Winnebagos Go to See the Prophet

by Stella Stacey


Hocąk Interlinear Text


Arrows (⥢) link to the corresponding interlinear text. 


They also say that wherever Žawanų the Prophet was, there, they say, the Hōcąks would see him. It is said that a man, a Hōcąk man, went there. Wherever Žawanų the Prophet lived, they would go there. When they were to go to him, well, it was in order, I think, to see the man and how exactly he might be, that's also what they were thinking. So as they were going to see him, they were nervous, that's how they went. So it seems. It seems that this one was sitting there, and it was two men, apparently, Žawanų the Prophet and a different man was also there, it seems. Well, there Žawanų the Prophet said, "'Hagágásgéižąxjį, this one is someone there who is «telling stories,» as they say. I must go see, to see for us, to see what sort he might be, I must see.' [This is] also what they think, as you have come this far. Truly, you have come, you have seen us. 'He is not a person whose appearance is equal to mine. He is one who has half a face.' Like that [they say], but I must do this because they have told me to, so that's why I’m doing it. Whatever my appearance is, well, I should do this job this way as was told me, and he said, to be one telling stories like this. Whatever I am going to say, he said that I must return [to earth]. He told me whatever is to be in the future. He tells me something, he himself tells me, and for this reason I am telling it. So it is good that you are coming to see me," he said.1


Commentary. "Žawanų the Prophet"Žáwánu Wórágᵋnąka, which is literally, "Shawnee, the one who tells stories." The word Žáwánu, whose original and literal meaning is "Shawnee," later came to mean "prophet," purely on the account of Tenskatawa being the famed Shawnee Prophet, the brother of Tecumseh. However, here the word Žáwánu is being used as a name in place of Tenskatawa, and "teller of tales" is meant to express the idea that he is a prophet. We see in this story, which dates from the era of the War of 1812, something of the evolution of the language in which the name given the prophet was the source of the word žawánu being transformed into the standard Hōcąk word meaning "prophet."

  
Charles Bird King  
Žawanu (Tenskatawa),
the Shawnee Prophet
 

"half a face" — in Hōcąk, oddly, the word for "eye" and "face" is the same: hišjá. What the Prophet is missing is his right eye, which he lost in a brawl during the drunken, profane period of his life. The detail from the Charles Bird King painting at the left shows the missing right eye of the Prophet.

"they" — a reference to the Spirits who conducted him to heaven where he met the Great Spirit himself.

"he" — the Great Spirit.

"I must return" — this shows conclusively that he has been talking about how he was given this mission by the Great Spirit in collaboration with the other Spirits.

"he himself tells me" — this story maintains that the Prophet is in ongoing contact with the Great Spirit who feeds him information over a long period of time. It's not merely that the Prophet received the news and inspiration required for his prophesies on a single visit to the heavens, but that it's an ongoing process: when he makes a new pronouncement it is the product of a new inspiriation from the Great Spirit himself.


Comparative Material. ...


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Stories: about the Shawnee Prophet: The Shawnee Prophet — What He Told the Hocągara, The Shawnee Prophet Predicts a Solar Eclipse, The Shawnee Prophet and His Ascension, A Prophecy About the End Time, A Miraculously Cured Man Finds the Prophet, The War of Indian Tribes against White Soldiers; 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, The Shawnee Prophet Predicts a Solar Eclipse, A Prophecy About the First School, The Claw Shooter, Waruką́ną, The Tap the Head Medicine, The Diving Contest.


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Notes

1 Stella Stacy, "Winnebagos Go to See the Prophet" (current APS title: "Winnebagos go to see the prophet Shawanoworak"), reading by Sheila Shigley, from audio tapes in the American Philosophical Society. Fraenkel, Gerd. Mss.Rec. 29, recorded 12 July 1959, 1 .mp3; 00:00:14.9 - 00:02:13.4. 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 526.9. APS accession number 7245; APSdigrec_0950; Recording Number: 02; Program Number: 11.