brown and a single feather hung from it. Behind one ear a round stone was tied. A red-tailed hawk flew above the man's head. Then Curly heard words that were not spoken. They came to him from that warrior, telling him the day would come when he would dress that way. He would never wear a headdress or tie up his horse's tail but he would be among the bravest of the brave. The air became filled with the streaking of hail and bullets. Yet nothing touched that rider as he continued on. Storm clouds rolled above him and the thunder sounded but the man continued to ride. Now there was a mark on the man's cheek like a lightning bolt and spots on his chest like the marks of hail. Curly knew that he would paint himself that way one day when he rode to fight for his people. Then, as the man rode, there were people all around him, other Làkotàs. Some of them reached up to hold the rider back or pull him from his horse. Curly felt hands on his shoulders, shaking him. He opened his eyes. His own father, Tashunka Witco and his warrior uncle, High Backbone, were bending over him, concern in their faces. Curly looked past them and saw his pinto still grazing peacefully, hobbled as it had been before his vision began. No rider was on its back but in the top of the bush next to the horse a red-tailed hawk perched and called four times. "Why are you here?" his father asked. "It is not safe to ride off alone...", High Backbone said. "There are raiding parties out and the Wasichu may still make war on us." "I came to seek a vision," Curly said. He wanted to tell the men what he had seen so they could help him better understand it. His father was a holy man and would surely know what it meant. But his father's face was filled with anger. "You were not prepared for Hanblecheyapi," Tashunka Witco said. "How could you come out to fast without going first into the inipi, the sweat lodge? How can you expect a true vision without being guided by your elders?" Curly looked over at High Backbone. He, too, was angry. They would not listen to him so he said nothing. He did not speak of his vision. He let them carry him back to the camp where he drank the soup given to him and then slept. When he woke he still did not speak. He kept his vision in his heart but shared it with no one. Three winters passed and his vision remained unshared. Throughout those years Tashunka Witco and High Backbone kept their eyes on the boy. They saw clearly that he had been changed for the better by whatever had come to him on that hill but they did not ask him to tell of it. Then, in the summer of 1857, during the Moon of Wild Plums, there was a great gathering of all the many camps of the Làkotà Nation. Never before had Curly seen so many people together. All the Oglalas, the Brulés, the Minneconjous, the Sans-Arcs, the Blackfoot Làkotàs, the Two Kettles and the Hunkpapas, the seven great camp circles, were there. They met in the valley below Bear Butte in the heart of the Paha Sapa. Curly's heart was filled with love and pride for his people. And Tashunka Witco looked into his son's heart and saw that it was time for them to speak of what Curly had seen on his lonely vision quest. The father and son rode off into the hills until they came to the valley near Rapid Creek on the eastern side of the Paha Sapa where Curly had been born. Tashunka Witco constructed a sweat lodge and purified his son and himself. Then Curly began to talk. His father listened as he told of the powerful vision given to him. Tashunka Witco was silent for a long time after his son finished. He looked into the fire and then spoke himself: "The man on that horse is the one you will become. You will dress and paint yourself as he did. You must always be first in fighting for our people even though they will try to hold you back. And because of that vision you must have a new name. I will give you my own name and, from now on, it will be yours to carry. From now on you will be Tashunka Witco." The young man whose name had been Curly listened to his father's words. He understood why his father had given him his name for it fit his vision of a horse dancing through a storm. From that day on he would be known by that name and his name would come to stand for the bravest of all the Làkotàs. He would become a warrior who would never be touched by a bullet in battle even though he was always in the front of every fight. He would be one of the principal leaders of the Làkotàs in the great battle at the Little Big Horn (Greasy Grass River) where his people would defeat the Seventh Cavalry under George Armstrong Custer. In the days to come, his own Làkotà people and all the world would know that name as it was said in English: Crazy Horse. THE PROPHETY OF CRAZY HORSE. Upon suffering beyond suffering; the Red Nation shall rise again and it shall be a blessing for a sick world. A world filled with broken promises, selfishness and separations. A world longing for light again. I see a time of seven generations when all the colors of mankind will gather under the sacred Tree of Life and the whole Earth will become one circle again. In that day there will be those among the Lakota who will carry knowledge and understanding of unity among all living things, and the young white ones will come to those of my people and ask for this wisdom. I salute the light within your eyes where the whole universe dwells. For when you are at that center within you and I am in that place within me, we shall be as one. The Cherokee Children Massacre, part one On Friday, August 10th 1810, the Great Cherokee Children Massacre took place at Ywahoo Falls in southeast Kentuck..the Cherokee village leaders of the Cumberland Plateau territory from Knoxville Tennessee to the Cumberland River in Kentucky were led by the northern provisional Thunderbolt District Chief, Beloved Woman/War Woman "Cornblossom", the highly honored daughter of the famous Thunderbolt War Chief Doublehead. Several months before this date, Beloved Woman/War Woman Cornblossom, was preparing the people in all the Cherokee villages of southeast Kentucky and northern Tennessee to bring all their children to the sacred Ywahoo Falls area of refuge and safety. Once all the Cherokee children were gathered, they were to make a journey to Reverend Gideon Blackburns' Presbyterian Indian School at Sequatchie Valley outside of Chattanooga Tennessee in order to save the children of the Cherokee Nation remaining in Kentucky and northern Tennessee on the Cumberland Plateau. This area of Sequatchie Valley was very near to Lookout Mountain at Chattanooga, the once long held Chickamauga National capital of the Thunderbolts. Near Lookout Mountain, just on the other side in northeast Alabama, was the rendezvous point for the Chickamaugan Cherokees and their allies the Creek Nation. For by this time, many Creek and Chickamaugan Thunderbolt Cherokee were defending the rest of the Indian Nations there as well. The arrangements to save the Cherokee children through Gideon Blackburns' white protection Christian Indian Schools, had been made earlier by Cornblossoms father War Chief Doublehead, who had also several years earlier been assassinated by non-traditionalist of the southern Cherokee Nation of the Carolinas and far eastern Tennessee. A huge gathering area underneath Ywahoo Falls itself was to be the central meeting place for these women and children to gather and wait. Then all the children of all ages would go as one group southward to the school to safety from the many Indian fighters gathering in the neighboring counties of Wayne and Pulaski in Kentucky. These Indian fighters were led by an old Franklinite militiaman from Tennessee named Hiram "Big Tooth" Gregory who came from Sullivan County Tennessee at the settlement of Franklin and had fought many Franklinite campaigns under John Sevier to eliminate all the traditional Thunderbolt Cherokees totally and without mercy. Big Tooth Gregory, sanctioned by the United States government, War Department, and Governor of the territory, carried on the ill famous Indian hating battle cry of John Seveir that "nits make lice". Orders were understood by these Cherokee haters that nits (baby lice) would grow up to be adults and especially targeted in all the campaigns of John Seveir Franklinites were the Cherokees women, pregnant women, and children of all ages. John Seveir, Big Tooth Gregory, and all the rest of the Franklinites philosophy was that if they could destroy the children of the Cherokee, there would be no Cherokees and no Cherokee Nation to contend with in their expansion of white settlements, the white churches, and the claiming of territory for the United States. Orders were issued to the Franklinites to split open the belly of any pregnant Cherokee woman, remove the baby inside her, and slice it as well. To the Franklinites, the Cherokee baby inside the mother was the nit that would eventually make lice. In all the earlier campaigns of the Franklintes in the late 1700s, the blood and screams of the Cherokee children were constantly heard throughout the Cumberland Plateau territory from today's Knoxville Tennessee to the Cumberland River in southeast Kentucky to all their adjoining territories. From as far in Kentucky as present day London/Corbin and the lands within the present Daniel Boone National Forest the cries could be heard. The Lands from London to Cumberland Falls were ruled by many war leaders, among them was a great warrior and friend to Cornblossom, War Chief Red Bird called Chief Cutsuwah, descendent of the Great War Woman Cutsuwah that fell