Curing the Sick - Jamaica The Fishes. Rennie Macfarlane, Mandeville. Three little fish pickney mother was sick an' Anansi said, "If you want, I get you' mother better for you!" an the three little fish said, "Yes!" An' said, "You give me a frying-pan an' some sweet ile, an' you lock up in that room an' when she better, I let you know." An' he fry the fish an' eat it an' tell the fish pickney that they can come out the room now. An' they ask, "Where is our mother? Did you get her better?" an' he said, "No, I eat her!" an' the fish run after him an' he run away. An' a mule ask the fish, "Do you want me to catch him for you?" an' they said, "Yes!" And the mule said, "Give me those peas that you have now an' I catch him for you." An' the mule go out to Anansi gate an' lie down there an' when Anansi come out, Anansi run up into his belly an' the mule gallop away again. An' Anansi cry out in the mule's belly, "If he go to sea-side, stop him; but if he go anywhere else, let him go!" An' he gallop to the sea-shore an' give Anansi to the fish. An' he say, "You know what you do, fish? Put me under the trash an' burn me!" An' when the fish put him under de trash, Anansi run under a stone, hide, an' the fish t'ot he was burn. b. The Six Children. George Parkes, Mandeville. An old woman had six children, three sons and three daughters. They grew up to be big men and women. They were living near the roadside. The old woman was sick with sore eyes, so the children came out by the wayside and began to cry. Hog was passing by, said to them, "What's the matter with you, now?"--"Well, Mr. Hog, our mother became blind and we cannot cure it!"--"I can't do no good, I can't cure it!" So Hog went away. Little after that there was Goat come up. Children were still crying. Goat said, "What's the matter with you, now?" Children said, "Well, Mr. Goat, our mother took in with blindness and we cannot cure it!" Goat say, "I cannot cure it!" and he went on his way. A little after that Cow came up. "What's the matter with you, now?"--"Well, Mr. Cow, our mother took in with blindness an' we cannot cure it!" Cow say, "I can't do no good!" an' he went on his way. Afterward they heard Jack-ass galloping come along say, "Hee-haw, hee-haw! What's the matter with you? what's the matter with you?" The children say, "Well, Mr. Jack-ass., our mother took in with blindness an' we cannot cure it!" Jack-ass say, "I can't do no good! I can't do no good! I can't do no good!" Little after that, Anansi come up, hear the children crying, said, 'An' Vat de mattah wid you, now?"--"Well, Mr. Anansi, our mother took in with blindness an' we cannot cure it!" Anansi said, "I can cure it!" He said, "You know wha' you all do? Put a barrel of water in the kitchen, get two barrels of white yam put in the kitchen, a pound of butter, a pound of lard, 'nuf meat, an' put dem in de kitchen, an' I'll come back anodder day an' cure it!" So the day appointed he came back an' said, "Carry you mother now an' put in the kitchen," an' said, "I am going to shut the door an' when you heah somet'ing say 'fee-e-e-e', you all mus' say, 'T'ank God, mama have a cure!" So Anansi kill the ol' lady, cook off all the yarns an' flour an' everyt'ing, fry up the ol' lady with the butter an' the lard. He go "fee-e-e-e" an' the children, hearing that, said, "Tank God, mama have a cure! t'ank God, mama have a cure!" Anansi now eat off the ol' lady an' all the t'ings, take all the bones an' pack it put at the fire-side, an' come out an' fasten the door, say that they mus' not open the door until nine days time. That time, take himself away. On the seventh day, the chil'ren couldn't bear it no longer, went an' burst the door open fin' all their mother bones at the fire-side. They come out, start crying again. Hog pass by, said, "What's the matter with you now?"--"Well, Mr. Hog, Mr. Anansi come heah an' kill our mother an' we cannot catch him!" Hog said, "I can't help you!" and went his way. A little after, Goat came up, said, "What' the matter now?"--"Well, Mr. Goat, Mr. Anansi came heah an' kill our mother eat her off an' we cannot catch him!"--I can do no good, I can't catch him!" Goat went on his way. Cow came up. "What's the matter with you now? what's the matter with you?"--"Well, Mr. Cow, Mr. Anansi come heah an' kill our mother an' eat her off an' we cannot catch him!" Cow said, "I can't do no good! I can't do no good!" an' he went on his way. A little after, Jackass come, say, "Hee-haw! what's the matter with you? what's the matter with you? what's the matter with you?"--"Well, Mr. Jack-ass, Mr. Anansi come heah an' kill our mother an' eat her off an' we can't catch him!" Jack-ass said, "I will catch de fellah! I will catch de fellah! I will catch de fellah!" Jackass went to Anansi gate an' lay down fawn dead with his belly swell up. Anansi come down an' said, "Lawd! dat's a lot me bwoy meet up t'-day!" An' said, "Me wife, bring de big pot an' de big bowl an' de big yabba[1] an' de big knife!" So when it come, Anansi cut Jack-ass under the belly, put his han' t'ru the cut. He full the big pot with the fat, and the big bowl, an' shove his han' now to fill yabba, clear to his shoulder. Jack-ass hol' him. He said, "Br'er Jack-ass, me no t'ink you dead!"[2] an' said, "A little fun me mak wid you, no mean i'!" Jack-ass say, "Fun or no fun, come we go!" an' Jack-ass get up, gallop straight to the children yard. An' they make up a big fire an' put Anansi in an' bu'n him an' bu'n him till him belly burst! NOTE: Curing the Sick. In Parkes's version, the substitution of the human for the fish victim not only spoils the wit of the story but obscures its relation to the story of Anansi's visit to fish-country as it appears in number 39. The identity of the two is proved by the structure of the story, which falls into two parts. (1) Anansi, pretending to cure a sick relative, eats her instead. (2) The mule offers to avenge her and plays dead outside Anansi's door; when he attempts to make use of her for food, she drags him into the water and drowns him, as in number 6. For (1) compare Cronise and Ward, 226-230, where Rabbit pretends to cure Leopard's children and eats them up; Nassau, 125-126, where Tortoise pretends to bring children out of Crocodile's hundred eggs, and eats them all. (2) In Parsons's Portuguese negro story, JAFL 30:231-235, Lob escapes from the island where the indignant birds have abandoned him, by bribing Horse-fish to carry him across. He promises to pay her well, but abandons the horse-fish as soon as he touches shore. She remains weeping on the shore. Lob thinks her dead and starts to cut her up. She drags him into the sea and drowns him. There are small touches in the story which prove its identity with the Jamaica version. When Lob's wife weeps, Lob says, "She is just playing with me, she is not going to do anything." In Parkes's story, Anansi says to the mule who is dragging him into the sea, "A little fun me mak wid you, no mean i'." In both Jamaica versions, Mule turns Anansi over to the vengeance of the fishes; in the Portuguese, he is drowned. In Jekyll, 135-137, an old lady meddles with a jar she has been told not to touch and which, as soon as she gets her hand in, drags her to the sea and drowns her. In Jekyll, 125, "Cousin Sea-mahmy" makes his son Tarpon carry Anansi to shore, and Anansi gets him into the pot by the trick of taking turns weighing each other, as in number 16. In Pamela Smith, 44-46, Anansi eats the sick mother under pretence of cure, and bribes Dog to carry him across the river, but there is no vengeance; Dog himself is swallowed by Crocodile. Jamaica Anansi Stories ,Martha Warren Beckwith, New York, Published By The American Folk-Lore Society, G. E. Stechert & Co., Agents. [1924] and is now in the public domain. Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/ or Come visit us. "Native Village" [email protected]

