SPIRIT WOMAN (Lakota Sioux) CAST:
A tribal storyteller
STORY:
Spirit Woman comes down to give the Sioux their tribal rules.
Storyteller In the beginning . . . my children we lived in darkness.
We knew nothing . . . sweethearts of propriety of living . . . decently.
We roamed like wildcats. We barked like dogs.
We fished . . . my children with our . . . finger tips.
We hunted . . . darlings with our . . . naked hands.
We didn’t . . . merit I tell you to be called. . . “Indians.” We didn’t merit . . . sweethearts to be named . . . “Sioux”.
Our campsites . . . were unsightly. Our teepees . . . unkempt.
One morning early in the first . . . daylight we saw . . . coming approaching a light . . . rising a beam . . . streaking painting . . . the sky.
“What is it? . . . we cried “this growing . . . brightness?” “What is it” . . . we asked
“this gleaming . . . thing?
Is it Spirit . . . we see? Is it . . . Wakan Tonka?”
We moaned . . . my children. We groaned.
We trembled. We covered . . . our eyes.
We cried . . . “chee chitta-chee”.
But it grew . . . sweethearts. It blossomed. It spread . . . this brightness. It covered . . . the sky. Were the clouds . . . blazing? Were the heavens . . . burned?
“O how could this happen?” . . . we cried. “O how could this . . . be?”
But then . . . children then when it came. When it dropped . . . this whiteness. When it . . . tumbled. When it . . . fell. We laughed . . .sweethearts. We cried. For there . . . standing was a woman . . .we saw. There . . . shining was a maid.
Her dress . . . was gleaming. Her face . . . was bright. And she watched us. . . children. She smiled.
“Indians” . . . she cried. “Dear wonderful . . . Indians.
The world . . . is a garden. The world is a jewel. How can you . . . wither? How . . . can you die?”
Then we jumped . . . children. We leaped.
Our hearts . . . pounded. Our legs . . . flew.
And we formed . . . darlings a giant . . . circle. A ring . . . we formed. A flowing . . . chain.
And we turned . . .dears. We spun.
We spun . . . like whirlwinds. We spun . . . like tops.
Faster . . . we spun. Faster . . . and faster.
The ground . . . it swiveled. The sky . . .it swirled.
O . . .how we cantered! O . . . how we pranced!
The world was our garden The world was our jewel.
There was joy . . . dears in our twirling. There was love . . . dears in our hearts.
We were flying . . . sweethearts. We were dancing . . . on air. ____________ O children lift up . . . your arms. Cherish . . . the sunlight.
Savor . . . the wind.
We are “Indians” . . . children. We are sacred. . . Sioux.
We are the people . . . of Greatness. We are the chosen . . . of God. PAGE
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