during the French and Indian War at Burnside Kentucky. Red Bird was also a close relative to Cornblossom, War Chief Peter Troxell and their descendants. The cries of Red Birds women and children echoed many times in this genocide campaign of the Franklinites to rid the area of powerful Cherokee leaders. The blood of many warriors, men and women, was spilled trying to defend their Cherokee people. From where today's Pickett State Park lays in northern Tennessee just below the Kentucky Tennessee State Line lying south of present day Wayne County Kentucky, the cries of women and children and fallen warriors of War Chief The Fox could also be heard. The Fox was sometimes called Black Fox or Captain Fox. He became known as Captain Fox when Doublehead and his loyal Thunderbolt war parties in the late 1700s attacked a militia in Kentucky, killing their leader which was a Captain in the American Army. As The Fox was the one who killed the Captain, he took his militia overcoat in victory and wore it constantly. A frenzied whoop dance was performed on Lookout Mountain by Dragging Canoe, Doublehead, and the Bloody 7 over this victory attack on the Kentucky militia. The Fox then became known to all the Cherokees as Captain Fox. Now the villages under Chief Captain Fox came under attack by the Franklinites. Standing Fern from the Ywahoo Falls area sent many warriors and war women to counter the Franklinites move on their boundaries many times as did Cornblossom and War Chief Peter Troxell. War Chief Peter Troxell had attacked to the west of Ywahoo Falls in 1806 and 1807 the settlers of Wayne and Pulaski counties, bringing many settlers to the point of utter fear for their encroachments against the Cherokees of the now Daniel Boone National Forest of southeast Kentucky. But in 1807, War Chief Peter Troxell had been granted official amnesty by the Governor of Kentucky if he and his Cherokee war parties from neighboring McCreary County stop their raids into Wayne and Pulaski County. War Chief Peter Troxell agreed and turned over his scalping knife with 9 notches to the authorities at the courthouse in Wayne County. Peace would last just a short time when the settlers of Wayne and Pulaski banded together in 1810 to break this peace treaty at the massacre of Ywahoo Falls. Many of the Cherokee who tried to protect their people during these times simply did not return, dwindling the people down to small factions, and the Indian fighters knew it. But these small factions of Cherokee traditionalist in southeast Kentucky became more determined to save their people as ever. And from all this, the Thunderbolts endured the militia of the Franklinites, continued encroachments of white settlers, land speculators, the many Southern Cherokee who allied themselves with the United States government trying to defeat the traditionalist of Kentucky Georgia and Tennessee, all, resulting in the Chickamaugan Cherokee separating even more from the southern Cherokee of the Carolinas to fight this continuing drastic change. Politically, Two (2) Cherokee Nations had been formed during Dragging Canoe and Doublehead's fight for freedom of the traditionalist: The Southern Cherokees of the Carolinas and far eastern Tennessee and the Chickamaugan Cherokee of Georgia, eastern Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky. For you see, over the many years, many of the southern Cherokee of the Carolinas who lived more close to the white settlements leaned toward the US Governments policy of change, many became inbred within the white society and did as the whites did collecting black and Indian slaves for themselves and to sell, with some becoming rich, many did away with the "Old Ways" and played into the hands of politicians and land speculators to steal land as they themselves would now own land unto themselves. Many of the Southern Cherokee would also condemn the Thunderbolt traditional Cherokees in Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky who would not change and accept the new ways of the Europeans, shamed and banished any Carolina Cherokees who would not accept the white main's ways. Many Cherokees in the Carolinas and elsewhere isolated themselves in the mountains way before the trail of tears during this social civil strife between the people. These conformed Cherokees would brand any and all who kept their ancient Cherokee heritage as traitors to the Cherokee people. And from all of this strife of change many traditional Cherokee protectors arose. Dragging Canoe and Doublehead arose to defend the people. But by this date of 1810 Dragging Canoe and the rest of the so- called Bloody Seven had either died a natural death or been killed and War Chief Doublehead, Cornblossoms father, had met his death by means of assassination at the hands of the Cherokee conformist from the south. And now, in 1810, one more attempt would be made to destroy the Cherokees who kept the old traditional ways. One more attempt would be made to destroy the "nits that make lice" as the many Cherokee women with their children began coming to Ywahoo Falls in order to make the great "Children" migration to Seqatchie Valley near Chattanooga, Tennessee. In southeast Kentucky, underneath Ywahoo Falls itself, was War Woman Standing Fern and over 100 women and children, others stationed themselves out from the falls. Standing Fern was the mighty woman war leader of the Ywahoo Falls area and was married to the 1st born of Cornblossom. She was married to War Chief Peter Troxell. At this time Cornblossom was married to the famous "Big Jake" Jacob Troxell, a half breed Delaware Warrior from Pennsylvania who had been sent by the personal staff of President George Washington earlier to sway the Cherokee away from the Spanish of Florida and more towards the New Americans in alliance. But Jacob had ended up joining the Cherokee instead which came about over the inhumane cruelty the incoming settlers of Kentucky and Tennessee were inflicting on the Cherokee and other tribes of southeast Kentucky and northern Tennessee. To the New Americans he had "turned injun"(again). By 1810, "Little Jake" Peter Troxell was a mighty War Chief riding along side his mother Cornblossom in all her campaigns and protecting the sacred sites with his wife Standing Fern. They were true Cherokee Thunderbolts and wore the sacred emblem and mark of the Thunder People: the Lightning Bolt. Standing Fern was in charge of the gathered children who by August 10th had almost all assembled. Now they would wait for Cornblossom to bring her younger children to the falls, then all would be ready and they would go southward in a children fleeing journey more closer to the Thunderbolts of the south who were more stronger. Runners brought word to Standing Fern at the falls that her husband War Chief Peter Troxell and Cornblossom were on their way to Ywahoo Falls with the last of the children. Traveling with Cornblossom and War Chief Peter Troxell were Chief Red Bird of the Cumberland Falls area and their children, the youngest children of Cornblossom, and all the children of War Chief Peter Troxell. When they arrived at Ywahoo Falls the journey southward would begin. But before Cornblossom, Red Bird, War Chief Peter Troxell, and the children with them arrived, the old Franklinite "Indian fighter" by the name of Hiram "Big Tooth" Gregory had heard of the planned trip several days prior and headed immediately for the falls area to kill them all with all he could muster to kill the Cherokee. Breaking the 1807 peace treaty between War Chief Peter Troxell and the Governor of Kentucky, Big Tooth Gregorys band of Indian fighters crossed into Cherokee territory and came in two directions, one group from Wayne County, the other from neighboring Pulaski county in southeast Kentucky. The Indian fighters on horseback joined together at what is now called Flat Rock Kentucky and headed into the Ywahoo Falls area with fiery hatred. Big Tooth Gregory and his Indian fighters could not allow these children (nits) to escape. Being only 1 good accessible way in by land and 1 way in by water, Gregorys band of Indian fighters chose the quick way by land, sending a few side skirmishers by way to block anyone trying to escape. Before they reached the falls, at today's entrance to Ywahoo Falls, the Indian fighters encountered a front Cherokee guard consisting of "Big Jake" Jacob Troxell (husband to Cornblossom), a few long hunters friendly to the Cherokee mainly through intermarriage and some remaining Thunderbolt warriors, all who were guarding the entrance to the falls. This occurred shortly after midnight in the early morning hours of darkness before the rising of the sun. This will be the night morning of screams. This will be the last day of many children. This will be the day that will forever mark the Troxell Cherokee heritage in history. Jacob Troxell, the long hunters, and warriors instantly sense the trouble, a Cherokee runner takes off in flight to attempt to warn Standing Fern at the falls but is cut down by 2 side skirmishers on the way. At the same time Jacob Troxell and the front guards lock in a fierce battle of flintlock against flintlock and hand to hand fighting, trying to keep Gregory and his band out, but are overcome in a short time by the numbers of the Indian fighters. All the front guard is killed at this entrance to Ywahoo Falls. It was said through the memories of the Cherokee people of southeast Kentucky that Jacob Troxell and 1 renowned great warrior were the last to fall of the front guards. Jacob, now swinging a half broken highly