Cunnie-More-Than-Father - Jamaica George Parkes, Mandeville. Anansi has seven children. He ask them how they would like to name. Six of them like different name, but one boy say he would like to name "Cunnie-mo'-than father." So for every tack[1] Anansi put up, Cunnie-mo'n-father break it down. One time he work a groun' very far away into the bush, an' in going to that bush he pass a very broad flat rock. So one day a man give him a yam-plant; that yam name "yam foofoo."[2] The same day plant the yam, it been bear a very big one same day. So nobody in the yard know the name of that yam save him, Anansi, alone. So when he go home, he cook the yam an' call the wife an' chil'ren aroun' to eat, an' say, "Who know name, nyam; who no know name, don' nyam!" So as no one know the name, they didn't get none of it; Anansi alone eat off that yam that night. The nex' day go back to the groun' and the yam bear a larger one. He bring it home an' bile it again, call the wife an' chil'ren an' say, "Who know name, nyam; who no know name, don' nyam!" The nex' day he went back an' the yam bear a larger one than the previous day. He cut it an' carry it home, cook it, call up the wife an chil'ren; he alone eat it. Cunnie-mo'n-father say, "Look here! I mus' fin' out the name of that yam!" He got some okra an' went to the place where the broad rock is an' mash up the okra an' have the place quite slippery, an' hide himself away in the bush near by. Anansi now coming with a larger yam this time. As he reach to the rock, he make a slide, fa' down, an' the yam smash. He said, "Lawd! all me yam foofoo mash up!" Cunnie-mo'-n-father now catch the name, an' he ran home now an' tell mother an' other chil'ren, "Remember! yam foofoo!" Anansi then take up the pieces, put them together and carry home. He cook it an' ca' all of them roun' to eat. He say, "Who know name, nyam; who no know name, no nyam." They began to guess all sort of name; after that, whole of them say, "Yam foofoo! yam foofoo!" Anansi get vex, say, "Huh! eat! nobody fin' it out but Cunnie-mo'n-father!" Anansi then get to hate Cunnie-mo'n-father, want to make an end of him, but he didn't know what way was to do it. So one night Brar Tiger came to pay a visit to Anansi at his house. While both of them sittin' an' talkin', at that time Cunnie-mo'n-father was lying down underneath the table fawning sleep.[2] Anansi said to Tiger, "Look heah! ev'ry tack dat I put up, Cunnie-mo'-n-father break it down. I wan' to mak an end of him, but I don' know what way to do it." That time, Cunnie-mo'-n-father listen. Tiger [1. Tack means a "trick". 2. A yellow yam, the favorite vegetable food of the negro is called "afoo yam". 3. Fawning means "feigning".] said, "I wi' kill him fo' you." Anansi say, "How you will manage it?" So Tiger said to Anansi, "You mus' put up a tack, an' I wi' ketch him." Anansi said, "Look heah! Tomorrow night jus' at dinner-time you come here hide yo'self in the pepper-tree; behin' that fattest limb, you hide yo'self there, an' I will sen' him to pick some pepper an' as he put his han' on the pepper-tree, you mus' hol' him." So the nex' night at dinner-time Tiger went to hide himself there. Anansi call Cunnie-mo'n-father, say, "Go get pepper from the pepper-tree." Cunnie-mo'n-father start for de pepper-tree. On his way going he call in the kitchen an' take a fire-stick, an' as he went to the pepper-tree, he shove the fire-stick right in Tiger face. Tiger cry out, "W'y-ee!" an' gallop away. Cunnie-mo'n-father return to Anansi an' say he hear something in the pepper-tree cry, so he don' pick any. Anansi eat his dinner that night without pepper. A few minutes after, Tiger come back in the house an' tol' Anansi what have taken place. Anansi say, "Well, the boy have tack! but we mus' ketch him." At that time the boy go under the table lay down an' study for them again. Tiger say, "How mus' we ketch him?" Anansi said, "You come here tomorrow twelve o'clock an' I'll sen' him up on a cocoanut tree an' while he in the tree, you wait underneath; when he come down you ketch him." The nex' morning, Cunnie-mo'n-father get two bags, fill it with red ants go up same cocoanut tree an' hide it, preparing for Tiger. At twelve o'clock Tiger come to Anansi yard. Anansi call for Cunnie-mo'n-father an' said, "Go an' get me some cocoanuts off'n that tree." He went, an' Tiger lay wait under the tree for him. He shout to Tiger he mus' look up an' show him the bes' cocoanut he want, an' while Tiger do that, he open one of the bag an' throw it down in Tiger face. Ant begun to bite him an' he has to run away. Cunnie-mo'n-father slip right down off the cocoanut tree, so he didn't get any cocoanut. In the evening, Tiger went back to Anansi to tell him how Cunnie-mo'n-father do him again. While the two of them was talking an' setting up another tack, Cunnie-mo'n-father was underneath table listening to them again. Anansi said, "The boy smart! but I goin' to put you up a tack fo' ketch him! Look heah! Tomorrow at twelve o'clock, you fin' yo'self at me groun' an' you will see a fat root of yam near to a tree. You mus' hide yo'self in the bush an' I will sen' him there to come cut yam, an' as he come there, hol' him." Tiger then went an' fix himself in the yam bush. At twelve o'clock Anansi call Cunnie-mo'n-father an' sen' him to groun, to cut yam an' tell him that very spot whe' he is to dig them. Cunnie-mo'n-father went to the groun' an' shout out "Yam-o-e-e! yam-o-ee! yam-o-ee!" t'ree times. Nobody answer. Cunnie-mo'n-father say, "I t'ink father tell me say that when I come to groun' call fo' yam, yam wi' speak, an' de yam don' speak!" Call again, "Yam-o-ee!" So Tiger answer him, "O-ee-e!" So Cunnie-mo'n-father say, "From me bwoy born, the firs' I hear that yam can talk!" So run home back lef' Tiger. So Tiger leave the groun' an' come home an' tell Anansi what happen. Anansi said, "Well, 'cunnie mo' than me' fe trew, but we goin' to ketch him!" At that time Cunnie-mo'n-father underneath the table fe listen, an' unfortunately he fell fas' asleep. So Anansi an' Tiger ketch him an' make a coffin an' put him in. Anansi tell Tiger he mus' take him t'row him far away in the sea where he kyan't come back again. Tiger lif' up the coffin, put it on his head an' start on the journey. On reaching to a bush he help down the coffin an', as the sun was so hot, went underneath a tree an' fall asleep. Now there was a little hole in the coffin, an' looking thru that hole, Cunnie-mo'n-father saw an ol' man comin' along drivin' a flock of sheep. He began to cry, sayin' they want him to go to heaven an' he don' ready to go yet. The ol' man said, "Bwoy, you too foolish! Heaven's a good place an' you don' ready to go there yet? You open the coffin put me in!" The ol' man open the coffin, Cunnie-mo'n-father come out, put in the ol' man an' nail up the coffin back with him in it. He then drove the sheep a little way up inside the bush. Tiger now wake out of his sleep, lif' up the coffin an' away he went to the sea with it, an' go as far he could an' t'row the coffin down in the sea drown the ol' man, fe' a heaven he want to go! He then go back to Anansi yard an' tell him that he has finish with the fellow,--no more of him, fe' he has drown' him in the deepest part of the sea. Later in the evening, while Anansi an' Tiger was sitting down an' talking about the badness of Cunnie-mo'n-father, Anansi look an' see a flock of sheep was coming up to his house an' some one driving it. The driver was Cunnie-mo'n-father. Anansi says to Tiger, "But now look at the bwoy what you drown' to-day, look at him driving a flock of sheep coming up!" Tiger said, "No! 'cause I t'row him in the farthest part of the sea!" They waited until he drove them up to the yard. Tiger said to him, "Boy, don't it was you I t'row into the sea to-day?" Cunnie-mo'n-father said, "Yes, the place whe' you t'row me I get these sheep, an' if you did t'row me a little further, I would get double more than this!" Anansi, hearing that, said that he would like to get some himself an' Cunnie-mo'n-father mus' carry him an' t'row him at the part where he can get the sheep. Cunnie-mo'n-father then get a coffin make an' put Anansi in it carry him to the sea-side, hire a boat, an' carry him far far away in the sea an' drown him. An' that was, the las' of poor Anansi in that story. NOTE: Cunnie-more-than-Father. Parkes gave me the only version of this admirable story that I found in Jamaica and I did not find it in this form in other American collections. The essential idea is that of repeated attempts by a parent to turn over to an enemy an adroit child, who each time outwits his would-be captor. The plot is common in Africa. In Rattray, Chinyanje, 133-136; Torrend, 183-185; Junod, 158-163, a woman steals from a monster, who demands her unborn child in compensation. After his birth, the monster comes for his prey. The parent attempts to beguile the child into his hands by sending him to fetch something from the place where the monster lies concealed. Each time the child escapes, Finally the child climbs a tree and throws down fruit (Torrend and Junod) or wood (Rattray) into the open mouth of his enemy, thus choking and killing him. For a similar sequence of attempts to entrap a weaker enemy, compare the Coyote and Rabbit cycle from Mexico, Boas, JAFL 25: 205, 236, 246, and 260 referring to Preuss; and two versions of the same story by Mechling, JAFL 25:201-202. Pairkes's version includes five episodes, three of which belong to the regular cycle; the first and the last are indeterminate. (1) The child proves too clever for the parent. Barker, 24, says, "Anansi is the Spider, and with him is generally associated his son, Kweku Tsin." Stories about the two bring out the superior wit of the son and the jealousy of the father, Compare numbers 19, 21 c, 24 in this collection. In the African stories cited above, the motive for seeking to entrap the child is one of compensation for stolen food. In the Mexican cycle, the dull-witted strong animal has been made to suffer punishment for a stolen food-supply, in place of the real thief. In Jamaica, the child's exposure of a hidden food-supply is used as the motive. The story of the yam's hidden name is universally known and enjoyed in Jamaica. It belongs to the group of hidden-name stories discussed under number 69. See Milne-Home, 56-57, De Affassia, and compare Musgrave, 53-54. (2), (3). The child first sticks a fire-stick into the pepper-bush behind which his enemy lies in wait, then throws bags of ants into his face as he waits under a cocoanut tree. In the African and Mexican parallels, the trickster throws down fruit,--prickly-pears in Mexico. In every case, two fruits are thrown harmlessly, then the fatal fruit. Compare Parsons, Andros Island, 40. In Georgia, Backus, JAFL 13:22-23, pepper is the missile. In Nassau, 25-30, bags of ants and pepper are thrown to detect the pretended dead. This may be related to the bee trick in the Mexican cycle. In the Jamaica episode of the "refugees in the roof," numbers 5 c and 27, after the wife and children have dropped and been devoured, Anansi puffs dust into the pursuer's eyes and escapes. Dust is thrown in Parsons, Sea Islands, 54, and in other instances in the same collection. (4) For the episode of detecting a bidden enemy by calling upon the place where he is hidden to speak, compare Steere, 377; Rattray, 134; Renel 2:92,93; Fortier, 110; Harris, Friends, 143-146; and Boas' Mexican cycle, JAFL 25:208 and reference, note page 248. (5) For the trick of changing places in the coffin and the pretended pastures under sea, compare 107, 108. Jamaica Anansi Stories ,Martha Warren Beckwith, New York, Published By The American Folk-Lore Society, G. E. Stechert & Co., Agents. [1924] and is now in the public domain. Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/ or Come visit us. "Native Village" [email protected]

Culture Heroes and Owl - Apache Kubatc'istcine and Naiyenesgani were companions. When they came to visit their grandmother, Yo'gaiistdzan they said to her, "Make us something to play with." "Go and see your father," she replied. When they came near the house of the sun, children put their heads out of the door and looked at them. When their mother was told who was coining, she said to her husband, "You always claim that you do nothing wrong and here are your children, coming to see you." "Come in and sit back of the fire," they were told when they arrived. "Why did you come to see me?" asked the sun. "We want something to play with," they replied. He made the hoop and pole game and some arrows for them. "You must not roll the hoop toward the north," he told them. They went about playing with the hoop and poles. After some time, they rolled it to the north. Although they threw the poles after the hoop it rolled straight on, without falling, into the house of Owl and fell back of the fire. When Owl saw the two boys standing there, he said, "What sort of people have come to see me? Hurry up and put them in the pot to cook." Kubatc'istcine said, "I am stronger than he." Owl's wife chopped them up, put them in a pot, poured water over them, and put them by the fire to boil. Although the water was boiling, they stood in the bottom of the pot, telling stories to each other. "Well, take them up for me," said Owl, "I want something to eat." His wife poked a stick into the pot and one of the boys jumped out to one side. She put the stick in again and the other one jumped out. Owl looked at them and said, "You are something bad, you are using supernatural power so that you may not die." The boys were still standing there. "Hurry, put them in the ashes to roast for me," Owl said. Naiyenesgani said, "I am stronger than he." Then she separated the ashes, put them in the middle of the fire, and arranged the fire on top of them, They sat there in the middle of the fire telling stories. "Hurry now, I want to eat," he said, "take them out for me." When she poked in the ashes for them, one of them jumped out. Then she poked again and the other jumped out. "Why did you come here practicing magic?" Owl said, "Give them the hoop and pole," he told someone. They were given to them. "Go right around the hill here," Owl said. The two boys started off and came again to their father. "I told you not to roll it in that direction," he said to them. They went back to their grandmother. "See here, our father made us something nice to play with," they said. They went around playing with it until sunset. (Pliny E. Goddard, Jicarilla Apache Texts, Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. VIII) Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/ or Come visit us. "Native Village" [email protected]

