Black Elk Speaks

“It is the story of all life that is holy and is good to tell, and of us two-leggeds sharing in it with the four-leggeds and the wings of the air and all green things; for these are children of one mother and their father is one Spirit.” 

Black Elk explains that though he is telling the story of his life, he believes it is a story worth telling as it reflects on the life of all creatures, whether two-legged (human) or four-legged (animal). Such a belief reflects the Lakota worldview that all of the natural world is deeply interconnected. 

“Up on the Madison Fork the Wasichus had found much of the yellow metal that they worship and that makes them crazy; and they wanted to have a road up through our country to the place where the yellow metal was; but my people did not want the road.” 

A lust for gold drives the Wasichus (or white men) into the Lakota territory. The passage underscores the difference between the Wasichu and the Lakota: Though the Lakota are aware of the gold in the mountains, they see no use for it, and thus don’t wish to allow the Wasichu to begin mining it.

“The soldiers did go away and their towns were tore down; and in the Moon of Falling Leaves (November), they made a treaty with Red Cloud that said our country would be ours as long as grass should grow and water flow. You can see that it is not the grass and the water that have forgotten.” 

Following the so-called Battle of the Hundred Slain, in which the Lakota killed numerous Wasichus soldiers, a treaty is signed promising that the Lakota will retain right over their land “as long as grass should grow,” or, for all of time. Black Elk points out that the grass continues to grow in their land, underscoring that the Wasichus have reneged on their promise to the Lakota.