Waltey
Kamen za pipe
212 Pipestone
Myths and Legends of Our Own Land · Charles M. SkinnerO besedilu
Kamen za pipe
- Vir
- Myths and Legends of Our Own Land
- Avtor
- Charles M. Skinner
- Jezik branja
- Slovenščina
- Jezik izvirnika
- English
- Čas branja
- 2 min branja
- Obseg
- 2 strani
- Naslov izvirnika
- 212 Pipestone
O izvirniku
Myths and Legends of Our Own Land
Obsežna zgodovinska zbirka ameriških legend, ki jih je Skinner zbral in avtorsko rekonstruiral. Bralni jezik je Slovenščina, izvirnik pa prihaja iz vira Myths and Legends of Our Own Land v jeziku English.
Besedilo
Kamen za pipe
Kamen za pipe, gladka, trda glina enakomerne sestave in živahne barve, iz katere si na tisoče rdečekožcev izrezuje glavice pip, tvori na planoti Coteau des Prairies v Minnesoti dve milji dolgo in trideset čevljev visoko steno. Pred njo leži pet balvanov, ki jih je ledena gora odložila na dno prvobitnega morja, pod temi granitnimi gmotami pa prebivata duhova dveh Indijank, ki ju je treba vprašati za dovoljenje, preden se sme kopati kamen. Ta kamnolom je bil nevtralno ozemlje in možje vseh plemen so ob prihodu vanj spravljali nože v nožnice in zatikali sekire za pas, kajti sem je prihajal Veliki duh, da bi ubijal in jedel bizone, in prav kri te živali je obarvala kamen rdeče. Tu je imela gnezdo tudi ptica Gromovnica in njeni mladiči so s hruščem svojih železnih kril parali nebo nad njim.
Ko se je v to gnezdo priplazila kača, da bi ukradla še neizvaljene grome, je Manitou pograbil kos kamna za pipe, ga na hitro stisnil med dlanmi, mu dal človeško podobo in ga zalučal v plazilca. Stopala kamnitega moža so se trdno zarila v tla in tam je stal tisoč let, rasel kakor drevo ter iz zemlje črpal moč in znanje. Ob njem je zrasla še druga postava — ženska. Sčasoma ju je kača z glodanjem odtrgala od njunih temeljev in par iz rdeče zemlje se je skupaj odpravil v svet. Iz njiju so izšli vsi ljudje.
Mnogo vekov pozneje je Manitou poklical rdečekožce v kamnolom, jim izdelal pipo, povedal, da je del njihovega mesa, in jo kadil nad njimi. Dim je puhal proti severu, jugu, vzhodu in zahodu v znamenje, da naj povsod, kamor seže vpliv pipe, vladata bratstvo in mir. Kraj naj bi bil svet in nedotakljiv za vojno, svoje pipe pa naj bi izdelovali iz te skale. Ko se je dim valil okoli njega, je počasi izginjal izpred oči. Ob zadnjem puhu je iz pipe padel pepel in površina skale je na milje daleč vzplamtela, tako da se je stalila in dobila steklasto prevleko. Ob njenem vznožju sta se odprli dve peči in skozi ogenj sta vstopila duhova Tsomecostee in Tsomecostewondee, ki sta še danes njena varuha: odzivata se na klice vračev in sprejemata daritve tistih, ki prihajajo izdelovat pipe ali v skalo vrezovat svoje toteme.
Izvirnik
212 Pipestone
Naslednje strani prikazujejo izvirno besedilo za primerjavo.
Pipestone, a smooth, hard, even-textured clay, of lively color, from which thousands of red men cut their pipe-bowls, forms a wall on the Coteau des Prairies, in Minnesota, that is two miles long and thirty feet high. In front of it lie five bowlders, the droppings from an iceberg to the floor of the primeval sea, and beneath these masses of granite live the spirits of two squaws that must be consulted before the stone can be dug. This quarry was neutral ground, and here, as they approached it, the men of all tribes sheathed their knives and belted up their axes, for to this place the Great Spirit came to kill and eat the buffalo, and it is the blood of this animal that has turned the stone to red. Here, too, the Thunder Bird had her nest, and her brood rent the skies above it with the clashing of their iron wings.
A snake having crawled into this nest to steal the unhatched thunders, Manitou caught up a piece of pipestone, hastily pressed it between his hands, giving it the shape of a man, and flung it at the reptile. The stone man's feet stuck fast in the ground, and there he stood for a thousand years, growing like a tree and drawing strength and knowledge out of the earth. Another shape grew up beside him--woman. In time the snake gnawed them free from their foundations and the red-earth pair wandered off together. From them sprang all people.
Ages after, the Manitou called the red men to the quarry, fashioned a pipe for them, told them it was a part of their flesh, and smoked it over them, blowing the smoke to north, south, east, and west, in token that wherever the influence of the pipe extended there was to be brotherhood and peace. The place was to be sacred from war and they were to make their pipes from this rock. As the smoke rolled about him he gradually disappeared from view. At the last whiff the ashes fell out and the surface of the rock for miles burst into flame, so that it melted and glazed. Two ovens opened at its foot, and through the fire entered the two spirits Tsomecostee and Tsomecostewondee--that are still its guardians, answering the invocations of the medicine-men and accepting the oblations of those who go to make pipes or carve their totems on the rock.
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