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014 - The Warlike Seven · Old Native American Legends

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  Speaker 1: Old Indian Legends by ZiT Kali Shah, section fourteen. This
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  Speaker 1: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
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  Speaker 1: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox dot org. Old Indian Legends section fourteen. The warlike seven.
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  Speaker 1: Once seven people went out to make war the ashes,
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  Speaker 1: the fire, the bladder, the grasshopper, the dragon fly, the fish,
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  Speaker 1: and the turtle. As they were talking excitedly, waving their
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  Speaker 1: fists in violent gestures, a wind came and blew the
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  Speaker 1: ashes away. Oh, cried the others. He could not fight
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  Speaker 1: this one. The six went on running to make war
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  Speaker 1: more quickly. They descended a deep valley, the fire going foremost,
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  Speaker 1: until they came to a river. The fire said his
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  Speaker 1: chew and was gone. Ho, hooted the others. He could
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  Speaker 1: not fight this one. Therefore, the five went on the
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  Speaker 1: more quickly to make war. They came to a great wood.
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  Speaker 1: While they were going through it, the bladder was heard
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  Speaker 1: to sneer and to say, he you should rise above
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  Speaker 1: these brothers. With these words, he went upward among the
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  Speaker 1: tree tops, and the thorn apple pricked him. He fell
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  Speaker 1: through the branches and was nothing you see this, said
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  Speaker 1: the four. This one could not fight. Still, the remaining
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  Speaker 1: warriors would not turn back. The four went boldly on
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  Speaker 1: to make war. The grasshopper with his cousin the dragon fly,
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  Speaker 1: went foremost. They reached a marshy place, and the mire
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  Speaker 1: was very deep. As they waded through the mud, the
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  Speaker 1: grasshopper's legs stuck, and he pulled them off. He crawled
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  Speaker 1: upon a log and wept. You see me, brothers, I
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  Speaker 1: cannot go. The dragonfly went on weeping for his cousin.
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  Speaker 1: He could not be comforted, for he loved his cousin dearly.
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  Speaker 1: The more he grieved, the louder he cried, till his
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  Speaker 1: body shook with great violence. He blew his red swollen
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  Speaker 1: nose with a loud noise, so that his head came
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  Speaker 1: off his slender neck, and he was fallen upon the grass.
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  Speaker 1: You see how it is, said the fish, lashing his
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  Speaker 1: tail impatiently. These people were not warriors. Come, he said,
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  Speaker 1: let us go on to make war. Thus the fish
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  Speaker 1: and the turtle came to a large campground. Ho exclaimed,
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  Speaker 1: the people of this round village of teepees, Who are
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  Speaker 1: these little ones? What do they seek? Neither of the
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  Speaker 1: warriors carried weapons with them, and there unimposing stature misled
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  Speaker 1: the curious people. The fish was spokesman with a peculiar
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  Speaker 1: omission of syllables. He said, shoo he pie wan what what?
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  Speaker 1: Clamored eager voices of men and women. Again, the fish said,
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  Speaker 1: show he pie everywhere stood young and old with a
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  Speaker 1: palm to an ear. Still, no one guessed what the
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  Speaker 1: fish had mumbled. From the bewildered crowd, witty old ik
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  Speaker 1: Tomai came forward. He listen, he shouted, rubbing his mischievous
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  Speaker 1: palms together. For where there was any trouble brewing, he
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  Speaker 1: was always in the midst of it. This little strange
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  Speaker 1: man says, zuya unheppie, we come to make war, oun
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  Speaker 1: resented the people, suddenly stricken glum. Let us kill the
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  Speaker 1: silly pear. They can do nothing. They do not know
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  Speaker 1: the meaning of the phrase. Let us build a fire
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  Speaker 1: and boy them both. If you put us on to boil,
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  Speaker 1: said the fish, there will be trouble. Ho ho, laughed
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  Speaker 1: the village folk. We shall see, And so they made
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  Speaker 1: a fire. I have never been so angered, said the fish.
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  Speaker 1: The turtle, in a whisper reply, said, we shall die
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  Speaker 1: When a pair of strong hands lifted the fish over
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  Speaker 1: the sputtering water, he put his mouth downward. Wish, he said,
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  Speaker 1: and blew the water all over the people, so that
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  Speaker 1: many were burned and could not see. Screaming with pain,
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  Speaker 1: they ran away. Oh what shall we do with these
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  Speaker 1: dreadful ones, they said? Others exclaimed, let us carry them
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  Speaker 1: to the lake of muddy water and drown them. Instantly
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  Speaker 1: they ran with them. They threw the fish and the
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  Speaker 1: turtle into the lake, toward the center of the large lake.
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  Speaker 1: The turtle dived there. He peeped up out of the water, and,
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  Speaker 1: waving a hand at the crowd, sang out, this is
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  Speaker 1: where I live. The fish swam hither and thither with
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  Speaker 1: such frolicsome darts that his back fin made the water fly.
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  Speaker 1: Ihan whooped the fish. This is where I live. Oh
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  Speaker 1: what have we done, said the frightened people. This will
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  Speaker 1: be our undoing. Then a wise chief said, Aya, the
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  Speaker 1: eater shall come and swallow the lake. So one went running.
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  Speaker 1: He brought Ayah the eater, and Iya drank all day
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  Speaker 1: at the lake till his belly was like the earth.
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  Speaker 1: Then the fish in turtle dived into the mud and
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  Speaker 1: Aya said, they are not in me. Hearing this, the
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  Speaker 1: people cried greatly. Iktomi, wading in the lake, had been
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  Speaker 1: swallowed like a gnat in the water within the great Ayah.
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  Speaker 1: He was looking skyward. So deep was the water in
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  Speaker 1: the eater's stomach that the surface of the swallowed lake
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  Speaker 1: almost touched the sky. I will go that way, said Iktomi,
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  Speaker 1: looking at the concave within arm's reach. He struck his
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  Speaker 1: knife upward in the eater's stomach, and the water falling
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  Speaker 1: out drowned those people of the village. Now, when the
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  Speaker 1: great water fell into its own bed, the and the
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  Speaker 1: turtle came to the shore, they went home, painted victors
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  Speaker 1: and loud voiced singers. And of Section fourteen and of
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  Speaker 1: Old Indian Legends by Zitkala Shah, recording by Robert Scott,
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  Speaker 1: august I, two thousand and seven,