The
near-death experiences of the Native
American medicine man,
Black Elk, of the
Lakota Sioux nation, echo with the
enchanting poetic language of an ancient
society. His story reveals a traditional
natural world culture, yet also many of
the familiar phenomena of near-death
experiences that leap across eras.
Living between 1863 and 1950, Black Elk
survived the collision of two eras, when
the ancient primal world of his people
was shattered by the violent invasion of
the new industrial culture. This
remarkable medicine man did not even
speak English when he told his visionary
experience to the author,
John Neihardt, who told it in his
book,
Black Elk Speaks, in 1932. In this
classic of Native American literature,
Black Elk's near-death experience glows
through his perceptions of a sacred
natural world.
The world of
the Lakota Sioux is filled not with
soulless material objects out there but
with the manifestations of the presence
of being that lies behind all creation: Wakan
Tanka, the Great Mystery. This
spiritual power is not personified as a
remote God, but is both transcendent and
present in all the world: in thunder,
water, blood, birds, buffalo. Since the
worldview of industrial society demands
the expulsion of these perceptions, they
seem like dim archaic memories. But
Black Elk's near-death experience was a
living, vital way of seeing in a sacred
manner.
When Black
Elk was a boy of nine, he collapsed with
a severe, painful swelling of his legs,
arms and face. He lost consciousness and
lay in his tipi dying. He was called by
two men coming from the clouds, saying,
'Hurry up, your grandfather is calling
you.' The following is Black Elks'
near-death experience and vision in his
own words.
"I was four
years old then, and I think it must have
been the next summer that I first heard
the voices. It was a happy summer and
nothing was afraid, because in the Moon
When the Ponies Shed (May) word came
from the Wasichus [the White Men] that
there would be peace and that they would
not use the road any more and that all
the soldiers would go away. The soldiers
did go away and their towns were torn
down; and in the Moon of Falling Leaves
(November), they made a treaty with Red
Cloud that said our country would be
ours as long as grass should grow and
water flow. You can see that it is not
the grass and the water that have
forgotten.
"Maybe it was
not this summer when I first heard the
voices, but I think it was, because I
know it was before I played with bows
and arrows or rode a horse, and I was
out playing alone when I heard them. It
was like somebody calling me, and I
thought it was my mother, but there was
nobody there. This happened more than
once, and always made me afraid, so that
I ran home.
"It was when
I was five years old that my Grandfather
made me a bow and some arrows. The grass
was young and I was horseback. A thunder
storm was coming from where the sun goes
down, and just as I was riding into the
woods along a creek, there was a
kingbird sitting on a limb. This was not
a dream, it happened. And I was going to
shoot at the kingbird with the bow my
Grandfather made, when the bird spoke
and said: "The clouds all over are
one-sided." Perhaps it meant that all
the clouds were looking at me. And then
it said: "Listen! A voice is calling
you!" Then I looked up at the clouds,
and two men were coming there, headfirst
like arrows slanting down; and as they
came, they sang a sacred song and the
thunder was like drumming. I will sing
it for you. The song and the drumming
were like this:
"'Behold, a
sacred voice is calling you; All over
the sky a sacred voice is calling.'
"I sat there
gazing at them, and they were coming
from the place where the giant lives
(north). But when they were very close
to me, they wheeled about toward where
the sun goes down, and suddenly they
were geese. Then they were gone, and the
rain came with a big wind and a roaring.
I did not tell this vision to any one. I
liked to think about it, but I was
afraid to tell it.
"What
happened after that until the summer I
was nine years old is not a story. There
were winters and summers, and they were
good; for the Wasichus had made their
iron road along the Platte and traveled
there. This had cut the bison herd in
two, but those that stayed in our
country with us were more than could be
counted, and we wandered without trouble
in our land.
"Now and then
the voices would come back when I was
out alone, like someone calling me, but
what they wanted me to do I did not
know. This did not happen very often,
and when it did not happen, I forgot
about it; for I was growing taller and
was riding horses now and could shoot
prairie chickens and rabbits with my
bow. The boys of my people began very
young to learn the ways of men, and no
one taught us; we just learned by doing
what we saw, and we were warriors at a
time when boys now are like girls.