Cherokee Ceremony - Cherokee Seven National Festivals Cherokee ceremonies are held in concert with cycles of Mother Earth. During ceremony, positive attitudes are far more important than rituals. Ceremonies offer opportunities for community worship, socialization, and bonding. Ceremonial musical instruments used for dancing and festivals include drums, gourd rattles, and turtle shell rattles (leg shackles). As part of worship, stomp dancing is held around the sacred fire and is accompanied by drums, singing, and leg-schackles worn by women. Other dancing occurred in a 'square', a social area, usually around a center pole or social fire. This was usually an area near the Council House, or the Long House. Our Cherokee ancestors tried to make each ceremony unique in some way-they were creative. Music, dancing, feasting, stick-ball and storytelling were joyous expressions of thanksgiving and occasions for Cherokee bonding at all cyclical ceremonies. A sacred fire containing seven different types of wood, to represent the seven clans, was prepared and lit prior to ceremony according to sacred rites. Direction of movement around the sacred fire during Cherokee ceremony in counter- clockwise. A complete, unbroken circle of "Red Heart' people around the fire produces powerful energy of Creator's presence carried by the positive attitudes in the heart of the participants. Great New Moon Ceremony - Celebrated at the first new moon in autumn (October). The Great New Moon Feast begins a new cycle at the end on nature's previous productive year. This ceremony gave the Cherokee an opportunity to give thanksgiving to the Great Spirit and the ancestors for their blessings on us. It was a time to feast, and give thanks to Creator that the cycle would continue. Propitiation of Cementation Ceremony (Friendship Ceremony) - Celebrated 10 days after the Great New Moon Ceremony. This ceremony symbolizes the unity between Creator and mankind. Traditionally two men publicly exchanged clothes, one piece at a time. They were then brothers for life. A blood adoption ceremony would be appropriate during this ceremony. Purification rites followed the Cementation Ceremony, removing any unforeseen barriers that stood between us and Creator. Bouncing Bush Ceremony (Exalting Bush Festival) - This was a joyous ceremony where Cherokee expressed unrestrained joy giving thanks to the Great Spirit and his helpers, acknowledging them as the source of our blessings. It followed shortly after the Cementation Ceremony. Dancing and feasting abound, and thanksgiving was expressed by everyone tossing an offering of sacred tobacco into the sacred fire. First New Moon of Spring Ceremony - Celebrated in March, at the time the green grass began to grow. Fruits from the previous fall harvest were brought to ceremony and consumed to remember the continuation of Creator's care and blessing. All fire were put out, and fresh fires were started from the new fire, symbolizing fresh beginnings, and renewal of life from Mother Earth. Green Corn Ceremony - Celebrated in July, or August, when corn is still green but fit to taste. A thanksgiving ceremony including a sacred fire, dancing, feasting, and story telling (especially the traditional legends of our wandering, and creation.) A Priest must make an offering of first-fruits of corn to the sacred fire before corn may be eaten or harvested by others. Ripe Corn Ceremony - Celebrated about 40 to 50 days after the Green Corn Ceremony, when the corn is matured. This is the end of the national cycle of ceremonies. Thanksgiving is offered to Creator for the harvest of mature, ripe fruit The Chief Dance (UKU Ceremony) - Celebrated once every seven years. The Principal Cherokee Chief is carried into the Sacred Circle of the Sacred Fire, on a white chair, and acknowledged as Chief of all the people be each of the clans. This ceremony reminds us of the one true Chief, the Great Spirit-Creator. Dancing and feasting follow. Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/ or Come visit us. "Native Village" [email protected]

Spiritual Views and Traditions of the Cherokee - Cherokee As reported by Rev. Buttrick and John Howard Payne in 1835 The world was created at the time of the first new moon in autumn, with the fruits all ripe. The first new moon in autumn is therefore the great new moon, or nu-ta-te-qua and with it the year commences, as regards the feasts of new moons, though the first new moon is spring begins the year with regard to the feast of first fruits, etc., because then the fruits begin to come forward. INFORMANT: Yu-wi-yo-ka Alexander Longe's Cherokee informant. in 1725, stated that the Green Corn Ceremony MUST take place, and MUST observe the sacrifice of the first fruits, and the priests' prayer to God, for if we do not remember him in thanksgiving, he will not remember us. *Note: Cultural information may vary from clan to clan, location to location, family to family, and from differing opinions and experiences. Information provided here are not 'etched in stone'. Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/ or Come visit us. "Native Village" [email protected]

