Black Elk Speaks (44 page)

11
.
The Lakota word
means ‘wood,’ ‘stick,’ and ‘tree.’ In Black Elk’s vision and subsequent rituals the flowering stick serves as a portable symbol of the flowering tree, which represents the Lakotas as a people. The cane (sagyé) is like wise symbolic of the flowering tree, something on which the people can lean in times of adversity
.

12
.
The two roads that cross in the center, where the sacred tree is to bloom, foretell the people’s future and they also represent the powers given to Black Elk personally, both to do good and to defend the people from their enemies. In the transcript, the black road is described as going from east to west. See
Sixth Grandfather, 118–19.

13
.
In this role, Black Elk is the akíchita of the grandfather of the west
.

14
.
The blue man symbolizes drought (sickness). In the vision, Black Elk overcomes the blue man by striking him with lightning, after which the man transforms into a turtle (symbol of fertility and long life). By this victory Black Elk gains power over the blue man. Toward the end of the vision the second grandfather (North) presents Black Elk with a cup of water in which there was a small man painted blue; Black Elk drinks the water and swallows the man, who thereafter resides within his body and gives him the power to cure
(Sixth Grandfather,
139). In later life, Black Elk would doctor individuals who were sick by reenacting on earth the cosmic cure that he accomplished in the vision when he rid the world of drought
.

15
.
is an interjection expressing surprise
.

16
.
The morning star symbolizes wisdom; intrinsic to that wisdom is the understanding that the life forms of the entire universe comprise a system of relationships with humans. Thus kinship is the central trope of the Lakotas’  world. Black Elk said to Neihardt: “[T]he buffalo, elk, and birds in the air—they are just like relatives to us and we get along fine with them, for we get our power from them and from them we live”
(Sixth Grandfather,
127). Prayer is the invocation of relationship between humans and spirit beings; wachékiya means both ‘to pray’ and ‘to address a relative’ (Deloria, Speaking of Indians, 28-29)
.

17
.

18
.

19
.
“Wing” is apparently an error for “wind.” Because the people are walking from south to north, the cleansing white mind is in their faces
.

20
.
These chiefs are called nacá
.

21
.
The advisors, called wakích
za, are appointed to over see a moving camp. See Walker
, Lakota Society, 60.

22
.
The last sentence may be for literary effect. Black Elk was well aware of world affairs. In fact, at this point in the interviews, he commented that even though his son wanted to join in the war (World War I), he would not permit him to do so
(Sixth Grandfather, 126).

23
.
The transcript reads, “swallows were coming under the cloud” (Sixth Grandfather, 130). Again, these are theakíchita of the West and should be considered more frightening than frightened
.

24
.
Phiyá ‘to make over’ implies “to heal”; a healer is called waphíya ‘one who makes over
.’

25
.
This sentence is apparently Neihardt’s, added to explain that now, for the fourth ascent, Black Elk returns to the earth. The transcript reads, “I am now ready to return to the earth after being in the air with the fowls”
(Sixth Grandfather,
128). In Lakota conception, horses are associated as much with the sky as with the earth
.

26
.
Hé hé! An interjection used by men in prayer and ritual to call the attention of spirit beings
.

27
.
Black Elk commented to Neihardt, “The horse’s voice went all over the universe like a radio and everyone heard it. It was more beautiful than anything could be
” (Sixth Grandfather, 133).

28
.
The last part of this paragraph (from “And while I stood there…”) is Neihardt’s (compare
Sixth Grandfather,
134). Here, Neihardt transforms Black Elk’s vision, which related specifically to the Lakota people, into a universalistic vision for the future of all humankind. Black Elk himself provided the basis for Neihardt’s interpretation. In the transcript, When telling about the great vision, Black Elk says, “The sacred hoop means the continents of the world and the people shall stand as one” (
Sixth Grandfather,
129)
.

29
.
Painting the joints (wrists, elbows, shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles) with narrow bands of contrasting color was a standard Lakota ritual practice. See, for example, “War Insignia,” plates 1, 3, 8, in Walker, Lakota Belief and Ritual, following p. 226
.

30
.
In the transcript of Neihardt’s interviews this paragraph is spoken by these second grandfather, representing the North (
Sixth Grandfather,
139). The phrase “hundreds shall be sacred, hundreds shall be flames” is enigmatic but apparently refers to the powers given to Black Elk to do good and to destroy. The blue man in the Missouri River is portrayed as being in the midst of flames (above, pg. 26) and in a later episode of the vision that Neihardt omitted, Black Elk kills an enemy in the midst of flames who then transforms into a dog
(Sixth Grandfather, 131-32).

31
.
In the transcript this song is sung by the fourth grandfather, representing the South
(Sixth Grandfather, 140).

32
.
Neihardt recorded this song as a part of Black Elk’s prayer ceremony associated with the vision, rather than as a part of the vision itself
(Sixth Grandfather, 287-88).
In the transcript, the line “With visible face, behold me!” is “With a visible face I am appearing.” The next line is: “Your earth on it the four-leggeds, I have made them walk”; the song does not mention the two-leggeds or wingeds
.

1
.
The transcript specifies that Whirlwind Chaser was Standing Bear’s mother’s brother, and that Black Elk’s father and Standing Bear’s father were cousins-in-law
(Sixth Grandfather, 150).

2
.
An individual could use the spiritual gifts
received
in visions “only by effort and study” (Densmore, Teton Sioux Music, 85n.2); for Black Elk, they lay dormant for many years until he achieved the maturity to understand and activate them
.

3
.
At this point in the transcript, the name is given as Keeps His Tipi
(Sixth Grandfather, 150).
They are likely alternative translations of the same name, perhaps lgláka
‘unwilling to moue camp.’ This was also the name of a small Oglala band (DeMallie, “Sioux Until 1850,” 745)
.

4
.
The crier (éyapaha) was generally an old man with a strong voice who mas selected by the council to walk around the camp circle and shout out announcements. See Walker
, Lakota Society, 31.

5
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Prairie turnips (Psoralea esculenta), called
by the Lakotas and pommes blanches by the French-speaking voyageurs, were dug in June and early July. Some were eaten fresh, but most were braided together in strings and dried for later use. They were boiled with dried meat to make a soup. See Gilmore, “Uses of Plants by Indians of the Missouri River Region,” 92–93
.