[meteorite-list] The Principal Narative of the Shawnee - an astronomical tale

From: E.P. Grondine <epgrondine_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2007 18:54:07 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <984033.94610.qm_at_web36903.mail.mud.yahoo.com>

Hi all -

This is pretty far from meteorites, but on the other
hand fairly close to carbonaceous chondrites.

What follows is the Principal Narrative of the
Shawnee, what appears to be an astronomical tale which
was told ever year at the harvest feast.

It was their principle tale, and it appears to recount
the defeat of Comet Encke and pass along astronomical
knowledge.

I recovered the tale from Gaschet's notes.

Feel free to pass this on - I need help with the
Shawnee astronomical constellations, the knowledge of
which was poorly preserved. I don't know if raven and
wolf were constellations.

If you have any insights, or know of anyone who can
help, please do.

E.P. Grondine
Man and Impact in the Americas
(cheapest through Crow Clan Jewelry, or contact me off
list)

THE PRINCIPAL NARATIVE
William Greyfeather
English paraphrase

[From Gaschet:
Meteor, fire-ball manet?wi ms?pessi ?spirit-lion,?
EP: Literaly - msi/piasse=great cat
Some gifted men could see them, but generally they are
invisible;
when they go down with a noise, they say, the lion
went to the water, where it lives
Lowapiessi refers to manut?wi msipess??, the
miraculous lion]


There was living over here an old woman (Grandmother,
the Creator, seen as the Moon, an old woman stirring
over her pot) and a boy who was her Grandson (rounded
side - a planet?).

Grandmother, (the Creator), an old woman, and her
Grandson, a boy were living here on Earth.

Early in the morning she went out digging ground nuts.
The boy hunted birds.

When she brought the ground nuts home she cooked them
and told the boy to sleep.

Grandmother, the old woman, took the ground nuts and
picked out the best ones and cooked them, and the boy
thought "why is this?"

And again when she went out to dig ground nuts
And the next time she went out to dig ground nuts,
she cooked them, and again in the same way, she took
the good ones, and told her Grandson "Go to sleep"

"I will not sleep now, I am going to watch my
Grandmother, see what she is doing with them, I want
to know what she does with them."

She took the good ones outdoors; and now he found out
there was a house always shut in another house, and
somebody was talking there.

He thought, now in the morning, when Grandmother goes
out, I will not hunt birds, I will be still.

Now when he shoots his arrow up the chimney,
he sees someone there where his arrow will strike,
"There is someone around here", he thought.

And again he shot through the chimney, and again
someone took his arrow.

Then he ran after him, and the red haired one (a
comet?) ran into that other house.

That man was afraid to go out because of the
Spirit-snake (manetu-li).

And now he was afraid because he had been caught by
his younger brother. "Why don't you go out?" Grandson
asked his older brother. "I am afraid of the
Spirit-snake."

Now one of his red hairs had been pulled out at the
door.

"Never mind", said the boy, "I will take care of you.
When he comes, I will kill the Spirit-snake," he told
his brother.

Then the Spirit-snake found out. When he came, he
heard the dog again, he heard somebody whooping and
hissing.

There came somebody, and he knew right there without
seeing.

He was hunting for the red haired one.

"There is no one here" he said.

The Old Man (one sided) was blind, and had only one
eye, and his dog was blind (had only one eye) too.

Then the dog smelled somthing, and smelling around,
found the red haired's one hair.

"Open the door" he said. "I have found him"

And then Grandson opened the door.

"Now I take him!"

"No you won't".

"Yes I will."

Now Grandson owned a lion (= a comet = msi-pshili=
msi-piase). If you take my older brother, the one I
own will kill you." he said to the Spirit-snake.

"Yes I will."

"You can not do it. Even if you do kill me, not a long
time later I'll be back."

"How do I kill him?", he asked his lion (comet-the red
haired one).

He shot the dog, and then he killed them.

"Now I have killed them", Grandson said to his older
brother. "Now they can not do it, they can not take
you," he said to his older brother. "Now I have killed
them, now we can go together and hunt birds."

"I have been lonesome many times. I still can not hunt
birds. The Spirit-snake will find me again. It is
impossible for you to kill him", said the older
brother to the younger.

"Yes, I can; I am a man."

Now they went out and hunted birds.

"You can not kill all of them."

Now the two brothers ran away and went home, and the
younger brother shut up his older brother.

After a while the Spirit-snake returned, and Grandson
set upon him the Lion (comet; msi-piasse, msi-pseli)
which he owned.

Now they were beaten.

"Now you may take him (my red haired brother) along,
although certainly I will have to go with you"

"No", said the Spirit-snake,

"No, I will come along" said Grandson

Now his older brother was taken along, and Grandson
went along also.

"You can't come along", said the Spirit-snake.

Now the Spirit-snake took his older brother, and he
ran after them.