Cuisi'nyinawa - Cochiti [1] She was in a town. Then Yellow Woman went for water. With her jar Yellow Woman went for water. She reached the river. The girl was standing there. She saw a kicking stick. Below there was the kicking stick. Then Yellow Woman picked it up. She put it into (her dress). The Cuisi'nyinawa arrived. He told Yellow Woman, "Did you not pick up a kicking stick?" "No," said the girl. "Yes," said Cuisi'nyinawa to her, "yes," said he. "You have it somewhere," said he to the Yellow Woman. "It is so," said Cuisi'nyinawa. "I have not got it," said Yellow Woman. Then, "Yes," said Cuisi'nyinawa. "Somewhere," said he to her. "Give me the blue one (?)" said Cuisi'nyinawa. "Give me the kicking stick." "No," said Yellow Woman; "I shall keep it as my own," said she. (?) "I just might give you the kicking stick." Then Cuisi'nyinawa took away Yellow Woman. Cuisi'nyinawa took her to a place where he dwelt. Cuisi'nyinawa was bad. Cuisi'nyinawa arrived with her at his house. Cuisi'nyinawa carried her on his back to where he dwelt above, where a rainbow stands on Cuisi'nyinawa's house. Then he made Yellow Woman arrive. Early he went hunting deer. Then Cuisi'nyinawa ordered the girl to grind corn. When she was ready to grind corn, Yellow Woman ground it. Then she put the flour of the corn into a basket. Then Yellow Woman was to make wafer bread. Then she gave Cuisi'nyinawa wafer bread to eat. He arrived in the evening. Then Cuisi'nyinawa told her that he had killed a deer which he had brought to his house. Then Yellow Woman went out and took the deer. He gave it to Yellow Woman to eat. Then she put it down in front of the fireplace and Yellow Woman took sacred corn meal. Then Yellow Woman gave sacred meal to the deer to eat. Yellow Woman inhaled. "Thank you," said she, "you killed a deer, thank you," said she to Cuisi'nyinawa. He was eating wafer bread. "Eat wafer bread!" said she to Cuisi'nyinawa. He was eating. Then Cuisi'nyinawa finished eating. "Thank you," said he. "I have eaten wafer bread," said Cuisi'nyinaw. "Put the deer down here." Then Yellow Woman put down the deer. Right here in the town was Yellow Woman's house. Then her husband came home. Then Yellow Woman was not in her house. He had lost his wife. She was not there. Then he searched for his wife. He searched at the river; he was searching for her where his wife Yellow Woman had drawn water. The jar was at the river. Then her husband found the jar. Then (he said), "Where did my wife go? Where did she go to?" Then he was searching for his wife. Then Old Spider Woman told him. "Where are you going, grandson?" said Old Spider Woman to him. Then he spoke thus, "I am searching for my wife," said he. Then Old Spider Woman spoke thus to him, "Poor grandson," said she to him. "Cuisi'nyinawa has taken her away," said Old Spider Woman to him. She told him that Cuisi'nyinawa had taken away his wife. "He took her eastward," said she. "Poor grandson," said Old Spider Woman to him. "Come in, grandson," said she to him. "How can I go in?" said the husband of Yellow Woman. Then [2] he entered Old Spider Woman's house. "Sit down!" said Old Spider Woman, "my grandson." Then he sat down. Then, "Eat, grandson!" Old Spider Woman cooked a snowbird head. Just one was there. Then she served it to him. He was eating. He ate the head of the snowbird. He broke it to pieces. Then Old Spider Woman spoke thus, "Oh my," said she, "grandson! you have broken the snowbird head," said Old Spider Woman. "We had only one to serve, grandson. The poor one! My poor grandson[3] killed one. He always goes hunting snowbirds. My poor grandson never kills any more (?)" said Old Spider Woman. Then her grandson[4] spoke thus, "Do not say so. I shall go hunting, grandmother, I shall hunt snowbirds for you." Then he killed snowbirds. He arrived below at the river. Then he went hunting snowbirds for her to serve. Then he made traps for the snowbirds. He made snares. Then he hunted the snowbirds with snares, and he killed many. Then Old Spider Woman took them to her house. Then he arrived at Old Spider Woman's house. Then, "Grandmother," said he to her, "there below!" said he. "That is good!" said Old Spider Woman. Then her grandson entered downward. He was in search of his wife. He had been hunting snowbirds for Old Spider-Woman. "Thank you," said Old Spider Woman. "Grandson, I want to take you to where your wife is. Cuisi'nyinawa took her away. Will you go after your wife?" said she to him. "Yes; I will go after my wife," said he. "Let me take you there, grandson!" Then Old Spider Woman made medicine for him. Then they went. Old Spider Woman took him to Cuisi'nyinawa's house. He arrived there. Then he arrived at the town. Then, "Woe!" said the people of the town. "Woe! He is mean. He has taken your wife. Woe! Cuisi'nyinawa is mean. He will kill you. Nobody stays there. Cuisi'nyinawa has gone hunting," they said. "Right there in the town, there is your wife," they said. "Cuisi'nyinawa has stolen her. He is very mean. Did he take your wife?" they said to him. "Yes," said he. "I came to get her, because Cuisi'nyinawa stole her from me. I came after her. I must get my wife back." Then he entered Cuisi'nyinawa's house. He went in. Then his wife was there. Then he found his wife. Then his wife jumped toward her husband. She hugged him. "My poor husband," said she to him. "How did you come here?" said she to him. "I have been searching for you," said he to his wife. "Poor one," said he to her. "Old Spider Woman brought me here," said he. "Cuisi'nyinawa stole you from me," said he. "I came to get you," said he to his wife. "Now let us go, I'll take you to our home," said he to her. Then he took her back. Old Spider Woman was waiting for them. Then he took her there. Old Spider Woman said thus to him, "Are you coming, grandson?" said she to him. "Yes," said he. "Now I brought my wife here," said he. "Poor one," said Old Spider Woman, "grandson. Let us go!" said she. Then Old Spider Woman and his wife (and he) went together. He took his wife back. They went back from the east. They had been in the east. There in the east dwells Cuisi'nyinawa. Far away he had taken Yellow Woman. Here from the east he took her. Together from the east came they, the three together. Way over there in the east dwells Cuisi'nyinawa. Then he arrived at his house. Yellow Woman was no longer there. Now her husband had already taken back Yellow Woman. Then Cuisi'nyinawa arrived. No more did he find Yellow Woman. Already her husband had taken her back. Then Cuisi'nyinawa became angry. Then Cuisi'nyinawa pursued Yellow Woman. Cuisi'nyinawa came from the east. Already Yellow Woman had arrived at her house here, She had arrived at her husband's house. Cuisi'nyinawa was pursuing them. Then Cuisi'nyinawa came out from the east thundering. He was about to shoot them, both her and her husband, (but) Cuisi'nyinawa shot beside (the mark). Cuisi'nyinawa is mean. Then Cuisi'nyinawa arrived at Yellow Woman's house. Then he said to him thus, "Why did you take her back?" said Cuisi'nyinawa to him. Thus he said to the two, "If Yellow Woman were not pregnant, I should kill you." Thus he said to both Yellow Woman and her husband. Then Cuisi'nyinawa said to him, when the pregnant Yellow Woman would give birth to a child that would be Cuisi'nyinawa's child. Then she gave birth. Cuisi'nyinawa came after his child. Yellow Woman being pregnant, therefore Cuisi'nyinawa did not kill the two. Then Cuisi'nyinawa said it was his child. Then Yellow Woman gave birth to a child. Then Cuisi'nyinawa went to where he dwelt. There somewhere on the northeast side far away he came out. Cuisi'nyinawa had taken away too many Yellow Women. He had already taken many. Those who did not make wafer bread quickly enough Cuisi'nyinawa threw down from the north side. He is mean. The poor girls, he threw them down upon the ice. Many he had taken. He is too mean. They all died below on the north side on the ice, the poor ones. Nobody went after the Yellow Women, the poor ones, and they froze to death there below. He is too mean. He never forgave them. Cuisi'nyinawa had no consideration. Whoever did not grind flour quickly enough and had not made wafer bread when he came home from hunting, and they had not made the wafer bread, then he threw them down, the Yellow Women, on the north side. Then there below they died. They froze to death on the ice, the poor Yellow Women. Down below there they died. No one went after the Yellow Women. Then Cuisi'nyinawa threw them down. Cuisi'nyinawa did not forgive any one of them. Therefore they abused Cuisi'nyinawa below in this town. He would take any Yellow Woman. Therefore they abused Cuisi'nyinawa. "Oh, poor ones," they said. "Now he has again taken from somewhere a poor Yellow Woman." Oh, dear, Cuisi'nyinawa is mean, the poor Yellow Women. He fooled the poor Yellow Women. The poor ones! Cuisi'nyinawa took them along. "Oh my! He is mean," they said, "Oh my! The poor ones, he fools the poor ones with the kicking stick. Therefore he always takes away the Yellow Women. He has fooled many poor Yellow Women. They all died there below on the ice. He threw down the poor Yellow Women and their sisters Merinako. Cuisi'nyinawa is mean. Oh my! Cuisi'nyinawa comes after them this way, with the kicking stick. Then he takes the Yellow Woman away. The poor ones! He kills them. Cuisi'nyinawa asks them too urgently to work for him. A Yellow Woman that does not agree to do so when he has taken the Yellow Woman, then that one he throws them down on the north side. Cuisi'nyinawa is too mean. When he has taken a Yellow Woman and anyone goes after the Yellow Woman then, when he arrives in the evening and does not find the Yellow Woman, then Cuisi'nyinawa knows about it. At once he pursues the Yellow Woman (and the one who took her back). Now Cuisi'nyinawa kills them. He always kills them. He walks with much noise. Nobody lives there, but Cuisi'nyinawa lives by himself. He is all alone. He is very bad.--That long is the bald tail. That is all. Footnotes: [1] Recorded in text by Franz Boas. Informant 7. Recorded also by Benedict, informant 1 (omitted), in a version in which the hero was named Arrow Boy. [2] As usual in Southwest tales, the opening enlarges as he puts down his foot. [3] This is another boy. [4] This is Yellow Woman's husband. Tales of the Cochiti Indians, by Ruth Benedict; U.S. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin no. 98; US Government Printing Office; [1931] Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/ or Come visit us. 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Great New Moon Ceremony - Cherokee When autumn leaves began to fall and the October new moon appeared in the sky, the New Year ceremony took place. This was the season of the year in which the world was created, according to Cherokee tradition. The proper name for the ceremony was Nuwatiegwa, meaning "big medicine", but it was also called the Great New Moon Ceremony. In addition to the usual preparations, each family that attended brought produce from its own fields--corn, beans, pumpkins, etc. Part of this was for the general feast and the rest for the chief to distribute among unfortunate families whose harvest had been insufficient. On the night of the moon's appearance, the women performed a religious dance. Only infants were permitted to sleep, the rest of the people keeping vigil until just before dawn. Then everyone, infants included, assembled on the riverbank and were arranged in one long line by the priest. At sunrise the priest signaled for all to wade in and submerge themselves and their children seven times. While this was taking place, the priest placed the sacred crystal on a stand near the rivers edge. Then, emerging from the water, one at a time, the people gazed into the crystal. If their image reflected by the crystal appeared to be lying down, they believed that they would die before spring. If, on the other hand, they appeared to be standing erect, they would survive the coming winter. Those who felt themselves doomed remained apart and fasted, while the others changed into dry clothes and returned to the temple. There the priest made the usual sacrifice of a deer's tongue, and a feast followed. Most of the night was devoted to a religious dance by the women, and none but infants slept. Before nightfall, those who had seen themselves lying down in the crystal were taken once more by the priest to the riverbank where the crystal gazing was repeated. If on the second try, some saw themselves standing erect, they repeated the seven submerging in the river and then considered themselves safe. The unfortunates, whose images on the second try were still reclining, had one more chance to escape their fate. But this was deferred until the next new moon, four weeks later. This was a short ceremony lasting only two days and nights. It was followed after ten days by the fifth ceremony, the intervening time being devoted to preparations. Taken from Tribes That Slumber by Lewis and Kneberg: Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/ or Come visit us. "Native Village" [email protected]

Cry Because He Had No Wife - Nez Perce Once there was a little boy. He was an orphan. This boy cried day and night and would never be quiet. His grandmother asked him one day, "What makes you cry?" He said, "I cry because I want a wife." Now his grandparents knew of a girl who lived toward the east and they sent him there. As he went along the trail, he came to a giant's house. He went in to see the giant, who asked him to stay to breakfast. The giant had five roasts on the fire. He had four large roasts and one small one. He said to the boy, "Pick out the roast you want for breakfast." The boy picked out the small roast. Now, the four large roasts were the legs of people that the giant had killed. The small roast was venison. The boy knew this from what his grandmother had told him. She said, "Never eat too much." After breakfast he went on. On the road he came to a great rock cliff. Its name was Cliff-Giant and it crushed people. The other giant had told him of this one, and how to get by it. He had said, "Turn yourself into a little dog and very slowly follow the trail under the Rock-Cliff. Keep your eye on Rock-Cliff. When you see it move, run fast." He did this and escaped. Then he went on. He could see at a distance the place where the girl lived. Until he came in sight of this lodge he had never left off crying. Now, this girl had a great horse which would kill people before they could reach her lodge. That was her guard. The boy picked up two large stones and ran, still crying, toward the lodge. The animal ran at the boy, but the boy spat all over one of the stones. When the horse came close, he threw the stone behind him. Then the horse stopped to stamp on the stone and the boy ran on. He was almost in reach of the lodge when he threw the other stone. The horse stopped to stamp on that, and the boy reached the lodge and jumped in. Very soon the girl entered. She knew him at once and called him by name Iwapnep ftswitki, Cry-because-he-had-no-wife. She talked to him and asked him if he wanted a bath. So she built a fire, heated water, and prepared him a bath. When he had taken the bath he became of man's size. Next morning they started toward his home. When they reached this, his grandparents were very old, because he had been gone many years. The girl said to her husband: "You tell your grandparents to do nothing wrong to-night. If they obey, I will give them a bath that will make them young again." In the morning she did so; but they had not obeyed her directions so they did not become young again. The next night they were both dead. Then the girl and her husband started for her old home. They rode back on the great horse but he did not go very well. They made a whip out of black haw. The whip said to them, "I can outlast all other whips." They made a whip out of smoke-wood (Coyote-rope). This whip said, "When the giant gets too close, throw me down and I will tangle up the giant." They made a whip out of mud. This whip said, "Throw me down and I will mire the giant." They made a whip out of slide-rock. This whip said, "Throw me down and the giant will have trouble in getting by." They made a whip out of red haw. This whip said, "Throw me down, and I will tear the giant's flesh." They made a whip out of big mountains. This whip said, "Throw me down and the giant will not be able to get past me." When they had finished all the whips, they started to pass the giant's house. The giant rushed out and cried, "Give me your wife!" The boy answered, "Get me a drink of water and I will give you my wife." When the giant went to get the water, the boy whipped up the horse and hurried on. They had gone some ways when the giant came out. They threw down the whip of black haw. He almost overtook them and they threw down the whip of smoke-wood. It tangled up the giant until they got away. When the giant almost overtook them again, they threw down the mud whip and he was mired. When the giant almost overtook them the fourth time, they threw down the slide-rock whip and the giant had great trouble in getting by. When the giant almost overtook them the fifth time, they threw down the red-haw whip, and it tore the flesh of the giant. And when the giant almost overtook them the sixth time, they threw down the whip of high mountains and he could not cross it. Thus they escaped. [Taken from Coyote Was Ging There - Indian Liturature of the Oregon Country, Compiled and edited by Jarold Ramsey, 1977] Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/ or Come visit us. "Native Village" [email protected]