"It was the
summer when I was nine years old, and
our people were moving slowly towards
the Rocky Mountains. We camped one
evening in a valley beside a little
creek just before it ran into the Greasy
Grass, and there was a man by the name
of Man Hip who liked me and asked me to
eat with him in his tepee.
"While I was
eating, a voice came and said: 'It is
time; now they are calling you.' The
voice was so loud and clear that I
believed it, and I thought I would just
go where it wanted me to go. So I got
right up and started. As I came out of
the tepee, both my thighs began to hurt
me, and suddenly it was like waking from
a dream, and there wasn't any voice. So
I went back into the tepee, but I didn't
want to eat. Man Hip looked at me in a
strange way and asked me what was wrong.
I told him that my legs were hurting me.
"The next
morning the camp moved again, and I was
riding with some boys. We stopped to get
a drink from a creek, and when I got off
my horse, my legs crumpled under me and
I could not walk. So the boys helped me
up and put me on my horse; and when we
camped again that evening, I was sick.
The next day the camp moved on to where
the different bands of our people were
coming together, and I rode in a pony
drag, for I was very sick. Both my legs
and both my arms were swollen badly and
my face was all puffed up.
"When we had camped again, I was lying
in our tepee and my mother and father
were sitting beside me. I could see out
through the opening, and there two men
were coming from the clouds, headfirst
like arrows slanting down, and I knew
they were the same that I had seen
before. Each now carried a long spear,
and from the points of these a jagged
lightning flashed. They came clear down
to the ground this time and stood a
little way off and looked at me and
said, 'Hurry! Come! Your Grandfathers
are calling you!'
"Then they
turned and left the ground like arrows
slanting upward from the bow. When I got
up to follow, my legs did not hurt me
any more and I was very light. I went
outside the tepee, and yonder where the
men with flaming spears were going, a
little cloud was coming very fast. It
came and stooped and took me and turned
back to where it came from, flying fast.
And when I looked down I could see my
mother and my father yonder, and I felt
sorry to be leaving them.
"Then
there was nothing but the air and the
swiftness of the little cloud that bore
me and those two men still leading up to
where white clouds were piled like
mountains on a wide blue plain, and in
them thunder beings lived and leaped and
flashed.
"Now suddenly there was
nothing but a world of cloud, and we
three were there alone in the middle of
a great white plain with snowy hills and
mountains staring at us; and it was very
still; but there were whispers.
"Then the two men spoke together and
they said, 'Behold him, the being with
four legs!'
"I looked and saw a
bay horse standing there, and he began
to speak, 'Behold me!' he said, 'My
life-history you shall see.' Then he
wheeled about to where the sun goes
down, and said, 'Behold them! Their
history you shall know.'
"I
looked, and there were twelve black
horses yonder all abreast with necklaces
of bison hoofs, and they were beautiful,
but I was frightened, because their
manes were lightning and there was
thunder in their nostrils.
"Then
the bay horse wheeled to where the great
white giant lives [the north] and said,
'Behold!' And yonder there were twelve
white horses all abreast. Their manes
were flowing like a blizzard wind and
from their noses came a roaring, and all
about them white geese soared and
circled.
"Then the bay wheeled
round to where the sun shines
continually [the east] and bade me look;
and there twelve sorrel horses, with
necklaces of elk's teeth, stood abreast
with eyes that glimmered like the
day-break star and manes of morning
light.
"Then the bay wheeled once
again to look upon the place where you
are always facing [the south], and
yonder stood twelve buckskins all
abreast with horns upon their heads and
manes that lived and grew like trees and
grasses.
"And when I had seen all
these, the bay horse said, 'Your
Grandfathers are having a council. These
shall take you; so have courage.'
"Then all the horses went into
formation, four abreast - the blacks,
the whites, the sorrels, and the
buckskins - and stood behind the bay,
who turned now to the west and neighed;
and yonder suddenly the sky was terrible
with a storm of plunging horses in all
colors that shook the world with
thunder, neighing back.
"Now
turning to the north the bay horse
whinnied, and yonder all the sky roared
with a mighty wind of running horses in
all colors, neighing back.
"And
when he whinnied to the east, there too
the sky was filled with glowing clouds
of manes and tails of horses in all
colors singing back. Then to the south
he called, and it was crowded with many
colored, happy horses, nickering.
