Crazy Horse - about Great Spirit

"We did not ask you white men to come here. The Great Spirit gave us this country as a home. You had yours. We did not interfere with you. The Great Spirit gave us plenty of land to live on, and buffalo, deer, antelope and other game. But you have come here, you are taking my land from me, you are killing off our game, so it is hard for us to live.

Now, you tell us to work for a living, but the Great Spirit did not make us to work, but to live by hunting. You white men can work if you want to. We do not interfere with you, and again you say why do you not become civilized? We do not want your civilization! We would live as our fathers did, and their fathers before them."

Crazy Horse - Sioux

Crazy Horse - about white man

I was hostile to the white man...We preferred hunting to a life of idleness on our reservations. At times we did not get enough to eat and we were not allowed to hunt. All we wanted was peace and to be let alone. Soldiers came...in the winter...and destroyed our villages. Then Long Hair (Custer) came...They said we massacred him, but he would have done the same to us. Our first impulse was to escape...but we were so hemmed in we had to fight. After that I lived in peace, but the government would not let me alone. I was not allowed to remain quiet. I was tired of fighting...They tried to confine me... and a soldier ran his bayonet into me. I have spoken.

Crazy Horse - Sioux

Łza Apacza - legenda indiańska

Gdybym miała możliwość, usiadłabym teraz na leśnej trawie, pośrodku świata i pomiędzy światami. Z dala od zgiełku miasta, ulic i ludzi. Siedziałabym sama, ale nie samotna. I czekałabym cierpliwie. Czekałabym na Tych, którzy do mnie dołączą. Wiem, że by do mnie przybyli. W kręgu, wokół ognia, rozsiadłyby się dusze Apaczów, dusze wojowników, którzy zginęli i dusze kobiet, które ich opłakiwały. A ja opowiedziałabym im historię, którą sami stworzyli - o walce, cierpieniu, o płaczu i o tym, co do dziś jest symbolem tamtych zdarzeń. Opowiedziałabym im legendę o Łzach Apacza.

pic (1) The StoryTeller, Howard Terpning

An Indian Prayer, translated by Chief Yellow Lark in 1887

An Indian Prayer

O' GREAT SPIRIT,
Whose voice I hear in the winds,
And whose breath gives life to all the world,
hear me! I am small and weak, I need your
strength and wisdom.

Let Me Walk In Beauty, and make my eyes
ever behold the red and purple sunset.

Make My Hands Respect the things you have
made and my ears sharp to hear your voice.

Make Me Wise so that I may understand the
things you have taught my people.

Let Me Learn the lessons you have hidden
in every leaf and rock.

I Seek Strength, not to be greater than my
brother, but to fight my greatest
enemy...myself.

Make Me Always Ready to come to you with
clean hands and straight eyes.

So When Life Fades, as the fading sunset,
my spirit may come to you
without shame.

(translated by Lakota Sioux Chief Yellow Lark in 1887)

Słowa mądrości - Mohikanin Aupumut

"Kiedy nadchodzi czas, by umrzeć, nie bądź jak ci, których serca są pełne strachu przed śmiercią; bo gdy ich czas nadejdzie, będą płakać i modlić się o odrobinę więcej czasu, by przeżyć swoje życie raz jeszcze w inny sposób.Śpiewaj swoją pieśń śmierci i umieraj jak bohater idący do domu"

wódz Aupumut, Mohikanin

pic (1) Dance Of Life Dance Of Death

Picture: JD Challenger, all rights reserved.

 

Speech about the White Buffalo Calf prophecy

Oryginalny tekst przemówienia jednego ze współczesnych wodzów Lakota Sioux Nation, Chief Arvol Looking Horse. 

pic (1)