Then they went uphill, but Grandson could not go.

Grandson then called his older red haired brother
back, and he fell back where Grandson was.
(This is a comet return.)

"I will let you come along", the Spirit-snake said.
"Ugly boy"

Now Grandson went with him to the water (space), they
arrived,
Then the Spirit-snake and the older brother stepped
into a canoe,
he took him away, and Grandson stayed behind.

They left and floated there, and Grandson stayed and
cried.

"I shall have to go", Grandson said.

Then he called his brother, and the canoe came back.
(Comet cyclic return.)

"You can not go anywhere" Grandson told the
Spirit-snake, "Surely I will go with my brother".

"Ugly boy!" said the Spirit-snake.

Then grandson accompanied him and stepped into the
canoe.
(The three hunters in a canoe - probably part of Ursa
Minor)

Now they went to the other side, and went to where the
Spirit-snake lived.

"Then you will hunt."
"No, I will remain here", Grandson told his older
brother.

In the morning, the Spirit-snake told him "Go to
hunt!", and the older brother went to hunt.
And he is hunting for one bear (constellation), and
Grandson went with his brother without delay.

Now they found and killed the bear; they took the bear
meat home and cooked it.

The old man (the Spirit-snake) was blind (had only one
eye), and his dog and his wife were blind too (had
only one eye as well).

(These may be the three fragments of Comet Encke.)

Then they are eatling up the bear,

"I am surprised", Grandson said to them. "you eat a
whole lot"

When he said that to them they were frightened.

Now when morning came again, the Spirit-snake told the
red haired boy to hunt again.

Now the red haired boy started to hunt again,

Grandson said "I will not stay behind"

"Don't go!", the Spirit-snake ordered, but he was
determined to go.

"If you go to hunt, you must bring all of the meat
back."

They started off, and hunted, and found two bears
(Ursa Major and Ursa Minor). and then Grandson and his
brother drove them to where the Spirit-snake was.
Now Grandson pushed one bear, and finally the two
bears ran into each other.

One of the bears, the large bear, was not driven (the
pole star remains constant),
but one of the bears waws driven to the place where
the Spirit-snake was and then was killed.

Now the blind old man, the Spirit-snake, skined him,
and Grandson helped, assisting the blind man by wiping
his knife while he skinned.

What he wiped off, Grandson collected: he wrapped up
the fat.

After a while they finished skinning and were through
with him.

"Now that one I can kill", Grandson said to his
brother.

"It can not be done", said the red haired spirit.

"In this way I can kill him, if you manange to take
the hearts" Grandson said to the red haired one.

"In the center of a lake (space) lives a turtle
(either the Great Turtle or another constellation) who
sits on their hearts. Take their hearts from there and
you can kill them."

Now the red haired one went to the lake. He put
himself into an arrow, then it went off to the center
of the lake (space).

Then he came out of the arrow, and turned over the
body of the Turtle.

Then he took their hearts, and shot himself back
again. He landed, took himself out of the arrow, and
went to where the Spirit-snake stayed.

"Now you have brought them", Grandson said to his red
haired brother.

"Now you can kill them," his red haired brother
replied.

Grandson put away their hearts, and then while the
blind man (the Spirit-snake) cooked the bears' hearts,
Grandson cooked the bear fat which he had collected.

Now after a while, when the Old Man with one eye
looked at his cooking, the bear fat had filled up the
top of his cooking.

Now he had finished cooking.

"I hope you will not eat all of it," Grandson said to
the one eyed ones. "If you eat up the bear, he will
kill you."

As they got through eating, the Spirit-snake stuck his
heart, and the one eyed man hollered.

"I told you you would burst", Grandson said to the one
eyed one.

Now he had killed him.

Then the old man's wife, the old lady, stuck her
heart, and she hollered.

Now he had killed her.

Then the dog struck his heart, and hollered.

"Now you have all burst", Grandson said.

Then Grandson cooked, and he dipped it out.

"Eat!", Grandson said to the men, and they drank from
the stew.

"Now you may all go home," Grandson told them. "You
know where you came from", Grandson told them.

Now the spirits that Grandson had killed, he piled
them on wood, and he set that wood on fire.

He burned up the one eyed one, the old woman, and the
dog they owned.

"Now let us go home," Grandson said to his red haired
brother.

"Long ago we left our Grandmother," Grandson said to
his older brother. Now when they arrived where their
Grandmother had lived there was no house there. When
they arrived, all was rotted away, and their
Grandmother was not there.

Now Grandson stamped the ground, and a rat ran away;
this was the only thing left of their Grandmother.

Then Grandson asked his older brother "In which way
shall we live?"

"I will be a wolf," his older brother said, "and you
shall be a raven. You can always eat of the game I
have killed."

Then the wolf ran off, and the raven flew away.

   



       
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Received on Tue 17 Jul 2007 09:54:07 PM PDT