"Then the bay horse spoke to me
again and said, 'See how your horses all
come dancing!' I looked, and there were
horses, horses everywhere - a whole
skyful of horses dancing round me.
'''Make haste!' the bay horse said;
and we walked together side by side,
while the blacks, the whites, the
sorrels, and the buckskins followed,
marching four by four.
"I looked
about me once again, and suddenly the
dancing horses without number changed
into animals of every kind and into all
the fowls that are, and these fled back
to the four quarters of the world from
whence the horses came, and vanished.
"Then as we walked, there was a
heaped up cloud ahead that changed into
a tepee, and a rainbow was the open door
of it; and through the door I saw six
old men sitting in a row.
"The
two men with the spears now stood beside
me, one on either hand, and the horses
took their places in their quarters,
looking inward, four by four. And the
oldest of the Grandfathers spoke with a
kind voice and said, 'Come right in and
do not fear.' And as he spoke, all the
horses of the four quarters neighed to
cheer me. So I went in and stood before
the six, and they looked older than men
can ever be - old like hills, like
stars.
"The oldest spoke again,
'Your Grandfathers all over the world
are having a council, and they have
called you here to teach you.' His voice
was very kind, but I shook all over with
fear now, for I knew that these were not
old men, but the Powers of the World.
And the first was the Power of the West;
the second, of the North; the third, of
the East; the fourth, of the South; the
fifth, of the Sky; the sixth, of the
Earth. I knew this, and was afraid,
until the first Grandfather spoke again,
'Behold them yonder where the sun goes
down, the thunder beings! You shall see,
and have from them my power; and they
shall take you to the high and lonely
center of the earth that you may see;
even to the place where the sun
continually shines, they shall take you
there to understand.'
"And as he
spoke of understanding, I looked up and
saw the rainbow leap with flames of many
colors over me.
"Now there was a
wooden cup in his hand and it was full
of water and in the water was the sky.
'''Take this,' he said. 'It is the
power to make live, and it is yours.'
"Now he had a bow in his hands. Take
this,' he said. 'It is the power to
destroy, and it is yours.'
"Then
he pointed to himself and said, 'Look
close at him who is your spirit now, for
you are his body and his name is Eagle
Wing Stretches.'
"And saying
this, he got up very tall and started
running toward where the sun goes down;
and suddenly he was a black horse that
stopped and turned and looked at me, and
the horse was very poor and sick; his
ribs stood out.
"Then the second
Grandfather, he of the North, arose with
a herb of power in his hand, and said,
'Take this and hurry.' I took and held
it toward the black horse yonder. He
fattened and was happy and came prancing
to his place again and was the first
Grandfather sitting there.
"The
second Grandfather, he of the North,
spoke again, 'Take courage, younger
brother,' he said; 'on earth a nation
you shall make live, for yours shall be
the power of the white giant's wing, the
cleansing wind.' Then he got up very
tall and started running toward the
north; and when he turned toward me, it
was a white goose wheeling. I looked
about me now, and the horses in the west
were thunders and the horses of the
north were geese. And the second
Grandfather sang two songs that were
like this:
"'They are appearing,
may you behold! They are appearing, may
you behold! The thunder nation is
appearing, behold!
"They are
appearing, may you behold! They are
appearing, may you behold! The white
geese nation is appearing, behold!'
"And now it was the third
Grandfather who spoke, he of where the
sun shines continually. 'Take courage,
younger brother,' he said, 'for across
the earth they shall take you!' Then he
pointed to where the daybreak star was
shining, and beneath the star two men
were flying. 'From them you shall have
power,' he said, 'from them who have
awakened all the beings of the earth
with roots and legs and wings.' And as
he said this, he held in his hand a
peace pipe which had a spotted eagle
outstretched upon the stem; and this
eagle seemed alive, for it was poised
there, fluttering, and its eyes were
looking at me. 'With this pipe,' the
Grandfather said, 'you shall walk upon
the earth, and whatever sickens there
you shall make well.' Then he pointed to
a man who was bright red all over, the
color of good and of plenty, and as he
pointed, the red man lay down and rolled
and changed into a bison that got up and
galloped toward the sorrel horses of the
east, and they too turned to bison, fat
and many.
