Black Elk Speaks
The Powers of the Bison and the Elk
I think I have told you, but if I have not, you must have understood,
that a man who has a vision is not able to use the power of it until
after he has performed the vision on earth for the people to see.
You remember that my great vision came to me when I was only nine
years old, and you have seen that I was not much good for anything
until after I had performed the horse dance near the mouth of the
Tongue River during my eighteenth summer. And if the great fear
had not come upon me, as it did, and forced me to do my duty, I
might have been less good to the people than some man who had never
dreamed at all, even with the memory of so great a vision in me.
But the fear came, and if I had not obeyed it, I am sure it would
have killed me in a little while.
It was even then only after the heyoka ceremony, in which I performed
my dog vision, that I had the power to practice as a medicine man,
curing sick people; and many I cured with the power that came through
me. Of course it was not I who cured. It was the power from the
outer world, and the visions and ceremonies had only made me like
a hole through which the power could come to the two-leggeds. If
I thought that I was doing it myself, the hole would close up and
no power could come through. Then everything I could do would be
foolish. There were other parts of my great vision that I still
had to perform before I could use the power that was in those parts.
If you think about my great vision again, you will remember how
the red man turned into a bison and rolled, and that the people
found the good red road after that. If you will read again what
is written, you will see how it was.
To use the power of the bison, I had to perform that part of my
vision for the people to see. It was during the summer of my first
cure that this was done. I carried the pipe to Fox Belly, a wise
and good old medicine man, and asked him to help me do this duty.
He was glad to help me, but first I had to tell him how it was in
that part of my vision. I did not tell him all my vision, only that
part. I had never told any one all of it, and even until now nobody
ever heard it all. Even my old friend, Standing Bear, and my son
here have heard it now for the first time when I have told it to
you. Of course there was very much in the vision that even I can
not tell when I try hard, because very much of it was not for words.
But I have told what can be told.
It has made me very sad to do this at last, and I have lain awake
at night worrying and wondering if I was doing right; for I know
I have given away my power when I have given away my vision, and
maybe I cannot live very long now. But I think I have done right
to save the vision in this way, even though I may die sooner because
I did it; for I know the meaning of the vision is wise and beautiful
and good; and you can see that I am only a pitiful old man after
all.
Well, I told Fox Belly all that he needed to know that he might
help me. And when he had heard even so little, he said: "My
boy, you had a great vision, and I can see that it is your duty
to help the people walk the red road in a manner pleasing to the
Powers."
This ceremony was not a long one, but it had great meaning, because
it made a picture of the relation between the people and the bison,
and the power was in the meaning.
First we made a sacred place like a bison wallow at the center
of the nation's hoop, and there we set up the sacred tepee. Inside
this we made the circle of the four quarters. Across the circle
from south to north we painted a red road, and Fox Belly made little
bison tracks all along on both sides of it, meaning that the people
should walk there with the power and endurance of the bison, facing
the great white cleansing wind of the world. Also, he placed at
the north end of the road the cup of water, which is the gift of
the west, so that the people, while leaning against the great wind
with the endurance of bison, would be going toward the water of
life.
I was painted red all over like the man of my vision before he
turned into a bison. I wore bison horns, and on the left horn hung
a piece of the daybreak-star herb, which bears the four-rayed flower
of understanding. On the left side of my body I wore a single eagle
feather, which was for my people, hanging on the side of the bison
and feeding there.
One Side had come over to help me in this ceremony too. He was
painted red all over, and he carried the drum and the pipe, and
wherever I went, he followed, as the people follow the bison.
We stood inside the tepee at the south end of the good red road,
and Fox Belly sang like this:
- "Revealing this, they walk.
- A sacred herb--revealing it, they walk.
- Revealing this, they walk.
- The sacred life of bison--revealing it, they walk.
- Revealing this, they walk.
- A sacred eagle feather--revealing it, they walk.
- Revealing them, they walk.
- The eagle and the bison--like relatives they walk."
Then, after we had walked the red road, One Side and I went out
of the tepee and the people flocked around us, and the sick came
with scarlet offerings to be cured. We went all around among the
people, acting like bison and making the sounds they make. Then
we returned to the tepee, and there the people brought their little
children to us, and to each I gave a little of the water of life
from the wooden cup, that their feet might know the good red road
that leads to health and happiness.