Crow Water-Medicine - Blackfoot Once a Crow Indian had a son killed in war. He was in mourning: so he took his lodge into the mountains and camped there that he might have dreams in which power would be given him to revenge the death of his son. He slept in the mountains ten nights. At last as he was sleeping, he had a dream, and in this dream he heard drumming and singing. Then a man appeared and said, "Come over here: there is dancing." So he followed the man. They came to a lodge in which there were many old men and women. There were eight men with drums. He also saw weasel-skins, skins of the mink and otter, a whistle, a smudge-stick, some wild turnip for the smudge, and some berry-soup in a kettle. One old woman had an otter-skin with a weasel-skin around it like a belt. So the man staid there, learned the songs which these people sang, and when he came back to his people he started the Crow-water-medicine. Since that time he has had other dreams: and the skins of the beaver, the muskrat, all kinds of birds, etc., with many songs for each, have been added. This medicine has great power. If any one wishes a horse, he calls in some of the Crow-water-medicine people. Then they pray, sing, and dance. The power of this medicine is such that after a while a man may come along and say, "I have had a bad dream. You must paint me, that the dream may not come true." Then he gives a horse as a fee. The medicine has power also in treating the sick. The people who have this medicine meet at regular times, - on Sundays and at the time of the new moon. They paint their faces with a broad red stripe across the forehead, and one across the mouth and cheeks. A rectangle of red is also painted on the back of each hand. Some wear plumes. Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History, Vol. II, 1908. Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/ or Come visit us. "Native Village" [email protected]

Crow History - Crow Crows (trans., through French gens des corbeaux, of their own name, Absároke, crow, sparrow hawk, or bird people). A Siouan tribe forming part of the Hidatsa group, their separation from the Hidatsa having taken place, as Matthews (1894) believed, within the last 200 years. Hayden, following their tradition, placed it about 1776. According to this story it was the result of a factional dispute between two chiefs who were desperate men and nearly equal in the number of their followers. They were then residing on Missouri river, and one of the two bands which afterward became the Crows withdrew and migrated to the vicinity of the Rocky mountains, through which region they continued to rove until gathered on reservations. Since their separation from the Hidatsa their history has been similar to that of most tribes of the plains, one of perpetual war with the surrounding tribes, their chief enemies being the Siksika and the Dakota. At the time of the Lewis and Clark expedition (1804) they dwelt chiefly on Bighorn river; Brown (1817) located them on the Yellowstone and the east side of the Rocky mountains; Drake (1834) on the south branch of the Yellowstone, in lat. 46º long. 105º. Hayden (1862) wrote: "The country usually inhabited by the Crows is in and near the Rocky mountains, along the sources of Powder, Wind, and Bighorn rivers, on the south side of the Yellowstone, as far as Laramie fork on the Platte river. They are also often found on the west and north side of that river, as far as the source of the Musselshell and as low down as the mouth of the Yellowstone." According to Maximilian (1843) the tipis of the Crows were exactly like those of the Sioux, set up without any regular order, and on the poles, instead of scalps were small pieces of colored cloth, chiefly red, floating like streamers in the wind. The camp he visited swarmed with wolf like dogs. They were a wandering tribe of hunters, making no plantations except a few small patches of tobacco. They lived at that time in some 400 tents and are said to have possessed between 9,000 and 10,000 horses. Maximilian considered them the proudest of Indians, despising the whites; "they do not, however, kill them, but often plunder them." In stature and dress they corresponded with the Hidatsa, and were proud of their long hair. The women have been described as skilful in various kinds of work, and their shirts and dresses of bighorn leather, as well as there buffalo robes, embroidered and ornamented with dyed porcupine quills, as particularly handsome. The men made their weapons very well and with much taste, especially their large bows, covered with horn of the elk or bighorn and often with rattlesnake skin. The Crows have been described as extremely superstitious, very dissolute, and much given to unnatural practices; they are skilful horsemen, throwing themselves on one side in their attacks, as is done by many Asiatic tribes. Their dead were usually placed on stages elevated on poles in the prairie. The population was estimated by Lewis and Clark (1804) at 350 lodges and 3,500 individuals; in 1829 and 1834, at 4,500; Maximilian (1843) counted 400 tipis; Hayden (1862) said there were formerly about 800 lodges or families, in 1862 reduced to 460 lodges. Their number in 1890 was 2,287; in 1904, 1,826. The Crows have been officially classified as Mountain Crows and River Crows, the former so called because of their custom of hunting and roaming near the mountains away from Missouri river, the latter from the fact that they left the mountain section about 1859 and occupied the country along the river. There was no ethnic, linguistic, or other difference between them. The Mountain Crows numbered 2,700 in 1871 and the River Crows 1,400 (Pease in Ind. Aff. Rep., 420, 1871). Present aggregate population, 1,826. See Hayden, Ethnog. and Philol. Mo. Valley, 1862; Maximilian, Trav., 1843; Dorsey in 11th and 15th Reps. B. A. E., 1894, 1897; McGee in 15th Rep. B. A. E., 1897; Simms, Traditions of the Crows, 1903. Handbook of American Indians (1906) ~ Frederick W. Hodge Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/ or Come visit us. "Native Village" [email protected]

Crow Brings Daylight - Inuit A long time ago when the world was first born, it was always dark in the north where the Inuit people lived. They thought it was dark all over the world until an old crow told them about daylight and how he had seen it on his long journeys. The more they heard about daylight, the more the people wanted it. "We could hunt further and for longer," they said. "We could see the polar bears coming and run before they attack us." The people begged the crow to go and bring them daylight, but he didn't want to. "It's a long way and I'm too old to fly that far," he said. But the people begged until he finally agreed to go. He flapped his wings and launched into the dark sky, towards the east. He flew for a long time until his wings were tired. He was about to turn back when he saw the dim glow of daylight in the distance. "At last, there is daylight," said the tired crow. As he flew towards the dim light it became brighter and brighter until the whole sky was bright and he could see for miles. The exhausted bird landed in a tree near a village, wanting to rest. It was very cold. A daughter of the chief came to the nearby river. As she dipped her bucket in the icy water, Crow turned himself into a speck of dust and drifted down onto her fur cloak. When she walked back to her father's snow lodge, she carried him with her. Inside the snow lodge it was warm and bright. The girl took off her cloak and the speck of dust drifted towards the chief's grandson, who was playing on the lodge floor. It floated into the child's ear and he started to cry. "What's wrong? Why are you crying?" asked the chief, who was sitting at the fire. "Tell him you want to play with a ball of daylight," whispered the dust. The chief wanted his favorite grandson to be happy, and told his daughter to fetch the box of daylight balls. When she opened it for him, he took out a small ball wrapped a string around it and gave it to his grandson. The speck of dust scratched the child's ear again, making him cry. "What's wrong, child?" asked the chief. "Tell him you want to play outside" whispered Crow. The child did so, and the chief and his daughter took him out into the snow. As soon as they left the snow lodge, the speck of dust turned back into Crow again. He put out his claws, grasped the string on the ball of daylight and flew into the sky, heading west. Finally he reached the land of the Inuit again and when he let go of the string, the ball dropped to the ground and shattered into tiny pieces. Light went into every home and the darkness left the sky. All the people came from their houses. "We can see for miles! Look how blue the sky is, and the mountains in the distance! We couldn't see them before." They thanked Crow for bringing daylight to their land. He shook his beak. "I could only carry one small ball of daylight, and it'll need to gain its strength from time to time. So you'll only have daylight for half the year." The people said "But we're happy to have daylight for half the year! Before you brought the ball to us it was dark all the time!" And so that is why, in the land of the Inuit in the far north, it is dark for one half of the year and light the other. The people never forgot it was Crow who brought them the gift of daylight and they take care never to hurt him - in case he decides to take it back. http://www.planetozkids.com/oban/crodayli.htm Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/ or Come visit us. "Native Village" [email protected]

