Black Elk Speaks by John Neihardt Quotes & Notes University of Nebraska Press C 1932, 1959, 1961, 1972,

1979, 2000, & 2004 IV) "What is good in this book is given back to the six grandfathers and to the great men of my people," Black Elk XV) "The most important aspect of the book, however, is not its effect on the n on-Indian populace who wished to learn something of the beliefs of the Plains Indians but upon the comtemporary g eneration of young Indians.... To them the book has become a North American bible of all tribes." Vine Deloria Jr. "Black Elk shared his visons with john Neihardt because he wished to pass alon g to future generations some of the reality of Oglala life and... to share the burden of visions that remained u nfulfilled with a complete spirit." Vine Deloria JR. XIX) "It was not of worldly matters that he spokemost, but of things that he de emed holy and of the darkness of mens's eyes." Neihardt XXVI) When John Neihardt and Black Elk met, Black elk was wearing a talisman ha nding down from his father. It was a blued leather star with an eagle feather in the middle hanging by a loop t o a buffalo breast strap. Black Elk said, "Here you see the Morning Star. Who sees the Morning Star shall see n o more, for he shall be wise." Touching the eagle feather he said, "This means Wakon Tonka (the Great Mysteriou s One); and it also means that our thoughts should rise high as eagles do." Black Elk handed John Neihardt thi s talisman to put around his neck saying, "My friend, I wish you all these things..." 1) Even though Black Elk was accomplished in such did not consider his life sto ry of "a great hunter or ...a great warrior, or a great traveler." 2) A common substance to be smoked in the peace pipe was red willow. It is said the pipe was first brought by a sacred woman, a woman not to have bad thoughts about. Apparently the sin of impure thoughts was a Native American idea too. 3) She "was young and very beautiful." She could read minds and spoke in a sin

ging voice. Enveloped with her in a cloud Her were the two scouts that found her. She ordered them to have a t epee built in the center of their nation for her. After it was built the people waited. She sang: "With visable breath I am walking. A voice I am sending as I walk. In a sacred manner I am walking. With visable tracks I am walking. In a sacred manner I walk." She breathed out a fragrant white cloud as she sung. She gave their chief "a pipe with a bison calf carved on one side to mean the earth that bears and feeds us, and with twelve eagle feathe rs hanging from the stem to mean the sky and the twelve moons, and these were tied to grass that never breaks." She said it was the means to multiply and "nothing but good shall cme from it. Only the hands of the good sha ll take care of it and the bad shall not even see it." 4) These people considered The Great Spirit as a grandfather to them and the Mo ther Earth was the only mother. Other importaint things they worshiped were thunder beings, four quarters, a Whi te Giant, and the Morning Star. 6) Black Elk "was born in the Moon of the Popping Trees (December)....1863. Hi s father was injured during The Fetterman Flight leaving him with a limp till his death in the year of the battl e of Wounded Knee in 1890. 7) The Natives thought the white man were crazy to act the way they did for the yellow metal. 8) A shaman called Drinks Water saw in vague terms what was to happen to the La kota; the depletion of animals, the encircling, the slaughter, and the new rectangular home to starve in. Red cloud called a major council was Crazy Horse was nineteen "in the Moon of the Changing Seasons (October). This council on Poweder river was a multi-tribal event. 9) "When the bitten moon was delayed (last quarter)" 12) A war game that led to many injuries amoung the young men and boys was "Thr owing-Them-Off-Their-Horses, which is a battle all but the killing." "The Moon When the Cherries Turn Black (August)" was the time of The Wagon Box

