Soul Stance River - 15
We briefly meet the Mandan Chief Big White
in the village center where the animals are sacraficed,
couples wed, and disputes are dealt with,
he is a massive, and portly man
and is wearing a headdress that spreads to the floor
with black tipped eagle feathers, gold encrusted eagle heads atop each shoulder
and a staff lined with the vertebrae of the great bear silver encoated,
he, like many of these people are very light skinned
with hair more thin and flaxen than any other natives we have ever seen
with eye color of many hues, including blue,
it is clear that the Mandans are the Welsh speaking Indians of lore,
and possibly the legendary "Lost Tribe of Israel" ,
Big White, in front of his people tells us that we are welcome,
have been expected, and will share spirit tomorrow in formal council,
then, with a grin as if his first born son was just delivered he waves us off,
In our guest lodge tonight we are introduced to agents of various trading companies
one of whom is Toussaint Charbonneau, a French Canadian trapper and arms dealer
claiming to be independent and interested in the mission,
he has done business with the Mandans for many years,
and he has two teenage wives, Indian girls captured in raids and bought by him,
one of the two has an aura of durable beauty
her eyes radiate an auburn rich heat that entrances me,
my intuition of destiny is attaching to her,
visions of affection on harsh trails
purpose of vital voice in the negotiation of history,
this princess of perseverance is named, Sacagawea
and she is five months pregnant,
Sacagawea can speak Shoshone and Nez Perce,
and she be a most beautiful, breathing symbol of Providence's wishes,
we need the tribes to the west to be sympathetic to our enterprise
Sacagawea, with her innate elegance
is a presence that can silence effrontery and encourage camaraderie,
Days follow with festivities that put finesse into everyone's persuasion
and pagentry in the passion of political pulse,
hours evaporate like ignorance from a blooming brain
as we discuss the latticework of tribal politics,
chiefs of the Mandans, Hidatsas and Arikara
speak of history before horse power and musket murder
when men rode the land with leather feet and fought skin to skin,
a time when wealth came from the woman's womb
and dominance was the provenance of strategic location,
I asked Chief Black Cat why the Mandan and Hidatsas
live as seperate tribes despite being neighbors that have shared an eon,
he says its because...
They like to hunt mountains,
we prefer to hunt trees...
I still do not know what in the hell that means,
the consensus, is that the Sioux are the scourge of demonic bloodlust,
through cooperation, our nations can subdue the Sioux savagery
by coraling them into an inferno of isolation,
their knees will know the rock of pain,
J.A.B.
Copyright © Justin Bordner | Year Posted 2015
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