It is from understanding that power comes; and the power in the
ceremony was in understanding what it meant; for nothing can live
well except in a manner that is suited to the way the sacred Power
of the World lives and moves.
After this, I went on curing sick people, and I was busy doing
this. I was in doubt no longer. I felt like a man, and I could feel
the power with me all the time.
It was during the next summer, when I was in my twentieth year
[1883], that I performed the elk ceremony, as a duty to that part
of my great vision. You will remember how the pipe and the bison
were in the east and the elk in the south.
This ceremony of the elk was to represent the source of life and
the mystery of growing.
I sent a pipe to Running Elk, who was Standing Bear's uncle and
a good and wise old man. He came and was willing to help me. We
set up a sacred tepee at the center as before. I had to use six
elks and four virgins. The elks are of the south, but the power
that they represented in my vision is nourished by the four quarters
and from the sky and the earth; so there were six of them. The four
virgins represented the life of the nation's hoop, which has four
quarters; so there were four virgins. Running Elk chose two of the
elks, and I, who stood between the Power of the World and the nation's
hoop, chose the four others, for my duty was to the life of the
hoop on earth. The six elk men wore complete elk hides on their
backs and over their heads. Their limbs were painted black from
the knee and elbow down, and yellow from there up; for the growing
power is rooted in mystery like the night, and reaches lightward.
Seeds sprout in the darkness of the ground before they know the
summer and the day. In the night of the womb the spirit quickens
into flesh. The four virgins wore scarlet dresses, and each had
a single eagle feather in her braided hair; for out of the woman
the people grows, and the eagle feather again was for the people
as in the bison ceremony. The faces of the virgins were painted
yellow, the color of the south, the source of life. One had a daybreak
star in red upon her forehead. One had a crescent moon in blue,
for the power of woman grows with the moon and comes and goes with
it. One had the sun upon her forehead; and around the mouth and
eyebrows of the fourth a big blue circle was painted to mean the
nation's hoop. On the back of each of the elk men was painted the
nation's hoop, for upon the backs of men the nation is carried,
and in the center of each hoop hung a single eagle feather for the
people. They had yellow masks upon their faces, for behind the woman's
power of life is hidden the power of man. They all carried flowering
sticks cut from the sacred rustling tree [the cottonwood] with leaves
left at the top, and the sticks were painted red. The woman is the
life of the flowering tree, but the man must feed and care for it.
One of the virgins also carried the flowering stick, another carried
the pipe which gives peace, a third bore the herb of healing and
the fourth held the sacred hoop; for all these powers together are
women's power.
Of course, before any of this was done, those who were to take
part were purified in the sweat lodge as always.
We were all inside the sacred tepee, and Running Elk sang this
song:
- "Advancing to the quarters,
- Advancing to the quarters,
- They are coming to behold you.
- Advancing to the quarters,
- Advancing to the quarters,
- They are coming to behold you."
Then the elk men all made the elk sound, unh, unh, unh. Running
Elk then sang again:
- "Singing, I send a voice as I walk.
- Singing, I send a voice as I walk.
- A sacred hoop I wear as I walk."
It was time now to come out of the sacred tepee: first came the
virgin with the pipe; next she who bore the flowering stick, then
the one who held the herb; and last, the bearer of the nation's
hoop. The four virgins stood abreast, facing the west. Then we six
elk men came out, snorting and stamping our feet. We stopped abreast,
behind the virgins, who now held up the sacred things they carried,
offering them to the thunder beings. When they had done this, they
walked abreast to the north, while we elk men danced around them
in a circle, and there they offered their sacred objects to the
great white cleansing wind. In the same way we went to the east
and to the south, the virgins making the offering at each place,
and we elk men dancing around them in a circle all the while.
From the south, the four virgins turned straight north, following
the good red road to the center of the village where the sacred
tepee stood, and we elk men followed, dancing around them, for the
power of the man encircles and protects the power of the woman.
The four maidens entered the tepee: first, she with the sacred
hoop; then she who bore the flowering stick; next, the one who held
the cleansing herb; and after her, the bearer of the pipe.
When they had all entered, we elk men followed into the tepee.
This was the ceremony, and as I said before, the power of it was
in the understanding of its meaning; for nothing can live well except
in a manner suited to the way the Power of the World lives and moves
to do its work.
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Native American Legends A-B