Fight" near Fort Philip. 13) Although Standing Bear was Black Elk's elder by four years, they had been f riends since childhood. 14) When he was four during "the Moon When the Ponies Shed (May)" there was pea ce with the white man, such that soldiers packed up and left. "In the Moon of Falling Leaves (November), they m ade a treaty with Red Cloud that said our country would be ours as long as grass should grow and water flow." Th is peace treaty was not kept by the Wasichus (white men). Black Elks real grandfather made him a bow and arrows when he was five. 15) Black Elk was about to shoot a kingbird with this bow when it said, "The cl ouds all over are one-sided." He thought that meant they were looking at him. The kingbird continued, " Liste n! A voice is calling you!" Looking up Black Elk saw two men descending like arrows. They drummed like thun der and sang, "Behold, a sacred voice is calling you; All over the sky a sacred voice is calling." They came fr om the place of the Giant of the north came close and spun to leave in the place of the setting sun in the west. Black Elk didn't share this vision till Neihardt came to visit. 16) The union Pacific Railway was called iron road; and the Little Bighorn River was called the Greasy Grass. 17) Black Elk was sick and swollen when he saw the same men from his vision whe n he was five. Both of them now had a long spear. From the spearheads came lightning. In the vision he was lig ht and healthy. When these men reached the ground they said, "Hurry! Come! Your Grandfathers are calling you!" With that they picked him up and flew up like arrows, but much faster. 18) From afar he could see his parents and was sad at the thought of leaving th em. The men took him "to where white clouds were piled like mountains on a wide blue plain, and in them thunder beings lived and leaped and flashed." Then there was nothing but cloud and the three of them were on "a great white plain with snowy hills and mountains staring; ...and it was all very still but there were whispers."

The men said, "Behold them! Their history you shall know." Black Elk saw "tw elve black horses yonder all abreast with necklaces of bison hoofs, and they were beautiful, but" he was "fri ghtened, because their manes were lightning and there was thunder in the nostrils." A bay horse moved to the north and said, "Behold!" There "were twelve w hite horses all abreast. Their manes were flowing like a blizzard wind and from their noses came a roaring, and all about them white geese soared and circled." The bay horse went "to where the sun shines continually (the east)" and he looked; "and there twelve sorrel horses, with necklaces of elk's teeth, stood abreast with eyes that glimm ered like the day-breakstar and manes of morning light." The bay horse went to "the place where you are always facing (the south) ." Black Elk looked 19) and saw twelve buckskins with horns & manes growing like grass and trees on their head. The bay horse then mentioned a cousil of his Grandfathers that he was to be taken to. 20) 21) 22) 23) 24) 25) 26) 27) 28) 29) 30) 31) 32)

33) 34) 35) 36) 46) 47) The Moon When the Cherries are Ripe or Redis in July. The Good river is th e Cheyenne and the Smoky Earth River is the White River. 49) April contains the Moon of the Red Grass Appearing. 72) The Moon of Making Fat is in June. 79) A Black Wasichu is a Negroid. 100) Before the rubbing out of Long Hair, they stopped at a sacred place with a large rocky bluff by water. 101) The Moon of the Black Calf is September. 104) The Moon of Frost in the Tepee is January. 105) "The Moon of the Dark Red Calf (February)... the Moon of the Snowblind (Ma rch)" 106) The Moon of the Grass Appearing is in April and the Moon When the Ponies S hed is in May. 107) The Moon When the calf Grows hair is September, 136) 138) 139) 140) 141) 142) 143) Black elk heard singing in the dark gulches. In the east were trailing vo ices. Then late at night he fell asleep. He dreamnt of his people around a sacred t epee, unhappy and troubled. Many of them were sick. There began to be streaks of strangely colorful light reachi ng even the sky. He dreamnt of an herb. He sought to memorize the herb. Then he was awakened being told to wa ke because his people needed him.

Black Elk saw that it was dawn. Sadly he prayed. Watching Venus move s lowly, the clouds seemed to smile around it. This made him smile. He fell asleep observing the bustle of the com ing. He was woken hearing, "I have come for you!" Expecting a spirit, he saw friends. Few Tails and others brought the sacred pipe home. They offered the pipe to the Six Powers and went into the sweat lodge to purify. Some old wise men wanted to know what he saw. 144) The pipe was offered and smoked a second time. Black Elk told them The Do g Vision. His people thought it should be performed with heyokas, because they are sacred jesters who do thin gs wrong or backwards. 145) "Only those who have had visions of the thunder beings of the west can act as heyokas." Like thunder comes with terror and leaves pleasantries, such are the Thunder Beings and the Heyoka ceremonies they inspire. Heyokas are sort of backwards. People are made happy to make the Thunder Beings presenc e easier. Wachpanne (Poor) took the lead of this ceremony for Black Elk. 146) The people gathered "in a circle on the flat near Pine Ridge, and in the c enter, near a sacred tepee... he placed a pot of water which was made to boil by dropping hot stones from a fire into it. First he" made an offering of sweet grass saying; "To the Great Spirits day, to the day grown old and wise, I will make an offering." Amoung the grassy smoke Wachpanne sung: "This I burn as an offering. b ehold it! A sacred praise I am making. A sacred praise I am making. My nation, behold it in kindness! The da y of the sun has been my strength. The path of the moon shall be my robe. A sacred praise I am making. A sacred p raise I am making." A rawhide rope was held in the smoke to sanctify it. Then they broke a dogs neck with it leaving no scars. They butchered it leaving the head, spine, and tail together. They offe red this to the six powers; west, north, east, south, above, and below. 147) Swinging the dog thrice then head first into the pot Wachpanne said, "In a sacred manner I thus boil this

