Before the storm
We will not have the wagons which make a noise (steam engines) in the hunting grounds of the buffalo. If the palefaces come farther into our land , there will be scalps of your brethren in the wigwams of the Cheyennes . I have spoken.(Roman Nose , Cheyenne chief, protesting the white invasion of their soil , during the early expansion period of the Kansas Pacific Railroad , at a council in 1868 , near Fort Ellsworth , Kansas.)
Nosotros no tendremos los vagones que hacen un ruido (motores a vapor) en los territorios de caza del búfalo.Si los rostros pálidos penetran cada vez más lejos en nuestras tierras , habrá cueros cabelludos de vuestros hermanos en las "cabañas" de los Cheyennes . He hablado .
Dos Lunas ,Cheyenne (Two Moons)
I had learned many English words and could recite a part of the Commmandements . I know how to sleep on a bed , pray to Jesus , comb my hair , eat with a knife and fork , and use toilet... I had also learned that a person thinks with his head instead of his heart.
(Sun Chief ,atobiography wrote between 1938-1941,when he was about 50 years old.)
Nube Roja,Ogal
ala(Red Cloud)He aprendido muchas palabras en inglés y podría recitar una parte de los Diez Mandamientos . Sé cómo dormir en una cama , rezar a Jesús , peinarme , comer con cuchillo y tenedor y usar el aseo ... también he aprendido que una persona piensa con su cabeza en vez de con su corazón.
The white men were many and we could not hold our own with them . We were like deer . They were like grizzly bears . We had a small country . Their country was large . We were contented to let the things remain as the Great Spirit made them . They were not , they change the rivers if they did not suit them .
(Chief Joseph,Nez Perce)
Los hombres blancos eran muchos y no podíamos detenerlos . Eramos como ciervos . Ellos eran como osos "grizlis". Teníamos un país pequeño . Su país era grande . Eramos felices dejando las cosas permanecer tal como el Gran Espíritu las hizo . Ellos no , cambiaban los ríos si no les convenían.
Chief Joseph
Before talking of holy things , we prepare ourselves by offerings...one will fill his pipe and hand it to the other who will light and offer it to the sky and earth...they will smoke together...Then will they be ready to talk .
Antes de hablar de cosas sagradas , nos preparamos por medio de ofrendas...uno llenará su pipa y se la pasará al otro quien la encenderá y ofrecerá al cielo y a la tierra...ellos fumarán juntos...Entonces estarán preparados para hablar.
Cuarto de la medicina(medicine lodge)
(Quotes from the book "TOUCH THE EARTH",by T.C.McLuhan,1971.Pictures of Edward S. Curtis made between 1901-1908.)
