“This spring the white men shut off my rations. They refused to let me
have food for my children, because I was making ready to give the Sun
Dance. I had to give the ceremony to save the life of a child that was
dying; its mother had already made her vow to the Sun. Now my heart is
bitter against all white men; I do not want to make known any of my
knowledge to a white man. But Onesta, you are my relative, and have
made a long journey. This white man can remain in my camp for a few
days to rest; and during that time we may get to know each other
better.”
Then a slender, pretty girl, dressed in soft-tanned deerskin, came into
the lodge. She was the youngest daughter of the chief and was named
“Whistling-All-Night,” because she was born in the moon, “when the jack
rabbit whistles at night in calling its mate.”
Said Brings-Down-the-Sun to Onesta and Little Creek: “My family comes
every summer to gather wild berries in this valley; and we are glad to
have you come too. Berries are plentiful this summer; you had better
gather a supply and dry them for winter, as we are accustomed to do.
But I ask you to be careful of our berry bushes. Do not break the
branches, or injure any of our big trees. I am looking ahead for the
good of my people. I want to preserve the trees and berry bushes for
future generations. I am accustomed to warn my fellow tribesmen not to
be shortsighted like the Blood Indians. They once had big trees like
ours, but they cut them all down for firewood. Now their country is
bare and they have few berry bushes. I told my people to haul their
firewood from the forests on the mountains. They have followed my
advice, and we still have our big-leaf-trees (cottonwoods). The trees
with long leaves we call spear-leaf-trees (balsam poplar); we have also
round-leaf-trees (quaking aspen), and thickets of brush-sticks
(willows). We call the big trees ‘the-old-time-trees,’ and the small
ones ‘young-people-trees.’”
So they talked until darkness settled over valley and Indian camp. I
saw the pale light of the rising moon shining on the tepee walls. And,
while I sat watching this venerable medicine man, I thought: “How
strange that he, of a savage race, an untaught son of the wilderness,
should have the wisdom and foresight of a statesman in trying to
husband their natural resources of big trees and berry bushes; and,
although he had just cause for hating the white race, yet he treated me
with kindness and generosity.”
As I was leaving the tepee, I made presents to all his family—a silk
handkerchief of bright colors to Brings-Down-the-Sun, a blanket to his
wife, and a bracelet of shining white shells to his daughter,
Whistling-All-Night.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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