dog." He repeated this with the dog's heart. "During all of this time, thirty heyokas, one for each day of a moon, we re doing foolish tricks amoung the people to make them feel jolly." One Side and Black Elk were amoung the clo wns. Their bodies were painted red with black lightning and their heads were shaved on the right. The meaning was in that the shaved sides were toward the west. This showed their reverence towards the Thunder Beings. One s ide and Black Elk rode sorrel horses and had black streaks "to represent the two men of the dog vision." "Wachpanne now went into the sacred tepee, where he sang about the heyok as: "These are sacred, These are sacred, They have said, They have said. These are sacred They have said." 148) This was sung once for each of the twelve moon phases. After this One Sid e and Black Elk faced west on their horses and sung: "In a sacred manner they have sent voices. Half the uni verse has sent voices. In a sacred manner they have sent voices to you." The Heyokas did foolish things through this song. Alot of it was water based humor. They faced the pot and charged. Black Elk "had to catch the head upon h is arrow and One Side had to catch the heart." 149) The Heyokas then chased them for the meat, and the people hastened to the pot to get the meat that remained. The sanctified flesh seemed like medicine to them. They were more aware of what gifts they thought the Six Grandfathers put in the world. All this made them happier. 150) "So long as the hoop was unbroken, the people flourished. The flowering tree was the living center of the hoop, and the circle of the four quarters nourished it. The east gave peace and light, the south gave warmth, the west gave rain, and the north with its cold and mighty wind gave strength an d endurance. This knowledeg came to us from the outer world....Everything in the Power of the World does is done in a circle. The sky is round, and I have heard the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power,

whirls. Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as o urs. The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon does the same, and both are round. Even the seasons....the life of man.... our tepees..." 151) "But the Wasichus have put us in these square boxes. Our power is gone and we are dying..." "The Moon of the Shedding Ponies (May) when we had the heyoka ceremony. One day in the Moon of Fatness (June),....I invited One Side to come over and eat with me. I had been thinking about the four-rayed herb that I had now seen twice-the first time in the great vision when I was nine years ol d, and the second time when I was lamenting on the hill. I knew I must have this herb for healing." After the meal Black Elk enlisted One Side to help in his search for it. One Side didn't know it was a dream plant. They then rode off to Grass Creek. They stopped to sit on a high hill. They sung heyoka songs as they sat. 152) "In a sacred manner they are sending voices," was the song. After the s ong Black Elk noticed "crows and magpies, chicken hawks and spotted eagles circling around" an area. He told One Side that must be it. They rode past a dry gulch and to the spot. The birds moved before they got there, and th ere it was. Though he never saw it with his eyes, he knew it. It had a root thicker than a thumb and long as a forearm. "It was flowering in four colors, blue, white, red, and yellow." Before they picked it Black Elk off ered willow bark and prayed "to the herb, and said to it: "Now we shall go forth to the two-leggeds, but only to the weakest ones, and there shall be happy days amoung the weak." They wrapped it in nearby sage and headed home. 153) Cuts-to-Pieces entered in distress as Black Elk ate. His boy was deathl y sick. Black Elk told him to come back with "a pipe with an eagle feather on it" to be on his left. Black El k thought up a ceremony as he waited and prayed for help. One Side came to help. Black Elks mother, father, and standing Bear also were there. Black Elk

