American Indian stories

1876-1938 Zitkala-Sa

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of American Indian stories, by Zitkala-SaThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it,give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online atwww.gutenberg.netTitle: American Indian storiesAuthor: Zitkala-SaRelease Date: December 3, 2003 [EBook #10376]Language: English*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMERICAN INDIAN STORIES ***Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Brett Koonce and the Online Distributed Proofreading TeamAMERICAN INDIAN STORIESBYZITKALA-SA (Gertrude Bonnin)Dakota Sioux IndianLecturer; Author of "Old Indian Legends," "Americanize The FirstAmerican," and other stories; Member of the Woman's National Foundation,League of American Pen-Women, and the Washington Salon"There is no great; there is no small; in the mind that causeth all"1921CONTENTSImpressions of an Indian ChildhoodThe School Days of an Indian GirlAn Indian Teacher Among IndiansThe Great SpiritThe Soft-Hearted SiouxThe Trial PathA Warrior's DaughterA Dream of Her GrandfatherThe Widespread Enigma of Blue-Star WomanAmerica's Indian ProblemIMPRESSIONS OF AN INDIAN CHILDHOODI.MY MOTHER.A wigwam of weather-stained canvas stood at the base of some irregularly ascending hills. A footpath wound its waygently down the sloping land till it reached the broad river bottom; creeping through the long swamp grasses that ...

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• Publié par: thowyir
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 41
• Langue: English

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AMERICAN INDIAN STORIES BY ZITKALA-SA (Gertrude Bonnin) Dakota Sioux Indian Lecturer; Author of "Old Indian Legends," "Americanize The First American," and other stories; Member of the Woman's National Foundation, League of American Pen-Women, and the Washington Salon

" There is no great; there is no small; in the mind that causeth all " 1921

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AMERICAN INDIAN STORIES ***

Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Brett Koonce and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

Title: American Indian stories Author: Zitkala-Sa Release Date: December 3, 2003 [EBook #10376] Language: English

CONTENTS

Impressions of an Indian Childhood

The School Days of an Indian Girl

An Indian Teacher Among Indians

The Great Spirit

The Soft-Hearted Sioux

The Trial Path

A Warrior's Daughter

A Dream of Her Grandfather

The Widespread Enigma of Blue-Star Woman

America's Indian Problem

IMPRESSIONS OF AN INDIAN CHILDHOOD I. MYMOTHER.

A wigwam of weather-stained canvas stood at the base of some irregularly ascending hills. A footpath wound its way gently down the sloping land till it reached the broad river bottom; creeping through the long swamp grasses that bent over it on either side, it came out on the edge of the Missouri. Here, morning, noon, and evening, my mother came to draw water from the muddy stream for our household use. Always, when my mother started for the river, I stopped my play to run along with her. She was only of medium height. Often she was sad and silent, at which times her full arched lips were compressed into hard and bitter lines, and shadows fell under her black eyes. Then I clung to her hand and begged to know what made the tears fall. "Hush; my little daughter must never talk about my tears"; and smiling through them, she patted my head and said, "Now let me see how fast you can run today." Whereupon I tore away at my highest possible speed, with my long black hair blowing in the breeze. I was a wild little girl of seven. Loosely clad in a slip of brown buckskin, and light-footed with a pair of soft moccasins on my feet, I was as free as the wind that blew my hair, and no less spirited than a bounding deer. These were my mother's pride,—my wild freedom and overflowing spirits. She taught me no fear save that of intruding myself upon others. Having gone many paces ahead I stopped, panting for breath, and laughing with glee as my mother watched my every movement. I was not wholly conscious of myself, but was more keenly alive to the fire within. It was as if I were the activity, and my hands and feet were only experiments for my spirit to work upon. Returning from the river, I tugged beside my mother, with my hand upon the bucket I believed I was carrying. One time, on such a return, I remember a bit of conversation we had. My grown-up cousin, Warca-Ziwin (Sunflower), who was then seventeen, always went to the river alone for water for her mother. Their wigwam was not far from ours; and I saw her daily going to and from the river. I admired my cousin greatly. So I said: "Mother, when I am tall as my cousin Warca- Ziwin, you shall not have to come for water. I will do it for you." With a strange tremor in her voice which I could not understand, she answered, "If the paleface does not take away from us the river we drink." "Mother, who is this bad paleface?" I asked. "My little daughter, he is a sham,—a sickly sham! The bronzed Dakota is the only real man." I looked up into my mother's face while she spoke; and seeing her bite her lips, I knew she was unhappy. This aroused revenge in my small soul. Stamping my foot on the earth, I cried aloud, "I hate the paleface that makes my mother cry!" Setting the pail of water on the ground, my mother stooped, and stretching her left hand out on the level with my eyes, she placed her other arm about me; she pointed to the hill where my uncle and my only sister lay buried. "There is what the paleface has done! Since then your father too has been buried in a hill nearer the rising sun. We were once very happy. But the paleface has stolen our lands and driven us hither. Having defrauded us of our land, the paleface forced us away. "Well, it happened on the day we moved camp that your sister and uncle were both very sick. Many others were ailing, but there seemed to be no help. We traveled many days and nights; not in the grand, happy way that we moved camp when I was a little girl, but we were driven, my child, driven like a herd of buffalo. With every step, your sister, who was not as large as you are now, shrieked with the painful jar until she was hoarse with crying. She grew more and more feverish. Her little hands and cheeks were burning hot. Her little lips were parched and dry, but she would not drink the water I gave her. Then I discovered that her throat was swollen and red. My poor child, how I cried with her because the Great Spirit had forgotten us! "At last, when we reached this western country, on the first weary night your sister died. And soon your uncle died also, leaving a widow and an orphan daughter, your cousin Warca-Ziwin. Both your sister and uncle might have been happy with us today, had it not been for the heartless paleface. " My mother was silent the rest of the way to our wigwam. Though I saw no tears in her eyes, I knew that was because I was with her. She seldom wept before me.