decorated war club in one hand and a large skinning knife in the other, stood fighting hand to hand with blood coming out of his mouth from several bodily wounds and was said to have kept screaming to the end in a loud voice over and over, "The Children!". The Great Warrior witnessed the fall of Jacob as the Indian fighters took sharp aim and fired a whole volley of lead into Jacob's body finally downing and scalping him. Jacob will survive this attack but is mortally wounded and will live 2 months before he dies as a result from this massacre. So some say that Jacob died at this massacre to denote his final breath to save the children because that was where his heart was - defending the children of a now forgotten people lost within the hills and valleys of southeast Kentucky waiting for remembrance of their families. The Great Warrior, who was still standing and the last to fall, was jumped by several Indian fighters and downed to the ground. Breaking his arms the Indian fighters then cut his throat and scalped him. This had all been witnessed and watched by a hidden son of one of the front Cherokee guards who was given orders to flee into the woods upon the Indian fighters approach. This hidden Cherokee son would carry down this memory for generations (today at this entrance to Ywahoo Falls there is only one lonely memorial grave marker with the name "Jacob Troxell" only, to mark remembrance of this incident, the Ywahoo Falls area is part of the Big South Fork River and Recreation Area of the National Park Service and is the tallest waterfall in Kentucky which drops 113 feet, underneath and behind the falls is an open huge gigantic rock shelter where the children and Standing Fern had gathered). Gregory with his Indian fighters after scalping all the front guards, then moved onward in a rush to the falls area. Lining themselves all along the top rim of the bluff surrounding the falls and large "rock house" below it, they began firing from all sides down on War Woman Standing Fern and over 100 children now trapped directly underneath them. The ones out from the falls ran, hid, and escaped. Trapping the 100 children with other old men, pregnant women, and mothers underneath the falls, Gregory and his men worked their way down into the gigantic area of the rock house on the 2 downward side paths while the ones on top kept them bottled in. As children and women fell all around her from the volley of lead above, War Woman Standing Fern and her few warriors now take to the two left and right inclining side paths that lead into the huge rock shelter hoping to meet and stop the Indian fighters. Looking outward from underneath the falls itself, Standing Fern and several warriors took the right hand path that would lead upward, the other few warriors took the left path. The trapped Cherokee people and the children old enough to hold a weapon grabbed what ever they could in their grasps to defend themselves. Some would have a knife or hatchet, while most would only have a rock or a clay cooking bowl to throw or nothing at all to use as a weapon. Some of the ones who escaped out from the falls, hid among the rocks, water, and trees and would watch in horror with tears to tell the story for generations so that we may remember what happened that day, Friday, August 10th, 1810. Standing Fern and her warriors were very quickly overcome by the Indian fighters and brutally killed but not before Standing Fern fought with a passion of defense taking with her several of the Indian fighters in hand to hand combat along the right path while the other warriors fought with the ever fevered courage of a Thunderbolt as well. The fall of Standing Fern occurred at a narrow spot on the right path fighting several of the Indian fighters with the swinging of a hatchet in hand to hand combat. As she was fighting she was shot twice, once in the shoulder and once in the hip, and gutted in the belly with an unforeseen knife. As the knife entered her belly, at the same time she was shoved over the ravine by several Indian Fighters, but not before taking some with her. With Standing Fern and all her warriors now defeated and murdered, the Indian fighters set upon the children and others that were trapped under the falls, rushing it with more volleys of lead and close attack. Using what useless weapons they had, the women, old men, and children fell prey to the evil dark designs of the attackers. They screamed an earthquake of death and tears. The water and ground ran red. Hiram Big Tooth Gregory and all his Indian fighters raped the women and younger female children of all ages, pillaged, cut bellies open, murdered, and scalped over 100 Chickamaugan Cherokee women and children that had been trapped underneath Ywahoo Falls, killing most of them as they ran, begged, huddled together, and screamed and pleaded for life. Meanwhile this same day the party of Cornblossom approached with her children. As her party came closer to the falls area, it is said a hawk flew above them and lit in a nearby tree and acted strange. Investigating this remarkable occurrence, it was found that the tree was bleeding blood out of its bark, the leaves trembled, and the sound of the hawk was as a cry and scream of a baby. Fearing something wrong, Cornblossom and her party pushed onward in a frantic pace to get her children to the falls and safety. When Cornblossom arrived at the falls entrance area, she found all of the front guards brutally scalped and killed with her husband "Big Jake" Jacob Troxell. Leaving the children with some women at the front guard entrance, Cornblossom, her son War Chief Peter Troxell, Red Bird, and their party of warriors and war women then rushed to the Falls itself, where they find some of Gregorys murderers who had remained behind still finishing their evil work of rape, torture, and scalping. Cornblossom screams for her warriors, Redbird, and her son Chief Peter Troxell to kill these remaining men with a blow of passion. Her famous cry was once again heard as she had always shouted in all her many campaigns: "Shoot Twice Not Once!". War Chief Peter Troxell, Chief Redbird, and the Thunderbolt Warriors, along with Beloved Woman / War Woman Cornblossom (Selu-Sa-tah), charged the murderers with screaming Cherokee war hoops and passion of justice, a battle ensues with a short volley of rifle fire and close hand to hand combat with all its fierceness. All the remaining men of Gregorys Indian fighters are cut down to never more harm the Cherokee people. The Cherokee Children Massacre, part two From this last fight of Cornblossom, her son War Chief Peter Troxell was himself killed at the huge rock shelter underneath the falls and Cornblossom herself received an agonizing long rifle gunshot injury. Cornblossom will live 2 days before this wound takes its full toll on her life. Beloved Woman Cornblossom, wounded and in much pain from wound and sorrow, will sing and wail the "Death song of the Cherokees": Nee-Tak, In-Ta-Hah Yah, Ho, Wah Yah-ah, Yah-ah, Yah-ah Yo-He-Ta-Wah Yo-He-Ta-Weh Yo-He-Ta-Ha Yo-He-Ta-He Ho-Yah, Ho-yah, Ho-yah Yo, Yo, Yo, Yo He, He, He, He Wa, Wa, Wa, Wa And on the rising of the Sun on the 3rd day ... Cornblossom passed on into history a Great Cherokee Woman and mother of generations to come, holding the Beams of Sunlight in her Eyes Forever. Translated roughly is that it is an invocation and a calling on THE GREAT SPIRIT that the days appointed/allowed are finished in this realm. Such a one was been weighed on the Blue Path and made to be Light upon entering the next realm of the sacred crescent moon of their journey. YA-HO-WEH is the the Cherokee name for the GREAT ONE ABOVE, the Creator along with Cho-Ta-Auh-Ne-Le-Eh (THE ELDER FIRES ABOVE) listened to her song and carried her spirit above to Paradise of Blue Heavens, underneath and atop the ancient sacred grounds of Ywahoo Falls over and over for 2 days and nights. Clinching her raised fists and raised open arms to the Great Spirit, day and night, she kept screaming the words of her father Doublehead, son War Chief Peter Troxell, and daughter-in-law War Woman Standing Fern: "WE ARE NOT CONQUERED YET!". And on the 3rd day, as the blazing eastern morning sun would rise over the mountains and valleys of Kentucky, Cornblossom passed on into Cherokee history as a great woman of her people and a great mother of future generations. May we not forget her or her children's children. Remember her with a Cherokee tear and with honor. From this massacre, Jacob Troxell (husband to Cornblossom), the Great Warrior, and all the front guards killed, War Woman Standing Fern (wife to War Chief Peter Troxell) and her elite Thunderbolt warriors all killed defending the children below the falls, War Chief Peter Troxell killed in the last fight, and over 100 women and children waiting to go south to safety in a children journey to a Christian mission school, all lay dead, massacred, raped, tortured, and scalped, by these "Indian fighters". It was said that "Bones and Blood ran so deep underneath Ywahoo Falls that the murdered dead were all put there together in a heap to be their grave". The place of innocence and the Ancient Ones now became a place of death of the innocent. The Falls ran red that day of darkness, Friday, August 10, 1810. No more will they witness the Blessed Moonbow at Cumberland Falls and receive its sacred Blessing, no more will they hear great orations spoken at Ywahoo Falls by not only the many Cherokee leaders of the Nation but other great orators from other tribal neighbors as well. No more will