"And now the fourth
Grandfather spoke, he of the place where
you are always facing [the south],
whence comes the power to grow. 'Younger
brother,' he said, 'with the powers of
the four quarters you shall walk, a
relative. Behold, the living center of a
nation I shall give you, and with it
many you shall save.' And I saw that he
was holding in his hand a bright red
stick that was alive, and as I looked it
sprouted at the top and sent forth
branches, and on the branches many
leaves came out and murmured and in the
leaves the birds began to sing. And then
for just a little while I thought I saw
beneath it in the shade the circled
villages of people and every living
thing with roots or legs or wings, and
all were happy. 'It shall stand in the
center of the nation's circle,' said the
Grandfather, 'a cane to walk with and a
people's heart; and by your powers you
shall make it blossom.'
"Then
when he had been still a little while to
hear the birds sing, he spoke again:
'Behold the earth!' So I looked down and
saw it lying yonder like a hoop of
peoples, and in the center bloomed the
holy stick that was a tree, and where it
stood there crossed two roads, a red one
and a black. 'From where the giant lives
[the north] to where you always face
[the south] the red road goes, the road
of good,' the Grandfather said, 'and on
it shall your nation walk. The black
road goes from where the thunder beings
live (the west) to where the sun
continually shines [the east], a fearful
road, a road of troubles and of war. On
this also you shall walk, and from it
you shall have the power to destroy a
people's foes. In four ascents you shall
walk the earth with power.'
"I
think he meant that I should see four
generations, counting me, and now I am
seeing the third.
"Then he rose
very tall and started running toward the
south, and was an elk; and as he stood
among the buckskins yonder, they too
were elks.
"Now the fifth
Grandfather spoke, the oldest of them
all, the Spirit of the Sky. 'My boy,' he
said, 'I have sent for you and you have
come. My power you shall see!' He
stretched his arms and turned into a
spotted eagle hovering. 'Behold,' he
said, 'all the wings of the air shall
come to you, and they and the winds and
the stars shall be like relatives. You
shall go across the earth with my
power.' Then the eagle soared above my
head and fluttered there; and suddenly
the sky was full of friendly wings all
coming toward me.
"Now I knew the
sixth Grandfather was about to speak, he
who was the Spirit of the Earth, and I
saw that he was very old, but more as
men are old. His hair was long and
white, his face was all in wrinkles and
his eyes were deep and dim. I stared at
him, for it seemed I knew him somehow;
and as I stared, he slowly changed, for
he was growing backwards into youth, and
when he had become a boy, I knew that he
was myself with all the years that would
be mine at last. When he was old again,
he said: 'My boy, have courage, for my
power shall be yours, and you shall need
it, for your nation on the earth will
have great troubles. Come.'
"He
rose and tottered out through the
rainbow door, and as I followed I was
riding on the bay horse who had talked
to me at first and led me to that place.
"Then the bay horse stopped and
faced the black horses of the west, and
a voice said: 'They have given you the
cup of water to make live the greening
day, and also the bow and arrow to
destroy.' The bay neighed, and the
twelve black horses came and stood
behind me, four abreast.
"The bay
faced the sorrels of the east, and I saw
that they had morning stars upon their
foreheads and they were very bright. And
the voice said: 'They have given you the
sacred pipe and the power that is peace,
and the good red day.' The bay neighed,
and the twelve sorrels stood behind me,
four abreast.
"My horse now faced
the buckskins of the south, and a voice
said: 'They have given you the sacred
stick and your nation's hoop, and the
yellow day; and in the center of the
hoop you shall set the stick and make it
grow into a shielding tree, and bloom.'
The bay neighed, and the twelve
buckskins came and stood behind me, four
abreast.
"Then I knew that there
were riders on all the horses there
behind me, and a voice said: 'Now you
shall walk the black road with these;
and as you walk, all the nations that
have roots or legs or wings shall fear
you.'
"So I started, riding
toward the east down the fearful road,
and behind me came the horsebacks four
abreast--the blacks, the whites, the
sorrels, and the buckskins--and far away
above the fearful road the daybreak star
was rising very dim.
