Old age was simply a delightful time, when the old people sat on
the sunny doorsteps, playing in the sun with the children, until
they fall asleep. At last, they failed to wake up.
James Paytiamo - Acoma Pueblo
I remember the old men of my village.
These old, old men used to prophesy about the coming of the white
man. They would go about tapping their canes on the adobe floor
of the house, and call to us children.
"Listen! Listen! The gray-eyed people are coming nearer and
nearer. They are building an iron road. They are coming nearer every
day. There will be a time when you will mix with these people. That
is when the Gray Eyes are going to get you drink hot, black water,
which you will drink whenever you eat. Then your teeth will become
soft."
"They will get you to smoke at a young age, so that your eyes
will run tears on windy days, and your eyesight will be poor. Your
joints will crack when you want to move slowly and softly."
"You will sleep on soft beds and will not like to rise early.
When you begin to wear heavy clothes and sleep under heavy covers,
then you will grow lazy. Then there will be no more singing heard
in the valleys you walk."
"When you begin to eat with iron sticks, your tones will grow
louder. You will speak louder and talk over your parents. You will
grow disobedient, You will mix with those gray-eyed people, and
you will learn their ways; you will break up your homes, and murder
and steal."
Such things have come true, and I have to compare my generation
with the old generation. We are not as good as they were; we are
not as healthy as they were.
How did these old men know what was coming? That is what I would
like to know.
James Paytiamo - Acoma Pueblo
Native American Legends A-B