Recovering Native American Writings in the Boarding School Press

by Jacqueline Emery

  While the maiden was gone the opossum planned a way to deceive her and thus get a drink; so when he saw her coming he lay down in the path and acted as if he were dead.

  The maiden kicked him to one side as she passed him and went on. But when she was out of sight the opossum got up and took another path and so came in ahead of her and repeated the act, only to be kicked aside again, for the maid thought that two opossums did not amount to much as their meat was never eaten and their pelts were too small to make into robes, so she would not bother with them. The opossum did not give up, though his first two trials had been failures. He tried his trick again and this time he succeeded in deceiving her, for she thought that three opossums would be of some use; so she set her pitcher down beside him and went to search for the other opossums. While she was gone the opossum dipped his paws into the pitcher, and to his surprise he found that it contained syrup, and that he could not quench his thirst with it, so he started off very discouraged. When he walked off he stepped into some dried leaves, and the syrup caused them to stick to his feet, so he had another idea which would enable him to deceive the panther at the pool. The opossum went back and upset the pitcher and the syrup ran out, and he rolled in it until he was covered with it; then he went and rolled in the dried leaves until he was covered with them; then he headed for the pool and on his arrival he found the panther still waiting.

  When he came up the panther asked who he was, and he told him that he was the porcupine, and that he had fallen from a tree and his quills had pierced the leaves and remained on him; so the panther let him help himself to the water and leave the pool unharmed.

  After the opossum had gained a safe distance, he called to the panther and made known who he was. The panther did not chase him, but remained at his station, for he knew he would have to come again. The panther stayed at the pool until he was almost starved, in hopes of catching the opossum, but Mr. ’Possum never showed up, so the panther was forced to go in search of food.

  While the opossum had a chance to drink water he drank all he could, then filled the pocket on his stomach with water, which would last a long time. The panther did not know that the opossum had a pocket or pouch in which he could carry things, so that was another way in which the opossum fooled the panther.

  After the opossum had fooled the panther three times, the panther disappeared and was not seen for a long time, and then it was rumored that he had died in his den of starvation. All the animals had congregated about his den, but they were afraid to look in. After a few days the opossum came by and saw the other animals there and asked what was the trouble. They told him, so he went to the entrance and looked in and noticed that all seemed to be true; and then the opossum asked the crowd if the panther had kicked and breathed harshly when he died, but they did not know.

  The opossum stated an instance when his grandmother died, how she had breathed and kicked, etc. Upon hearing this, the panther began to kick and groan. The opossum just laughed and said, “Dead panthers never kick or groan.” The panther could not work the opossum’s own tricks on him. The opossum derived his name because of his excellence at “playing ’possum.”19

  Emma La Vatta (Fort Hall Shoshoni)

  Emma La Vatta (born ca. 1890) entered Carlisle in 1905 and graduated in 1911. After graduating she returned to Idaho, where in 1912 she sought a position as matron in the Indian School Service. (Littlefield and Parins, Biobibliography: Supplement, 242; Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center)

  The Story of the Deerskin, 1910

  Once upon a time a family of deer lived near a large river. The family was of the buck, doe, and three fawns. Whenever the doe went in search of food she always left the fawns at home and told them not to let any one in, no matter who came, because not very far from them, across the river, lived an old bear who might devour the young fawns. As the mother had said, the bear came and tried to get in, but they kept so still he went away thinking no one was at home.

  Finally, one day he watched the doe go away and noticed the fawns were not with her, so as soon as she was out of sight the bear went over and pawed until he broke in and killed the three fawns. He then left.

  When the doe returned and found her children dead she knew it was the bear’s mischief and started to go to the bear’s cave where she might kill him, but when she came to the river she saw she could not cross. As she stood there meditating what to do, two eagles, knowing her trouble, told her they would carry her across, but when they reached the middle of the river they dropped her and she was drowned. While all this was happening the buck was on the other side of the mountain and when he reached home he found the fawns dead and the doe gone, so he buried the fawns and went to find the doe. On reaching the river the same eagles offered to assist him who had attempted to carry the doe across. This time they succeeded. When they reached the other side he found a large gathering of animals and the bear told him to stay inside of the cave and not to look out because they were going to have a war and he might be killed if he did not obey. When the war began, however, it was too much of a temptation, so he went out and was killed. The bear took the skin and stretched it over his door, so no one could look out when inside.

  Usually you will find a deerskin stretched over the door of an Indian’s wigwam.20

  Why the Snake’s Head Became Flat, 1911

  Once upon a time there were two little boys who lived out on the western plains. Their names were Bow and Arrow. They were nearly the same size and enjoyed similar games and sports. They lived most of the time in the mountains where the game was plentiful and the streams full of trout. They naturally became skillful hunters and fishers. While they were away from home they depended upon whatever they could find, such as berries and roots, for food. The game they always took home for a great feast, which was spread in honor of their success. One day while they were out hunting they became hungry and there were no signs of vegetation near, so they thought probably if they went on the other side of the mountain they would find some berries, as they saw a great deal of shrubbery and trees. In order to make their way shorter they climbed around the mountain and found all the ripe berries they wanted; but while they were busily eating they heard a loud noise, and looking up the mountain side they saw a large stone which had broken loose from another rock rolling down the mountain side in their direction. They had moved out of the way and were standing on some rocks watching it when a large snake crept out from under the bushes, and the stone rolled over its head; and that is why the snake’s head is flat.21

  J. William Ettawageshik (Ottawa)

  See the Essays section for a profile of J. William Ettawageshik (ca. 1889–1942).