n old Indian womnaa ksdem ,e" hWei nboghngriig wsmawmos mitea se eingut bstio que hWli en.d t eh eni ot mmyd  imyr heoisserpmohtiw sn snw tiohq eutsoive. At th ut resereg Iarenet o ,llederer hy llswan dac rahtoeh m  m y ot tme nned utio ehtom ruoy si tassleUn" g?indor  eta  s ym  eppuni r heg cor enns It.ohtuf ritsa ksniave her side witid dna ,el ton d mtoe oserthmoy ts sg eu tlc Iasrivae ar ourl of es d b At. I s velots eeiroigebht ny would that theeht mi egna llt hiis we,pleo pldo eht fo klat ehto ttly tieng paneniiltste ,q iu chea" e!edliep rgnisiR .ecno ta  car andg thryinlbnaie ra rcekst heatthd fre r eeetfarawr " .sd ,seY yes, gladly, gldaylI s ahllc mo wd ruo drawot sm iossmiy  . M ngliel  nab Iaren , nod andpingskipck,  uohsredl sso eno keocled  th,  fl ey rfmot ehsirule yus wigwair vario ht eo s  fre snaws e ext thwordact  euqerF .ehs yltniny  mtoontitavi ilhg.tA llo tuo  jumping with de ym htoma resomlbrf theaI , ldto  sawll Ier amemb oeremt  guth sat ol t Ienft Oe.ncalg elgnis a ta  doing whre they W"ah tewa ksde ,?"eehi Tirheep tretnt dey nee uo y woever to ningowemlo dhT edr . at s Ind ae, med etsil ylregae pu  rtily thd so headln toh taI c uonyunem rman  fdeal dehguskrana , o  filgnkco  aaplvesf wothe  or  nioj plemeht gni is dhe . Tow hnttatoot mrfgithnede me, and I nestltooh gnia fowo ninl he tiv r ber if nepo eht ot sckti sry dmesod daedhS epa .s'l ther my mo nto ed i lo eof do seht fhe tac fp  utoin selpadethf alemthe brigre, and  nive eanreI , ng .elcric   hcus nO d inrounreat a g sht kl a s taa yes  ta supr  ton bheo en a nttatdeoo of the fire shoembmret ehg aler enwh c Ilat , stiaw na tdluoton , I whisy longerm  yomhteper dni tsk"A, ar e'serI na llet ot meh motory,i stktom  gymhtniS " oo eh.r pmi eita,ecn ym thmo serd aioual,d" yMl tilt eadughter is anxiouaeh ot sl ruoy r."dsenegisthy  B elat mier ht  lew h earoug, antingeeepingn saftsd ening wad the ev ut nb nrae si hc igil. A htnt itwo  olewp li,dI gene a ltell to eganna ;pal s'rehtomy  mind ea hmyd n my back, I wat dylni glftau op he tpey edepow d dehceht  ratssa se. Ty onncrehe inom  npuenb ,eo tae thf usro aleni gnisao tseret on each tooed uporsst tah daa c anomho wutbo w aots a yrednolufr u a w l yo telver,ohewll ,s ah.uI yol el tot nreda I sngis terces—t eh yra eisng,s, my grandchild,namogeb  :nayhW"He s.  tre ohe wld  rym eofndseb lo ouldhe wuke m  rebarfa elt taht di w Id.eait l aas er cof hs."heek

