Boys' Book of Indian Warriors and Heroic Indian WomenSabin, Edwin L. (Edwin Legrand)
History
Boys' Book of Indian Warriors and Heroic Indian Women
Sabin, Edwin L. (Edwin Legrand)
Indians of North America -- Biography; Indians of North America -- Wars
The Arapahos and Shoshonis said that the word was true. The Messiah
had come; he did not live among them, but was living west of the
mountains, among the Fish-eaters. A Bannock Indian had brought the
news across to them. They had sent men to see. The men had seen the
Messiah, and had talked with him. They had seen the dances that he had
ordered, which would waken the dead to life and populate the earth
again with Indians.
Porcupine and his Cheyennes, and Kicking Bear and Short Bull and their
Sioux were much impressed. They decided to go on, and see for
themselves. So they did. They got on the train at Rawlins, Wyoming,
and rode all day and branched off by another train, and rode still
farther, and arrived at Fort Hall of Idaho, in the Bannock country.
From here the Bannocks guided them onward, by train and by wagon, until
at last they reached the country of the Fish-eaters, or Pai-Utes, at
Pyramid Lake in western Nevada!
The Pyramid Lake Fish-eaters sent them south, to Walker Lake of the
Pai-Utes. Here they met the Christ, listened to his talk, danced the
sacred dances, and felt that everything was true.
Kicking Bear and Short Bull and their Sioux were absent from the Sioux
reservations all winter. They sent back letters from Wyoming, Utah,
Idaho and Nevada, telling of their progress. In April, of 1890, they
returned.
They reported to the council. They had seen the Messiah. Delegates
from many other tribes had been there, too. The Messiah talked to each
tribe in its own language. He bore the scars of nails, on his wrists.
He looked like an Indian, only lighter in color. He taught them dances
called Ghost Dances, which would bring the spirit people back upon
earth. He fell into a sleep, and went to heaven and saw all the spirit
Indians. The earth was too old; it was to be made new and would stay
green and new, and the Indians who obeyed his teachings and lived good
would never be more than forty years old, themselves. This fall all
the good people were to be made young; and after that they would be
made young every spring. Anyone who had shaken hands with the Messiah
could call him in sleep.
The Sioux delegates told their story over and over again. At the
Cheyenne reservation in Montana, Porcupine talked for five days and
four nights.
There was indeed a Pai-Ute prophet, named Wo-vo-ka or the Cutter. He
later took the name Kwo-hit-sauq, or Big Rumbling Belly. To the white
people he was known as Jack Wilson. He had worked on ranches near the
Walker Lake reservation, until, when he was about thirty years old,
while sick with a fever he went into a trance, during an eclipse of the
sun.
On waking up, he said that he had been to heaven, had visited God and
the spirits, and had received command to preach a new gospel.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account