Crow And Hawk - Cochiti Crow had a nest and she had been already sitting on her eggs many days. But she got tired of sitting there, and she flew away. While she was gone day after day, Hawk came by. She found nobody sitting on the nest. Hawk said to herself, "The person who owns this nest no longer cares for it. I am sorry for those eggs lying in that empty nest. I will sit on those poor little eggs and they will be my children." She sat many days on the eggs and nobody came to the nest. Finally the eggs began to hatch. Still no Crow came. The little ones all hatched out and the mother Hawk flew about getting food for them. They grew bigger and bigger and their wings got strong. So at last the mother Hawk took the little ones off the nest. After all this time, the Crow remembered her nest and she came back to it. She found the eggs all hatched and the Hawk taking care of her little ones. One day she met Hawk out feeding with her little ones. "Hawk." "What is it?" "You must return these little ones you are leading around." "Why?" "Because they are mine." Hawk said, "Yes, you laid the eggs to be sure, but you had no pity on the poor eggs. You went off and left them. There was no one to sit upon them and I came and sat upon the nest and hatched them. When they were hatched I fed them and now I lead them about. They are mine and I shall not return them." Crow said, "I shall take them back." "I shall not give them up. I have worked for them and for many days I have fasted sitting there upon the eggs. In all that time you did not come near your eggs. Why is it now when I have taken care of the little ones and brought them up and they have grown that you want them back?" Crow said to the little ones, "My children, come with me. I am your mother." But the little ones answered, "We do not know you. Hawk is our mother." At last when she could not make the little ones come with her, she said, "Very well, I shall take this to court, and we shall see who will have the right to these little ones." Hawk answered, "That is good. I am willing. We will go to court." So mother Crow took the mother Hawk before the king of the birds. Eagle said to Crow, "Why did you leave your nest?" The Crow hung her head and had nothing to say. At last Crow said, "When I came back to my nest, I found my eggs already hatched and the Hawk taking charge of the little ones. I have come to ask that the Hawk be required to return the children to me." Eagle said to Mother. Hawk, "How did you find this nest of eggs?" "Many times I came to this nest, and found it empty. No one came for a long time, and at last I had pity upon the poor little eggs. I said to myself, 'The mother who made this nest can no longer care for these eggs. I should be glad to hatch these little ones.' I sat upon them and they hatched. Then I went about getting food for them. I worked hard and brought them up and they have grown." Mother Crow interrupted mother Hawk and said, "But they are my children. I laid the eggs." Mother Hawk answered, "It is not your turn. We are both of us asking for justice and it will be given to us. Wait till I have spoken." Eagle said to mother Hawk, "Is that all?" "Yes, I have worked hard to raise my two little ones. Just when they were grown the mother crow came back and asked to have them back again, but I shall not give them back. It is I who fasted and worked, and they are now my little ones." The king of the birds said, "The mother hawk is not willing to return the little ones to the mother crow, and if you had really had pity on your little ones, why did you leave the nest for so many days, and now are demanding them back? The mother hawk is the mother of the little ones, for she has fasted and hatched them, and flew about searching out their food and now they are her children." Mother Crow said to the King of the birds, "King, you should ask the little ones which mother they will choose to follow. They know enough to know which one they will take." So the king said to the little ones, "Which mother will you choose? "Both little ones answered together, "Mother Hawk is our mother. She is all the mother we know." Crow cried, "No, I am your only mother." The little Crow children said, "In the nest you had no pity on us, and you left us. Mother Hawk hatched us and she is our mother." So it was finally settled as the little ones had chosen that they were the children of Mother Hawk who had had pity on them in the nest and brought them up. Mother Crow began to weep. The king said to Mother Crow, "Do not weep. It is your own fault that you have lost your children because you left the nest. This is the final decision of the king of the Birds that they shall go with the Mother Hawk." So the little ones stayed with mother Hawk, and Mother Crow lost her little children.[1] VARIANT: On a high bank two crows had nests near each other. They used to go hunting together. One stayed away a long, while. Her little ones suffered from hunger. When the other crow came back with her food she fed her own children and then she used to go to the children of the other crow and give them food too. They grew stronger and they knew this other crow as their mother. As they grew up, they got used to the other crow in their mother's place. At last their own mother returned. Her little crows had already flown from the nest. She said, "I wonder where my children have gone. I have brought buffalo meat for them." They were at the neighbor crow's nest with the other little crows. The mother passed by where they were all together. Her little crows said to their foster mother, "Look, somebody is going to our nest." She answered, "That is your mother, children." "No, she is not our mother. You are our mother." The (newly returned) crow went to the other nest and said to the other crow, "I've come after my children." "Did you remember your children? I shall not return them to you for I have brought them up." "But I was the one who laid the eggs. I made them in the nest." "I suppose it didn't hurt your children to leave them alone all this time. I cared for them. I won't give them up." "I will have them back." "I won't give them up." "I will have the judge settle this between us." "All right, we'll see who will get back these little ones." "I won't ask here. I will ask way across to the south where the king is." She went off crying. The little crows that she had hatched did not want to go back to her, so they stayed with the mother who had brought them up. The mother crow went off and flew south. She got to the king's house and there was a soldier outside. "Do you want the king?" he asked. "Yes." So the soldier said to the king, "King, they want you out-doors." The king said to her, "Who are you?" "I am Crow." "What is it?" "I am bringing suit. Another crow has taken away my children." "Is that so?" The King brought her inside. As she went in, they told a soldier outside to go for the other crow and all the children. He brought them into the king's house and told them to sit in a row. The king said, "You are ready now. Here are the children of both; it is your turn to answer whatever I ask." He said to the little crows, "Which is your mother?" The little crows said, "This is our mother." The mother that had left her children spoke up and said, "She took them from my nest when I was away hunting." Her two little crows said, "We don't know her as our mother. This is the only mother we know. She fed us and brought us up. She is our mother. It was just yesterday this (stranger) crow came back. She came to get us and wanted to take us to her nest. We don't know her as our mother. This mother that came with us brought us up. We know her as our mother." So the crow took the two little crows away and kept them as her own children. Footnotes: [1]This judgment would hold good in human society too. If a mother neglects her child and another takes him in, even it the mother comes back and claims him she would not be likely to get him back. Tales of the Cochiti Indians, by Ruth Benedict; U.S. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin no. 98; US Government Printing Office; [1931] and is now in the public domain Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/ or Come visit us. "Native Village" [email protected]

Crow-Head - Chipewyan Soon After Crow-Head's birth, his father died. Crow-Head knew nothing about him. Once the other Indians were fishing, and there were several medicine men among them. It was in the evening, and the setting sun presented a bloodshot appearance. One medicine man pointed at it and asked the boy, "Do you see that red sky? That is your father's blood." This made Crow-head suspect that one of the medicine men had killed his father. He went home, where he was living with his grandmother, and began to cry. "Why are you crying?" "I heard those men talking about my father." "There is no use crying, you will be a man some day." The next day the people were fishing. Crow-head punched a hole in the ice and began angling with a hook. The Indians caught nothing, only Crow-head caught a large trout. He pulled out its soft parts, and hid the bones under his deerskin capote. He started towards the medicine man who had killed his father, pulled out the fish spine, and broke it over him. When the people went home that evening, they missed the medicine man. They did not know what was the matter with him. One man went out and found him lying dead by his fishing rod. This was the first time Crow-head ever killed anyone. By breaking the fish spine, he had broken that of his enemy and thus killed him. Crow-head was living with a little orphan, whom he called his grandchild. He used to wear a crow-skin cape, which warned him of the approach of enemies and constituted his medicine. Two girls in the camp once made fun of his crow-skin garment. Crow-head was displeased and said to his grandson, "We will make a birch bark canoe and leave." In a coulee they found fine birch bark. Some Indians from the rocks on either side pelted them with snowballs. "Some bad Indians are pelting us with snow," said the orphan. "That's nothing," replied Crow-head. They took the bark for the canoe and returned. In the meantime the bad Indians, who were Cree, had killed all the Chipewyan. Crow-head piled all the corpses together in a heap. He was- a great medicine man. He began to make a canoe. Worms began to come to the corpses. Then he took his crow-skin, laid it on the dead bodies, and told the boy not to wake him until the next day at noon. While he was sleeping, worms crawled into his nose, ears, and mouth. Crow-head woke up and started off in his canoe. In the Barren Grounds he made many small lodges, and with his medicine declared that all the dead should be in those lodges. He left and lay down on the worms. The people all came to life again, and nothing remained in place of their corpses save then- rotten garments. The Cree started homewards, but Crow-head, lying on the maggots, caused them by his magic to return to the same place. The little boy cried, thinking his grandfather was dead. He pushed the old man, but Crow-head pretended to be dead. At last, the boy pulled him by his beard, then Crow-head awoke and beheld the Cree. The Cree was surprised to get back to their starting point and, seeing the two survivors, decided to kill them also. Crow-head rose, walked to the river, shaved off the bark of a rotten birch, made peep-holes in the tree, hid the boy in the hollow, and ordered him to watch. Crow-head was a dwarf. He went to the river with the crow-skin on his back and a blanket over it, pretending to mourn his lost relatives. The Cree, thinking he was but a child, said, "There is no use killing a child like that with a pointed arrow." So they shot at him with blunt points, but all the arrows grazed off. Then they pulled ashore, and Crow-Head fled to the brush, pursued by the enemy. When far from the canoes, he threw off his blanket, took a deer horn which he carried for a weapon, and ran among the enemy, breaking each man's right arm and left leg. Then they said, "This is Crow-head." They retreated towards their canoes, but Crow-head smashed every one of them. Then he summoned his grandson from his hiding place. The Cree had spears, and Crow-head told the boy to take them and kill their enemies. The boy did as he was bidden. The Cree said to the boy, "If it were only you, you could not do this to us." And they made a "crooked finger" at him. Crow-head left his grandson. He was gone for many days. The boy cried, not knowing what was the matter. Up the river he heard waves beating against the bank. Going thither, he found his grandfather washing himself. Crow-head asked the boy, "What are you crying for?" "I thought you were lost." "There is no use crying, all our people are alive again." They started to join the resuscitated Indians. They heard some one playing ball, laughing and singing. Putting ashore, they heard the noise of crying. They went into a lodge and asked what the crying was about. "Two friends of ours are lost, they have been killed by the Cree." Then they recognized Crow-head and his grandson. The two girls who made fun of Crow-head's crow-skin were not restored to life by him. Late in the fall, when the Chipewyan were going to a lake to fish and it was commencing to freeze, two boys came running and told the people that two giants taller than pine trees had killed all their friends. The Chipewyan were camping on the edge of a big lake. None of them slept that night for fear of the giants. The next morning the giants were seen approaching. Crow-head said, "There is no use in running away, they will kill me first." He put on his crow-skin and went towards them on the ice. The first giant wished to seize him, and with long fingers shaped like bear claws he tore Crow-head's crow feathers. The giants fought for the possession of Crow-head, each wishing to eat him up. Crow-head hit both of them with his deer horn, and killed them. He walked homeward. He was so angry that he could neither speak nor sleep. His eyes were like fire. He went to the lake and, beginning at one point, he commenced to hammer along the edge until he got back to his starting place. There he fell dead, for his heart was under the nail of his little finger and by hammering the ice he had injured it. Taken from American Museum of Natural History, Anthropological Papers, Volume X, pages 175-177. Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/ or Come visit us. "Native Village" [email protected]

Crow's Song - Cochiti At the bottom of La Bajada Road there was a pueblo (an unnamed ruin). Crow said to himself, "I shall go to that plain and sing a song for that pueblo to make them happy." Crow went into an inner room. He said, "I won't tell my mother, but I'll take this bunch of dancing shells." He took them and went to the plain and started to dance (very slow dignified steps). He sang his song (in unintelligible language). Nobody paid any attention except old Coyote. He came running. "I heard somebody singing nicely far off. I shall go to him and find his song." Old Crow kept on singing. Old Coyote got near, "Are you singing?" he said. "No; I am not singing." "Yes,; you are singing. I saw you far off. What a pretty bunch of shells you have. Will you lend them to me? Then if I learn the song, I shall have this kind of shells too." "I won't let anybody have them. You have good eyes. I took out my eyes and made them shells. Look at my eyes. I haven't any." He shut them tight. "Shall I cut yours out and make, shells?" "With what?" "Go and find a sharp black stone (arrowhead), I'll cut them out with that." "All right; I'll find one, for I want to sing the song you sing." He brought this and laid it on the ground. Crow said, "Lie down flat." Coyote did this. Crow came with the sharp black stone and cut under his eyes. "Ouch, ouch!" "Don't say that or the shells won't sound nice." So Coyote didn't make a sound, though the blood rolled down his eyes. Crow held up one eye and gave it to him. Coyote was blind on one side. Crow cut out the other eye. "Ouch, ouch!" he cried. "Don't," said Crow. "All right," he answered. "Now, get up." Coyote was blind on the other side. Coyote stood up, his eyes in his hand. "Now, start your song," commanded Crow. He shook his eyes and shook them, and he sang, but they did not sound right at all. "It doesn't sound right," he said. Crow flew away, and he called back, "Stay as you are! Do as you please!" He watched Coyote from the air; Coyote was bumping into everything. "I wish anybody would come along and take me home," he said. Nobody came. He came to a high bank and walked right off. There he died. Tales of the Cochiti Indians by Ruth Benedict, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin No. 98 [1932] Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/ or Come visit us. "Native Village" [email protected]