"offered the pipe to the Six Powers," then they all smoked from it. He made a rumble with a drum to represe nt thunder bringing green and how power comes to humans. Cuts-to-Pieces's boy was in the Northeastern part of the tepee. They all entered from the south and went clockwise full circle and stopped in the west. 154) This was to represent the sun, getting older, and the second childhood. T he boy looked as skin and bones. An eagle bone whistle was handed to One Side so he could help. A woode n cup of water was before Black Elk. He put red willow bark in the pipe and handed it to Cuts-to-Pieces's daugh ter. She was to represent the virgin of the east. Black Elk Drummed until he felt like he could help the boy. He sent a voice as he drummed: "My Grandfather, Great Spirit, you are the only" 155) "One and to no other can any one send voices. You have made everything, they say, and you have made it good and beautiful. The four quarters and the two roads crossing eachother, you have made. Also you have set a power where the sun goes down. The two-leggeds on earth are in despair. For th em, my Grandfather, I send a voice to you. You have said this to me: The weak shall walk. In vision you hav e taken me to the center of the world and there you have shown me the power to make over. The water in the cup that you have given me, by its power shall the dying live. The herb that you have shown me, through its power shall the feeble walk upright. From where we are always facing (the south), behold, a vigin shall appear, walki ng the good red road, offering the pipe as she walks, and hers also is the power of the flowering tree. from w here the Giant lives (the north), you have given me a sacred, cleansing wind, and where this wind passes the weak shall have strength. You have said this to me. To you and to all your powers and to Mother Earth I send a voi ce for help." This was his first healing so he felt like he needed to call on every po wer he could think of, now he knows "only one power would have been enough." Black Elk went from the West to the north, east, and stopped in the sout

h. The Good Red Road starts there. He continued to sing saying, "In a sacred manner I have made them walk. A sacred nation lies low. In a sacred manner I have made them walk. A sacred two-legged, he lies low. In a sa cred manner, he shall walk."

156) While Black Elk sung he went into a trance and got tearful. He lit the pi pe of the west offering to the powers, took a whiff and passed it around. Black Elk looked at the boy knowing the power was growing. The boy smiled. Black Elk drank from the cup and went near the boy to stomp on "the eart h 4 times. Then, putting my mouth to the pit of his stomach, drew through him the cleansing wind of the nort h. I next chewwed some of the herb and put it in the water, afterward blowing some of it on the boy and to th e four quarters. The cup with the rest of the water i gave to the virgin, who gave it to the sick little boy t o drink. The I told the virgin to help the boy stand up and to walk around the circle with him, beginging at th e south, the source of life." This was done and the very next day Cuts-to-Pieces said his boy felt bet ter. In four days he was well. Black Elk got a gift horse for the healing, despite not asking for anything. He became known for this ability and the people kept him busy. The Boy lived to thirty. "This was in the summer of my nineteenth year (1882), in the Moon of Mak ing Fat." 159) "First we made a sacred place like a bison wallow at the center of the nat ion's hoop, and there we set up the sacred tepee. Inside...the circle if the four quarters. Across the circle from north to south 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 white cleansing wind of the world. Also he placed at the north end of the road a cup of water, which is a gift of the west, so that t he people, while leaning against the great wind...would be going towards the water of life."

Black Elk was painted red like a man who turned into a bison in his visi on. He wore bison horns, "a piece of the daybreak-star herb, on the left a single eagle feather." One Side played the drum and held the pipe. He was red too. Fox belly sung: "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 this they walk. The eagle and the bison-like relative s they walk." 160) After walking the red road, people gathered around with red offerings for healings while imitating bisons. Then the children were each given "a little of the water of life from the wooden cup." "It is from understanding that power comes; and the power in the ceremon y was in understanding what it meant; for nothing can live well except in a manner that is suited to the way the sacre d Power of the World lives and moves." In 1883, Black Elk performed the elk ceremony, in honor of his great vis ion. "The pipe and the bison were in the east and the elk in the south." "The ceremony of the elk was to represent the source of life and the mys tery of growing." Running Elk, the uncle of Standing Bear helped. There was a tepee in a circle, six elks in the south, and a virgin in each of the four quarters. Black Elk said, "The elks are of the south, but the power ...they repres ented in my vision is nourished by the four quarters and from the sky and the earth.... The four virgins represented th e life of the nation's hoop." 161) The elk-men were dressed in whole elk skins and had blackened limbs "from the knee and elbow down and yellow from there up; for growing power is rooted in mystery like the night, and reached lig htward." "The virgins wore scarlet dresses, and each had a single feather in her braided hair; for out of the women the people grows, and the eagle feather again was for the people as in the bison cer emony. The faces of the virgins were