they roam and see the land of paradise and the geological wonders of the area. William Troxell the youngest son of Cornblossom will forever keep the fires of memory alive so all may know what happened on Friday August 10, 1810. These fires will be carried by William to Alabama were the stories are etched and burned into the generations to come of the Troxells and whoever may listen and remember. They will now wait for remembrance of themselves, their land, their culture, and their hearts. They will wait for someone to say "I remember". A relative Troxell and a Blevins man of the area reports this incident to the Sheriff of Wayne County but nothing is done, nor is Hiram Big Tooth Gregory brought to justice for many of the local non-Indians believed that "nits make lice". Beloved Woman Cornblossom wails and suffers so much over the dead that she dies from grief a couple of days after the massacre of her husband, her son, her daughter-n-law, and over 100 loved women and children of her Cherokee people. Her grief was sorrowful and hard. It is said that on her last breath to leave her body was the soft words "WE ARE NOT CONQUERED YET ... REMEMBER MY CHILDREN .... REMEMBER MY PEOPLE". This massacre ended all power of the mighty Chickamaugan Thunderbolt Cherokee people in Kentucky to Knoxville Tennessee. Cornblossom and Standing Fern were the last powerful "Beloved Women/War Women" of the Thunderbolt Cherokees of the Cumberland Plateau. War Chief Peter Troxell, son of Cornblossom, was the last of the great powerful Cherokee "War Chiefs" of Kentucky and the Cumberland Plateau. These people of southeast Kentucky and northern Tennessee held out unto death. And as it is often said "Today was a good day to die" for "We are not conquered yet". The rest of the children of Cornblossom, the children of Standing Fern, War Chiefs Redbird and Peter Troxell were spared from this tragedy, to live on, generation after generation, some keeping the memory and history alive of the Cherokee Nation. With no powerful Cherokee leaders left in Kentucky and the Cumberland Plateau to hold any strong power, many Cherokee leave the South Fork area of southeast Kentucky and northern Tennessee after this Great Massacre in fear of the whites, while others become isolated and hide in the mountains. The children's children of War Chief Peter Troxell, Standing Fern, and Cornblossom will isolate themselves in the valleys and mountains of southeast Kentucky with some holding on to the memory of their Great Cherokee heritage, to not speak openly or too much until the time has come for remembrance. I, Dan Troxell, Deni U-Gu-Ku, direct descendant through Cornblossom and her last born son William Troxell, comes out from isolation and proclaims our history alive for I am a Real Human Being, I am a Thunderbolt, I am Cherokee. The Thunderbolt people will now wait for a remembrance. After the massacre at Ywahoo Falls, Reverend Blackburn's "Indian schools" in Tennessee are discontinued due to Blackburn's illness and grief over the many women and children killed at Ywahoo Falls in southeast Kentucky. Reverend Blackburn is caught with a boatload of whiskey and becomes an alcoholic. Chief Redbird isolates his people that live near Cumberland Falls and sends any remaining people into hiding until the remembrance. The children of Cornblossom and Standing Fern survived. William Troxell the youngest son of Cornblossom, and my descent, survived and removed himself to northeastern Alabama 7 yrs after the massacre, lived with the Creeks, and became a link between the hidden Cherokee of Kentucky and Tennessee before and after the Trail of Tears. But there is more to be told that came after the massacre, events that will shape history into meaning of not only the Doublehead legacy but for all who were to survive the invasion of settlers. Survival of the children and their generations to come. And this will center on the descendants in southeastern Kentucky and William Troxell and his father Jacob Troxell and the legacy that will now transpire in Alabama. In order to protect the children and their generations many things were done to persevere, hidden things, things on one hand presented to the settlers to be true while in reality other things came about, and this tactic of survival was given to them earlier by Doublehead. As there were Cherokee survivors to this massacre many did die a brutal death from it. Doublehead's descent of his children and their children were considered by the settlers to be not only a threat but a future threat as well. Also in the last fight of Cornblossom, Peter Troxell, and Redbird when they attacked the remaining murderers at the Falls, 3 of the white men were held and spared briefly and executed personally by the hidden children who had escaped and run into the nearby hill. This execution of justice came shortly after the passing of Cornblossom on the 3rd day after being weighed in judgment by the Cherokee Council of Women of Redbird. The first blow was said to be struck by the son of the Great Warrior who fell among the front guards. His name was Tommy Bright Star, who will also remove himself to Alabama later with William Troxell. One of the 3 white men executed by the children was close blood kin to the Indian fighter leader Hiram "Big Tooth" Gregory, his name was Homer Gregory, believed to be the brother of Hiram. The many Indian hating settlers along with the Kentucky and Tennessee militia deemed this massacre the last of the resistance movement of the Kentucky Cherokees and northern Tennessee. The aftermath of this Cherokee massacre brought new questionable ideals to the now so-called victorious gloated settlers. Questions like: Is the Cherokee resistance truly over or will somewhere retaliation occur? Are they truly conquered and defeated? And what of the children, will they assimilate into non-Indian society, or must they be dealt with harshly, or what? Many questions, much pondering on what next. The settlers, now feeling powerful and self dominated, ponder on the next steps to take in the Cherokee matters. Foreseeing more tragic events in southeast Kentucky and Northern Tennessee, and understanding that the Indian fighters are now receiving bits and pieces of rumors that some of the Cherokee leaders are NOT dead and possibly survived, and that Homer Gregory and two others were executed, the Cherokees must keep one step ahead of the settlers by making widely known that the massacre event had killed all their leaders, especially the ones of the Doublehead/Cornblossom connection and descent who had any Cherokee power as their known leaders. True: Cornblossom, Peter Troxell, Standing Fern, the Great Warrior, many front guards, and over 100 Cherokee women and children were slaughtered in the massacre. All who had strong connections with the Doublehead legacy. However, what is kept from the settlers is that Jacob Troxell and some others did not die from their wounds. The others were the ones who had escaped when the massacre began. But Jacob will suffer much pain from his wounds. William Troxell (Dan Troxell direct descent), 7 yrs after the massacre in the year 1817, will concealingly take Jacob and some other Cherokee with him to northeast Alabama. War Chief Peter Troxell became known as the last father of the people, father of his brothers and sisters in honor, and that is why some will say that Peter is of their descent, so no one will forget him as well. But first ALL things must be concealed from the non-Indians. Jacob's 3 trading posts are burned by the Cherokee with any goods distributed to the PEOPLE. Caves are deliberately sand walled and collapsed in southeast Ky and northern Tennessee. Some Cherokee traveled into the non-Indian Kentucky territories of Wayne, Pulaski, and Green to conceal THINGS of importance, while other THINGS are secretly transported to northeast Alabama through the guise of Cherokee War Women acting like non-Indian Women. Villages, burial grounds, and other important things of past leaders are shuffled to conceal, on and on, to the settlers. Jacob Troxell could not be allowed to live, he was politically a threat, as he was married to the daughter of Doublehead which could stir up the Cherokees again to resistance. If any of the leaders were to have survived, bloodshed after bloodshed could have maybe occurred. With all Cherokee power now gone, the killing of innocent Cherokee must end. This hope to save the people must now obscure itself into time and history. To give the false story to the settlers that Jacob died with the rest, brought satisfaction to the settlers that the Cherokee resistance had completely ended. And this self assurance of conquering ALL the Cherokee leaders gave the Kentuckyy Cherokees the time they needed. This time allowed Jacob and his son William Troxell to safely travel to Alabama, set up a communication link, and survive. The other children of Cornblossom in southeast Kentucky will inter-marry into early settlers and survive. The son of Hiram "Big Tooth" Gregory from Wayne County, whose name is also Hiram Gregory, a raving fire and brimstone mountain preacher, takes in marriage a woman by the name of Jane Stevenson. Jane Stevenson, a white woman, had also been married to War Chief Peter Troxell during the early 1800s. And this is also another reason that sparked the massacre, as Jane, before the massacre, had run off from the white settlers to join the Cherokee of Cornblossom, Jacob Troxell, and Peter. You see, Peter Troxell had 2 wives, Jane Stevenson and Standing Fern. And this stuck in the craw of all the