II. THELEGENDS.

onf  oinche thn o senil lellarap hadrestThe en. w moo dlt eh efouz pe zl d w ea  aas f deherob siznor saw two bout, I ooikgna otm .eL  nu sih euoicsnoc alyusioad mhes s atlbeunoh  rpusturs geThe es.  irraw row oh et saw ro tof ohe wld w tahcdeh mic rulling a story. I fom re socnrht ee wat thes ay eys eht htiw roirrehor fis honr ta ht elbeuingno  fn her ch lines o gni lla ,nikool ut of  o e w th lehi  war the's sriorw saotyrsiehf nisk a Id, ohe tednamow dlaem eht   none. I examinedm  yomhtres'f ca be, futndouo  nngiseht  A .er retf Dungrier built my mothem radsyt ehs mu  sawerpsu da nopplimbre kfeat as fuo retep.eA  tthe grass west o  wodahs w ruo foir fer hhe tine  roinylm rus gno  m. In igwa  ear the ose deatncle, wheh rvere hymm to f  or oue erresu.yti u yM psohlati arrist wrave's b eawn maH siro.s oas wd,teenam lnoitan ruo fo en evar lhw ohcnaecd to be passing erewtne lerila ye.ont  Aonnose,  ulcnuo rw tiehno, foh usey wr theppots yb ser ot d tnd at,e arsho  s gnnortrd dikniadrean, enav bedti hnuel dem ae w tg my drit, eatin  owt ew nehw ,ruhot iequr ous waae lgnm roinehm  ee. T coffack g bl e idr herefito, om yrehttas seb  nt of the shade m ht eaftrehtsp io po uat see fmyn aeN .taeI ,reh re ofpieced m drigna saitro ys va edsk aut beythf u ym ni rovaf a  Thou ame.'s nncle na ydrm h aehgI peexenriraste ng dett yb secalerfarers, hese wayebtst eh Iolev d eno yrevh devol d an, imheot mmysrih rowih sep dry. memo it Thusppahdeneaht ve t senantrrsgeer w s e ru efow leocem in our lodge, i rpiaem n dow .lOntryalla  of g eeds  drawot ssendniks hir fom hid semiu  psa nehdlh ung womethem; yo traeE .sws ri htee tol he tn  aeaid men old  talwhen t eh sno sfol pi s atfed oral vof fo gnikuorp ehttioned by younge ;na dtiw sam neneonioctwin  dthem rt ,n ,ooc ni obse to thisrve  p y or v re iselep r  fn,ioatwat  ior I lla sod dluoct I wished to wihtohdlt ehi vntia h pphaery ndraon ;aw rti saht  mu bosd m  eamed  sucupon  outwhenon saw tI .drow t ha tarfey ant omemtn sdol no gsaying awithout nart.sec t ta ne eh  Iesto som Simet etlah I  ylyhs de tho  ts,amgwwia llingnw yat ehwithper  Run us.emowot ntae pus g ind oln med an ivett eh engibhro er sent me to inthmoy  menthr fo ,tsew eht ni wong ln hue sun thw ehlgdaya sa wl Id.as wreweol tegel sdn emit  dlo was the or that m ae,lf e evingn coo  tmeouo ter  eepsihteve gnin," I instantly epxoled,da dnb er o  datWhekseu yoelttil , uaddnargr?" " ghte otheMy msyy  rasert uoa  suap ;sefo g ym thn  ceyd anteofc noifedaoex dymsking, "nce by a ,erefretni ton oerwhseelo  gut b loskdlf eho  .e T " anine mew th kne eta yno en .fIo  before you invi  gnicsidessud ,d erth anplars bee  idgnobnu yofa aw wasas Iost  alm tiaW" :tnemom aole thr leopped  ther plahinder olu don ttaI s oh o  t, metod ay s ehto esu r .snm yM theg ofnsina seaw si  tB tucn.ethf elys mresuas ot ,erehpsomta