painted yellow, the color of the south, the source of life. One had a cresent m oon in blue, for the power of woman grows with the moon and comes and goes with it. One had a daybreak star in red upon h er forhead; 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 behin d the woman's power of life is hidden the power of man. They all carried flowering sticks cut from the sacred rustling tr ee (the cottonwood) with leaves left at the top, and the sticks were painted red. The woman is the life of the flowering tr ee, but the man must feed and care for it. One of the virgins also carried the flowering stick, another carried the pipe wh ich gives peace, a third bore the herb of healing and the fourth held the sacred hoop; for all these powers are women's po wers. 162) Running Elk sung: "Advancing to the quarters, Advancing to the quarters, They are coming to behold you. Advancing to the quarters, Advancing to the quarters, They are comming to behold you." "Then the elk men all made the elk sound, unh, unh, unh. Runing Elk the n 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." Then they left the sacred tepee. The virgins aproached side by side in order, offering their sacred objects to the thunder beings. They walked into the north; where they offered t here objects to the wind; while they were encircled by singing and dancing elk men. They went to the east and t he south reoffering their objects. From the south, they followed the road to the center. 163) The virgins entered the tepee, then the elk men followed.

165) Black Elk could rember the old ways but that was changing. He thought if he "could "see the great world of the Wasichu," that he could learn "how to bring the sacred hoop together and mak e the tree to bloom again at the center of it." 166) Black Elk traveled to Omaha, Chicago, and New York City to perform ceremon

ial dance for the white men. 169) They went to London and performed for Queen Victoria. 171) Queen Victoria was so nice that Black Elk though things might have been di fferent if they lived in that land. 172) The show moved to Manchester and after several months, they joined a show in London. This show payed very well. A white girl who saw "Mexican Joe" repeatedly liked Black Elk and took hi m to meet her parents who liked him too. The show went to Paris, and then to Germany. 173) They show returned to Paris, but Black Elk was too sick to to perform. Th e white girl brought him home again and her parents got him well. While sick he dreamed he was on a cloud that moved up and out very fast. From above the homes, towns, and all was flat. By the time he started to go over the atlantic Ocean he lost all fear. 174) After crossing the Atlantic he started to recognize below him, he was home again. He "saw the Missouri River. Then... the Black hilla and the Center of the world where the spirits ha d taken" him in the great vision. 175) Black Elk finally returned home in 1889. 176) The Good River is now called the Cheyenne. 184) Black Elk dressed in a "sacred manner" in preparation of the dance. He sa t under a tree that never bloomed and prayed, and wept. Then he felt a power and a shiver. Good Thunder and kick ing Bear grabbed him, the dance began. 185) They sung: "Who do you think he is that comes? It is the one who seeks hi s mother!" Dancing he felt as if he levitated. That night Black Elk Dreamed that Wanekia was with his people and the ho ly tree might already be blooming. He dreamt of all good and beauty beauty in a circle of peace. The next day's dance was opened with a prayer from Kicking Bear: "Fathe r, Great Spirit, behold these people! They shall go forth to-day to see there relatives, and yonder they shal l be happy, day after day, and

their happiness will not end." They all joined hands and danced. Many laughed. Later one after the ot her fell fell down exausted. "They were having visions." Black Elk now danced with his eyes shut. 186) His legs felt strange as they lifted up and stayed there. The feeling spr ead to his heart. Surely he was on the ground now with his arms stretched out. He saw a feather which became a spotted eagle. Black Elk floated forward to a ridge. He thought he was going to hit it, until he was over it. T here was a beautiful land there, with myriads of people in a circle. They were happy and there were times of ple nty. The air was pure and "living light" permeated everywhere. There were numerous fat horses, animals of every kind, "and singing hunters." Black Elk flew over tepees to a green and flowering tree "at the center of the hoop" landing on his feet. Two men in painted holy shirts approached and said it wasn't his time to see hid father, yet. Although, Black Elk was to return to his people with something "to see their loved ones" with. 187) Black Elk returned to his body and he began to tell about this vision. La ter he got to work making the shirts he saw in the vision. "The first shirt for Afraid-of-Hawk and the second for the son of Big Road." He then made the sacred stick from his first vision. It was made red with Wanekia paint . As as result of all this Black Elk "was asked to lead the dance the next morning." He opened facing west praying for his distraught nation. 188) Black Elks feet swung again as he slipped from Kicking bear and Good Thund er's grip. He then landed face down on the ground. He saw the same eagle as before screaching. He saw the sam e ridge as before, but this time it rumbled, and a flame sparked came out of it. He noticed six villages in the same beautiful land. When he landed in the center with the blooming tree he was appraoched by twelve men sayi ng, "Our father, the two-legged chief, you shall see!" A handsome man with arms outstretched was "against the tree." Black Elk

