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243 The Comanche Rider
Myths and Legends of Our Own Land · Charles M. SkinnerO besedilu
Komanški jezdec
- Vir
- Myths and Legends of Our Own Land
- Avtor
- Charles M. Skinner
- Jezik branja
- Slovenščina
- Jezik izvirnika
- English
- Čas branja
- 3 min branja
- Obseg
- 2 strani
- Naslov izvirnika
- 243 The Comanche Rider
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
Komanški jezdec
Indijanci svoje mrtve pokopavajo na mnogo načinov. Ponekod je običajen pokop v zemljo, drugod trupla polagajo na drevesa. Južnoameriški Indijanci so svoje mrtve mumificirali, neznano pa jim ni bilo niti upepeljevanje. Sovražniki se za tiste, ki so jih pobili, niso več menili, potem ko so jim za trofejo sneli skalpe, čeprav so jih med ubijanjem včasih še dodatno oskrunili s pohabljanjem.
Sachem's Head blizu Guilforda v Connecticutu se tako imenuje zato, ker je Uncas nekemu Pekotu odsekal glavo in jo položil v rogovilo hrasta, ki je rasel tam. Še leta je ostala tam in se sušila. Da bi Polanovo truplo po boju na jezeru Sebago leta 1756 obvarovali pred takšno usodo, so ga njegovi bratje položili pod korenine krepkega mladega bukovega drevesa, ki so ga izruvali iz zemlje. V vdolbino so ga položili v bojni opravi, s srebrnim križem na prsih ter lokom in puščicami v roki; ko so nato sprostili težo, ki je pritiskala na deblo, se je mlado drevo sunkoma vrnilo na svoje mesto in pozneje zraslo visoko v nebo ter dostojno zaznamovalo Indijančev grob. Poglavarja Blackbirda iz plemena Omaha so po njegovi želji pokopali na vrhu strmega brega ob zgornjem toku Missourija, na hrbtu njegovega najljubšega konja, povsem opremljenega za pot, s skalpi, ki jih je uplenil, obešenimi na uzdo.
Ko Komanč umre, ga pokopljejo na zahodni strani tabora, da bi njegova duša lahko sledila zahajajočemu soncu in čim hitreje prišla v svet duhov. Z njim pokopljejo njegov lok, puščice in dragocenosti, ob grobu pa ubijejo njegovega najboljšega ponija, da bi se med svojimi tovariši na srečnih loviščih prikazal na konju in opremljen. Neki stari Komanč, ki je umrl blizu Fort Silla, ni imel sorodnikov in je bil reven, zato je njegovo pleme menilo, da bo zanj dovolj kakršen koli konj, na katerem bo lahko jezdil po rajskih poljanah. Ubili so staro kljuse z obolelimi skočnimi sklepi in ga pustili tam. Dva tedna pozneje je pokojnik, za katerim ni nihče žaloval, prigalopiral v tabor plemena Wichita na konju s povešenimi uhlji, prirezanim repom, ovčjim vratom, kostnimi zadebelitvami na bicljih in rebri, podobnimi rešetki, ter rekel, da hoče kosilo. Ko je dobil kos mesa, ki so mu ga svečano podali na koncu droga za šotor, se je pokazal še svojim ljudem. Prestrašil jih je s srepimi očmi in vdrtimi lici ter jim povedal, da se je vrnil, da bi jih strašil, ker so skopuška in brezobzirna svojat: nebeški vratar ga namreč ni hotel spustiti noter na tako klavrnem konju. Prestrašeni prebivalci so razdrli tabor. Tako pripadniki plemena Wichita kot Komanči so se vsi skupaj odpravili v Fort Sill po zaščito in odtlej so ob vsakem odhodu človeka brez svojcev v svet duhov žrtvovali najboljše konje, kar so jih premogli.
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Izvirnik
243 The Comanche Rider
Naslednje strani prikazujejo izvirno besedilo za primerjavo.
The ways of disposing of the Indian dead are many. In some places ground sepulture is common; in others, the corpses are placed in trees. South Americans mummified their dead, and cremation was not unknown. Enemies gave no thought to those that they had slain, after plucking off their scalps as trophies, though they sometimes added the indignity of mutilation in killing.
Sachem's Head, near Guilford, Connecticut, is so named because Uncas cut a Pequot's head off and placed it in the crotch of an oak that grew there. It remained withering for years. It was to save the body of Polan from such a fate, after the fight on Sebago Lake in 1756, that his brothers placed it under the root of a sturdy young beech that they had pried out of the ground. He was laid in the hollow in his war-dress, with silver cross on his breast and bow and arrows in his hand; then, the weight on the trunk being released, the sapling sprang back to its place and afterward rose to a commanding height, fitly marking the Indian's tomb. Chief Blackbird, of the Omahas, was buried, in accordance with his wish, on the summit of a bluff near the upper Missouri, on the back of his favorite horse, fully equipped for travel, with the scalps that he had taken hung to the bridle.
When a Comanche dies he is buried on the western side of the camp, that his soul may follow the setting sun into the spirit world the speedier. His bow, arrows, and valuables are interred with him, and his best pony is killed at the grave that he may appear among his fellows in the happy hunting grounds mounted and equipped. An old Comanche who died near Fort Sill was without relatives and poor, so his tribe thought that any kind of a horse would do for him to range upon the fields of paradise. They killed a spavined old plug and left him. Two weeks from that time the late unlamented galloped into a camp of the Wichitas on the back of a lop-eared, bob-tailed, sheep-necked, ring-boned horse, with ribs like a grate, and said he wanted his dinner. Having secured a piece of meat, formally presented to him on the end of a lodge-pole, he offered himself to the view of his own people, alarming them by his glaring eyes and sunken cheeks, and told them that he had come back to haunt them for a stingy, inconsiderate lot, because the gate-keeper of heaven had refused to admit him on so ill-conditioned a mount. The camp broke up in dismay. Wichitas and Comanches journeyed, en masse, to Fort Sill for protection, and since then they have sacrificed the best horses in their possession when an unfriended one journeyed to the spirit world.
Myths and Legends
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