{"id":1909,"date":"2020-06-17T14:43:43","date_gmt":"2020-06-17T14:43:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/?page_id=1909"},"modified":"2020-06-17T14:43:43","modified_gmt":"2020-06-17T14:43:43","slug":"the-offering-of-the-pipe","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/the-offering-of-the-pipe\/","title":{"rendered":"“The Offering of the Pipe”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“Black Elk Speaks:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My friend, I am going to tell you the story of my life, as you wish;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and if it were only the story of my life I think I would not tell it;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

for what is one man that he should make much of his winters, even when <\/p>\n\n\n\n

they bend him like a heavy snow? So many other men have lived and shall<\/p>\n\n\n\n

live that story, to be grass upon the hills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is the story of all life that is holy and is good to tell, and of us two-leggeds<\/p>\n\n\n\n

sharing it with the four-leggeds and the wings of the air and all green <\/p>\n\n\n\n

things; for these are the children of one mother and their father is one <\/p>\n\n\n\n

spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This, then, is not the tale of a great hunter or of a great warrior, or of a<\/p>\n\n\n\n

great traveler, although I have made much meat in my time and fought<\/p>\n\n\n\n

for my people both as boy and man, and have gone far and seen strange<\/p>\n\n\n\n

lands and men. So also have many others done, and better than I. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These things I shall remember by the way, and often they may seem to be<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the very tale itself, as when I was living them in happiness and sorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But now that I can see it all as from a lonely hilltop, I know it was the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

story of a mighty vision given to a man too weak to use it; of a holy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

tree that should have flourished in a people’s heart with flowers and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

singing birds, and now is withered; and of a people’s dream that<\/p>\n\n\n\n

died in bloody snow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if the vision was true and mighty, as I know, it is true and mighty yet; <\/p>\n\n\n\n

for such things are of the spirit, and it is in the darkness of their eyes <\/p>\n\n\n\n

that men get lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I know that it is a good thing I am going to do; and because no good<\/p>\n\n\n\n

thing can be done by any man alone, I will first make an offering and send <\/p>\n\n\n\n

a voice to the Spirit of the World, that it may help me to be true. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

See, I fill this sacred pipe with the bark of the red willow; but before we<\/p>\n\n\n\n

smoke it, you must see how it is made and what it means. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These four ribbons hanging here on the stem are the four quarters of the <\/p>\n\n\n\n

universe. The black one is for the west where the thunder beings live to<\/p>\n\n\n\n

send us rain; the white one for the north, whence comes the great<\/p>\n\n\n\n

white cleansing wind; the red one for the east, whence springs the light<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and where the morning star lives to give men wisdom; the yellow for<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the south, whence comes the summer and the power to grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But these four spirits are only one Spirit after all, and this eagle<\/p>\n\n\n\n

feather here is for that One, which is like a father, and also it is<\/p>\n\n\n\n

for the thoughts of men that should rise high as eagle do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is not the sky a father and the earth a mother, and are not all<\/p>\n\n\n\n

living things with feet or wings or roots their children?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this hide upon the mouthpiece here, which should be bison hide, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

is for the earth, from whence we came and at whose breast we suck<\/p>\n\n\n\n

as babies all our lives, along with all the animals and birds and trees<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and grasses. And because it means all this, and more than any man<\/p>\n\n\n\n

can understand, the pipe is holy”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Excerpted from “Black Elk Speaks”, as told through John G. Neihardt<\/p>\n\n\n\n

by Nicholas Black Elk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Black Elk Speaks: My friend, I am going to tell you the story of my life, as you wish; and if it were only the story of my life I think I would not tell it; for what is one man that he should make much of his winters, even when they bend him like … Continue reading ““The Offering of the Pipe””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1909","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1909"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1910,"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1909\/revisions\/1910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewalrussaid.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}