"I looked
below me where the earth was silent in a
sick green light, and saw the hills look
up afraid and the grasses on the hills
and all the animals; and everywhere
about me were the cries of frightened
birds and sounds of fleeing wings. I was
the chief of all the heavens riding
there, and when I looked behind me, all
the twelve black horses reared and
plunged and thundered and their manes
and tails were whirling hail and their
nostrils snorted lightning. And when I
looked below again, I saw the slant hail
falling and the long, sharp rain, and
where we passed, the trees bowed low and
all the hills were dim.
"Now the
earth was bright again as we rode. I
could see the hills and valleys and the
creeks and rivers passing under. We came
above a place where three streams made a
big one - a source of mighty waters -
and something terrible was there. Flames
were rising from the waters and in the
flames a blue man lived. The dust was
floating all about him in the air, the
grass was short and withered, the trees
were wilting, two-legged and four-legged
beings lay there thin and panting, and
wings too weak to fly.
"Then the
black horse riders shouted ' Hoka hey !'
and charged down upon the blue man, but
were driven back. And the white troop
shouted, charging, and was beaten; then
the red troop and the yellow.
"And when each had failed, they all
cried together: 'Eagle Wing Stretches,
hurry!' And all the world was filled
with voices of all kinds that cheered
me, so I charged. I had the cup of water
in one hand and in the other was the bow
that turned into a spear as the bay and
I swooped down, and the spear's head was
sharp lightning. It stabbed the blue
man's heart, and as it struck I could
hear the thunder rolling and many voices
that cried ' Un-hee!,' meaning I had
killed. The flames died. The trees and
grasses were not withered any more and
murmured happily together, and every
living being cried in gladness with
whatever voice it had. Then the four
troops of horsemen charged down and
struck the dead body of the blue man,
counting coup; and suddenly it was only
a harmless turtle.
"You see, I
had been riding with the storm clouds,
and had come to earth as rain, and it
was drouth that I had killed with the
power that the Six Grandfathers gave me.
So we were riding on the earth now down
along the river flowing full from the
source of waters, and soon I saw ahead
the circled village of a people in the
valley. And a Voice said: 'Behold a
nation; it is yours. Make haste, Eagle
Wing Stretches!'
"I entered the
village, riding, with the four horse
troops behind me - the blacks, the
whites, the sorrels, and the buckskins;
and the place was filled with moaning
and with mourning for the dead. The wind
was blowing from the south like fever,
and when I looked around I saw that in
nearly every tepee the women and the
children and the men lay dying with the
dead.
"So I rode around the
circle of the village, looking in upon
the sick and dead, and I felt like
crying as I rode. But when I looked
behind me, all the women and the
children and the men were getting up and
coming forth with happy faces.
"And a Voice said: 'Behold, they have
given you the center of the nation's
hoop to make it live.'
"So I rode
to the center of the village, with the
horse troops in their quarters round
about me, and there the people gathered.
And the Voice said: 'Give them now the
flowering stick that they may flourish,
and the sacred pipe that they may know
the power that is peace, and the wing of
the white giant that they may have
endurance and face all winds with
courage.'
"So I took the bright
red stick and at the center of the
nation's hoop I thrust it in the earth.
As it touched the earth it leaped
mightily in my hand and was a waga chun,
the rustling tree, very tall and full of
leafy branches and of all birds singing.
And beneath it all the animals were
mingling with the people like relatives
and making happy cries. The women raised
their tremolo of joy, and the men
shouted all together: 'Here we shall
raise our children and be as little
chickens under the mother sheo's wing.'
"Then I heard the white wind blowing
gently through the tree and singing
there, and from the east the sacred pipe
came flying on its eagle wings, and
stopped before me there beneath the
tree, spreading deep peace around it.
"Then the daybreak star was rising,
and a Voice said: 'It shall be a
relative to them; and who shall see it,
shall see much more, for thence comes
wisdom; and those who do not see it
shall be dark.' And all the people
raised their faces to the east, and the
star's light fell upon them, and all the
dogs barked loudly and the horses
whinnied.
"Then when the many
little voices ceased, the great Voice
said: 'Behold the circle of the nation's
hoop, for it is holy, being endless, and
thus all powers shall be one power in
the people without end. Now they shall
break camp and go forth upon the red
road, and your Grandfathers shall walk
with them.' So the people broke camp and
took the good road with the white wing
on their faces, and the order of their
going was like this:
"First, the
black horse riders with the cup of
water; and the white horse riders with
the white wing and the sacred herb; and
the sorrel riders with the holy pipe;
and the buckskins with the flowering
stick. And after these the little
children and the youths and maidens
followed in a band.
