The Four Brothers
This is The Tale of Four Brothers. It was told by Thunder Moon, and comes from the People of the Cheyenne and Dakota. Back when the world was very young and first made the Great Spirit decided that there should be people to live on Turtle Island. So the Great Spirit set about creating the People. He made four different kinds of people to live on Turtle Island. First he made the Red Man. He was red because he was made from the red earth of Turtle Island. Then he made Yellow Man, who was yellow because he was made from the bark of the tree that grew on Turtle Island. Then he made White Man. He was white because he was made from the foam of the waters on Turtle Island. Then last, he made Black Man. He was black because he was made from the soil on Turtle Island. Now these four brothers lived in peace on Turtle Island for a very long time and all was good with them and the world, and the Great Spirit was very happy with all that was done.
One day, Black Man found a shiny stone on the ground. He thought, what a beautiful stone this is, so he picked it up. As he was looking at it, White Man noticed that he had something special and White Man thought, If it is that good maybe it has some medicine, and he wanted it too. So White Man tried to take from Black Man the shiny stone. Well they began to argue and fight, and Yellow Man noticed this too. Yellow Man thought, this thing they are fighting over, it must have some special medicine. He thought to himself "I will watch closely, and while they are fighting I will take it." Soon enough, Yellow Man was fighting with Black Man and White Man over the shiny stone, all of them thinking it had special medicine. All this fighting had caused such a noise that the Great Spirit came to Turtle Island to see what was going on.
When he got there he saw the brothers fighting and Great Spirit was very upset with them. Great Spirit looked at the brothers and told them to stop. He asked them why they fought and they told him about the shiny rock and its strong medicine. This upset Great Spirit deeply and he decided that it would be best if the brothers were seperated to teach them a lesson. So Great Spirit looked at White Man and said, White Man, you go live over there. Then he looked at Black Man and said, Black Man you go live over there. Then he looked at Yellow Man and said, Yellow Man you go live over there. But when he turned to speak to Red Man, he could not find him. So Great Spirit looked around and found Red Man sitting under a shade tree with his legs crossed, just resting. "Were you fighting too?", asked Great Spirit, to which Red Man answered, "No." Great Spirit asked Red Man why he was not fighting. Red Man answered "Because there are many shiny stones for all. I do not need to fight for the one they wanted." Great Spirit was pleased to hear this. Great Spirit said to Red Man, "you may stay here, but the others must go until they learn to live in peace."
Great Spirit turned to Yellow Man, White Man, and Black Man and said to them "In your heart you will always long to return to this land and to your red brother who sits and waits for you here."
This is why we have the four sacred colors, the four directions, and the four races of man. That is also why all peoples of Turtle Island wished to come to this land. This is why we are all
brothers as long as we live in peace.
Remember, remember the circle of the sky
the stars and the brown eagle
the supernatural winds
breathing night and day
from the four directions
Remember, remember the great life of the sun
breathing on the earth
it lies upon the earth
to bring our life upon the earth
Remember, remember the sacredness of things
running streams and dwellings
the young within the nest
a hearth for sacred fire
the holy flame of fire
Ancient One sat in the shade of his tree in front of his cave. Red People came to him and he said to Red People, "Tell me your vision."
And Red People answered, "The elders have told us to pray in this manner, and that manner, and it is important that only we pray as we have been taught for this has been handed down to us by the elders."
"Hmmmm," said the Ancient One.
Then Black People came to him and he said to Black People, "Tell me your vision."
And Black People answered, "Our mothers have said to go to this building and that building and pray in this manner and that manner. And our fathers have said to bow in this manner and that manner when we pray. And it is important that we do only this
when we pray."
"Hmmmm," said the Ancient One.
Then Yellow People came to him and he said to Yellow People, "Tell me your vision."
And Yellow People answered, "Our teachers have told us to sit in this manner and that manner and to say this thing and that thing when we pray. And it is important that we do only this when we pray."
"Hmmmm," said the Ancient One.
Then White People came to him and he said to White People, "Tell me your vision."
And White People answered, "Our Book has told us to pray in this way and that way and to do this thing and that thing, and it is very important that we do this when we pray."
"Hmmmm," said the Ancient One.
Then Ancient One spoke to the Earth and said, "Have you given the people a vision?" And the Earth said, "Yes, a special gift for each one, but the people were so busy speaking and arguing about which way is right they could not see the gift I gave each
one of them." And the Ancient One asked same question of Water and Fire and Air and got the same answer. Then Ancient One asked Animal, and Bird, and Insect, and Tree, and Flower, and Sky, and Moon, and Sun, and Stars, and all of the other Spirits and
each told him the same.
Ancient One thought this was very sad. He called Red People, Black People, Yellow People, and White People to him and said to them. "The ways taught to you by your Elders, and your Mothers and Fathers, and Teachers, and Books are sacred. It is good
that you respect those ways, for they are the ways of your ancestors. But the ancestors no longer walk on the Face of the Earth Mother. You have forgotten your own Vision. Your Vision is right for you but no one else. Now each of you must pray for your own Visions, and be still enough to see them, so you can follow the way of the heart. It is a hard way. It is a good way.
In this epic tale, a number of different incidents in Cheyenne history from the last four hundred years are all merged into a single account of a tribe's evolution told in terms of great migrations, tragic losses and natural disasters.