Crow - Aniu Why it is "not for men to say that crows are useless creatures" "When God created the world the evil one did all he could to frustrate His designs, especially with regard to human beings. Now, after all things were made, the devil perceived that men could not possibly live without the light and warmth-giving sun. He therefore made up his mind to destroy that beautiful and useful work of creation, and thereby injure men. So he got up early one morning, long before the sun had risen, with the intention of swallowing it. But God knew of his designs, and made a crow to circumvent them. When the sun was rising, the evil one opened his mouth to swallow it; but the crow, who was lying in wait, flew down his throat, and so saved it. "Hence the crows, remembering the benefits they once conferred upon the human race, have an idea that they may do just as they like with men, and live upon the food they provide for the sustenance of themselves and families. Thus we find that they have good cause for being bold and saucy, and it is not for men to say that crows are useless creatures." The Ainu and Their Folklore, by the Rev. John Batchelor (London: The Religious Tract Society, 1901). Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/ or Come visit us. "Native Village" [email protected]

Sacred Law - Crow Crows are regular visitors to my back yard. They always appear in groups, and although their "caw, caw" sounds of communication sound monotonous to my untrained human ears, each caw actually has a different meaning. This complex vocabulary is one sign of crows' intelligence, and is also an indication of their significance as power animals. As we can't, without paying careful attention, understand the language of crows, so we can't always see beyond our own cultural limitations. These limitations include specific moral codes of right and wrong and a set of rules which accompany these codes. The history of human life on this planet is often one of conflict and war because of differing moral and religious beliefs. In order to truly create a new age of peace and harmony it is vital for us to be able to transcend our particular cultural limitations and to hold in our hearts what we share as spiritual beings in human form. Crow is the bird which symbolizes this transcendence. When we meditate on and align with Crow it can teach us to know ourselves beyond the limitations of one-dimensional thinking and laws. Whenever crows gather they always have one bird which serves as a lookout. This can teach us to be watchful about what we believe, to test our habitual ideas about reality against a more universal standard. This bird can also teach us to be watchful about our automatic judgments of others, and to appreciate the many dimensions both of reality and ourselves. Crow reminds us to learn to trust our intuition and personal integrity, to create our own standards, whether or not they match those of the world around us. It is said that in the courtship process the male crow's voice takes on a singing quality. This tells us what the basis of sacred law is. There is one unfailing principle by which we can test our principles, that of unconditional love. Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/ or Come visit us. "Native Village" [email protected]

----- Original Message ----- From: paleodan To: "Undisclosed-Recipient:;"@av1-7.us4.outblaze.com Sent: Friday, July 02, 2010 5:16 PM Subject: 5 of the best These are possibly 5 of the best sentences you'll ever read: 1.. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity. 2.. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. 3.. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. 4.. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is the beginning of the end of any nation. 5.. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it. End of Lesson in Common Sense Test to follow in November

Buffalo Field Campaign Yellowstone Bison Update from the Field July 1, 2010 ------------------------------ ------------------------------ * Update from the Field * Wild Bison 2011 Calendars are Going Fast! * Actions You Can Take for the Buffalo * Last Words * Kill Tally * Useful Links ------------------------------ * Update from the Field Now that government livestock agents are finally back to managing livestock and, for the moment, leaving wild buffalo alone, Buffalo Field Campaign shifts our focus to outreach, sharing the buffalo's story with everyone we meet. As part of our outreach efforts, BFC volunteers continue to host an information table inside Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. We are there to let people know how millions of U.S. tax dollars are being wasted every year by Yellowstone and Montana to harm and kill the American buffalo, iconic creatures so celebrated throughout the world. People who come to the Yellowstone ecosystem from across the nation and around the globe will have a chance to meet with BFC and learn how they can help the buffalo. We can always use more people, so if you have an interest in helping BFC with this effort, please contact us at [email protected] Buffalo Field Campaign was grateful to recently host a group of teachers and professors here in West Yellowstone. Led by John Conant, Professor & Chair of the Department of Economics at Indiana State University, the educators are here visiting with local people including BFC to talk about America's last wild buffalo. We are encouraged by their visit knowing that they will share what they learn with their students and others. You can help spread the word to save these herds from wherever you are. Our most recent newsletter is hot off the press, and you should soon receive your copy in the mail. Please email barb at [email protected] to request multiple copies of BFC's newsletter to share with friends and distribute throughout your community, which is a great way to help share the buffalo's story and the work of BFC. Buffalo Field Campaign is everyone, everywhere who cares about the last wild buffalo. Thank you for being with us and helping spread the word to save these herds! ROAM FREE! ------------------------------ * Wild Bison 2011 Calendars Are Going Fast! Have you ordered your Wild Bison 2011 calendar? Be sure to get yours while we still have some left! These calendars are perfect for your home or office and also make wonderful gifts. They are a spectacular salutation to the Yellowstone area buffalo, America's last wild population, teeming with powerful and endearing photos, passionate quotes, beautiful artwork, information about buffalo, and all content was provided by BFC supporters and volunteers. These calendars will help remind us to celebrate wild buffalo every single day of the year! If you know of any stores in your area that would like to carry them, or if you would like to distribute calendars in your community, please contact Mike Mease at [email protected] for more info. Order your Wild Bison 2011 calendar today! https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2426/t/6876/shop/item.jsp?storefront_KEY=554&t=&store_item_KEY=2899 ------------------------------ * Actions You Can Take for the Buffalo Below are two important actions you can take today that will benefit wild buffalo in the immediate future, and for buffalo generations to come. Thank you for being a voice for wild buffalo and the lands that are their birthright! 1. Tell Yellowstone: Do Not Vaccinate Wild Buffalo, Buy-Out Cattle Instead! Yellowstone National Park would like to shoot wild buffalo with a brucellosis vaccine intended for cattle, and unsafe for buffalo. The vaccine is ineffective, costly, harmful, intrusive and culturally unacceptable. Advocates for wild buffalo can help by submitting comments to Yellowstone, which are being accepted through July 26. Please tell the Park you do not approve of vaccinating wild buffalo, and instead, request Yellowstone to develop an alternative to buy-out cattle in the buffalo's immediate habitat areas of Yellowstone, Madison and Gallatin river valleys. Take action today! http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org/media/update0910/062410.html?email_blast_KEY=1180721 2. Support Public Lands Grazing Reform Legislation! Legislation could soon be enacted that would encourage ranchers who graze livestock on public lands - important habitat for buffalo and other wildlife - to retire their federal grazing allotments in return for federally funded compensation. Please help benefit this proposal's chance by making two quick phone calls to Congressman Jim Moran (VA-8) and Congressman Raul Grijalva (pronounced Gri-hal'-va) (AZ-7): * Please phone Congressman Grijalva at 202-225-2435. In speaking with the receptionist, identify yourself and your location. Thank the congressman for his previous support of legislation that would compensate a rancher who voluntarily retired his federal grazing allotment. Then urge him to work with Congressman Jim Moran to enact the current retirement proposal through the appropriations process. *Then phone Congressman Jim Moran at 202-225-4376. In speaking with the receptionist, identify yourself and your location. Thank the congressman for taking the lead in moving forward with the voluntary grazing retirement legislation and encourage him to continue this effort. For more information about this important effort please the link below to learn more about the harmful impacts of ranching on western public lands. Many thanks to Mike Hudak and the Sierra Club's Grazing Team for their work to benefit wildlife by making our public lands cattle-free! http://connect.sierraclub.org/Team/Grazing_Team/files/Rural_Vitalization_Demonstration_Project/REVA_FactSheet-18-3_pdf.html2 ------------------------------ * Last Words " ... My buffalo stopped eating and raised its massive head just like I asked, then took one step forward. I stopped hopping and wet my pants. I looked back at the car down the hill and back at the buffalo who took another step forward. I hopped back a hop, and again looked longingly at the safety of all that steel and glass and rubber, then back at Buffalo Bill who probably thought I'm the one who slaughtered his extended family two winters ago. It didn't take much to figure out I was a lot closer to this even-toed ungulate than the car and calculated I had about 2.7 seconds of life remaining in this cholesterol-clogged body once he charged, crushed me into the ground and poked holes in me with those pointy things growing out of the side of his thick skull..." ~John Treadwell Dunbar. From his article "Yellowstone National Park" that appeared in the Canada Free Press on Wednesday, June 30, 2010. Read the full story, which also mentions BFC and the current plight of the buffalo http://www.canadafreepress.com/printpage.php Do you have submissions for Last Words? Send them to [email protected] Thank you all for the poems, songs and stories you have been sending; you'll see them here! ------------------------------ * Kill Tally AMERICAN BUFFALO ELIMINATED from the last wild population in the U.S. 2009-2010 Total: 6 2009-2010 Slaughter: 0 2009-2010 Hunt: 4 2009-2010 Quarantine: 0 2009-2010 Shot by Agents: 2* 2009-2010 Highway Mortality: 0 *Two bulls that were drugged by APHIS on 5/4/10 were shot by DOL later that evening. 2008-2009 Total: 22 2007-2008 Total: 1,631 Total Since 2000: 3,708* *includes lethal government action, quarantine, hunts, highway mortality ----------------------------- Media & Outreach Buffalo Field Campaign P.O. Box 957 West Yellowstone, MT 59758 406-646-0070 [email protected] http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org BFC is the only group working in the field every day in defense of the last wild buffalo population in the U.S. KEEP BFC ON THE FRONTLINES WITH A TAX DEDUCTIBLE CONTRIBUTION TODAY https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2426/t/6876/shop/custom.jsp?donate_page_KEY=3647 Join Buffalo Field Campaign -- It's Free! http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2426/t/6876/signUp.jsp?key=3378 Tell-a-Friend: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2426/tellafriend.jsp?tell_a_friend_KEY=3835 Take Action! http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2426/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26453 Unsubscribe http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2426/t/7926/p/salsa/supporter/unsubscribe/public/?unsubscribe_page_KEY=42

----- Original Message ----- From: Manataka American Indian Council To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, July 01, 2010 5:04 AM Subject: July 2010 Smoke Signal News Read Smoke Signal News Here "Preserving the Past Today for Tomorrow" SMOKE SIGNAL NEWS If this is your first time to receive a copy, sign up for a FREE monthly subscription here. Read the JULY issue now! http://cts.vresp.com/c/?ManatakaAmericanIndi/f9d46bfd6e/0305563499/fd9cadbb00 Read great stories, inspirational messages, jokes, American Indian history, events, health, ecology - Earth Mother, and a lot more! Send this link to your friends: http://www.manataka.org/page2206.html Eco News - Health Issues - Herbal Medicine - New Current Events Women's Council Section - Trading Post - Books - Flags - Video Store Inspirational - Cooking - Animal Welfare - Weddings - Biographies Indian Jewelry and Crafts - Poetry - Tribes - Jokes - Music Read the JULY issue Now! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Click to view this email in a browser If you no longer wish to receive these emails, please reply to this message with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line or simply click on the following link: Unsubscribe -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Manataka American Indian Council P. O. Box 476 Hot Springs, Arkansas 71902-0476 Read the VerticalResponse marketing policy.