  The Maple Sugar Sand, 1911

  It is more than a century ago since the territory about the Great Lakes was settled by the white people. Some times the Indians and the whites were on friendly terms and at other times they had trouble.

  One day a white boy who lived some distance from an Indian village came to the camp of the Indians where he was kept as a prisoner. This was at a time when the Indians and whites were having trouble.

  Every evening, about sunset, the Indians gave their prisoner some maple sugar, of which he was very fond. One day he was caught stealing some maple sugar, but the Indians did not reprove him for this act, but determined to punish him in an unusual way.

  One of the Indians brought some sand to the camp from the lake shore. The sand along the lake shore resembles very closely pulverized maple sugar.

  In the evening when it was time to give the prisoner his sugar, one of the Indians went to the sandpile and took a handful of sand; in the other hand he had sugar. On reaching the boy he gave him the sugar and kept the sand in his hand. After watching the boy devour the sugar, all the Indians with the exception of one went into their different wigwams to retire for the night.

  After everything was quiet the boy thought he would help himself to the sugar, so he took a good handful of the sand, which so closely resembled sugar th
at he did not notice the difference, and put it into his mouth. He was badly fooled and had some difficulty in getting the sand out of his teeth. The Indian who was placed as a sentinel awoke the others to enjoy the joke which had been perpetrated on the boy who was so fond of maple sugar. Needless to say, he never again stole maple sugar from the Indians.22

  Caleb Carter (Nez Percé)

  See the Essays section for a profile of Caleb Carter (born 1888).

  The Coyote and the Wind, 1913

  The coyote, once upon a time, made himself a dwelling place out of tall bunch grass. It was in late fall, and the wind would always blow it apart. This made the coyote very angry, so one day he devised a snare in which to trap the offender. As he was fixing up the snare he thought to himself, “I will fix him!”

  The next morning he set out to see if he had caught the wind. Upon arriving he beheld a man with big ears and of great stature. “Well,” he said, “so you are the person that has been tearing my wigwam up, eh?” With that he pulled his ears right and left, kicked him on the nose, and slapped him till he had him begging for mercy.

  The coyote then made him promise that he would never blow such cold, stormy winds again. But the coyote doubted his word, and again he had him begging. When the coyote would get tired, he rested. All this time the wind was making all kinds of promises, so at last the coyote let him go with the understanding that he would kill him on his next offense. So to this day the winds on the west side of the Rockies are warm and known as the “Chinook winds.”23

  The Feast of the Animals, 1913

  Having been brought up by my grandmother, whom I always regarded as my mother until I attained the age of nine or ten years, I used to listen with great interest to some of the legends she related to me. Here is one which tells how some of the wild animals received their present forms and characteristics:

  Long before the human race came to dwell upon this world, there existed a race of beings now known as bears, wolves, etc. They all spoke the same language, and therefore they understood each other. The time had come when all had to assume their present state, so a great feast was prepared. At this feast each had to select his own name, a name by which he would be identified by the human beings, also to choose what his chief prey would be and in what parts of the country he would be found.

  The coyote was always regarded as an announcer and chief. He was the wisest of the race and had power even surpassing the best of the magicians. After everything was ready, the coyote announced in a loud voice that all animals should be seated, and after a brief speech the feast commenced. At this feast their fates were decided. The sucker having no spoon, mistook a stick with fire on the end for a common piece of wood and burnt his lips, so that to this day he is obliged to suck his food. The shiner, another fish, was crowded almost out of the feast and he became flat, as he is to this day. Still another fish, another form of sucker, used a flint for a spoon and cut his lips.

  After the feast all were gathered together. The eagle said his dwelling place would be among the mountains and deer and other wild game his prey. His feathers would supply the warrior’s warbonnet and his name would be Eagle. Bears came in turn. They, too, announced their names and the habits by which they were to be identified. During all this the coyote was jealous, because someone mentioned the very name he wished to choose. So it happened that the names, appearance, and habits of all the animals were changed.

  While various ones were announcing their names, the coyote’s curiosity was aroused by a feathered being, whom he admired very much. Every now and then he would breathe a sigh of relief and stretch out his huge wings and fold them again, and sit back at ease. He, the coyote, wondered what this fellow would choose as a mode of living. After every one except this feathered being and the coyote had gotten through, the coyote arose and told the people that his occupation would be to look for mice as prey, also for various shrubs, berries, and perhaps some eggs and young animals, and his name would be changed from that of “Spielie” to the one by which he is known at home to this day.