strained to recognize him but couldn't. He was of an unknown people, neither white nor red. He had long and loose hair and "on the left side of his head he wore an eagle feather." He had a good looking body that was painted red. As Black Elk looked he changed into all colors. Speaking like singing this spirit said, " My life is such that all earthly beings and growing things belong to me, Your father, the Great Spirit, has said this. You too must say this." 189) The chief left like the wind. The twelve men spoke again: "Behold them! Your nation's life shall be a s such!" Black Elk noticed how all the people were neither old, nor children. They were all beautiful and youn g of one age. Twelve women said, "Behold them! Their way of life you shall take back to earth." There was then singing in the west, from which he learned a song. One of the men took a red and a white stick and placed them each in the ground saying, "Take these! You shall depend upon them. Make haste!" Black Elk walked til, he was swept up and carried in the air over a rive r that scared him. A dark, angry, and foamy river. The river had people trying to cross it that couldn't. They c alled to him to help but he couldn't. He just kept on flying. The vision faded and people crowded around a sking what he saw. Black Elk taught them through songs, which the elders explained. 190) "The six villages seemed to represent the Six Grandfathers... seen... in t he Flaming Rainbow Tepee, and I had gone to sixth village which was for the Sixth Grandfather, the Spirit of the Earth, because I was to stand for him in the world. I wondered if Wanekia might be the red man of my great vi sion, who turned into a bison, and then turned into the four-rayed herb, the daybreak-star herb of understandin g. I thought the twelve men and twelve women were for the moons of the year." 191) Good Thunder and Kicking Bear had been put in prison for a while by the wh ite man. During an August

"dancing at No Water's Camp on Clay Creek," they were told to stop the dance. "They would not stop, and they said they would fight for their religion if they had to do it." 193) Black Elk said to the Brules: "My relatives, there is a certain thing that we have done. From that... we have had visons.... In those visons we have seen, and also we have heard, tha t our relatives who have gone before us are in the Other World that has been revealed to us, and that we too s hall go there." 194) White River was called Smoky Earth River and Catholic Priests were called Black Robes. 197) On the way to Wounded Knee Black Elk "carried only the sacred bow of the w est" form his great vision. 198) The people at Wounded Knee sung this for encouragement: "A thunder being nation I am, I have said. A thunder being nation I am, I have said. You shall live. You shall live. You shall live. You shall live." 203) In the battle of Wounded Knee 204) Black Elk remembered his vision as soldiers were shooting around him. He could hear them buzz but none hit him. He went over a hill where "Protector" said it wasn't his time yet. 205) "the Moon of Frost in the Tepee (January)" 206) At Pine Ridge it became exceedingly difficult for Red Cloud's people and t hey started to end the war. 207) Black Elk said, "The nation's hoop is broken and scattered. There is no c enter any longer, and the sacred tree is dead." 208) Harney Peak was "the hoop of the world" for Black Elk, but there were "all the good things in sacred hoop of the world." 210) The last prayer known by Neihardt of Black Elk was to the "Six Powers." 220) A Native American medicine man was to be sacred in breath, walk, and track s. 221) Lakota words in black Elk Speaks found in Appendix 3 "aguyapi: 'bread' (caused to brown).... Black Feet: Sihasapa (one of the seven Lakota tribes)