white people who hated the Cherokee of South Central Kentucky. Again, the real reason of the massacre was just because the Cherokee were there, and the children had to die, this feeling of a white woman, one of the settlers own, married to a Cherokee who had attacked them all the time, was just fuel that fired the flame of hatred. Jane Stevenson, whether forcibly or willingly, after the massacre, will take the children of her husband War Chief Peter Troxell and Standing Fern into survival through the marriage of the son of the one who killed her husband. Seeing intermarriage with their own, the Indian hating populace feels secure that Doublehead's grandchildren's assimilation into white society will bring no threat to the area anymore. The Indian haters did not know that Jacob, William, and some other Cherokee will escape their reach and later to return to the area in generations to come with a history to tell. Many of the early settlers believed now that the Cherokees, their culture, history, and ideas, were now being devastated, and over time would be completely destroyed. They did not count on the Cornblossom legacy to ever return with what happened to a great people: the Thunderbolts. William Troxell, last born of Cornblossom and Jacob Troxell, my direct descent line who was known as "Little Willie" or sometimes called "Little Loud Wolf", was 10 years old at the time of this great massacre. William was in the party with Cornblossom (his mother), Peter Troxell (his brother), and Red Bird (his very close relative). Jacob Troxell did not ever recover from the massacre, he had been shot and scalped, his family and friends destroyed. His mind and thinking was gone, to never be recovered. So in memory, and the way it was, Jacob DID die at the massacre, never leaving his wife Cornblossom, his son and daughter-n-law, and the 100 Cherokee children and others. Even though his body was in Alabama, his mind was always at the Cherokee massacre, the people, and the lands he loved... THE CHEROKEE PEOPLE. Maybe someday a memorial will be erected to remember them all. LET US NOT FORGET THEM! REMEMBER THEM WITH A CHEROKEE TEAR. Danny Troxell The Lakota Prayer by Chief Dan Georges, Coast SalishO Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the winds, And whose breath gives life to this world, hear me! I come to you as one of your many children, I am small and weak, I need your strenght and your wisdom. Let me walk in beauty, and, make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset. Make my hands respect the things you have made and my ears sharp to hear your voice. Make me wise so that I may understand the things you have taught my people. Let me learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock. Look at me, I am weak... I need strenght, make me strong! Not to be greater than my brother, but to be able to fight my greatest enemy: myself. Make me always ready to come to you, with clean hands and straight eyes, So, when life fades, as the fading sunset, my spirit may come to you without shame. ONKWEHSHÓN:À SEWATAHÓNHSATATNOTE: This following text is edited in kanien'kéha:ka, Mohawk language, for the pleasure of my Iroquois brothers and sisters. The texts I have reported in such manner are a small compilation of chosen stories and essays written and edited by the following people: Josephine Horne Dorris Montour Annette Jacobs Mae Montour Carolee Jacobs Frank Natawe Frank Jacobs Jr. Mary (Wari) Nicholas Dorothy Ann Lazore Rita Phillips References: KANIEN'KÉHÀ OKARÀSHÓN:À - Mohawk Stories, November 1976 Because of their hardworking and dynamic implication, Kanien'kéha:ka language will be kept alive and grow to be recognised by all. The Mohawk culture, once kept unknown and silent, will expand beyond its own frontiers and enlight other cultures with its amazing beauty. ========================================================== ONKWEHSHÓN:À SEWATAHÓNHSATAT Onkwehshón:à! Ietshiiatahónhsatat oh nahó:ten' ionkhihsothokon'kéhà rón:ton'.Onkwehshón:à! Shé:kon ionkwahronkhátiè ionkhihsothokon'kéhà ra'otiwén:nà. Onkwehshón:à! Ionkhihsothokon'kéhà rón:ton', "Thó nonkwá ionsásewe' tsi nisewaweiennó:ten tánon' tsi nitesewehtáhkwen." Onkwehshón:à! Ionkhihsothokon'kéhà rón:ton', "Thó nionsásewe' tsi nonkwá:ti ne orihwaká:ion." Onkwehshón:à! Ionkhihsothokon'kéhà rón:ton', "Sásewatst ne sewawén:nà." Onkwehshón:à! Ionkhihsothokon'kéhà rón:ton', "Ietshiiatashónhsatat ne kontíriio' tsi nahó:ten' rón:ton'." Onkwehshón:à! Ionkhihsothokon'kéhà rón:ton', "Ietshiiatahónhsatat ne otsìten'shón:à tsi nahó:ten' rón:ton'." Onkwehshón:à! Ionkhihsothokon'kéhà rón:ton', "Ietshiiatahónhsatat ne otsìnonwahshón:à tsi nahó:ten' rón:ton'." Onkwehshón:à! Ionkhihsothokon'kéhà rón:ton', "Ietshiiatahónhsatat ne ononhkwàshón:à tsi nahó:ten' rón:ton'." Onkwehshón:à! Ionkhihsothokon'kéhà rón:ton', "Ietshiiatashónhsatat tsi karharónnion' tsi nahó:ten' rón:ton'." Onkwehshón:à! Ionkhihsothokon'kéhà rón:ton', "Ietshiiatashónhsatat tsi kanientararónnion' tsi nahó:ten' rón:ton'." Onkwehshón:à! Ionkhihsothokon'kéhà rón:ton', "Ietshiiatahónhsatat ne ratiweraráhstà tsi nahó:ten' rón:ton'." Onkwehshón:à! Ionkhihsothokon'kéhà rón:ton', "Sewatahónhsatat ne tiohkehnéhkhà karáhkwà tsi nahó:ten' wá:ton'." Onkwehshón:à! Ionkhihsothokon'kéhà rón:ton', "Sewatahónhsatat ne ahsonthénhkhà karáhkwà tsi nahó:ten' wá:ton'." Onkwehshón:à! Ionkhihsothokon'kéhà rón:ton', "Sewatahónhsatat ne otsistohshón:à tsi nahó:ten' wá:ton'." Onkwehshón:à! Ionkhihsothokon'kéhà rón:ton', "Ietshiiatahónhsatat ne ietshihsothó:kon' tsi nahó:ten' rón:ton'." Onkwehshón:à! Ionkhihsothokon'kéhà rón:ton', "Ietshiiatahónhsatat ne ionkhi'nisténha ohwén:tsà tsi nahó:ten' rón:ton'." Onkwehshón:à! Sewatahónhsatat... Translation... People! Listen to what our ancestors are saying.People! We are still constantly hearing our ancestors' voices. People! Our ancestors are saying: "Return to your culture and belief." People! Our ancestors are saying: "Return to the old ways. People! Our ancestors are saying: "Return to your native language." People! Our ancestors are saying: "Listen to what the animals are saying." People! Our ancestors are saying: "Listen to what the birds are saying." People! Our ancestors are saying: "Listen to what the insects are saying." People! Our ancestors are saying: "Listen to what the medicines are saying." People! Our ancestors are saying: "Listen to what the forests are saying." People! Our ancestors are saying: "Listen to what the rivers are saying." People! Our ancestors are saying: "Listen to what the wind makers are saying." People! Our ancestors are saying: "Listen to what the Sun is saying." People! Our ancestors are saying: "Listen to what the Moon is saying." People! Our ancestors are saying: "Listen to what the stars are saying." People! Our ancestors are saying: "Listen to what our elders are saying." People! Our ancestors are saying: "Listen to what our Mother Earth is saying." People! Listen... by Frank Jacobs Jr. - TEKARONHIÓ:KEN Dance of The Blue Blanket by Barbara Shining Woman WarrenNOTE >>> Dance of The Blue Blanket was retold and written by Barbara Shining Woman Warren and is a contemporary story based on a true event. Nadia was four years old and she loved Indians. Everything about Indians excited her. One day Nadia's grandmother came for a visit. Grandmother recalled those old stories the family told of Tsalagi blood. So Grandmother decided to take Nadia, along with Nadia's mother and baby brother, to her first pow wow. Little Nadia stood at the edge of the Circle. She watched with awe as the dancers passed by her dressed in their beautiful clothing. She listened intently to the drum, her knees dipping with the beat and Nadia knew she wanted to dance. But there were so many kinds of dances going on. She watched the men, then, the women. She lifted one foot, then the other, puzzled about just what she should do with her feet. Nadia felt a tap on her shoulder. Looking up she saw a smiling woman dressed in beautiful clothing holding out her hand toward Nadia. Nadia hesitated and glanced at her grandmother for approval. Grandmother's eyes smiled: "Yes." So Nadia accepted the hand of the stranger and together they danced and danced around the Circle. After a while, Nadia began to dance on her own. As Grandmother watched, Nadia started to twirl and whirl holding her arms up high in the air in imitation of the lovely fancy shawl dancers. Grandmother beckoned to Nadia. She gave her a small blue blanket belonging to Nadia's baby brother. Nadia placed the blanket around her shoulders and began to dance with it in the Circle, the blue blanket twirling and whirling about her like the wings of a butterfly. She felt another tap on her shoulder, and there stood a different woman, and in her out-stretched hand she held a child-sized fringed shawl. Nadia glanced at Grandmother for approval and again, her grandmother's eyes smiled:"Yes." So Nadia accepted the gift from the stranger. She placed the fringed shawl about her shoulders and then began to dance, the fringed shawl twirling and whirling about her like the wings of a butterfly. Nadia danced in honor of all those ancestors who had come before and with the pure joy of being a little girl at her very first pow wow. Birth of the Pleiads, a Mohawk Legend.This happened a long time ago, in the period of the first long house Counsil of the Wises. This long house periodically had ceremonies, kept secret and out of the reach of the children. These children, which included the chief's son, were not so happy about being taken apart of these hidden ceremonies.