Creek Chiefs and Leaders Opothleyaholo (properly Hupuehelth Yahólo: from hupuewa 'child,' he'hle 'good', yohólo, 'whooper,' 'halloer,' an initiation title. G. W. Grayson). A Creek orator. He was speaker of the councils of the Upper Creek towns, and as their representative met the Government commissioners in Feb., 1825, at Indian Springs, Ga., where they came to transact in due form the cession of Creek lands already arranged with venal Lower Creek chiefs. Opothleyaholo informed them that these chiefs had no authority to cede lands, which could be done only by the consent of the whole nation in council, and Macintosh he warned ominously of the doom he would invite by signing the treaty. Opothleyaholo headed the Creek deputation that went to Washington to protest against the validity of the treaty. Bowing to the inevitable, he put his name to the new treaty of cession, signed at Washington Jan. 24, 1826, but afterward stood out for the technical right of the Creeks to retain a strip that was not included in the description because it was not then known to lie within the limits of Georgia. After the death of the old chiefs he became the leader of the nation, though not head-chief in name. When in 1836 some of the Creek towns made preparation to join the insurgent Seminole, he marched out at the head of his Tukabatchi warriors, captured some of the young men of a neighboring village who had donned war paint to start the revolt, and delivered them to the United States military to expiate the crimes they had committed on travelers and settlers. After holding a council of warriors he led 1,500 of them against the rebellious towns, receiving a commission as colonel, and when the regular troops with their Indian auxiliaries appeared at Hatchechubbee the hostiles surrendered. The United States authorities then took advantage of the assemblage of the Creek warriors to enforce the emigration of the tribe. Opothleyaholo was reluctant to take his people to Arkansas to live with the Lower Creeks after the bitter contentions that had taken place. He bargained for a tract in Texas on which they could settle, but the Mexican government was unwilling to admit them. After the removal to Arkansas the old feud was forgotten, and Opothleyaholo became an important counselor and guide of the reunited tribe. When Gen. Albert Pike, at the beginning of the Civil war, visited the Creeks in a great council near the present town of Eufaula and urged them to treat with the Confederacy, Opothleyaholo exercised all his influence against the treaty, and when the council decided after several lays of debate and deliberation, to enter into the treaty, he withdrew with his following from the council. Later he withdrew from the Creek Nation with about a third of the Creeks and espoused he cause of the Union. Fighting his way as he went, he retreated into Kansas, and later died near the town of Leroy, Coffey County. McGillivray, Alexander. A mixed blood Creek chief who acquired considerable note during the latter half of the 18th century by his ability and the affection in which he was held by his mother's people. Capt. Marchand, in command of the French Ft Toulouse, Ala., in 1722, married a Creek woman of the strong Hutali or Wind clan, from which it was customary to select the chief. One of the children of this marriage was Sehoy, celebrated for her beauty. In 1735 Lachlan McGillivray, a Scotch youth of wealthy family, landed in Carolina, made his way to the Creek country, married Sehoy, and established his residence at Little Talasi, on the east bank of Coosa river, above Wetumpka, Elmore county, Ala. After acquiring a fortune and rearing a family he abandoned the latter, and in 1782 returned to his native country. One of his children was Alexander, born about 1739; he was educated at Charleston under care of Farquhar McGillivray, a relative. At the age of 17 he was placed in a counting house in Savannah but after a short time returned to his home, where his superior talents began to manifest themselves, and he was soon at the head of the Creek tribe. Later his authority extended also over the Seminole and the Chickamauga groups, enabling him, it is said, to muster 10,000 warriors. McGillivray is first heard of in his new role as "presiding at a grand national council at the town of Coweta, upon the Chattahoochie, where the adventurous Leclerc Milfort was introduced to him" (Pickett, Hist. Ala., 345, 1896). Through the advances made by the British authorities, the influence of Col. Tait, who was stationed on the Coosa, and the conferring on him of the title and pay of colonel, McGillivray heartily and actively espoused the British cause during the Revolution. His father had left him property on the Savannah and in other parts of Georgia, which, in retaliation for his abandonment of the cause of the colonists, was confiscated by the Georgia authorities. This action greatly embittered him against the Americans and led to a long war against the western settlers, his attacks being directed for a time against the people of east Tennessee and Cumberland valley, whence he was successively beaten back by Gen. James Robertson. The treaty of peace in 1783 left McGillivray without cause or party. Proposals from the Spanish authorities of Florida through his business partner, Win. Panton, another Scotch adventurer and trader, induced him to visit Pensacola in 1784, where, as their "emperor," he entered into an agreement with Spain in the name of the Creeks and the Seminoles. The United States made repeated overtures to McGillivray for peace, but he persistently refused to listen to them until invited to New York in 1790 for a personal conference with Washington. His journey from Little Talasi, through Guilford Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Philadelphia, was like a triumphal march, and the prospective occasion for such display was a strong inducement for the shrewd chief to accept the invitation. According to Pickett (p. 406) there was, in addition to the public treaty, a secret treaty between McGillivray and Washington which provided "that after two years from date the commerce of the Creek nation should be carried on through the ports of the United States, and, in the meantime, through the present channels; that the chiefs of the Okfuskees, Tookabatchas Tallases Cowetas Cussetas and the Seminole nation should be paid annually by the United States $100 each, and be furnished with handsome medals; that Alexander McGillivray should be constituted agent of the United States with the rank of brigadier-general and the pay of $1,200 per annuls; that the United States should feed, clothe, and educate Creek youth at the North, not exceeding four at one time." The public treaty was signed Aug. 7, 1790, and a week later McGillivray took the oath of allegiance to the United States. Nevertheless he was not diverted from his intrigue with Spain, for shortly after taking the oath he was appointed by that power superintendent-general of the Creek nation with a salary of $2,000 a year, which was increased in 1792 to $3,500. The versatile character of McGillivray was perhaps due in part to the fact that there flowed in his veins the blood of four different nationalities. It has been said that he possessed "the polished urbanity of the Frenchman, the duplicity of the Spaniard, the cool sagacity of the Scotchman, and the subtlety and inveterate hate of the Indian." Gen. James Robertson, who knew him well and despised the Spaniards, designated the latter "devils'' and pronounced McGillivray as the biggest devil among them" half Spaniard, half Frenchman, half Scotchman, and altogether Creek scoundrel." That Alexander McGillivray was a man of remarkable ability is evident from the consummate skill with which he maintained his control and influence over the Creeks, and from his success in keeping both the United States and Spain paying for his influence at the same time. In 1792 he was at once the superintendent-general of the Creek nation on behalf of Spain, the agent of the United States, the mercantile partner of Panton, and "emperor" of the Creek and Seminole nations. As opulence was estimated in his day and territory, he was a wealthy man, having received $100,000 for the property confiscated by the Georgia authorities, while the annual importations by hire and Panton were estimated in value at .£40,000 (Am. St. Papers, Ind. Aff., 1, 458, 1832). Besides two or three plantations, he owned, at the tine of his death, 60 Negroes, 300 head of cattle, and a large stock of horses. In personal appearance McGillivray is described as having been six feet in height, sparely built, and remarkably erect; his forehead was bold and lofty; his fingers long and tapering, and he wielded a pen with the greatest rapidity; his face was handsome and indicative of thought and sagacity; unless interested in conversation he was inclined to be taciturn, but was polite and respectful. While a British colonel he dressed in the uniform of his rank; when in the Spanish service he wore the military garb of that country; and after Washington appointed him brigadier-general he sometimes donned a uniform of the American army, but never when Spaniard were present. His usual costume was a mixture of Indian and American garments. McGillivray always traveled with two servants, one a half-blood, the other a Negro. Although ambitious, fond of display and power, crafty, unscrupulous in accomplishing his purpose, and treacherous in affairs of state, the charge that he was bloodthirsty and fiendish in disposition is not sustained. He had at least two wives, one of whom was a daughter of Joseph Curnell. Another wife, the mother of his son Alexander and two daughters, died shortly before or soon after her husband's death, Feb. 17, 1793, at Pensacola, Fla. He was buried with Masonic honors in the garden of William Panton, his partner. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weatherford, William (known also as Lamochattee, or Red Eagle). A halfblood Creek chief, born about 1780; noted for the part he played in the Creek war of 1812-14, in which Gen. Jackson was leader of the American forces. There is some uncertainty as to his parentage. Claiborne (quoted by Drake, Inds. N. Am. 388, 1860) says his "father was an itinerant peddler, sordid, treacherous, and revengeful; his mother a full-blooded savage of the tribe of the Seminoles." Another authority says that a trader, Scotch or English, named Charles Weatherford (believed to have been the father of William), married a half-sister of Alexander McGillivray (q. v.), who was the daughter of an Indian chief of pure blood. In person he was tall, straight, and well proportioned, and nature had bestowed upon him genius, eloquence, and courage, but his moral character was far from commendable. He led the 1,000 Creeks at the massacre of Ft Mimms, Aug. 30,1813. Gen. Jackson having entered the field, the Creeks were driven from point to point until Weatherford resolved to make a desperate effort to retrieve his waning fortunes by gathering all the force he could command at the Great Horseshoe bend of the Tallapoosa. The signal defeat his forces suffered at this point ended the war, and Weatherford, to save further bloodshed, or perhaps shrewdly judging the result, voluntarily delivered himself to Jackson and was released on his promise to use his influence to maintain peace. He died Mar. 9, 1824, leaving many children, who intermarried with the whites. It is said that after the war his character changed, and he became dignified, industrious and sober. Consult Red Eagle, by G. C. Eggleston, 1878 Come visit us at. "Keeper of Stories". http://www.newkeeperofstories.com/ or Come visit us. "Native Village" [email protected]