Blue Clouds: Mahpiyatho 'Arapaho Indians' Brules: Sichagu 'Burned Thighs' (one of the seven Lakota tribes) chacun sha sha: chasasa 'kinnikinick' (the inner bark of red willow, used as an additive to tobacco for smoking) chahumpi ska: Chahapiska 'suger' (literally, 'white tree sap') Hatchetu aloh!: Hechatu yelo 'So it is!' Hey-hey!: He He! 'Look here!' (an interjection, used in prayer and ritual to cal l the attention of spirit beings) heyoka: heyokha 'contrary; sacred clown' Hoka-hey!: Hokhahe 'Onward!' (a rallying cry, used to encourage others, as in ba ttle)" 222) "Hunkpapa: Hukpapha 'Head of the Camp Circle' (one of the seven lakota tri bes) Hya-a-a-a!: Hiye! 'Thanks!' (an exclamation, used ritually) Inkpaduta: ikpaduta 'Red Tip' (name of a santee Dakota chief) Lakota: Lakhota 'Teton Sioux' (the western division of the Sioux) Minneconjou: Mnikhowozu 'Planters by Water' (one of he seven Lakota tribes) O-ona-gazhee: onazica, onakizi 'refuge' (called 'The Stronghold' in English; Cun y table, in the badlands north of Pine Ridge, where the Ghost Dancers took refuge after the Wounded Knee Massac re) Ogalala: oglala 'Scatter One's Own' (one of the seven Lakota tribes) paezhuta sapa: Phezuta sapa 'coffee' (litterally, 'black medicine') Pahuska: Phehihaska 'Long Hair' (a personal name used both for Maj. Gen. George A. Custer and for William [Buffalo Bill] Cody) papa: papa 'dried meat' Red Cloud's Agency, red Cloud Agency: Red Cloud agency, later renamed Pine Ridge Agency, home of the Oglala; also called owakpamni 'Indian Agency' (literally, place of distribution'; Neihar dt called it 'the Place Where Everything is Disputed') Sans Arcs: Itazipcho 'Without Bows' (one of the seven Lakota tribes) sheo: siyo 'prairie chicken' Shyela: Sahiyela 'Cheyenne Indians'

Two Kettles: Oohenupa 'Two Boilings' (one of the seven Lakota tribes) Un-hee!: Huhe! (an interjection expressing suprise) Wachpanne: Wahhpanica 'poor' (apersonal name) waga chun: Wagacha 'cottonwood' Wakon Tonka: Wakha Thaka 'Great Spirit, God" 223) "Wanekia: Wanikhia 'Savior' (literally, 'One Who Makes Live', a personal na me used for Wovoka and for Jesus) Wasichu: wasicu 'white people'; also, 'something holy, incomprehensible' Watanye: Wataye 'Bait' (a personal name) wichasha wakon: wichasa wakha 'holy man' Yanktonais: Ihakthuwana 'Little End Village' (one of the three divisions of the Sioux) Ye-a-a!: Hiya! 'No!' Yuhoo!: Yuhu! (an interjection, apparently expressing triumph)" 232) John G. Neihardt spoke of otherness in a modern style. 233) Hilda Neighardt said otherness is "an unseen reality of which the observab le world is only a shadow." The shadow was a repeated them in John Neihardt's poems. 234) Neihardt's fever dream at eleven years of age was similar to the dreams Si oux boys had at ten years of age. This quite likely was a factor in his wanting to meet with Black Elk. 245) When John G. Neihardt met Black Elk, Black Elk wasn't living like a medici ne man. Black Elk was a known leader in the reservation's Catholic Church. 250) Black Elk seemed sad at times to be handing over "his great vision." Blac k Elk's teachings were however, not limited to his own experiances. He spoke the legends of old. He taught that, "The Grea t Spirit made the Two-Legged to live like the relatives with the Four-Legged and the Wings of the Air and all things that live and are green. But the white man has put us in a little island and in other islands he has put the four-legges beings ; and steadily the islands grow smaller; for around them surges the hungry flod of the Wasichu (white men) and it is dirt y with lies and greed." 252) In John G. Neihardt's fever dream when he was eleven, he left his body and

"flew through space at dizzying speeds." 253) Black Elk's performance in ceremonial dance "had taken his vision to his p eople." Performing abroad took this vision to the world. The vision grew and meeting with Neihardt seemed to Black Elk and opportunity to make this vision presentable in new ways. 259) Black Elk had given John G. Neihrdt a Venus talisman he had used for a long time when he officiated in sun dances. Black Elk said, "The morning star signified the desire for and the certainty of more light to those who desire, ..the eagle feather signified high thinking and feeling, as the eagle flies high, and that t he buffalo hair signified plenty of that which is needed by men in this world." Black Elk knew no English, but Flying Hawk was fluent, so he translated well. 262) The natives used as much of the animals they killed as possible, even bone s and hooves. 263) Black Elk's great vision came to him when he was a nine year old boy in a twelve day coma.