Believers and Disbelievers in the Prophet’s Community
by Stella (Blowsnake) Stacey, a.k.a. Mountain Wolf Woman
transcribed and translated by Sheila Shigley
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| Tenskatawa, the Shawnee Prophet |
(00:14) Thus [concerning] those human stories, those Žawanų stories, he said, “Whatever they ordered me to do, then, that's what I did. (00:26) The remainder didn't see fit (to do) like what I am telling you. (00:31) And the remainder, you didn't see fit [to do it], that I know. (00:36) So Our Father in Heaven, he himself compels us that way. If you can do it in that way, if you do it well, if you can do it like that, that he told me. (00:49) So, I'll tell the stories. (00:56) So, [do] some little thing like that, if you can do it." (01:06) He died. And so at noon you will know all [power] that he had. (01:18) Light and Life is going to do something. (01:19) He had died. And so like that if they had, all were right there, they started prying it out very early all were receiving help, he said. Just at that moment, they asked him to pry it out. Then when it was noon, 'The sun is dying,' they used to say it that way. If, and when that happened, it was extremely dark. And then the night must be, the light then had given way to extreme darkness, even for the earth. (01:56) When that's the way it was, everyone was frightened, it was said. Then when the sun was wa-a-a-ay low [in power], coming there, the sun appeared. Again doing it they were standing in front, that way, and so (?) he told me that it was done quickly, he said. (???)1
Commentary. "Žawanų" — according to Helmbrecht-Lehmann, žawąnų means, "medicine person, healer, fortune-teller, prophet (whoever has to do with medicine)." Žawąnų, a variant of Šawáno[ra], "Shawnee, 'Glad Ones' [a pseudo-etymology]," (McKern). It is reasonable to conclude that the prophet of this story is the Shawnee Prophet, Tenskwatawa, the brother of Tecumseh. Owing to this prophet's fame, "Shawnee" (Žawąnų) came to be a word for "prophet." This is a familiar process: the words kaiser and czar come from Cæsar, for instance.
"they" — referring to the Spirits.
"didn't see fit" — Hōcąk hirainąš’įnį, which may also be translated, "didn't think."
"that way" — the actions of the "remainder" and what Our Father compels, refers to the teachings of the Shawnee Prophet as handed down to him from the Great Spirit. It appears that Tenskatawa is trying to shift the blame for failures onto the failure, not of the Prophet himself, but on certain followers who did not do as the Prophet had commanded as the voice of the Great Spirit.
"I'll tell the stories" — the Hōcąk is wōtagᵋnągre, which can also be translated as, "the stories I tell."
"like that" — the Hōcąk is gažegų, which can also be translated as, "that's what I mean."
"Light and Life" — the Hōcąk is Hąpjane, from hąp, "light" and -jane, a suffix indicating an upright position. Light (Hąp) in this context, as in the Medicine Rite, is like the Christian metaphor, and means "life." Radin, in his work on the Medicine Right, was the first to translate it as "Light and Life."
"they started prying it out" — on the assumption that the Hōcąk is wagigop higiwa-wairešgųnįže. However, Stella is very difficult to understand, so it might be, wagigop higiwaǧirešgųnį, "they asked him to pry it out."
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Comparative Material.
Links:
Stories: *about seers: The Seer, The Shawnee Prophet and His Ascension, Witches, The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara, A Prophecy About the End Time, A Prophecy, Great Walker and the Ojibwe Witches, Believers and Disbelievers in the Prophet’s Community, A Prophecy About the First School, The Claw Shooter, Waruką́ną, The Tap the Head Medicine, The Diving Contest. *about the Shawnee Prophet: The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara, The Shawnee Prophet and His Ascension, A Prophecy About the End Time, Believers and Disbelievers in the Prophet’s Community.
Themes:
Notes
1 Reading by Sheila Shigley, from the audio tape in the American Philosophical Society: 10-04. Fraenkel, Gerd. Stacy, Stella. "The prophet speaks about the believers and disbelievers in his community" Mss.Rec.29, recorded 13 July 1959, 1 .mp3; 00:00:14 - 00:02:09. Copy made by Gerd Fraenkel of an original tape held at the Archives of Languages of the World, Indiana University. This program comes from original tape 528.8. APS accession number 7216; APSdigrec_2183; Recording Number: 02; Program Number: 35.
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