So, one day, the chief's son had an idea... He assembled all the other children and explained his plan: "As we are not allowed to be with the adults for the ceremonies, we will have one of our own. We will go at the beach with meat, corn, squashes and beans to make a feast and one of us will beat the drum for our dances. We will have a ceremony of our own to honor our forefathers!" All the children applauded at the idea and they prepared themselves for that special day. Girls collected squashes, beans and corn cubs while the boys were trying to get parts of the meat hunted by their parents or went at the river fishing. When they made sure they had everything ready, they agreed to make
the feast for the next full moon.
When the full moon arrived, the chief's son got up early and went to the others to wake them up... An hour after, all wearing their best dresses and costumes and, carrying their content of food for the feast and offerings, they were travelling to a quiet and vast beach to start up a fire and cook the feast meal. Then the drum started to beat, they danced in a very disordely manner as they were never taught the dances nor even the way to purify themselves for this event. To them it was another well organised game as any immature kid would do... In this place, without them knowing, was buried the body of an holy man who has been a great shaman and hero in his living days... His spirit was awaken by the strange uneven drum beats and the unsynchronised chants. He went up to the ground to see what was disturbing his sleep and saw the children doing this ceremony. Amused but also concerned, he appeared to the frightening children and just said these simple words: "Stop this, children, it is not right and you are not ready nor prepared for such a task! Prove your worthiness first by being with your parents, helping them in their tasks and learn from them the right ways of such ceremonies and how to purify yourself before doing such." The children then accepted the words of this wise spirit and went back with their parents and were obedient in all things... A couple of years passed and the chidren, all almost at teen age had learn much from their parents and grand-parents but they were still kept from the secret ceremonies...
One morning, the chief's son got up and went to the others to wake them up and taking their best clothes, provisions and apparatus, they went to the holy man's burial ground once more...
They prepared themselves well, the boys had a sweat lodge and did the smudging and offered the right sacrifices... The girls perfumed their hair with scented herbs and orned their head with clean and colored feathers. Then one of the boys, who had learned the way to tap the drum and sing the chants, started the dance... They danced a long time, enlighted by this new knowledge and illuminated by the purity of their steps... The wise man's spirit appeared with a large smile along with other spirits, many among them were great holy men or heroes, even Hiawatah, the greatest hero of them all was there! They sat in circle around the children that were dancing and they all started to shine of a strange light... The children were now in transes and their spirits were elevated, and their feet became light and agile... They were rising!
An old woman who was passing by saw this beautyful vision of these children dancing in the sky! They kept rising, rising, until they became only dots of light in the sky, the Pleiads, the dancing stars, were born! The wise man's spirit then came to this old woman with a smile and told her: "They have achieved wisdom through learning and obedience and they have listened their parents when they explained the right way to celebrate. Those were good children! Don't cry for them as the Great Spirit granted them immortality this way, to be an example to all your other children." Since, all are part of the great festivities and ceremonials, even the tiniest baby is part of the great festivities because they remember the importance of being all as one. We can still see those dancing stars today and sometimes a new star is born and added to the cluster of the Pleiads. Perhaps another fine child made it to perfection again!!! We can still see those dancing stars today and sometimes a new star is born and added to the cluster of the Pleiads; perhaps another fine child made it to perfection again!!!
The Mud Poney (Skidi Pawnee story)Once there was an Indian camp and in it lived a boy. His parents were very poor, and had no poneys. The boy was fond of poneys and often sat on the bank of the creek, while the other boys were watering theirs. One day the boy made up his mind to have a poney of his own. He crossed the creek, got some wood and built a little corral. He then took a quantity of sticky mud to the corral and made two poneys of mud. He got some white clay and put it on the head of one so that it was white-faced. Then the boy was happy! Every morning he went to the corral and carried his mud poneys down to the creek and dipped their noses in the water. Then he took them back to the corral again. He heaped grass and green cottonwood shoots before them and took as good care of them as if they were real poneys. Well, one day the boy went to see his mud poneys and he found that one of them had crumbled to dust. He felt so badly that he cried; after that he took even better care of the one that was left. It was the one with the white face. On another morning, while the boy was in his corral, the people broke camp and went on a Buffalo hunt. The boy's parents looked everywhere for him and when they could not find him, they had to go away without him. And when he went back to the place where the camp had been, all the people were gone! He cried and cried, and wandered about picking up pieces of dried meat the people had thrown away. When night came, he layed down and cried himself to sleep. Then he dreamed that a white-faced poney came to him and said: "My Son, you are poor, and Mother Earth has taken pity on you, and has given me to you. I am a part of her." Well, when the boy woke up, it was broad daylight. He rose and went to his corral to look after his mud poney. And what did he see standing in front of the corral, but a fine little poney with a white face! It was pawing the ground and tossing its mane. The boy rubbed his eyes to see if it was a real poney. He went up to it and stroked its sides; it whinnied with joy and sniffed at his fingers. So he got a piece of rope and put it round the pony's neck and led it down to the water. But the pony would not drink at all and said like the one in his dream: "My Son, you are poor, Mother Earth has taken pity on you and has given me to you. I am your Mud Poney." The boy was filled with joy and rubbed the poney down and was very proud of it. Just as he was going to lead it back to the corral, the Poney said: "My Son, you must do all I tell you to do and some day you will become a great Chief. Now, jump on my back and we will find your people. Do not try to guide me for I know where to go." The boy, delighted, jumped on the Poney's back and away they went swiftly over the plain. They travelled all that day and when evening had come. They reached a place where the people had camped the night before. But they had all gone on further. The boy jumped down and turned the Poney loose to graze, but it would not eat. It only said: "Do not mind me. Go and find something to eat for yourself." So the boy wandered about the deserted camp, picking up bits of food the people had dropped. When his hunger was satisfied, he lay down and went to sleep. In the morning he rose and jumped on the Poney and away they went across the plain. In the evening, the same thing happened as before; they stopped at a deserted camp, the boy ate and slept and in the morning he and the Poney journeyed on. The next night, they reached the camp where the people were stopping. Then the Poney said: "Leave me here outside the camp and go to your teepee to wake your mother. I will stay here and take care of myself, for I do not need anything to eat or drink, because I am a part of Mother Earth. All I need is a blanket to keep the dew and rain off me or I would melt. Tomorrow, when the people break camp, stay behind and I will be ready for you." The boy entered the camp, as the Pony told him to do, and, went into his parents's teepee. He sat down and threw some dried grass on the coals in the fireplace and the flames blazed up. Then he went to his mother's bed and woke her, saying: "Mother, here I am!" His mother opened her eyes, and at first she thought she was dreaming, then she put out her hand and touched him. When she knew it was really her son, she rose with joy and waked her husband. He got up too and threw logs on the fire; he ran and called the boy's relations. They came crowding in and were glad to see him safe and well. The next morning the people broke camp and the boy told them to go on without him, so they did. The Poney came, and the boy mounted on its back and away they went swiftly across the plain. At night they caught up with the people and the Poney stayed outside the camp. In the morning it happened as before. So it was for four days. On the fourth night, the Poney said: "My Son, take me into the camp, so that the people may see what a nice Pony you have. The Chief will hear about me, and wish to buy me. He will offer you several horses. Take them and let him have me in exchange. But he will not keep me long!" So the boy rode the Poney straight into the camp and the people were astonished to see him on its back. When they examined it, they said: "Why, it looks like a mud poney, such as boys smooth down with their fingers. It is a wonderful poney!" When the Chief heard about it, he sent for the boy. He welcomed him respectfully and made him sit on a cushion then, he said: "My Son, I have sent for you to eat with me. I wish to tell you that I like your poney, and will give you four of my best horses for it." The boy replied: "I have listened to the great Chief. I will let the Chief have my poney." The Chief was pleased, and his wife filled a wooden bowl with dried meat and