Pine Ridge Warrior

On that summer day in seventy-five

Two FBI and a young Indian boy died

They came with their Agents, Marshals,

and Goons For a pair of stolen boots,

what a bunch of buffoons

Four were accused, two were acquitted

A third was set free all charges omitted

To the Fourth the Bureau directed its' concerns

And Leonard was convicted of two life terms

A hand-picked judge the FBI favored

Convicted our Brother to a life of hard labor

The jurors were scared with a fictitious AIM sniper

Their verdict was swift like the strike of a viper

There will be no new trial said the Court of Appeal

For one of the judges was the bureau's next wheel

Executive clemency petitions unanswered to date

In the hands of Bureaucracy awaiting his fate

Raise up your voices together as one

Set free our Brother this must be done

Justice is blind it's often been said

It's not always just if your color is Red

Written & Told by: Tankasila

::::::Old Man Above And The Grizzlies:::::::

:::::::::::Shasta Literature:::::::::

 A LONG time ago, while smoke still curled from

the smoke hole of the teepee, a great storm

arose. The storm shook the teepee. Wind blew

the smoke down the smoke hole. Old Man

Above said to Little Daughter: "Climb up to the

smoke hole. Tell Wind to be quiet. Stick your

arm out of the smoke hole before you tell him."

 Little Daughter climbed up to the smoke hole

and put out her arm. But Little Daughter put out

her head also. She wanted to see the world.

Little Daughter wanted to see the rivers and

trees, and the white foam on the Bitter Waters.

Wind caught Little Daughter by the hair. Wind

pulled her out of the smoke hole and blew her

down the mountain. Wind blew Little Daughter

over the smooth ice and the great forests, down

to the land of the Grizzlies. Wind tangled her

hair and then left her cold and shivering near the

teepees of the Grizzlies.

 Soon Grizzly came home. In those days Grizzly

walked on two feet, and carried a big stick.

Grizzly could talk as people do. Grizzly laid

down the young elk he had killed and picked up

Little Daughter. He took Little Daughter to his

teepee. Then Mother Grizzly warmed her by the

fire. Mother Grizzly gave her food to eat. Soon

Little Daughter married the son of Grizzly. Their

children were not Grizzlies. They were men.

So the Grizzlies built a teepee for Little Daughter

and her children. White men call the teepee

Little Shasta.

 At last Mother Grizzly sent a son to Old Man

Above. Mother Grizzly knew that Little Daughter

was the child of Old Man Above, but she was

afraid. She said: "Tell Old Man Above that

Little Daughter is alive."

 Old Man Above climbed out of the smoke hole.

He ran down the mountain side to the land of the

Grizzlies. Old Man Above ran very quickly.

Wherever he set his foot the snow melted. The

snow melted very quickly and made streams of

water. Now Grizzlies stood in line to welcome

Old Man Above. They stood on two feet and

carried clubs. Then Old Man Above saw his

daughter and her children. He saw the new race

of men.

 Then Old Man Above became very angry. He

said to Grizzlies: "Never speak again. Be silent.

Neither shall ye stand upright. You shall use

your hands as feet. You shall look downward."

 Then Old Man Above put out the fire in the teepee.

Smoke no longer curls from the smoke hole.

He fastened the door of the teepee. The new race

of men he drove out. Then Old Man Above took

Little Daughter back to his teepee.

 That is why grizzlies walk on four feet and look

downward. Only when fighting they stand on two

feet and use their fists like men.

The End..............

Told by: LtL ANT

THE WARRIOR WOMAN

(Oneida People)

Long ago, in the days before the white man came to

this continent, the Oneida people were beset by their

old enemies, the Mingoes. The invaders attacked the

Oneida villages, stormed their palisades, set fire to

their long-houses, laid waste to the land, destroyed

the cornfields, killed men and boys, and abducted

the women and girls. There was no resisting the

Mingoes, because their numbers were like grains

of sand, like pebbles on a lake shore.

 The villages of the Oneida lay deserted, their fields

untended, the ruins of their homes blackened. The men

had taken the women, the old people, the young boys

and girls into the deep forests, hiding them in secret

places among rocks, in caves, and on desolate

mountains. The Mingoes searched for victims, but

could not find them. The Great Spirit himself helped

the people to hide and shielded their places of refuge

from the eyes of their enemies.

 Thus the Oneida people were safe in their inaccessible

retreats, but they were also starving. Whatever food

they had been able to save was soon eaten up. They

could either stay in their hideouts and starve, or leave

them in search of food and be discovered by their

enemies. The warrior chiefs and sachems met in

councils, but they could find not other way out.

Then a young girl stepped forward in the council and

said that the good spirits had sent a dream showing

her how to save the Oneida. Her name was Aliquipiso

and she was not afraid to give her life for her people.

 Aliquipiso told the council: "We are hiding on top of a

high, sheer cliff. Above us the mountain is covered with

boulders and heavy sharp rocks. You warriors wait

and watch here. I will go to the Mingoes and lead them

to the spot at the foot of the cliff where they all can be

crushed and destroyed.

 The chiefs, sachems, and warriors listened with wonder

to the girl. The oldest of the sachems honored her,

putting around her neck strands of white and purple

wampum. "The Great Spirit has blessed you, Aliquipiso,

with courage and wisdom," he said. "We, your people,

will always remember you."

 During the night the girl went down from the heights

into the forest below by way of a secret path. In the

morning, Mingoe scouts found her wandering through

the woods as if lost. They took her to the burned and

abandoned village where she had once lived, for this

was now their camp. They brought her before their

warrior chief. "Show us the way to the place where

your people are hiding," he commanded. "If you do t

his, we shall adopt you into our tribe. Then you will

belong to the victors. If you refuse you will be tortured

at the stake."

