thou wishest to see, and to whom thou wishest to speak. Listen to that
which I will tell thee for thyself and for all the Indians. I am the
Maker of Heaven and earth, the trees, lakes, rivers, men, and all that
thou seest or hast seen on the earth or in the heavens; and because I
love you, you must do my will; you must also avoid that which I hate; I
hate you to drink as you do, until you lose your reason; I wish you not
to fight one another; you take two wives, or run after other people's
wives; you do wrong; I hate such conduct; you should have but one wife,
and keep her until death. When you go to war, you juggle, you sing the
medicine song, thinking you speak to me; you deceive yourselves; it is
to the Manito that you speak; he is a wicked spirit who induces you to
evil, and, for want of knowing me, you listen to him.
"The land on which you are, I have made for you, not for others:
wherefore do you suffer the whites to dwell upon your lands? Can you not
do without them? I know that those whom you call the children of your
great Father supply your wants. But, were you not wicked as you are, you
would not need them. You might live as you did before you knew them.
Before those whom you call your brothers had arrived, did not your bow
and arrow maintain you? You needed neither gun, powder, nor any other
object. The flesh of animals was your food, their skins your raiment.
But when I saw you inclined to evil, I removed the animals into the
depths of the forests, that you might depend on your brothers for your
necessaries, for your clothing. Again become good and do my will, and I
will send animals for your sustenance. I do not, however, forbid
suffering among you your Father's children; I love them, they know me,
they pray to me; I supply their own wants, and give them that which they
bring to you. Not so with those who are come to trouble your
possessions. Drive them away; wage war against them. I love them not.
They know me not. They are my enemies, they are your brothers' enemies.
Send them back to the lands I have made for them. Let them remain there.
"Here is a written prayer which I give thee; learn it by heart, and
teach it to all the Indians and children." (The Indian, observing here
that he could not read, the Master of Life told him that, on his return
upon earth, he should give it to the chief of his village, who would
read it, and also teach it to him, as also to all the Indians.) "It must
be repeated," said the Master of Life, "morning and evening. Do all that
I have told thee, and announce it to all the Indians as coming from the
Master of Life. Let them drink but one draught, or two at most, in one
day. Let them have but one wife, and discontinue running after other
people's wives and daughters. Let them not fight one another. Let them
not sing the medicine song, for in singing the medicine song they speak
to the evil spirit. Drive from your lands," added the Master of Life,
"those dogs in red clothing; they are only an injury to you. When you
want anything, apply to me, as your brothers do, and I will give to
both. Do not sell to your brothers that which I have placed on the earth
as food. In short, become good, and you shall want nothing. When you
meet one another, bow, and give one another the ... hand of the heart.
Above all, I command thee to repeat, morning and evening, the prayer
which I have given thee."
The Indian promised to do the will of the Master of Life, and also to
recommend it strongly to the Indians; adding that the Master of Life
should be satisfied with them.
His conductor then came, and, leading him to the foot of the mountain,
told him to take his garments and return to his village; which was
immediately done by the Indian.
His return much surprised the inhabitants of the village, who did not
know what had become of him. They asked him whence he came; but, as he
had been enjoined to speak to no one until he saw the chief of the
village, he motioned to them with his hand that he came from above.
Having entered the village, he went immediately to the chiefs wigwam,
and delivered to him the prayer and laws intrusted to his care by the
Master of Life.
FOOTNOTES:
[70] Delawares.--H. R. S.
END OF VOL. I.