soup and put two horn spoons into the bowl. She set this before her husband and the boy, so, they ate together. After that the Chief had the four horses caught, and drove them to the boy's teepee. He took the Poney and led it to his own corral. He put grass before it, but it would not eat. He piled young cottonwood boughs before it, but still it would not eat. A few days after, scouts came riding into the camp and they said that a great herd of Buffalo was near. So the men got on their horses, and rode to the hunt, and the Chief went with them, mounted on the Mud Poney. He soon far outstripped the rest and killed many Buffalo. But as he was riding over the plain, the Poney staggered and nearly fell. Its feet had become unjointed, and it was ruined. Then the Chief was terribly angry, and, returning to the camp, he ordered the boy to give him back his four horses and take back the Poney. The boy was delighted, and led his Mud Poney home. In a few days it was as well as ever. Then the Chief wished to have it back, but the boy would not give it to him for any number of horses. Well, from that day on, when the boy went hunting, mounted on the Mud Poney, he killed more Buffalo than the men did. And when he went on the war path, no one could hurt him, but he always conquered the enemy. After a few years he became a great Chief. He still loved his Mud Poney very much, and tied Eagle feathers on its mane and tail, and covered it carefully at night with a warm blanket. But one night, he forgot to cover it, and he had a dream. He thought that the Mud Poney came to him and said: "My Son, you are no longer poor. My doings are over and I am returning to Mother Earth, for I am a part of her." And when he woke in the morning, he found that it was raining hard. He got up and ran to the corral to put a blanket on the Poney, but he could not find the animal anywhere. Then on the side of the hill, he saw a little pile of mud, still in the shape of a poney. And when he saw this, he went home sorrowfully to his teepee. The girl who was the ring (Pawnee Legend)By the bank of a river stood a lodge, in which lived four brothers and their sister. The boys made arrows. To the branch of a tree in front of the lodge they had hung a rawhide strap, such as women use for carrying wood, so as to make a swing for the girl. Whenever their meat was all gone and they began to get hungry, The girl used to send her brothers into the timber to cut dogwood shoots to make arrows. When the arrows were ready, she would get into the swing and the boys would swing her. As the swing moved, they would see dust rising all around the horizon, and would know that the Buffalo were coming. Then all four boys would take their bows and arrows, and stand about the swing so as to protect the girl and not let the Buffalo come near her. When the Buffalo had come close, the boys would kill them in a circle all about the swing. They would quickly carry the girl into the lodge, and would kill so many Buffalo that the rest would be frightened and run away. So they would have plenty to eat, and the dried meat would be piled high in the lodge. One day the boys went out to get wood for arrows, and left the girl in the lodge alone. While they were away a Coyote came to the lodge and talked to the girl. He said to her: "Granddaughter, I am very poor, and I am very hungry. I have no meat in my lodge, and my children also are hungry. I told my relations that I was coming to ask you for food, and they have been laughing at me. They said, 'Your granddaughter will not give you anything to eat.' " The girl answered him: "Grandfather, here is plenty of meat. This house is full of it. Take what you want. Take the fattest pieces. Take it to your children. Let them eat." The Coyote began to cry. He said: "Yes, my relations laughed at me when I said I was going to visit you and ask you for something to eat. They said you would not give me anything. I do not want any dried meat. I want some fresh meat to take to my children. Have pity on me, and let me put you in the swing, so as to bring the Buffalo. I do not want to swing you hard so as to bring the Buffalo in great herds. I want to swing you only a little so as to bring a few Buffalo. I have a quiver full of arrows to keep the Buffalo off." The girl said: "No, grandfather, I cannot do this. My brothers are away. Without them we can do nothing." Then the Coyote slapped his breast and said: "Look at me. Am I not a man and strong? I can run around you fast, after you are in the swing, and I can keep the Buffalo off. I can shoot clear through a Buffalo. I have plenty of arrows, and I need only use a single one for each Buffalo. Come on, I want to swing you just a little, so that but few Buffalo will come." So he coaxed the girl, but still she refused. After he had begged her for a long time, she agreed to let him swing her a little, and got in the swing. He began to swing her, at first gently, but all at once he pushed her very hard, and kept doing this until she swung high. She screamed and cried, and tried to get off the swing, but it was now too late. All around, from all sides, the Buffalo were coming in great crowds. The Coyote had made ready his arrows, and was running around the girl, trying to kill the Buffalo and keep them off, but they crowded upon him, so many that he could do nothing, and at last he got frightened and ran into the lodge. The Buffalo were now just all over the ground about the lodge, and suddenly one of the young Bulls, the leader of a big band, as he passed under the swing, threw up his head, and the girl disappeared, but the Coyote, peeping out of the lodge door, saw on the horn of this Bull a ring, and then he knew that this ring was the girl. Then the Bull ran away fast, and all the Buffalo ran after him. When the Buffalo had gone, the Coyote came out of the lodge and saw that the girl was not there. He did not know what to do. He was frightened. Pretty soon he heard the girl's brothers coming. They had seen the dust, and knew that some one was swinging their sister, and that the Buffalo had come. They hurried back, running fast, and when they reached the lodge they found the Coyote just dragging himself out of a mud-hole. He crawled out crying, and pretended that the Buffalo had run over him and trampled him. His bow and arrows were in the mud. He told the brothers his story and said that he had tried hard to save the girl, but that he had not known that so many Buffalo would come. He said he had thought that the girl must be swung high, so that the Buffalo could see her from a long way off. The brothers felt very sorry that their sister was lost. They counselled together to see what they should do, trying to decide what would be the best plan to get her back again. While they were talking about this, the Coyote, with all the mud upon him, stood before them and said: "Brothers, do not feel sorry because your sister is lost. I will get her back again. Live on just as you always do. Do not think about this. Do not let it trouble you. I will get her back again." After he had spoken thus, he said, "Now I am going to start off on the war-path," and he left them and went away. He journeyed on alone considering what he should do, and at length, as he was travelling along over the prairie, he met a Badger, who said to him, "Brother, where are you going?" The Coyote said: "I am going on the war-path against my enemies. Will you join my party?" The Badger said, "Yes, I will join you." They went on. After they had gone a long way, they saw a Swift Hawk sitting on the limb of a tree by a ravine. He asked them where they were going, and they told him, and asked him if he would go with them. He said he would go. After a time they met a Kit Fox, and asked him to join them, and he did so. Then they met a Jack Rabbit, who said he would go with them. They went on, and at length they met a Blackbird, and asked him to join them. He said: "Let it be so. I will go." Soon after they had all got together they stopped and sat down, and the Coyote told them how the girl had been lost, and said that he intended to try to get her back. Then they talked, and the Coyote told them the plan that he -- the leader -- had made. The others listened, and said that they would do whatever he told them to. They were all glad to help to recover the girl. Then they all stood up and made ready to start, and the Coyote said to the Blackbird, "Friend, you stay here until the time comes." So the Blackbird remained there where they had been talking, and the others went on. After they had gone some distance farther, the Coyote told the Hawk to stop and wait there. He did so. The others went on a long way, and then the Coyote said to the Rabbit, "You stay here." The others went on, and at the next stopping-place he left the Kit Fox; and at the next -- last of all -- he left the Badger. Then the Coyote went on alone and travelled a long way, and at length he came to the Buffalo camp. He went out to the place where the young Bulls used to play the stick game, and lay down there. It was early in the morning. After a time some of the young Bulls came out, and began to roll the ring and to throw their sticks at it. The Coyote now pretended to be very sick. His hair was all covered with mud, and his tongue hung out of his mouth, and he staggered about and fell down and then got up again, and seemed to feel badly. Sometimes he would get over near to where the ring was being rolled, and then the young Bulls would call out: "Here, hold on! Don't get in the way." After a little while the Coyote pretended that he felt better, and he got up and went over to where the young Bulls were sitting, looking on at the game, and sat down with them, and watched the play with the others. Every now and then two of the young Bulls would begin to dispute over the game, each saying that his stick was the nearer to the ring, and sometimes they would wrangle for a long time. Once, while they were doing this, the Coyote went up to them and said: "Here! You men need not quarrel about this. Let me look. I know all about this game. I can tell which stick is the nearer." The Bulls stopped