  When everybody was about ready to go and take up his abode, this much admired feathered being got up, and said, “After listening to all that each one has had to say, I have decided that my name, hereafter, shall be Buzzard, and I shall look for nothing but the rotten carcasses of various game that my brothers, the eagles and the condors, shall have left.” The coyote jumped up and said, “Here, I have been looking you over and admiring your physical development; you don’t mean to say that you are not going to exercise the same!” With that he slapped him right and left, so that to this day we see the buzzard soaring around and around above a dead horse or cow.

  After this, all departed for their various quarters. The coyote stayed at home while his friends, the foxes, wolves, bears, cougars, and deer, all made for the woods among the mountains. All the fish abandoned their human characteristics and dived into the streams. The mountain goat and the big horn made for the cliffs among the lofty mountains. The lobster was puzzled as to his future location and forgot to leave his limbs behind as he dived into the water.

  This is why the Indians believe that by fasting they can obtain wisdom through these animals from the “mysterious unknown.” They claim they do or rather did understand these various animals even so far as to hold conversation with them; but modern Indians regard that belief as ridiculous, because they never had the experience of the power attained through animals.24

  Part 2

  Writings by Late Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Native American Public Intellectuals

  Francis La Flesche (Omaha)

  Francis La Flesche (1857–1932) was born on the Omaha Reservation in Nebraska. He attended the Presbyterian Mission School on the Omaha Reservation from 1865 until 1869. In the late 1870s he acted as interpreter and informant for ethnologist James Owen Dorsey. He also interpreted for Alice C. Fletcher, who studied the Omaha tribe and with whom he collaborated to collect Omaha and Sioux artifacts for Harvard’s Peabody Museum. He was an ethnologist for the Bureau of American Ethnology from 1910 until his retirement in 1929. In 1911 he joined the Society of American Indians and published The Omaha Tribe, which he co-wrote with Fletcher. La Flesche also studied the Osages, and published some of his findings in The Osage Tribe in the Annual Reports of the Bureau of American Ethnology between 1922 and 1930. In addition to his ethnographic works, he published The Middle Five, an autobiographical account of his experiences at the Presbyterian Mission School in 1900, as well as essays and short stories in boarding school newspapers. (Littlefield and Parins, Biobibliography: Supplement, 240; Peyer, American Indian Nonfiction, 292–93; Peyer, Singing Spirit, 67–68)

  Address to Carlisle Students, 1886

  The Indian problem, as it is generally called, can never be fully solved by the white people. Its solution rests mainly with the Indians themselves. The law that governs individuals is applicable to nations. Man’s salvation is an individual responsibility for which he alone is answerable, and the salvation of a nation depends on its own life struggles and not upon outside influences, however strong they may be.

  The Indians can no longer support themselves by hunting. The white man has driven the game where no Indian can follow. The annual supplies of food and clothing furnished the Indians by the government, mainly in pay for the purchase of lands, are fast becoming exhausted, and many of the Indian tribes have not enough lands remaining to exchange for further annuities. They cannot expect to live always at the expense of the government, neither can they depend on the charity of the white people who have their own poor to take care of, besides, there must ever be an end to charity, however deserving the object or however philanthropic the benefactors. The time is coming when all the support this government is giving the Indians will cease and when they will be expected to take care of themselves whether they desire to do so or not.

  Prior to the advent of the white man upon this continent, and until this country was covered by his settlements, the Indian men
and women were not idlers or dependents; they labored for their food and clothing and supported their families honestly, but their life was one of hardship, mingled with much of savagery. It was a life unfitted for advancement in thought, in industries, and in all that goes to make up civilized living. No better way lay before our forefathers, and we must not blame them but a better way lies before us, and we should be justly blamed by God and by man, did we not advance toward the higher life opened to us and try to help forward in that life the weaker ones of our race.

  Upon us, therefore, who have received some education, devolves the duty of thoughtfully considering our problem and of helping in its solution.

  In view of the fact that the past conditions which surrounded the Indian, and helped to make him what he was, are gone, it is clear, that if the Indian is to live, he must take his place among civilized men. To reach that end it is necessary that he have, first, education; second, training in industries; third, he must rise to the fullness of his manhood by claiming for himself the rights of citizenship.

  What are the means open to use for an education? They are many, my friends, and let us never forget that we owe this to the Christian men and women who have labored long in our behalf, under circumstances full of privations and frequently in peril, and through whose influence the government has been induced to deal generously toward us in this respect. It is true that the Indians have been slow to appreciate the fact that it requires time and study to obtain a good education, but now, we see it, and it becomes the duty of us who have learned to explain to our parents and friends at home that it takes time to secure an education and to master a trade, so that they may not be disappointed when we decide to stay for a term of years where we can receive the thorough training we need. The doors of the schools, established on the reservations and in some of the eastern states by the churches and the government, are open to us and we must avail ourselves of the opportunities that are thus offered us for education. We must study hard and always bear in mind that time and constant practice make perfect. We must show our willingness to learn and to remain in school until we have mastered the English language which will enable us to make ourselves better understood by the white people who do not yet know our capabilities. We must also try to perfect ourselves in our trades or professions, if we take up any, so that we can have an equal chance with the white people to make a living.