In the beginning the Great Medicine created the earth, and the waters upon the earth, and the sun, moon, and stars. Then he made a beautiful country to spring up in the far north. There were no winters, with ice and snow and bitter cold. It was always spring; wild fruits and berries grew everywhere, and great trees shaded the streams of clear water that flowed through the land.
In this beautiful country the Great Medicine put animals, birds, insects, and fish of all kinds. Then he created human beings to live with the other creatures. Every animal, big and small, every bird, big and small, every fish, and every insect could talk to the people and understand them. The people could understand each other, for they had a common language and lived in friendship. They went naked and fed on honey and wild fruits; they were never hungry. They wandered everywhere among the wild animals, and when night came and they were weary, they lay down on the cool grass and slept. During the days they talked with the other animals, for they were all friends.
First, those who had hair all over their bodies;
Second, white men who had hair all over their heads and faces and on their legs;
Third, red men who had very long hair on their heads only.
The hairy people were strong and active. The white people with the long beards were in a class with the wolf, for both were the trickiest and most cunning creatures in that beautiful world. The red people were good runners, agile and swift, whom the Great Medicine taught to catch and eat fish
at a time when none of the other people knew about eating meat.
After a while the hairy people left the north country and went south, where all the land was barren. Then the red people prepared to follow the hairy people into the south. Before they left the beautiful land, however, the Great Medicine called them together. On this occasion, the first time the red people had all assembled in one place, the Great Medicine blessed them and gave them some medicine spirit to awaken their dormant minds. From that time on they seemed to possess intelligence and know
what to do.
The Great Medicine singled out one of the men and told him to teach his people to band together, so that they all could work and clothe their naked bodies with skins of panther and bear and deer. The Great Medicine gave them the power to hew and shape flint and other stones into any shape they wanted - into arrow and spearheads and into cups, pots, and axes.
The red people stayed together ever afterwards. They left the beautiful country and went southward in the same direction the hairy people had taken. The hairy people remained naked, but the red people clothed themselves because the Great Medicine had told them to. When the red men arrived in the south, they found that the hairy people had scattered and made homes inside of hills and in caves high up in the mountains.
They seldom saw the hairy men, for the hairy ones were afraid and went inside their caves when the red men came. The hairy people had pottery and flint tools like those of the red men, and in their caves they slept on beds made out of leaves and skins. For some reason they decreased in numbers until they finally disappeared entirely, and today the red men cannot tell what became of them.
After the red men had lived in the south for some time, the Great
Medicine told them to return north, for the barren Southland was going to be flooded. When they went back to that beautiful northern land they found that the white-skinned, long-bearded men and some of the wild animals were gone. They were no longer able to talk to the animals, but this time they controlled all other creatures, and they taught the panther, the bear, and similar beasts to catch game for them. They increased in numbers and became tall and strong and active.
Then for a second time the red people left the beautiful land to go south. The waters had gone, grass and trees had grown, and the country had become as beautiful as the north. While they were living there, however, another flood swept over the land and scattered the red men.
When the great waters at last sank and the ground was dry, the red people did not come together again. They traveled in small bands, just as they had done in the beginning before the Great Medicine told them to unite. The flood destroyed almost everything, and they were on the point of starvation. So they started back to their original home in the north as they had done before. But when they reached the north country this time, they found the land all barren. There were no trees, no living
animals, not a fish in the water. When the red people looked upon their once-beautiful home the men cried aloud and all the women and children wept. This happened in the beginning, when the Great Medicine created us.
The people returned to the south and lived as well as they could, in some years better, in others worse. After many hundreds of years, just before the winter season came, the earth shook, and the high hills sent forth fire and smoke. During that winter there were great floods. The people had to dress in furs and live in caves, for the winter was long and cold. It destroyed all the trees, though when spring came there was a new growth. The red men suffered much and were almost famished when the Great Medicine took pity on them. He gave them corn to plant and buffalo for meat, and from that time there were no more floods and no more famines. The people continued to live in the south, and they grew and increased. There were many different bands with different languages, for the red men were never united after the second flood.
The descendants of the original Cheyenne had men among them who were magicians with supernatural wisdom. They charmed not only their own people, but also the animals that they lived on. No matter how fierce or wild the beast, it became so tame that people could go up to it and handle it. This magic knowledge was handed down from the original Cheyenne, who came from the far north. Today, Bushy Head is the only one who understands that ancient ceremony, and the Cheyenne consider him equal in rank to the medicine-arrow keeper and his assistants.
-Based on George A. Dorsey's account in 1905.
In this remarkable tale is stored the memory of much that has happened to the Cheyenne over many hundreds of years. It symbolically relates how they were once driven from their old hunting grounds in north-central America in the late 1600s, probably by the Ojibway, who had firearms from their French allies. It also describes the eighteenth or nineteenth century division of the Cheyenne into two separate bands (one of which, the Sutai, still retain certain ceremo ni al roles). The
gaining and losing of corn may symbolize their giving up planting for buffalo hunting i n the last half of the eighteenth century. The tale reflects as well the Cheyenne's ever-present yearning for the cool, beautiful north country after white authorities removed the whole tribe to a hot and unhealthy reservation in the south, following Little Big Horn. It was from this sorry existence that in the 1880s Dull Knife led a group of sick and starving people back to North Montana, where those who survived were permitted at last to remain.
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