John C. Fremont with His Hand on His Big Knife
in a
Meeting with Plains Indians at Ft. Laramie, ca. 1840
The Fate of Native America: a Prophecy
by Stella (Blowsnake) Stacey, a.k.a. Mountain Wolf Woman
transcribed and translated by Sheila Shigley
Arrows (⬅︎) link to the corresponding interlinear text.
⬅︎These Mąįxete, everything, this land, they take away everything from us. ⬅︎They take away from us, it is like this, that man, The Storyteller, said, it is like this. ⬅︎So, eventually everything, every possible thing, that White Man will own. ⬅︎The land, absolutely all of it, they will eventually possess it. ⬅︎You’ll arrive at the point where we won’t so much as be able to pick anything up. ⬅︎And should we want to stop anywhere, they tell us, ⬅︎"Alright (Hą̨̄)," [...], (saying) that we can stop there. ⬅︎We can’t even cut one stick of wood. ⬅︎Only if they say to us, "Alright," if they say so, only then can we cut a stick of wood. ⬅︎In the end it will get to the point of being that way.
⬅︎And then, they are fighting, they will say. ⬅︎They are fighting, they will say, it will come to pass that those Mąįxete are fighting each other. ⬅︎The ammunition, when they shoot each other, there will be something bad in there as well when they shoot each other. ⬅︎Even the winds will be spreading something terrible in this way. ⬅︎From that we will become sick. ⬅︎And even the rivers, even the streams, even the lakes, we won’t be able to drink that water, they’re putting something awful into the waters. ⬅︎And for us even to drink those waters, it will kill us. ⬅︎Even the waters will be the death of us. ⬅︎So for that reason the water we pull [as in from a well?], the water we dig, the water we dig for ourselves, only from that source is it possible that we will be able to drink good water.
⬅︎It will come to pass that we will be warring over all of the Earth. ⬅︎Those Mąįxete, it is they who will be warring. ⬅︎So very many will be fighting across absolutely all of the lands. ⬅︎They will be fighting each other in an excessive number of lands. ⬅︎When the end times come, it will be like this.1
Commentary
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John C. Fremont with His Hand on His Big Knife |
"Mąįxete" (pronounced) — meaning "Big Knife," a term for white Americans based on their use of Bowie knives, sabers and cutlasses. During negotiations, U.S. military officers were typically equipt with swords, which made these weapons stand out to the point of being a defining characteristic. While the Indians were anxious to obtain muskets and rifles, especially given their utility in hunting, they were never keen to possess swords as weapons.
"The Storyteller" — Wṓráka (< wōrák-ka), where wōrák means a story in general, or most particularly, a non-sacred story that can be told at any time of the year, as opposed to a waiką́ or sacred story, which can only be told in the winter when snakes are hibernating. The -ka suffix is used to indicate a personal name, and functions rather like "Mister." So the ultimate auhor of this prophesy is being called "Mr. Worak."
"even the winds will be spreading something terrible" — what has been said hitherto about the whites fighting each other can apply to any period of colonial America. However, the idea that the air could be polluted with a lethal agent is unique to World War I. This mighty allow us to establish a temporal and cultural context for the complaints being tendered. On the other hand, the expression "we will become sick" may apply to the population generally, not just to soldiers. Therefore, the reference here may be to domestic pollution. Nevertheless, pollution on the scale implied is also unique to the period from the late XIXth century to the present.
"so for that reason the water we pull [as in from a well?], the water we dig, the water we dig for ourselves, only from that source is it possible that we will be able to drink good water" — in other words, "Therefore only the water we extract, the water we dig for, the water we dig for ourselves, only from that source will we be able to have good water."
"when the end times come" — this makes it clear that the prophesy is being made by someone who accepts the veracity of the Christian religion, as the traditional religion does not conceive of an Armageddon or Götterdämmerung bringing history to a close.
Comparative Material. ...
Links: The Cosmic Ages of the Hōcągara.
Stories: making reference to cosmic ages: Thunderbird Clan Origin Myth (v. 1), The Cosmic Ages of the Hocągara; mentioning the Big Knives (white Americans): The Shawnee Prophet and His Ascension, The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara, Brawl in Omro, The Scalping Knife of Wakąšucka, Little Priest's Game, How Little Priest went out as a Soldier, A Prophecy, The Chief Who Shot His Own Daughter, The First Fox and Sauk War, The War of Indian Tribes against White Soldiers, The Cosmic Ages of the Hocągara, Turtle and the Merchant, The Hocągara Migrate South, Neenah, Run for Your Life, The Glory of the Morning, First Contact, Mijistéga’s Powwow Magic and How He Won the Trader's Store, Migistéga’s Magic, Yellow Thunder and the Lore of Lost Canyon, Mighty Thunder, The Beginning of the Winnebago, Soldiers Catch Two Boys, a Black One and a White One, Digging a Trench and White Strategy.
Themes: arrogance: The Skunk Origin Myth, The Blue Jay, The Fatal House, The Creation of Evil, Holy One and His Brother, Trickster Eats the Laxative Bulb, The Foolish Hunter; descriptions of human warfare: Black Otter's Warpath, Annihilation of the Hocągara II, The Warbundle Maker, The First Fox and Sauk War, Great Walker's Medicine, The Annihilation of the Hocągara I, How Little Priest went out as a Soldier, Little Priest's Game, Wazųka, The Blessings of the Buffalo Spirits, The Shawnee Prophet and His Ascension, The Four Slumbers Origin Myth, Big Thunder Teaches Cap’ósgaga the Warpath, The Fox-Hocąk War, Great Walker's Warpath, White Fisher, The Lame Friend, White Thunder's Warpath, The Osage Massacre, A Man's Revenge, The Boy who was Blessed by a Mountain Lion, They Owe a Bullet, The Spanish Fight, Origin of the Name "Milwaukee," The Man Whose Wife was Captured (v. 2), Tobacco Man and Married Man, The Scalping Knife of Wakąšucka, The War of Indian Tribes against White Soldiers, The Unlucky Horse.
Notes
1 Reading by Sheila Shigley, from the audio tape in the American Philosophical Society: 10-04. Fraenkel, Gerd. Stacy, Stella. "The red man's plaint about the white man's control of the country," Mss.Rec.29, recorded 12 July 1959, 1 .mp3; 00:00:22.9 - 00:02:52.9. Copy made by Gerd Fraenkel of an original tape held at the Archives of Languages of the World, Indiana University. This program comes from original tape 526.6. APS accession number 7235; APSdigrec_0948; Recording Number: 02; Program Number: 09. The reading was based on a clean audio copy from Nancy Hall: OT 7695.