 "I will not show you the way," answered Aliquipiso.

The Mingoes tied her to a blackened tree stump and

tortured her with fire, as was their custom. Even the

wild Mingoes were astonished at the courage with which

the girl endured it. At last Aliquipiso pretended to

weaken under the pain. "Don't hurt me any more," she

cried, "I'll show you the way !"

As night came again, the Mingoes bound Aliquipiso's

hands behind her back and pushed her ahead of them.

"Don't try to betray us," they warned. "At any sign of

betrayal, we'll kill you." Flanked by two warriors with

weapons poised, Aliquipiso led the way. Soundlessly

the mass of Mingoe warriors crept behind her through

thickets and rough places, over winding paths and deer

trails, until at last they arrived beneath the towering

cliff of sheer granite. "Come closer, Mingoe warriors,"

she said in a low voice, "Gather around me. The

Oneida above are sleeping, thinking themselves safe.

I'll show you the secret passage that leads upward."

The Mingoes crowded together in a dense mass with

the girl in the center. Then Aliquipiso uttered a

piercing cry: "Oneidas! The enemies are here!

Destroy them!"

 The Mingoes scarcely had time to strike her down

before huge boulders and rocks rained upon them.

There was no escape; it seemed as if the angry

mountain itself were falling on them, crushing them,

burying them. So many Mingoe warriors died there

that the other bands of Mingoe invaders stopped

pillaging the Oneida country and retired to their own

hunting grounds. They never again made war on

Aliquipiso's people.

 The story of the girl's courage and self-sacrifice was

told and retold wherever Oneidas sat around their

campfires, and will be handed down from grandparent

to grandchild as long as there are Oneidas on this

earth.

 The Great Mystery changed Aliquipiso's hair into

woodbine, which the Oneidas call "running hairs" and

which is a good medicine. From her body sprang

honeysuckle, which to this day is know among her

people as the "blood of brave women."

the end

Told by: Mersk2

Story Circle

I gazed into the fires on many summer nights

Embers jumping skyward like a thousand tiny lights

Smoke is curling upward like a growing living thing

The Moon is being serenaded, crickets begin to sing

 My thoughts begin to wander turning to the past

Time is of the essence, it always moves to fast

A vision of long ago drifts out of the smoke

Piece of time, a history line the spirits did evoke

 Warrior telling of the hunt, children's smiling faces

Pantomiming, emphasizing going through his paces

An Elder tells a story how a Brave begot his name

He'd lead the entire Nation was to be his fame

 The vision starts to fade, and the flames begin to die

Somewhere out in the night a Whippoorwill begins to cry

Heap more logs on the fire, children sit upon the ground

Stories I will tell you as the circle comes full round

 As long as there are children our stories will be told

The creation of Turtle Island and other tales of old

If our stories aren't told then the truth it will surly

die Children will never know the beauty of days gone bye

Aho

old by: Tankasila

Whispers of the Soul

The gentle breeze touches my soul as a new day dawns

And through this sacred breeze, my spirit is drawn

As my soul prepares to take flight

And the stories told in the reflecting light

  For I am the Moon and you are the Stars

And I am the trees that watch from afar

The towering mystic mountains hollow

Whispers to my soul and I will follow

 My heart is free to soar with the eagle

In the Creator's Light it is truly regal

For all these centuries we have survived

And now the time of reckoning has arrived

 As the eagle screams his majestic song

The Great Mystery's Love is always strong

And watch over the beauty of the land

For our hour of triumph is close at hand

Aho

Told by: Tankasila

Legacy Lost

 My heart wanders across the land

Tattered tipis where a village used to stand

An arrowhead lays chipped and worn in the sun

Now only spirits can tell you what was done

 History is not always correct or the same

Cowboys and Indians is not just a game

Were they victims of the westward expansion

A way and a means for the Man in the Mansion

 They couldn't understand concepts not to sell

Land the Creator gave us always to dwell

So congress passed laws, wrote treaties with flaws

Said you'll have to move, read the last clause

 Congress created the Bureau of Indian Affairs

Told us they would manage our wants and our cares

They divided our families, sent children off to school

This is your legacy under a bureaucratic rule

 Cut off their hair and took their native tongues too

Took away our religion, the Ghost Dance is through

Our battles are different, but the enemies the same

From out of the East have they always came

Aho

Told by: Tankasila

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Land of the Free

  Father Sun shimmered on the ancestral lands

Our forefathers foraged as nomadic bands

They followed the game with the changing of seasons

With tradition and customs as their only reasons

 Land of the Free had a different meaning in their day

Long before the Pilgrims came here to stay

They were as little children born without rifts

Hadn't been warned about strangers bearing gifts

 We're just passing through, no need to bother

Just laying some rail, said the Great White Father

The buffalo were fewer and cold winters got longer

Long Knives built forts and their power got stronger

 The Fort Laramie Treaties gave us lands of old

Until the sacred Black Hills revealed glints of gold

Go to the Reservations your needs will be provided

This is your legacy that Congress has decided

 Nations uprising with vengeance and scorn

Crazy Horse met Custer at the Little Big Horn

Trail of Tears, Sand Creek and then Wounded Knee

This is what happened to the Land of the Free

Aho

Told by: Tankasila

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Fly with the Eagles

  I stretch out my arms and fly with the eagles

I hunt with the bear

I run with the deer

I swim with the fish

and yet I still am a man

 I sing with the wind

I plant the soil I watch the flame

I listen to the brook

and yet I still am a man

 When I will rest

My bones will lay on the soil

My flesh will flow with the river

My spirit will fly with the wind

and yet I am still a man

Aho.

Told by: Tankasila