Black Elk Speaks (43 page)

22
.
sápawi ‘black cherries moon.’

23
.
For White Bull’s eyewitness account of the Wagon Box Fight, see Vestal
, Warpath, 70–83,
and Howard, The Warrior Who Killed Custer, 33-39. A detailed account from the Cheyenne perspective is given in Powell, People of the Sacred Mountain, 2:747–54. Also see Hyde, Red Cloud’s Folk, 159–60
.

24
.
For a biographical sketch of Standing Bear, see Warren
, Buffalo Bill’s America, 390–96.

25
. The army had replaced muzzle-loaders with breech-loading Springfield repeating rifles; the increased firepower allowed this small detachment to fend off the lakota and Cheyenne warriors (see Hebard and Brinin-stool, The Bozeman Trail, 2:39–87). The figures for Indian casualties nary widely. White Bull claimed that only six Indians were killed (Vestal, Warpath, 78). Capt. James W. Powell, who led the troops in the fight, estimated the number of Indians killed at sixty (Utley, Frontier Regulars, 125)
.

26
.
Known on the No Ears winter count as the year when “an old woman was killed by a tree” (Walker
, Lakota Society, 145).

27
.
wi ‘ponies shed moon
.’

28
.
wi ‘Failing leases moon.’

29
.
Chiefs of the Brules and southern Oglalas signed the treaty of 1868 at Fort Laramie in April and May; chiefs of the other Sioux tribes signed at Fort Rice in July. The treaty created the Great Sioux Reservation—essentially that portion of present South Dakota west of the Missouri— although it reserved a large area stretching westward into Wyoming and Montana as unceded territory in which the Sioux could continue to hunt. As promised in the treaty, the army abandoned the posts on the Bozeman Trail in July and August—Forts C. F. Smith, Phil Kearny, and Reno. Red Cloud and other northern Oglala chiefs waited until November to come to Fort Laramie to sign the treaty, finally ending what became known as Red Cloud’s War. See Hyde,
Red Cloud’s Folk
, 164-67; Olson
, Red Cloud and the Sioux Problem, 74-82.
Although Neihardt added the comment, “as long as the grass should group and the water flow,” it does not appear in the stenographic transcript of his interviews with Black Elk. The phrase captures the spirit of many of the treaties, but it does not in fact appear in any treaty with the Sioux. For the treaty and signatures of the leaders, see Kappler
, Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, vol. 2, 998-1007;
the text of the treaty, without the signatures, is also printed in Olson,
Red Cloud and the Sioux Problem
, 341–49
.

30
.
Kingbirds, or flycatchers, (wasnásnaheca) are small birds that aggressively defend their nesting area, attacking larger birds, even crows and Hawks. See Peterson
, A Field Guide to Western Birds, 189.

31
.
Metaphorically, one-sided (wasánica) implies success, such as victory in battle. In this vision, the clouds seem to be promising Black Elk success in the future. The suggestion that the expression means that the clouds were looking at Black Elk does not appear in the stenographic transcript and should probably be attributed to Neihardt
.

32
.
Geese, symbolically, area kíchita ‘messengers; enforcers’ of the power of the North. For discussions of the role of the akíchita, see Wissler, “Societies and Ceremonial Associations of the Oglala Division of the Teton Dakota,” 9–10; Walker, “Sun Dance,” 75–77, Lakota Society
, 28–31.

1
.
‘iron road’ is the Lakota designation for railroad. Neihardt added this paragraph, including the historical context concerning the building of the railroad and the splitting of the buffalo into northern and southern herds (see Rorabacher, The American Buffalo in Transition, 38). The Union Pacific began laying track west of Omaha in 1865; in November 1867 the line reached Cheyenne, Wyoming, and in May 1869 it connected with the Central Pacific line at Promontory Point, Utah (Billington, West ward Expansion, 556–57)
.

2
.
wakpá ‘Greasy Grass River
.’

3
.
The two messengers are geese transformed into men, the akíchita of the North. In his drawings, Standing Bear portrays them as humans with wings on their shoulders, indicating their true identity as birds
.

4
.
In retelling Black Elk’s great vision Neihardt simplified and systematized some details and abridged the account as recorded in the interview transcript. For a summary of these changes and omissions, see
Sixth Grandfather, 93–98.

5
.
Blihéic’iya po! ‘Take courage!’ is a common Lakota expression used in war or when facing difficulty
.

6
.
Four is an important ritual number for the Lakotas, as well as for most North American Indian tribes. See the account by Thomas Tyon, an Oglala, in Walker, “Sun Dance,” 159–60
.

7
.
A tepee formed of storm clouds is a frequent motif in Lakota visions. The rainbow is called
‘trap,’ because it is believed to hold back the rain. This explains its function as the doorway to the cloud tepee
.

8
.
The description “old like hills, like stars,” does not appear in the transcript; the wording is apparently Neihardt’s
.

9
.
The interview transcript shows that the first song was actually sung by the first grandfather, representing the thunder nation of the West, while the second song was sung by the second grandfather, representing the white geese nation of the North
(Sixth Grandfather, 117).

*
The Union Pacific Railway.
¹

†
The Little Bighorn River
²

*
Black Elk thinks this was the Three Forks of the Missouri.

*
The cottonwood.
¹⁷

†
Prairie hen.
¹⁸

*
At this point Black Elk remarked: “I think we are near that place now, and I am afraid something very bad is going to happen all over the world.” He cannot read and knows nothing of world affairs.
²²

*
Blue as well as black may be used to represent the power of the west.

*
Black Elk said the mountain he stood upon in his vision was Harney Peak in the Black Hills. “But anywhere is the center of the world,” he added.

10
.
After death the soul travels south across the sky, following the Milky Way (
‘ghost’s road’) to the land of the dead. Thus, throughout life, one is always “facing south
.”