talking and looked at him, and then said: "Yes, let him look. Let us hear what he says." Then the Coyote went up to the ring and looked, and said, pointing: "That stick is nearest. That man has won." The Bulls looked at each other, and nodded their heads and said, "He knows. He is right." The next time they had a dispute, he decided it again, and all were satisfied. At length two of the young Bulls had a very fierce dispute, and almost came to fighting over it. The Coyote came up and looked, and said: "This is very close. I must look carefully, but I cannot see well if you are all crowding around me in this way. I must have room. You would all better go over to that hill, and sit down there and wait for me to decide." The Bulls all went over to the hill and sat down, and then the Coyote began to look. First he would go to one stick and look carefully, and then he would go to the other and look. The sticks were about the same distance from the ring, and for a long time it seemed that he could not make up his mind which was the nearer. He went backward and forward, looking at the sticks, and stooping down and putting his hands on his knees and squinting, and at last, when once his face was close to the ground, he suddenly snatched up the ring in his mouth, and started, running as hard as he could for the place where he had left the Badger. As soon as he had started, all the Bulls on the hill saw what he was doing -- that he was taking the ring away from them -- and they started after him. They did not want to lose the ring, for it was very useful to them, and they played with it all the time. When the Buffalo in the camp saw that the young Bulls had started, they all followed, so that soon all the Buffalo were rushing after the Coyote. He ran fast, and for a long time he kept ahead of the Buffalo, but they followed, a great mass of Buffalo crowding and pushing, running as hard as they could run. At last the Coyote was beginning to get tired, and was running more slowly, and the Buffalo were beginning to catch up to him, but he was getting near to where the Badger was. After a time the Buffalo were getting nearer to the Coyote. He was very tired, and it seemed to him as if he could not run any farther. If he did not soon get to where he had left the Badger, the Buffalo would run over him and trample him to death, and get back the ring. At length, when they were close behind him, he ran over the top of a little hill, and down in the valley below saw the Badger sitting at the mouth of his hole. The Coyote raced down the hill as fast as he could, and when he got to the hole he gave the ring to the Badger, and just as the herd of Buffalo got to the place, they both dived down into the hole. The Buffalo crowded about the Badger's hole, and began to paw the ground, to dig it up so as to get the Coyote and the ring, but the Badger had dug a hole a long way under the ground, and while the Buffalo were digging he ran along through this hole and came out far off, and ran as hard as he could toward the brothers' lodge. Before he had gone very far, some of the Buffalo on the outside of the herd saw him, and called out to the others: "There he is! There he goes!" Then all the Buffalo started again and ran after the Badger. When they had come pretty close to him, he would stop running and dig another hole, and while the Buffalo were crowding around the hole, trying to dig him out, he would dig along under the ground, until he had got far beyond them, and would then come to the top of the ground, and run as fast as he could toward the lodge. Then the Buffalo would see him and follow him. In this way he went a long distance, but at length he got tired and felt that he could not run or dig much farther. He was almost spent. At last, when he dug out of the ground, he saw not far off the Kit Fox, lying curled upon a rock, asleep in the sun. He called out: "Oh, my brother, I am almost tired out! Help me! " The Kit Fox jumped up and ran to him and took the ring in his mouth and started running, and the Badger dug a deep hole, and staid there. The little Fox ran fast, gliding along like a bird; and the Buffalo, when they saw him running, chased him and ran hard. The Kit Fox is a swift animal, and for a long time he kept ahead of the Buffalo. When he was almost tired out, he came to where the Rabbit was, and gave him the ring, and ran into a hole, and the Rabbit ran on. The Buffalo followed the Rabbit, but he ran fast and kept ahead of them for a long time. When they had almost caught him, he came to where the Hawk was sitting. The Hawk took the ring in his claws and flew off with it, and the Rabbit ran off to one side and hid in the long grass. The Buffalo followed the Hawk, and ran after him. They seemed never to get tired. The Hawk, after he had been flying a long time, began to feel very weary. He would sail down low over the Buffalo's backs, and was only just able to keep above them. At last he got near to where the Blackbird was. When the Blackbird heard the pounding of many hoofs and knew that the Buffalo were coming, he flew up on a sunflower stalk and waited. When the Buffalo came to the place where he was, he flew up over them to the Hawk, and took the ring on his neck, and flew along over the Buffalo. The ring was heavy for so small a bird, and he would alight on the backs of the Buffalo and fly from one to another. The Buffalo would toss their heads and try to hit him with their horns, but he kept flying from one to another, and the Buffalo behind were always pushing forward to get near the ring, and they pushed the other Buffalo ahead of them. Pretty soon the herd passed over a hill and were rushing down to the place on the river where the brothers' lodge stood. Ever since their sister had been lost, the brothers had been making arrows, and now they had piles of them stacked up about the lodge. When they saw the Buffalo coming they got their bows and took their arrows in their hands, and shot and shot until they had killed many, many Buffalo, and the rest were frightened and ran away. The Blackbird had flown into the lodge with the ring, and after the brothers had finished killing, they went into the lodge. And there,sitting by the fire and smiling at them as they came in, they saw their sister. Little Brave and the medicine woman - Làkotà StoryA village of Làkotas moved out of winter camp and pitched their tents in a circle on high land overlooking a lake. A little way down the declivity was a grave. Choke cherries had grown up, hiding the grave from view, but as the ground had sunk somewhat, the grave was marked by a slight hollow. The Call of the Owl (Cherokee, by OwnerStorm)Long ago there was a widow who had a very beautiful daughter. When the girl was old enough to marry, her mother took her aside... "It's time, my child, to find yourself a husband!", she said, "... Your father was a famous hunter. Only another man like him is good enough for you." Her daughter agreed, but she was a difficult, temperamental girl, and none of the young men of the tribe pleased her. One was too small, another too ugly, a third too poor and a fourth too simple. But one day a very handsome young man appeared at the widow's wigwam. She had never seen him before. "I am U-gu-ku...", he said, "... I would like to marry your daughter. I've always wanted a wife as beautiful as her." "My daughter,", replied the woman, "must marry a good hunter, so she never goes hungry. My husband was a famous hunter and we always had plenty of meat." "I'm a very good hunter!" answered U-gu-ku. He was a pleasant young man, and so the widow called her daughter: "This is U-gu-ku,", she told her: "He wants to marry you." The girl liked the look of the young man and so the marriage took place. Next day the widow went to her new son-in-law: "There's no more meat in the house!", she said. "Don't worry, mother of my wife...", replied U-gu-ku: "I'll go hunting." And off he went... But when he came back, all he had were three paltry little fish. "I'm sorry," said U-gu-ku: "I had no luck hunting today, so I decided to go fishing. I've brought you three fish. No doubt I'll have better luck tomorrow." Their supper that evening was not very lavish. But worse was to come for the next day all that U-gu-ku brought back from the hunt were three lizards. "It's as if there's a curse on me!" said U-gu-ku sadly: "But don't worry, tomorrow you'll have meat." On the third day U-gu-ku returned very tired from the hunt and handed the widow three scrawny little bits of meat that the other hunters had left behind. His wife and mother-in-law could not understand it. They began to wonder if U-gu-ku could be trusted. "He told me he was a good hunter," said the widow: "but he has hardly killed a thing. Don't you think you should follow him secretly and see what he's doing?" The girl agreed, and on the fourth day of her marriage she followed her husband into the forest, hiding behind the trees. WHen they came to the river, to her surprise and horror, U-gu-ku turned into an owl. "U-gu-ku-oooooooo-ooooooo," he cried, flying up into the air and out over the river. Then suddenly, he swooped down to the water and seized a little crayfish. The young woman was horrified to think she had an owl as a husband. She ran back home as fast as she could, weeping as if her heart would break. That evening, when U-gu-ku returned, the crayfish was all he had: "Is that all you caught?" asked the wife. "An owl stole the rest from me," he replied. "But you're the owl!" cried the young woman furiously: "You've lied to me, you've tricked me and what's more you're a dreadfully bad hunter!" "No, I'm not," protested U-gu-ku: "I may be a bad hunter for a man, but for an owl I'm a very good one." "Get out of my sight!" shouted his wife: "I never want to see you again." So the owl flew away into the forest, crying and hooting dolefully. He was terribly unhappy, for he loved his wife with all his heart. "U-gu-ku-oooooo-oooooo-oooooo," went the sorrowful voice, as U-gu-ku mourned his loss. And every night since then, the owl's lament has been heard, as he sings of his lost love. |
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