"Second, came
the tribe's four chieftains, and their
band was all young men and women.
"Third, the nation's four advisers
leading men and women neither young nor
old.
"Fourth, the old men
hobbling with their canes and looking to
the earth.
"Fifth, old women
hobbling with their canes and looking to
the earth.
"Sixth, myself all
alone upon the bay with the bow and
arrows that the First Grandfather gave
me. But I was not the last; for when I
looked behind me there were ghosts of
people like a trailing fog as far as I
could see--grandfathers of grandfathers
and grandmothers of grandmothers without
number. And over these a great
Voice--the Voice that was the
South--lived, and I could feel it
silent.
"And as we went the Voice
behind me said: 'Behold a good nation
walking in a sacred manner in a good
land!'
"Then I looked up and saw
that there were four ascents ahead, and
these were generations I should know.
Now we were on the first ascent, and all
the land was green. And as the long line
climbed, all the old men and women
raised their hands, palms forward, to
the far sky yonder and began to croon a
song together, and the sky ahead was
filled with clouds of baby faces.
"When we came to the end of the
first ascent we camped in the sacred
circle as before, and in the center
stood the holy tree, and still the land
about us was all green.
"Then we
started on the second ascent, marching
as before, and still the land was green,
but it was getting steeper. And as I
looked ahead, the people changed into
elks and bison and all four-footed
beings and even into fowls, all walking
in a sacred manner on the good red road
together. And I myself was a spotted
eagle soaring over them. But just before
we stopped to camp at the end of that
ascent, all the marching animals grew
restless and afraid that they were not
what they had been, and began sending
forth voices of trouble, calling to
their chiefs. And when they camped at
the end of that ascent, I looked down
and saw that leaves were falling from
the holy tree.
"And the Voice
said: 'Behold your nation, and remember
what your Six Grandfathers gave you, for
thenceforth your people walk in
difficulties.'
"Then the people
broke camp again, and saw the black road
before them towards where the sun goes
down, and black clouds coming yonder;
and they did not want to go but could
not stay. And as they walked the third
ascent, all the animals and fowls that
were the people ran here and there, for
each one seemed to have his own little
vision that he followed and his own
rules; and all over the universe I could
hear the winds at war like wild beasts
fighting.
"And when we reached
the summit of the third ascent and
camped, the nation's hoop was broken
like a ring of smoke that spreads and
scatters and the holy tree seemed dying
and all its birds were gone. And when I
looked ahead I saw that the fourth
ascent would be terrible.
"Then
when the people were getting ready to
begin the fourth ascent, the Voice spoke
like some one weeping, and it said:
'Look there upon your nation.' And when
I looked down, the people were all
changed back to human, and they were
thin, their faces sharp, for they were
starving. Their ponies were only hide
and bones, and the holy tree was gone.
"And as I looked and wept, I saw
that there stood on the north side of
the starving camp a sacred man who was
painted red all over his body, and he
held a spear as he walked into the
center of the people, and there he lay
down and rolled. And when he got up, it
was a fat bison standing there, and
where the bison stood a sacred herb
sprang up right where the tree had been
in the center of the nation's hoop. The
herb grew and bore four blossoms on a
single stem while I was looking - a
blue, a white, a scarlet, and a
yellow--and the bright rays of these
flashed to the heavens.
"I know
now what this meant, that the bison were
the gift of a good spirit and were our
strength, but we should lose them, and
from the same good spirit we must find
another strength. For the people all
seemed better when the herb had grown
and bloomed, and the horses raised their
tails and neighed and pranced around,
and I could see a light breeze going
from the north among the people like a
ghost; and suddenly the flowering tree
was there again at the center of the
nation's hoop where the four-rayed herb
had blossomed.
"I was still the
spotted eagle floating, and I could see
that I was already in the fourth ascent
and the people were camping yonder at
the top of the third long rise. It was
dark and terrible about me, for all the
winds of the world were fighting. It was
like rapid gun-fire and like whirling
smoke, and like women and children
wailing and like horses screaming all
over the world.
