Autobiography of Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak, or Black HawkBlack Hawk, Sauk chief
History
Autobiography of Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak, or Black Hawk
Black Hawk, Sauk chief
Black Hawk War, 1832; Black Hawk, Sauk chief, 1767-1838; Sauk Indians -- Biography
Every one makes his feast as he thinks best, to please the Great Spirit,
who has the care of all beings created. Others believe in two Spirits,
one good and one bad, and make feasts for the Bad Spirit, to keep him
quiet. They think that if they can make peace with him, the Good Spirit
will not hurt them. For my part I am of the opinion, that so far as we
have reason, we have a right to use it in determining what is right
or wrong, and we should always pursue that path which we believe to be
right, believing that "whatsoever is, is right." If the Great and Good
Spirit wished us to believe and do as the whites, he could easily change
our opinions, so that we could see, and think, and act as they do. We
are nothing compared to his power, and we feel and know it. We have men
among us, like the whites, who pretend to know the right path, but will
not consent to show it without pay. I have no faith in their paths, but
believe that every man must make his own path.
When our corn is getting ripe, our young people watch with anxiety for
the signal to pull roasting ears, as none dare touch them until the
proper time. When the corn is fit for use another great ceremony takes
place, with feasting and returning thanks to the Great Spirit for giving
us Corn.
I will has relate the manner in which corn first came. According to
tradition handed down to our people, a beautiful woman was seen to
descend from the clouds, and alight upon the earth, by two of our
ancestors who had killed a deer, and were sitting by a fire roasting
a part of it to eat. They were astonished at seeing her, and concluded
that she was hungry and had smelt the meat. They immediately went to
her, taking with them a piece of the roasted venison. They presented
it to her, she ate it, telling them to return to the spot where she was
sitting at the end of one year, and they would find a reward for
their kindness and generosity. She then ascended to the clouds and
disappeared. The men returned to their village, and explained to the
tribe what they had seen, done ad heard, but were laughed at by their
people. When the period had arrived for them to visit this consecrated
ground, where they were to find a reward for their attention to the
beautiful woman of the clouds, they went with a large party, and found
where her right hand had rested on the ground corn growing, where the
left hand had rested beans, and immediately where she had been seated,
tobacco.
The two first have ever since been cultivated by our people as our
principal provisions, and the last is used for smoking. The white people
have since found out the latter, and seem to it relish it as much as we
do, as they use it in different ways: Smoking, snuffing and chewing.
We thank the Great Spirit for all the good he has conferred upon us.
For myself, I never take a drink of water from a spring without being
mindful of his goodness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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