When the tree flowered : $b An authentic tale of the old Sioux worldNeihardt, John G.
History
When the tree flowered : $b An authentic tale of the old Sioux world
Neihardt, John G.
Historical fiction; Oglala Indians -- Fiction
“I danced hard because I was sorry for my people, and maybe I could
help; I did not know. Once while I was dancing I was thinking about the
sun dance the way it used to be in the good days. And all at once I was
there again, and I could feel the power go through me; but it did not
stay. And when I could not dance any more and lay down to sleep, there
was no vision.
“In the Moon of Popping Trees [December] we heard that Sitting Bull was
dead. The metal breasts [Indian police] killed him in his camp on Grand
River, and they were his own people. It was cold, and we were beginning
to starve, so we came back here and camped around the Agency [Pine
Ridge], and they gave us some cattle to butcher. Soldiers were camped
there too, but they did not bother us because we did not dance. Some of
the people did not believe any more, and many were not sure that the
Wanekia would come with the young grass; but many still believed.”
The old man ceased, and it was some time before he shared with me the
pictured past that flowed behind his closed eyelids.
“_Dho_, Grandson,” he said, regarding me with a gentle look, “I found
the road.
“The Moon of Popping Trees was old and dying when we heard about
Sitanka [Big Foot] and his band. They were fleeing towards us from
Grand River where Sitting Bull was killed. They were starving and
many of them were sick, and it was cold. There were about two hundred
of them and some were Hunkpapas. We heard that they had crossed
White River and were coming up the Porcupine. Then we heard that the
horseback soldiers surrounded them over yonder by Porcupine Butte and
took them down to Wounded Knee Creek. That is where they camped that
night with the soldiers all around them.
“Next morning the wind was still and it was warmer. There were
thousands of us camped around the Agency, and all at once we heard
shooting over there across the hills. Much shooting--wagon-guns
shooting very fast! _Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom!_ Very fast! And many
other guns too, like tearing a blanket! They did not stop. They kept
on shooting fast. Somebody shouted, ‘_Aah-hey! Aah-hey!_ They are
butchering over there!’
“The people were cooking and eating when they heard the guns and they
went crazy. Everybody was crying, ‘They are butchering them! _Aah-hey!_
The soldiers are butchering them yonder!’ Young men were running for
their horses. Many started riding fast towards the shooting over across
the hills, and I rode with them. The soldiers did not try to stop us,
for our men back there were getting ready to attack. There was a
fight, but I did not see it. We rode fast, and when I looked back from
the top of the hill, I could see others riding fast after us, and the
people running.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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