"I could see my
people yonder running about, setting the
smoke-flap poles and fastening down
their tepees against the wind, for the
storm cloud was coming on them very fast
and black, and there were frightened
swallows without number fleeing before
the cloud.
"Then a song of power
came to me and I sang it there in the
midst of that terrible place where I
was. It went like this:
"'A good
nation I will make live. This the nation
above has said. They have given me the
power to make over.'
"And when I
had sung this, a Voice said: 'To the
four quarters you shall run for help,
and nothing shall be strong before you.
Behold him!'
"Now I was on my bay
horse again, because the horse is of the
earth, and it was there my power would
be used. And as I obeyed the Voice and
looked, there was a horse all skin and
bones yonder in the west, a faded
brownish black. And a Voice there said:
'Take this and make him over; and it was
the four-rayed herb that I was holding
in my hand. So I rode above the poor
horse in a circle, and as I did this I
could hear the people yonder calling for
spirit power, 'A-hey! a-hey! a-hey!
a-hey!' Then the poor horse neighed and
rolled and got up, and he was a big,
shiny, black stallion with dapples all
over him and his mane about him like a
cloud. He was the chief of all the
horses; and when he snorted, it was a
flash of lightning and his eyes were
like the sunset star. He dashed to the
west and neighed, and the west was
filled with a dust of hoofs, and horses
without number, shiny black, came
plunging from the dust. Then he dashed
toward the north and neighed, and to the
east and to the south, and the dust
clouds answered, giving forth their
plunging horses without number--whites
and sorrels and buckskins, fat, shiny,
rejoicing in their fleetness and their
strength. It was beautiful, but it was
also terrible.
"Then they all
stopped short, rearing, and were
standing in a great hoop about their
black chief at the center, and were
still.
"And as they stood, four
virgins, more beautiful than women of
the earth can be, came through the
circle, dressed in scarlet, one from
each of the four quarters, and stood
about the great black stallion in their
places; and one held the wooden cup of
water, and one the white wing, and one
the pipe, and one the nation's hoop. All
the universe was silent, listening; and
then the great black stallion raised his
voice and sang. The song he sang was
this:
"'My horses, prancing they
are coming. My horses, neighing they are
coming; Prancing, they are coming. All
over the universe they come. They will
dance; may you behold them.' [4
times] "'A horse nation, they will
dance. May you behold them.' [4
times]
"His voice was not loud,
but it went all over the universe and
filled it. There was nothing that did
not hear, and it was more beautiful than
anything can be. It was so beautiful
that nothing anywhere could keep from
dancing. The virgins danced, and all the
circled horses. The leaves on the trees,
the grasses on the hills and in the
valleys, the waters in the creeks and in
the rivers and the lakes, the
four-legged and the two-legged and the
wings of the air--all danced together to
the music of the stallion's song.
"And when I looked down upon my
people yonder, the cloud passed over,
blessing them with friendly rain, and
stood in the east with a flaming rainbow
over it.
"Then all the horses
went singing back to their places beyond
the summit of the fourth ascent, and all
things sang along with them as they
walked.
"And a Voice said, 'All
over the universe they have finished a
day of happiness.' And looking down I
saw that the whole wide circle of the
day was beautiful and green, with all
fruits growing and all things kind and
happy.
"Then a Voice said,
'Behold this day, for it is yours to
make. Now you shall stand upon the
center of the earth to see, for there
they are taking you.'
"I was
still on my bay horse, and once more I
felt the riders of the west, the north,
the east, the south, behind me in
formation, as before, and we were going
east. I looked ahead and saw the
mountains there with rocks and forests
on them, and from the mountains flashed
all colors upward to the heavens. Then I
was standing on the highest mountain of
them all, and round about beneath me was
the whole hoop of the world. And while I
stood there I saw more than I can tell
and I understood more than I saw; for I
was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes
of all things in the spirit, and the
shape of all shapes as they must live
together like one being. And I saw that
the sacred hoop of my people was one of
many hoops that made one circle, wide as
daylight and as starlight, and in the
center grew one mighty flowering tree to
shelter all the children of one mother
and one father. And I saw that it was
holy.
"Then as I stood there, two
men were coming from the east, head
first like arrows flying, and between
them rose the day-break star. They came
and gave a herb to me and said: 'With
this on earth you shall undertake
anything and do it.' It was the
day-break-star herb, the herb of
understanding, and they told me to drop
it on the earth. I saw it falling far,
and when it struck the earth it rooted
and grew and flowered, four blossoms on
one stem, a blue, a white, a scarlet,
and a yellow; and the rays from these
streamed upward to the heavens so that
all creatures saw it and in no place was
there darkness.
"Then the Voice
said, 'Your Six Grandfathers - now you
shall go back to them.'
"I had
not noticed how I was dressed until now,
and I saw that I was painted red all
over, and my joints were painted black,
with white stripes between the joints.
My bay had lightning stripes all over
him, and his mane was cloud. And when I
breathed, my breath was lightning.
"Now two men were leading me, head
first like arrows slanting upward--the
two that brought me from the earth. And
as I followed on the bay, they turned
into four flocks of geese that flew in
circles, one above each quarter, sending
forth a sacred voice as they flew:
Br-r-r-p, br-r-r-p, br-r-r-p, br-r-r-p!
"Then I saw ahead the rainbow
flaming above the tepee of the Six
Grandfathers, built and roofed with
cloud and sewed with thongs of
lightning; and underneath it were all
the wings of the air and under them the
animals and men. All these were
rejoicing, and thunder was like happy
laughter.
"As I rode in through
the rainbow door, there were cheering
voices from all over the universe, and I
saw the Six Grandfathers sitting in a
row, with their arms held toward me and
their hands, palms out; and behind them
in the cloud were faces thronging,
without number, of the people yet to be.
"'He has triumphed!' cried the six
together, making thunder. And as I
passed before them there, each gave
again the gift that he had given me
before--the cup of water and the bow and
arrows, the power to make live and to
destroy; the white wing of cleansing and
the healing herb; the sacred pipe; the
flowering stick. And each one spoke in
turn from west to south, explaining what
he gave as he had done before, and as
each one spoke he melted down into the
earth and rose again; and as each did
this, I felt nearer to the earth.
"Then the oldest of them all said,
'Grandson, all over the universe you
have seen. Now you shall go back with
power to the place from whence you came,
and it shall happen yonder that hundreds
shall be sacred, hundreds shall be
flames! Behold!'
"I looked below
and saw my people there, and all were
well and happy except one, and he was
lying like the dead - and that one was
myself. Then the oldest Grandfather
sang, and his song was like this:
"'There is someone lying on earth in
a sacred manner. There is someone - on
earth he lies. In a sacred manner I have
made him to walk.'
"Now the
tepee, built and roofed with cloud,
began to sway back and forth as in a
wind, and the flaming rainbow door was
growing dimmer. I could hear voices of
all kinds crying from outside: 'Eagle
Wing Stretches is coming forth! Behold
him!'
"When I went through the
door, the face of the day of earth was
appearing with the day-break star upon
its forehead; and the sun leaped up and
looked upon me, and I was going forth
alone.
"And as I walked alone, I
heard the sun singing as it arose, and
it sang like this:
"'With visible
face I am appearing. In a sacred manner
I appear. For the greening earth a
pleasantness I make. The center of the
nation's hoop I have made pleasant. With
visible face, behold me! The
four-leggeds and two-leggeds, I have
made them to walk; The wings of the air,
I have made them to fly. With visible
face I appear. My day, I have made it
holy.'
"When the singing stopped,
I was feeling lost and very lonely. Then
a Voice above me said, 'Look back!' It
was a spotted eagle that was hovering
over me and spoke. I looked, and where
the flaming rainbow tepee, built and
roofed with cloud, had been, I saw only
the tall rock mountain at the center of
the world.
"I was all alone on a
broad plain now with my feet upon the
earth, alone but for the spotted eagle
guarding me. I could see my people's
village far ahead, and I walked very
fast, for I was homesick now. Then I saw
my own tepee, and inside I saw my mother
and my father bending over a sick boy
that was myself. And as I entered the
tepee, some one was saying: 'The boy is
coming to; you had better give him some
water.'
"Then I was sitting up;
and I was sad because my mother and my
father didn't seem to know I had been so
far away."
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